Concorde was a unique aircraft and the most aesthetically pleasing to many people. I can remember so clearly hearing an AF Concorde had crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris De Gaulle.

Whilst modifications were made to minimise the chances of it even happening again the events in the US 14 months later would eventually lead to it being withdrawn from service.

The aviation world took a huge step backwards. Mach 2 back to Mach 0.84.

This video explains very well the many events that transpired to cause the accident. Mike Bannister’s excellent “Concorde” gives a great insight into the crash investigation and is mandatory reading for anyone interested in aviation.

RIP the 109 lost on AF4590 and the 4 killed on the ground.

 

I thought i had read somewhere , where they were going to put 1 or 2 of them back in service? 

Why are so many YouTube video thumbnails mirror images? The damaged engines were under the left wing, not the right.

Edited July 25, 2025Jul 25 by Christopher Low

1 hour ago, Ed_S_Pilot said:

I thought i had read somewhere , where they were going to put 1 or 2 of them back in service? 

Not a chance. All systems were drained and critical components removed making further flight impossible.

52 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Why are so many YouTube video thumbnails mirror images? The damaged engines were under the left wing, not the right.

Not on my linked video. At 18m it clearly shows left underside of wing in flames.

Concorde was one of a kind, and a real modern marvel.

The only viable replacement looks to be Boom's Overture, which will still only fly at mach 1.5 compared to Concorde's mach 2.1.

Dave

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Not a chance. All systems were drained and critical components removed making further flight impossible.

Not on my linked video. At 18m it clearly shows left underside of wing in flames.

Yes, but the static image of the video in this thread is reversed.

Edited July 25, 2025Jul 25 by Christopher Low

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

Yes, but the static image of the video in this thread is reversed.

Indeed it is. No idea why that’s happened when Air France lettering is correct.

Thank you for bringing up this information, Ray, so that we can all remember the darkest day for Concorde that happened today 25 years ago. I remember being on summer vacation at a warm place on that day when my mother walked into the room and told me "Father has called. He said that the Concorde has crashed."  What followed was utter disbelief on my end at a time when I was developing a huge interest for that airplane (and FS2000 did its big share, as it was the first Microsoft flight simulator that allowed us to fly this plane by default, and it showed it on its cover on the CD box).

RIP to the passengers and the hotel guests who were killed, and to the plane that will forever be unique.

 

Ray, please refresh my memory.  What were "the events in the US 14 months later that would eventually lead to it being withdrawn from service?"  I remember being in Germany when the Air France crash happened.  We had to fly home a few days later on a 767.  It was kind of unsettling. 

Thanks

In the future the people who could afford the price of a Concorde ticket will be doing their transcontinental travel on StarShip.

8 hours ago, tdflightsim said:

Ray, please refresh my memory.  What were "the events in the US 14 months later that would eventually lead to it being withdrawn from service?"  I remember being in Germany when the Air France crash happened.  We had to fly home a few days later on a 767.  It was kind of unsettling. 

Thanks

Many of those who flew Concorde regularly were killed on 11th September 2001. As a result it made it harder to fill the aircraft. Plus the French were never as keen on Concorde as the Brits and once they announced they would withdraw the service it made it financially punishing for BA.

Thanks for the explanation Ray.

21 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Concorde was one of a kind, and a real modern marvel.

The only viable replacement looks to be Boom's Overture, which will still only fly at mach 1.5 compared to Concorde's mach 2.1.

Dave

That is awesome! I guess one of its limitations was the sonic boom over populated areas. I suppose a longer range version might have also been viable for the fairly busy LA-Sydney or LA-Tokyo routes.

I'm picturing if it were still flying now, even with a couple of stopovers, and say people on the ground were forced to just accept the occasional boom, London-Sydney might be like 10 hours. 

I somehow can't picture this one coming into play anytime soon

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/new-york-to-london-in-54-minutes-elon-musks-20b-vision-of-undersea-hyperloop-travel/

I remember seeing the Concorde take off from Richmond International Airport (KRIC- Richmond, Virginia).  That was in October, 1977, RIC was celebrating their 50th anniversary with a big airshow.  The Concorde was one of the featured aircraft at the show.

@stans, not something you easily forget eh? 😁 Even the cynical American press were impressed when the hangar doors were rolled back at JFK in 1976 to reveal her for the first time over there.