Originally Posted by
megan
Concorde pilot John Hutchinson tells the story that an Air France 747 carrying President Chirac was holding off the side of the runway, the 747 Captain told the story that the Concorde sailed over the top of them with an estimated twenty feet of clearance, had they attempted to stop perhaps we would have seen a Tenerife rerun. The above photo was taken from the 747.
They are quite different. In the case of Tenerife the KLM pilots could not see anything and the runway was occupied. In the Concorde accident they were visual, and the aircraft from which the photo was taken was holding clear of the runway. If that photo was taken from the 747 it suggests the estimate of 20 feet to be an exaggeration - understandable with something so frightening unfolding in front of you!. At the time of the photo the Concorde crew still appeared to have directional control, though it was lost shortly after, as controls were destroyed rapidly by the fire. The aircraft is still within the confines of the airfield and apparently still over the runway (the markings are blurry in the photo). By the time the photo was taken it was well and truly committed to continue.
The other great difference between the two accidents, is that in the case of Tenerife, the KLM Captain did everything wrong, while the Air France Concorde Captain did everything right. A translation from the French says that the words "too late" were heard, suggesting a reference perhaps in response to the Engineer's call of "stop" at some 35 knots above V1; but maybe it came later and meant they knew their fate was sealed.
From the multiple 'Maydays' heard by ATC, the King Air pilot obviously knew his fate was sealed almost the moment the wheels left the ground, probably before any attempt to retract the gear was made. Whether he did right or wrong is open to conjecture and no doubt will play out in lawsuits for some time to come.