How did Concorde airplane crashed?
The wind at the airport was light and variable that day and was reported to the cockpit crew as an eight-knot (15 km/h; 9 mph) tailwind as they lined up Five minutes before the Concorde departed, a Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 took off from the same runway for Newark International Airport and lost a titanium alloy strip that was part of the engine cowl, identified as a wear strip about 435 millimeters (17.1 in) long, 29 to 34 millimeters wide, and 1.4 millimeters thick. The Concorde ran over this piece of debris during its take-off run, cutting the right front tyre and sending a large chunk of tyre debris (4.5 kilograms or 9.9 pounds) into the underside of the left-wing at an estimated speed of 140 meters per second (310 mph). It did not directly puncture any of the fuel tanks, but it sent out a pressure shockwave that ruptured the number 5 fuel tank at the weakest point, just above ...