'Black boxes' recovered at Concorde crash site

Witnesses say plane was in flames as it took off

Investigators search the crash scene; white sheets cover the bodies of the victims

In this story: Witness: We waited for explosion after seeing flames on runway International investigation Condolences pour in First crash in Concorde history RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

PARIS -- Investigators recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders on Tuesday from the crashed Air France Concorde in Paris, France's Ministry of Transportation told CNN.

Eyewitnesses said the plane's left-side engines were on fire before it left Charles de Gaulle Airport. The supersonic jetliner crashed in flames two minutes later into a hotel-restaurant complex, killing 113 people.

INTERACTIVE A detailed look at the Concorde Shockwave needed to view images     INFORMATION HOT LINE Air France inquiries 331-48-62-49-49 Germany 49-89-97-62-0 France 0-800-800-812 USA 1-800-874-4097    Flight AF4590 Delivered to Air France on June 17, 1979 Put into service Oct. 23, 1980 Landings by plane 3,978 Flying hours 11,989 Last 'C' check completed April 28, 2000   Fact Sheet Supersonic vs. 'jumbo' jet in Trans-Atlantic travel    VIDEO CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour looks into the cause of the first-ever Concorde crash Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN Paris Bureau Chief Peter Humi reports on the crash that killed 113 Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) News conference held hours after the crash by Air France and JFK Airport in New York Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour looks into the cause of the first-ever Concorde crash Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO Eyewitness and Federal Express pilot Sid Hare tells his account of the Concorde crash near a hotel outside of Paris 2.3 MB/55 sec. AIFF or WAV sound New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani offers condolences to family and friends who lost loved ones in the Concorde crash 430 K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     INTERACTIVE POP-UP Images from the crash site near Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris Take a look inside the Concorde Recent plane crashes     ALSO More coverage     MESSAGE BOARD Air safety

Air France officials said engine trouble apparently caused the crash and the airline canceled all Concorde flights at least through Wednesday.

An amateur photographer took a chilling photograph of the plane trailing flames as it took off from the airport in the northern Paris suburb of Gonesse.

The dead included all 100 passengers -- mostly German tourists -- and nine crew members on Flight AF4590, along with four people in the hotel, authorities said.

At least a dozen people in the hotel were injured. They were in good condition, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said.

Three children were among the passengers, French TV said.

One passenger was an American, a retired Air France employee, an airline spokesman said. Two other passengers were Danes and one was an Austrian, Air France said.

The airline was flying families of the victims to Paris on special flights from Germany. Counselors will meet with the families in a room set up at the airport.

A makeshift morgue was set up in the Jacques Brel Auditorium in Gonesse. Workers placed plastic sheets on the floors where the victims were to be placed. At the crash site, ambulances and hearses were loaded with the first bodies recovered from the accident.

Witness waited for explosion after seeing flames on runway

A British businessman said he noticed that the jetliner's engines were having problems while it was taking off.

"The Concorde (was) to our immediate left as he accelerated down the runway, the engine was already smoking," said Darren Atkins, who was in another plane waiting to depart from the airport.

"As the aircraft drew level with us -- this is before it started to take off -- the left hand engines were visibly on fire," Atkins told Sky television in an interview from Zurich.

"They were burning very heavily, so much so, in fact, that on the tarmac was some debris that had clearly fallen off the engine and was, in fact, still on fire after the aircraft had departed."

Another witness also saw flames.

"It hadn't left the ground and already it was on fire. The flames were coming from the back of the plane," said Sylvie Lucas, of Paris, who was at the airport waiting for her children.

"We were waiting to hear the explosion because we thought it was going to fall here (at the airport)," Ms. Lucas told The Associated Press.

"For those who witnessed this accident, and I was one of them, it looks like -- and the investigation will tell us what exactly happened -- the engines of the aircraft went on fire," said Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Air France's chief executive officer.

He then said it was not yet clear if the flames came from "one or several engines."

International investigation

Witnesses said the jetliner, loaded with fuel for the trans-Atlantic flight, flamed out at an altitude of 200 feet, with its nose up, "went down in a huge fireball."

CNN Correspondent Jim Bittermann reported from the scene 3 1/2 miles north of the airport that the building the jetliner hit looked like "a burned-out shell." Nearby buildings in the hotel complex were still standing.

Firefighters poured streams of water on the blackened pieces of what was once the pride of the Air France fleet. It was barely recognizable as an airplane fuselage. Hours after the crash huge clouds of smoke continued to billow over the wheat field.

The French government agency that will investigate the crash -- Bureau Enquetes-Accidents -- said it had dispatched an accident team to the site. It also said it has asked for help from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Two British air accident investigators flew to Paris immediately after the crash and a third will follow Wednesday.

According to a 1978 Memorandum of Understanding, experts from both France and Britain are required to participate in the investigation of any Concorde accident. The two countries collaborated on developing the world's only commercial supersonic aircraft.

Condolences pour in

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed his deepest condolences. "Germany and France are united in their horror over the accident, in mourning for the victims and in sympathy for their families," Schroeder said in a statement.

In the United States, President Bill Clinton offered his "deepest condolences ... to the families of those who are lost."

The Concorde was due to arrive at New York City's Kennedy Airport at 2:21 p.m. EDT Tuesday, according to airport officials there.

The plane had been chartered by Peter Deilmann River and Ocean Cruises, a German tour company, and the passengers were on their way to New York to join a cruise ship.

Deilmann's U.S. office, based in Alexandria, Virginia, confirmed that the passengers were scheduled to embark Thursday in New York on a luxury cruise aboard the MS Deutschland. The cruise was scheduled to end on August 8 in Manta, Ecuador.

First crash in Concorde history

The Concorde has been considered among the world's safest planes. Tuesday's crash was the first one since the jetliner went into service in the mid-1970s. Air France flew six of the needle-nosed, supersonic jets and British Airways had seven.

On Monday, British Airways said it had found cracks in the wings of some of its Concordes, but said there was no danger to passengers.

Air France officials said the plane that crashed Tuesday went into service in 1980 and received major routine maintenance 10 months ago.

After the crash Tuesday, the British airline canceled its two Monday night Concorde flights between London and New York.

The Concorde crosses the Atlantic at 1,350 mph -- about twice the speed of sound.

Paris Bureau Chief Peter Humi, Correspondent Jim Bittermann, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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