Trans World AirlinesTrans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...
Flight 800 (
TWA 800), a
Boeing 747-131The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near
East Moriches, New YorkEast Moriches is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 4,550 at the 2000 census.East Moriches is in the Town of Brookhaven....
, on July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff, killing all 230 persons on board. At the time, it was the second-deadliest U.S. aviation accident, after
American Airlines Flight 191American Airlines Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight in the United States from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles International Airport. On May 25, 1979, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 operating the route crashed moments after takeoff from Chicago....
, although it has since been surpassed by
American Airlines Flight 587American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001. This is the second deadliest U.S...
. It remains the third-deadliest aviation accident to occur in U.S. territory. TWA 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from New York to Rome, with a stopover in Paris.
While accident investigators from the
National Transportation Safety BoardThe National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning, there was much initial speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. Consequently, the
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later the FBI announced that no evidence had been found of a criminal act and closed its active investigation.
The four-year NTSB investigation concluded with the approval of the Aircraft Accident Report on August 23, 2000, ending the most extensive, complex, and costly air disaster investigation in United States history. The report's conclusion was that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, and, although it could not be determined with certainty, the most likely cause of the explosion was a short circuit. As a result of the investigation, new requirements were developed for aircraft to prevent future fuel tank explosions.
Many
TWA Flight 800 alternative theoriesTWA Flight 800 alternative theories allege that the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was due to causes other than those determined by the National Transportation Safety Board , the official investigative agency...
exist, the most prevalent being that a missile strike from a terrorist or
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
vessel caused the crash, and is the subject of a government coverup.
Accident flight
- All times in this article are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
The accident airplane,
registrationAn aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
N93119, was manufactured by
BoeingThe Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
in July 1971, and purchased new by TWA. The aircraft had completed 16,869 flights with 93,303 hours of operation. On the day of the accident the airplane departed Athens, Greece, as TWA Flight 881, and arrived at the gate at
John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
about 16:38. The aircraft was refueled, and there was a crew change; the new flight crew consisted of
CaptainThe pilot in command of an aircraft is the person aboard the aircraft who is ultimately responsible for its operation and safety during flight. This would be the "captain" in a typical two- or three-pilot flight crew, or "pilot" if there is only one certified and qualified pilot at the controls of...
Ralph G. Kevorkian, Captain/Check Airman Steven E. Snyder and
Flight EngineerFlight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
/Check Airman Richard G. Campbell (all with more than 30 years employment at TWA), and Flight Engineer Trainee Oliver Krick, who was starting the sixth leg of his initial operating experience training.
Because of technical problems with the thrust reverser sensors during the landing of TWA 881 at JFK, prior to flight 800 the ground-maintenance crew locked-out the thrust reverser for engine #3 (treated as a
minimum equipment listIn aviation, a Master Minimum Equipment List, or MMEL, is a categorized list of systems, instruments and equipment on an aircraft which are not required to be operative for flight. Specific procedures or conditions may be associated with operation with the relevant item inoperative...
item). In addition, severed cables for the engine #3 thrust reverser were replaced. During refueling of the aircraft, the volumetric shutoff (VSO) control was believed to have been triggered before the tanks were full. To continue the pressure fueling, a TWA mechanic overrode the automatic VSO by pulling the volumetric fuse and an overflow circuit breaker. Maintenance records indicate that the airplane had numerous VSO-related maintenance writeups in the weeks before the accident.
TWA 800 was scheduled to depart JFK for Paris around 19:00, but the flight was delayed until 20:02
by a disabled piece of ground equipment and a passenger/baggage mismatch. After the owner of the baggage in question was confirmed to be on board, the flight crew prepared for departure and the aircraft pushed back from gate 27 at Terminal 5.
TWA 800 then received a series of heading changes and generally increasing altitude assignments as it climbed to its intended cruising altitude. Weather in the area was light winds with scattered clouds, and there were dusk lighting conditions. The last radio transmission from the airplane occurred at 20:30 when the flight crew received and then acknowledged instructions from
Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC)Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center is located in Nashua, New Hampshire, United States. The Boston ARTCC is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the United States....
to climb to 15000 feet (4,572 m). The last recorded radar
transponderA transponder is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation...
return from the airplane was recorded by the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
radar site at
Trevose, PennsylvaniaTrevose is a neighborhood of Bensalem and Lower Southampton in Pennsylvania, which is north of and borders northeastern Philadelphia. It shares a zip code with Feasterville-Trevose. It is not a municipality. U.S. 1 runs through the town as well as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but Trevose's main road...
at 20:31:12.
Thirty-eight seconds later, the captain of an
Eastwind AirlinesEastwind Airlines was a start-up airline formed in mid-1995 and headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey, United States, and later in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jim McNally, a former Price Waterhouse analyst who had headed that firm's recovery teams when several other airlines sought management and...
Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
reported to Boston ARTCC that he "just saw an explosion out here," adding, "we
just saw an explosion up ahead of us here...about 16,000 feet [4,900m] or something like that, it just went down into the water." Subsequently, many
air traffic controlAir traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
facilities in the New York/
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
area received reports of an explosion from other pilots operating in the area. Many witnesses in the vicinity of the crash stated that they saw and/or heard explosions, accompanied by a large fireball or fireballs over the ocean, and observed debris, some of which was burning, falling into the water.
Although individuals in various civilian, military and police vessels reached the crash site and initiated a search for survivors within minutes of the initial water impact, no survivors were found, making TWA 800 the second deadliest aircraft accident in the United States at that time.
Nationalities of passengers and crew
| Nationality |
Passengers |
Crew |
Total |
|
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
6 |
0 |
6 |
|
42 |
0 |
42 |
|
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
8 |
1 |
9 |
|
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
7 |
0 |
7 |
|
125 |
17 |
142 |
| Total |
212 |
18 |
230 |
Initial investigation
The NTSB was notified about 20:50 the day of the accident; a full go-team was assembled in Washington, D.C. and arrived on scene early the next morning. Meanwhile, initial witness descriptions led many to believe the cause of the crash was a bomb or missile attack. The NTSB does not investigate criminal activity. In past investigations, once it was established that a crash was, in fact, a criminal act, the FBI had become the lead
federalThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
investigative body, with the NTSB providing any requested support. In the case of TWA 800, the FBI initiated a parallel criminal investigation alongside the NTSB's accident investigation.
Search and recovery operations
Search and recovery operations were conducted by federal,
stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
, and local agencies, as well as government contractors.
Remote-operated vehicles (ROVs)A remotely operated vehicle is a tethered underwater vehicle. They are common in deepwater industries such as offshore hydrocarbon extraction. An ROV may sometimes be called a remotely operated underwater vehicle to distinguish it from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air. ROVs...
,
side-scan sonarSide-scan sonar is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea floor...
, and laser line-scanning equipment were used to search for and investigate underwater debris fields. Victims and wreckage were recovered by
ScubaScuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
divers and ROVs; later scallop trawlers were used to recover wreckage embedded in the ocean floor. In one of the largest diver-assisted salvage operations ever conducted, often working in very difficult and dangerous conditions, over 95% of the airplane wreckage was eventually recovered. The search and recovery effort identified three main areas of wreckage underwater. The yellow zone, red zone, and green zone contained wreckage from front, center, and rear sections of the airplane, respectively. The green zone with the aft portion of the aircraft was located the furthest along the flight path.
Pieces of wreckage were transported by boat to shore and then by truck to leased hangar space at the former
Grumman Aircraft facilityCalverton Executive Airpark is a public-owned private-use airport located three miles west of the central business district of the Calverton hamlet, in the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York, United States...
in
Calverton, New YorkCalverton is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,704 at the 2000 census.The community is on the border of the Town of Riverhead and the Town of Brookhaven.-History:...
for storage, examination, and reconstruction. This facility became the command center and headquarters for the investigation. NTSB and FBI personnel were present to observe all transfers to preserve the evidentiary value of the wreckage. The
Cockpit Voice RecorderA cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
and
Flight Data RecorderA flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
were recovered by U.S. Navy divers a week after the accident; they were immediately shipped to the NTSB laboratory in Washington, D.C., for readout. The victims were transported to the
Suffolk CountySuffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
Medical Examiner'sA medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
Office in
Hauppauge, New YorkHauppauge is a hamlet and CDP in the Town of Islip and the Town of Smithtown in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 20,100 at the time of the 2000 census....
.
Tensions in the investigation
Relatives of TWA 800 passengers and crew, as well as the media, gathered at a Ramada Plaza Hotel near JFK. Many waited until the remains of their family members had been recovered, identified and released. Grief turned to anger at TWA's delay in confirming the passenger list, conflicting information from agencies and officials, and mistrust of the recovery operation's priorities. Although NTSB vice chairman Robert Francis stated that all bodies were being retrieved as soon as they were spotted, and that wreckage was being recovered only if divers believed that victims were hidden underneath, many families were suspicious that investigators were not being truthful, or withholding information.
Much anger and political pressure was also directed at Suffolk County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles V. Wetli as recovered bodies backlogged at the morgue. Under constant and considerable pressure to identify victims with minimal delay, pathologists worked non-stop. Since the primary objective was to identify all remains rather than performing a detailed forensic autopsy, the thoroughness of the examinations was highly variable. Ultimately, remains of all 230 victims were recovered and identified, the last over 10 months later.
