Christian Marty (16 December 1946 – 25 July 2000) was a French pilot who served as the captain of

Air France Flight 4590 On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground. It was the only fatal Concorde a ...

. Prior to the crash, Marty was an athlete in extreme sports.

Athletic career

Marty specialized in long-distance windsurfing, as well as rally driving, cycling, skiing, and hang-gliding. In 1980, Marty windsurfed from Nice, France, to Calvi, Corsica, windsurfing . In 1981 Marty became the first person to windsurf across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, using a specially equipped sailboard and accompanied by a supply boat. His first attempt was on 28 November 1981. He left Dakar, Senegal, but was unsuccessful. His second attempt was on 12 December 1981 during which an incident occurred when Marty fell off his sailboard at nighttime. However, his flashlight on his sailboard was on, and Marty was able to swim back and climb back onto his board safely, and continued the trip without any other incident. The second attempt was a success, with Marty arriving in

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

, French Guiana, on 18 January 1982. Marty had traveled a total , in 37 days, 16 hours and four minutes. Marty had previously lived in Guadeloupe for two years, and had previously windsurfed from Guadeloupe to Martinique in the Caribbean.

Aviation career

Marty had been a pilot since 12 July 1967. In 1969, he got his commercial pilot's license and started working for

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

. Marty served as a pilot and flight instructor on various aircraft, including the

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

and

737 737 most commonly refers to: * Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane ** Boeing 737 Classic ** Boeing 737 MAX ** Boeing 737 Next Generation * AD 737, a year in the common era * 737 BC, a year * 737 (number), a number 737 may als ...

, as well as the

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

, and

A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with ...

. He became a Concorde captain on 16 August 1999.

Death

On 25 July 2000, Marty served as captain of

from Paris to New York City, accompanied by first officer Jean Marcot and flight engineer Gilles Jardinaud. However, during the take-off roll, the aircraft's landing gear ran over a metal strip on the runway dropped by another aircraft, which punctured the tire and ruptured the fuel tank, causing an in-flight fire. The aircraft subsequently lost control and crashed into a hotel in Gonesse, near Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing all 109 people on board and four more people on the ground.

Bibliography

References

External links

Christian Marty
at Find a Grave
Pilot had surfed to fame
– ''The Daily Telegraph''
A Man at Home with Danger
– ''Time (magazine), Time''
La tragédie du vol AF 4590.
[The tragedy of flight AF 4590] (in French) – ''Libération''
Il pilota del Concorde: «Non riesco più a fermarlo»
[The Concorde pilot: "I can't stop him anymore"] (in Italian) – ''Corriere della Sera'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Marty, Christian 1946 births 2000 deaths Sportspeople from Paris Aviators from Paris Concorde pilots Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France Pages with unreviewed translations Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2000 French windsurfers