'Black boxes' recovered at Concorde crash site
A still photograph of the Concorde on fire before it crashed in France
Witnesses say plane was in flames as it took off
July 25, 2000Web posted at: 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT)
July 25, 2000Web posted at: 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT)
In this story: Witness: We waited for explosion after seeing flames on runwayInternational investigationCondolences pour inFirst crash in Concorde historyRELATED STORIES, SITES
From staff and wire reports
PARIS -- Investigators recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders on Tuesday from the crashed Air France Concorde in Paris, France's Ministry of Transportation told CNN.
INFORMATION HOT LINE
Air France inquiries 331-48-62-49-49Germany49-89-97-62-0France0-800-800-812USA 1-800-874-4097
Flight AF4590
Delivered to Air France on June 17, 1979Put into service Oct. 23, 1980Landings by plane 3,978Flying hours 11,989Last 'C' check completed April 28, 2000
Fact Sheet
Supersonic vs. 'jumbo' jet in Trans-Atlantic travel
VIDEO
CNN Paris Bureau Chief Peter Humi reports on the crash that killed 113Play video(QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)
News conference held hours after the crash by Air France and JFK Airport in New YorkPlay video(QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)
AUDIO
Eyewitness and Federal Express pilot Sid Hare tells his account of the Concorde crash into a hotel near Paris
2.3 MB/55 sec.AIFF or WAV sound
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani offers condolences to family and friends who lost loved ones in the Concorde crash
430 K/40 sec.AIFF or WAV sound
INTERACTIVE POP-UP
Images from the crash site near Charles de Gaulle airport near ParisTake a look inside the Concorde Recent plane crashes
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Concorde info:
The Concorde jet is capable of traveling from Paris to New York in three hours, 45 minutes at a cruising speed of Mach 2 or 1,370 miles per hour.Capacity: Its seating capacity is 100 passengers and it usually has a crew of nine.Daily service between New York and Paris started in 1977.The Concorde holds two world speed records for commercial flights. In 1992, it circled the globe from east to west in 32 hours, 49 minutes and three seconds. Three years later, the Concorde flew west to east in 31 hours, 27 minutes and 49 seconds.
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Air safety
Eyewitnesses said the plane's left-side engines were on fire before it left Charles de Gaulle Airport. The supersonic jetliner crashed in flames two minutes later into a hotel-restaurant complex , killing 113 people.
Air France officials said engine trouble apparently caused the crash and the airline canceled all Concorde flights at least through Wednesday.
An amateur photographer took a chilling photograph of the plane trailing flames as it took off from the airport in the northern Paris suburb of Gonesse.
The dead included all 100 passengers -- mostly German tourists -- and nine crew members on Flight AF4590, along with four people in the hotel, authorities said.
At least a dozen people in the hotel were injured. They were in good condition, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said.
Three children were among the passengers, French TV said.
One passenger was an American, a retired Air France employee, an airline spokesman said. Two other passengers were Danes and one was an Austrian, Air France said.
The airline was flying families of the victims to Paris on special flights from Germany. Counselors will meet with the families in a room set up at the airport.
A makeshift morgue was set up in the Jacques Brel Auditorium in Gonesse. Workers placed plastic sheets on the floors where the victims were to be placed. At the crash site, ambulances and hearses were loaded with the first bodies recovered from the accident.
Witness waited for explosion after seeing flames on runway
A British businessman said he noticed that the jetliner's engines were having problems while it was taking off.
"The Concorde (was) to our immediate left as he accelerated down the runway, the engine was already smoking," said Darren Atkins, who was in another plane waiting to depart from the airport.
"As the aircraft drew level with us -- this is before it started to take off -- the left hand engines were visibly on fire," Atkins told Sky television in an interview from Zurich.
"They were burning very heavily, so much so, in fact, that on the tarmac was some debris that had clearly fallen off the engine and was,