With lines of authority unclear, differences in agendas and culture between the FBI and NTSB resulted in discord. The FBI, from the start assuming that a criminal act had occurred, saw the NTSB as indecisive. Expressing frustration at the NTSB's unwillingness to speculate on a cause, one FBI agent described the NTSB as "No opinions. No nothing". Meanwhile the NTSB was required to refute or play down speculation about conclusions and evidence, frequently supplied to reporters by law enforcement officials and politicians.
Witness interviews
Many witnesses to the accident had seen a "streak of light" that was usually described as ascending, moving to a point where a large fireball appeared, with several witnesses reporting that the fireball split into two fireballs as it descended toward the water. There was intense public interest in these witness reports and much speculation that the reported streak of light was a missile that had struck TWA 800, causing the airplane to explode. These witness accounts were a major reason for the initiation and duration of the FBI's criminal investigation.
Approximately 80 FBI agents conducted interviews with potential witnesses daily. No verbatim records of the witness interviews were produced; instead, the agents who conducted the interviews wrote summaries that they then submitted. Witnesses were not asked to review or correct the summaries. Included in some of the witness summaries were drawings or diagrams of what the witness observed.
Within days of the crash the NTSB announced its intent to form its own witness group and to interview witnesses to the crash. However, after the FBI raised concerns about non-governmental parties in the NTSB's investigation having access to this information and possible prosecutorial difficulties resulting from multiple interviews of the same witness, the NTSB deferred and initially neither interviewed nor re-interviewed witnesses to the crash.
Further investigation and analysis
Examination of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder data showed a normal takeoff and climb, with the aircraft in normal flight before both abruptly stopped at 20:30:12. A noise recorded on the last few tenths of a second of the CVR was similar to the last noises recorded from other airplanes that had experienced in-flight breakups. This, together with the distribution of wreckage and witness reports, all indicated a catastrophic in-flight breakup of TWA 800.
Possible causes of the in-flight breakup
Investigators considered several possible causes for the structural breakup: structural failure and decompression, detonation of a high-energy explosive device, such as a missile warhead exploding upon impact with the airplane or bomb exploding inside the airplane, or a fuel/air explosion in the center wing fuel tank.
Structural failure and decompression
Close examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of structural faults such as
fatigue'In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.Fatigue occurs...
, corrosion or mechanical damage that could have caused the in-flight breakup. It was also suggested that the breakup could have been initiated by an in-flight separation of the forward cargo door; however, all evidence indicated that the door was closed and locked at impact. The NTSB concluded that "the in-flight breakup of TWA flight 800 was not initiated by a preexisting condition resulting in a structural failure and decompression."
Live missile or bomb detonation
A review of recorded data from long-range and
airport surveillance radarAn airport surveillance radar is a radar system used at airports to detect and display the position of aircraft in the terminal area.-Digital Airport Surveillance Radar :...
s revealed multiple contacts of airplanes/objects in TWA 800's vicinity at the time of the accident. None of these contacts intersected TWA 800's position at any time. Attention was drawn to data from the
Islip, New YorkThe Town of Islip is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York . Located on the south shore of Long Island, the town population was 322,612 at the 2000 census. The smaller, unincorporated hamlet of Islip lies within the town.-Demographics:...
,
ARTCC facilityNew York Air Route Traffic Control Center is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the United States.-Area of responsibility:...
that showed three tracks in the vicinity of TWA 800 that did not appear in any of the other radar data. None of these sequences intersected TWA 800's position at any time either. All the reviewed radar data showed no radar returns consistent with a missile or other projectile traveling toward TWA 800.
The NTSB addressed allegations that the Islip radar data showed groups of military surface targets converging in a suspicious manner in an area around the accident, and that a 30-knot radar track, never identified and 3 nmi from the crash site, was involved in foul play, as evidenced by its failure to divert from its course and assist with the search and rescue operations. Military records examined by the NTSB showed no military surface vessels within 15 nmi of TWA 800 at the time of the accident. In addition, the records indicated that the closest area scheduled for military use and prohibited to civilian air traffic at the time of the accident,
warning areaA military operations area is "airspace established outside Class A airspace to separate or segregate certain nonhazardous military activities from IFR Traffic and to identify for VFR traffic where these activities are conducted." Similar structures exist under international flight standards. ...
W-387A/B, was 160 nmi south.
The NTSB reviewed the 30-knot target track to try to determine why it did not divert from its course and proceed to the area where the TWA 800 wreckage had fallen. TWA 800 was behind the target, and with the likely forward-looking perspective of the target's occupant(s), the occupants would not have been in a position to observe the aircraft's breakup and/or subsequent explosions/fireball(s). Additionally, it was unlikely that the occupants of the target track would have been able to hear the explosions over the sound of its engines and the noise of the hull traveling through water, even more so if the occupants were in an enclosed bridge or cabin. Further, review of the Islip radar data for other similar summer days and nights in 1999 indicated that the 30-knot track was consistent with normal commercial fishing, recreational, and/or cargo vessel traffic.
