WII-6 TWA Flight 800
Posted by: Wayfarer II
N 40° 41.500 W 072° 41.333
18T E 695279 N 4507098
On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded shortly after takeoff from New York's Long Island, killing all 230 people on board.
Waymark Code: WM2H0
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 10/11/2005
Views: 250
On July 17,
1996, at about 8:31 p.m. eastern daylight time, Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA)
flight 800, a Boeing 747-131, aircraft registration number N93119, crashed in
the Atlantic Ocean about eight miles from East Moriches, New York. TWA flight
800 was traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York,
New York, to Charles DeGaulle International Airport, Paris, France. The flight
departed JFK at about 8:19 p.m., with 2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 14 flight
attendants, and 212 passengers on board. All 230 people on board were killed,
and the airplane was destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for
the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
I didn't take this, but its pretty much what we saw when we
arrived on site.
Witnesses
saw an explosion and then debris descending to the ocean. The flight crew did
not report a problem to air traffic control before the explosion. The airplane
was manufactured in November 1971. It had accumulated about 93,303 flight hours
and 16,869 cycles.
The
investigation into the explosion of TWA Flight 800 was the longest and most
expensive accident investigation in American history. The investigation by the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the crash occurred as
the result of an explosion of the center wing fuel tank (CWT), resulting from
ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. The source of ignition
energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty, but, of the
sources evaluated by the investigation, the NTSB concluded that the most likely
source was a short circuit outside of the CWT that allowed excessive voltage to
enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication
system. The NTSB found that contributing factors to the explosion of TWA Flight
800 were the design and certification concept that fuel tank explosions could be
prevented solely by precluding all ignition sources. The NTSB also pointed to
the design of the Boeing 747, with heat sources located beneath the CWT with no
means to reduce the heat transferred into the CWT or to render the fuel vapor in
the tank nonflammable. Due to the recommendations made by the NTSB concerning
possible causes of the explosion of TWA Flight 800, the FAA in February 2004
began the process of ordering airlines to install a fuel tank inerting system in
most of their aircraft.
The NTSB
concluded that there was no evidence of a missile or bomb detonation. The FBI
agreed that there had been no criminal act after examining all the plane's
wreckage that had been recovered and interviewing thousands of individuals.
Some people
do not agree with the conclusions drawn by the NTSB. Partly influenced by the
fact that the explosion took place two days before the opening ceremonies of the
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, where a bomb exploded ten days later, many thought
that the explosion was an act of terrorism. Many witnesses reported seeing
something ascend into the sky, which some find consistent with a missile. Others
have come to believe that a United States Navy vessel operating in the region
was responsible for damaging the plane. Other have given theories pertaining to
electromagnetic interference.
To log this one, visit the
Moriches Bay Flight #800 Memorial
Park at:
N40°48.0265
W72°46.512
There's even a playground for the kids.
(Coords for the main crash
site, are extrapolated from radar returns from the FAA ISP radar site at Islip,
NY, as being roughly 7.75 miles south & 21.5 miles east.)