Traveling at twice the speed of sound might seem futuristic; however, this feat was already achieved almost 40 years ago by the world's only supersonic passenger aircraft: the Concorde. Concorde brought about a revolution in aviation by operating transatlantic flights in less than four hours. The sleek and elegant aircraft with some of the most sophisticated engineering was one of the most sought-after aircraft of its time. However, all this was destined to end when Air France Flight 4590 was involved in a tragic disaster just outside the city of Paris on July 25, 2000. The crash killed 113 people, but the impact was even more disastrous. The trust and confidence that people had in Concorde gradually began to fade, and Concorde was eventually grounded two and a half years after the crash. Official reports state that the main cause of the crash was a piece of metal that fell from a Continental plane flying moments ahead of the Concorde, but, in the last decade, the report has met with much criticism, and many alternative hypotheses have therefore been put forward It was the afternoon of July 25, 2000. One hundred passengers, most of them German, boarded Concorde Air France Flight 4590. For many people it was an unforgettable trip, as the Concorde was reserved for the wealthy class. People's enthusiasm was cut short by the unfortunate delay of the flight, due to maintenance on one of its engines. The passengers boarded the plane a couple of hours after the scheduled time. Eventually he was allowed to taxi onto runway 26-right. The pilots lined up the plane parallel to the runway. But a tragic accident was about to happen. The Concorde was ready to take off and the crew released the throttles. Gilles Logel......middle of paper......2013. .Logelin, Gilles. "Concorde: the last witness." www.expatica.com. Expatica Communications BV, nd Web. November 25, 2013. ."Press release, January 16, 2002 Publication of the final report on the Concorde accident of July 25, 2000." http://www.bea.aero/. BEA, January 16, 2002. Web. November 16, 2013. .Rose, David. "Condemned." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 12 May 2001. Web. 3 December 2013. Smith, Patrick. "The Untold Story of the Concorde Disaster." Ask the pilot. Aerophilia Enterprises, December 9, 2012. Web. November 6. 2013. .