<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The Concorde Story

For 27 years, Britain and France stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the struggle to make Concorde the flagship plane of their main national airlines. Beating Russian and American competition to make the first supersonic passenger plane, and beating world skepticism to make the plane a commercial success, Anglo-French cooperation had, by 2000, established Concorde as a world-class brand. Then, tragedy struck.

On July 25, 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Pictures of the aircraft trailing a massive sheet of flame and struggling to gain height were beamed around the globe. Air France grounded its entire fleet but British Airways continued to fly their Concordes.

In the days that followed tensions between the British and the French mounted. The harmony and cooperation that had largely characterized the relationship now gave way to bitter outbursts and recriminations. In France, there was an outcry about the indecent haste that British Airways had taken Concorde back into the air. In Britain, there was a feeling that the French were to blame for the accident.

Three weeks after the disaster, investigators in France announced the cause of the crash. It was so fundamental to the safety of Concorde that the British Civil Aviation Authority immediately withdrew its certificate of worthiness. In the days that followed, it seemed to many that Concorde would never fly again.

Follow the story of the Concorde, the tragedy of the accident, the tensions of the aftermath, and the efforts involved to make the airplane fly again.

The Concorde Story airs Monday, September 29 at 9 pm ET/10 pm PT.</font>