re: #534 Bubblehead II

No, it was caused by FOD.

During the plane’s take-off run from Charles de Gaulle Airport, a piece of titanium debris on the runway ruptured a tyre, which subsequently burst. The piece was about three centimetres wide and nearly 50 centimetres long. A large chunk of tyre (4.5 kg) struck the underside of the aircraft’s wing structure at over 300 km/h rupturing fuel tank number 5 above the landing gear. Leaking fuel was ignited by an electric arc in the landing gear bay or through contact with severed electrical cables. At the point of ignition, engines 1 and 2 both surged and lost all power, but slowly recovered over the next few seconds. A large plume of flame developed; the crew then shut down engine 2 in response to a fire warning.

very tragic….not mechanical error and all that