In this day and age, with technology so far advanced and endless redundancy measures in place both on the ground and in the air, surely it must be something pretty darn complex to go wrong for something as complex as an A340 to go to pieces.
Either that or just the holes in the swiss cheese lining up again, maybe a few simple things. Investigation findings will be interesting.
In reference to the Concorde crash, wasn't the fire burning wings, ailerons and vitals like that, contributing to the loss of control?
That has GOT to ruin your day. Losing two on takeoff and the gear not retracting. I still feel sorry for those guys...
520.