Television critic Christopher Stevens has awarded two stars to Channel 4 documentary Concorde Crash: Days That Shocked The World, accusing filmmakers of ignoring key crash theories.
Writing in his review, Stevens said the hour-long programme covered only half of the story behind the Air France Flight 4590 disaster in July 2000. The crash at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport claimed 113 lives when the supersonic airliner caught fire during takeoff.
The documentary opened with a brief history of the Anglo-French aircraft before focusing within ten minutes on the fatal flight. Investigators in the programme explained that a piece of twisted titanium on the runway, which had fallen from a DC10 airliner minutes earlier, punctured a tire on the Concorde. The exploding tire ruptured a fuel tank on the left wing, igniting massive flames that prevented the plane from generating enough thrust to stay airborne.
Omitted theories and maintenance flaws
Stevens criticized the production for sticking rigidly to the official investigation while ignoring alternative findings raised by British investigative journalist David Rose. According to Rose, Air France engineers servicing the aircraft four days prior to the crash failed to replace a vital wheel alignment component known as a spacer.
Without the spacer, the aircraft wobbled along the tarmac like a faulty supermarket trolley, leaving sooty tire tracks on the runway. Stevens noted that although the Channel 4 film showed these tracks, it offered no explanation for them.
The review also highlighted that the documentary failed to report the presence of French president Jacques Chirac. Chirac was sitting in a jumbo jet on an adjacent taxiway at Charles de Gaulle Airport as the flailing Concorde took off nearby.
Victim testimonies and plane legacy
The disaster killed all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board, as well as four people on the ground. Among the bereaved interviewed in the show was Francine Quignon-Fleuret, the daughter of flight engineer Gilles Jardinaud.
Jardinaud was a new grandfather preparing for his final flight before retirement. Recalling the front-page photographs of the burning white delta-winged jet, Quignon-Fleuret said, "my heart aches and I cry."
Reflecting on the aircraft's legacy, Stevens recalled how people stood and stared along flightpaths when Concorde made its final flight 23 years ago. He described the supersonic jet's distinctive approaching rumble, writing that the machine was loved in a way no other passenger plane has been.
Additional television reviews
In the same column, Stevens also reviewed the ITV natural history series Force Of Nature. He noted that Arctic ground squirrels hibernate three feet underground with body temperatures below zero and hearts beating just once per minute.
