The daughter of a flight engineer killed in the Concorde crash in 2000 has revealed his last words to her. Sandrine Quignon-Fleuret spoke about her father, Gile Jardinaud, for a Channel 4 documentary called Concorde Crash Days That Shocked The World.
Air France flight 4590 caught fire 77 seconds after taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport on July 25, 2000, bound for New York. All 109 people on board were killed, along with four people on the ground, making 113 casualties in total.
Last Conversation
Hours before the flight, Gile visited his daughter, who was moving house at the time. She recalled: “I was in a completely empty apartment. He came by and told me ‘I just wanted to see my grandson and kiss you.’
“And he said to me, ‘Well, I’m just taking one last flight to New York and then I’m spending a week of vacation with my grandson. I’m going to take care of him, help you with your move.’ And so that’s the last time I saw him.”
The aircraft, carrying nine crew members and 100 passengers, was engulfed in flames shortly after takeoff, an image that has become iconic. Sandrine said: “The famous image of the Concorde on fire, for many people it’s just the Concorde burning, but for me I know that my father was on board. So when I see this image, my heart aches and I cry because it’s not just a press image for me.”
Memories and Grief
Gile and his wife raised their three children in a small village in the south east of Paris. Sandrine remembered family trips, including going to New York for her 18th birthday, and said aviation was his “universe”.
After learning of the crash, she had to phone her sister, who was 24 and in Barcelona. Fighting tears, she said: “I was in the car, we were arriving at my mum’s house and I told her at that moment. And that’s the hardest memory. That brings things back. Sorry, I didn't want to cry.”
Crash Investigation
The plane ploughed into a hotel in Gonesse, killing four people on the ground. After catching fire, the pilots tried to reach Le Bourget airport, but lost power in one engine and could not accelerate or gain altitude. A burst tyre was later confirmed as the cause.
Investigators said: “The accident shows that the destruction of a tyre, an event that we cannot say will not recur, had catastrophic consequences in a short period of time, preventing the crew from rectifying the situation. The crew had no way of knowing about the nature of the fire nor any means of fighting it.”
Sandrine told the documentary of her father and the other crew: “They did their job to the end, until the last second, I know that. I‘ve heard the tapes. I’e heard the cockpit recordings.”
The control tower told captain Christian Marty: “Concorde zero...4590, you have flames. You have flames behind you.” As they tried to reach Le Bourget, Mr Marty said: “Too late… No time.” His co-pilot said: “Le Bourget, Le Bourget. Negative; we are trying Le Bourget.”
The disaster marked the beginning of the end for Concorde, which ceased operations three years later.
