tower that they have fire. so they go, i have a fire in the number two engine. >> but the situation is not what the pilots suspect. desperately trying to get enough speed to get airborne, they try to pull up the landing gear. >> it wouldn't come up because the left side was damaged by the fire. >> they are not in a position to continue level flight, and at that point they realized they needed on the ground at the closest airport. it wasn't a good choice, but it the best choice that they had. >> you have a fire and it's not just contained to the engine. it's now encompassed. almost the full bottom of the left wing. >> it was a plane trying to survive. >> seconds later, engine number one fails. the concorde's chances of making the airfield rapidly diminish. >> you have two engines trying to do the work of four. an airplane wallowing in the air because it hasn't built up sufficient flying speed and now you have a controllability issue. and you have an airplane that's on fire. >> the plane became totally