Trace amounts of explosive residue were detected on three samples of material from three separate locations of the recovered airplane wreckage (described by the FBI as a piece of canvas-like material and two pieces of a floor panel). These samples were submitted to the FBI's laboratory in Washington, D.C., which determined that one sample contained traces of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (
RDXRDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...
), another
nitroglycerin, and the third a combination of RDX and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (
PETNPentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...
); these findings received much media attention at the time. In addition, the backs of several damaged passenger seats were observed to have an unknown red/brown-shaded substance on them. However, according to the seat manufacturer, the locations and appearance of this substance were consistent with adhesive used in the construction of the seats, and additional laboratory testing by
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
identified the substance as being consistent with adhesives.
Further examination of the airplane structure, seats, and other interior components found no damage typically associated with a high-energy explosion of a bomb or missile warhead ("severe pitting, cratering, petalling, or hot gas washing"). This included the pieces on which trace amounts of explosives were found. Of the 5 percent of the fuselage that was not recovered, none of the missing areas were large enough to have covered all the damage that would have been caused by the detonation of a bomb or missile. None of the victims' remains showed any evidence of injuries that could have been caused by high-energy explosives.
The NTSB considered the possibility that the explosive residue was due to contamination from the aircraft's use in 1991 transporting troops during the
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
or its use in a dog-training explosive detection exercise about one month before the accident. However, testing conducted by the FAA's Technical Center indicated that residues of the type of explosives found on the wreckage would dissipate completely after 2 days of immersion in sea water (almost all recovered wreckage was immersed longer than 2 days). The NTSB concluded that it was "quite possible" that the explosive residue detected was transferred from military ships or ground vehicles, or the clothing and boots of military personnel, onto the wreckage during or after the recovery operation and was not present when the aircraft crashed into the water.
Although it was unable to determine the exact source of the trace amounts of explosive residue found on the wreckage, the lack of any other corroborating evidence associated with a high-energy explosion led the NTSB to conclude that "the in-flight breakup of TWA flight 800 was not initiated by a bomb or missile strike."
Fuel/air explosion in the center wing fuel tank
In order to evaluate the sequence of structural breakup of the airplane, the NTSB formed the Sequencing Group, which examined individual pieces of the recovered structure, two-dimensional reconstructions or layouts of sections of the airplane, and various-sized three-dimensional reconstructions of portions of the airplane. In addition, the locations of pieces of wreckage at the time of recovery and differences in fire effects on pieces that are normally adjacent to each other were evaluated. The Sequencing Group concluded that the first event in the breakup sequence was a fracture in the wing center section of the aircraft, caused by an "overpressure event" in the center wing fuel tank (CWT). An overpressure event was defined as a rapid increase in pressure resulting in failure of the structure of the CWT.
Because there was no evidence that a high-energy explosive device detonated in this (or any other) area of the airplane, this overpressure event could only have been caused by a fuel/air explosion in the CWT. Although only a small amount of fuel was present in the CWT of TWA 800, tests recreating the conditions of the flight showed the remaining fuel/air vapor to be flammable. A major reason for the flammability of the fuel/air vapor in the CWT of the 747 was the large amount of heat generated and transferred to the CWT by air conditioning packs located directly below the tank; with the CWT temperature raised to a sufficient level, a single ignition source could cause an explosion.
Computer modeling and scale model testing were used to predict and demonstrate how an explosion would progress in a 747 CWT. During this time, quenching was identified as an issue, where the explosion would extinguish itself as it passed through the complex structure of the CWT. Because the research data regarding quenching was limited, a complete understanding of quenching behavior was not possible, and the issue of quenching remained unresolved.
In order to better determine whether a fuel/air vapor explosion in the CWT would generate sufficient pressure to break apart the fuel tank and lead to the destruction of the airplane, tests were conducted in July and August 1997, using a retired Air France 747 at
Bruntingthorpe AirfieldBruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned airport in Leicestershire near the village of Bruntingthorpe. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942.- United States Air Force use:...
, England. These tests simulated a fuel/air explosion in the CWT by igniting a propane/air mixture; this resulted in the failure of the tank structure due to overpressure. While the NTSB acknowledged that the test conditions at Bruntingthorpe were not fully comparable to the conditions that existed on TWA 800 at the time of the accident, previous fuel explosions in the CWTs of commercial airliners such as
Avianca Flight 203Avianca Airlines Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. It was destroyed by a bomb over the municipality of Soacha on November 27, 1989....
and
Philippine Airlines Flight 143Philippine Airlines Flight 143 was the route designator of a domestic flight from the Manila Ninoy Aquino Airport, Metro Manila, Philippines to Mandurriao Airport, Iloilo City...
confirmed that a CWT explosion could break apart the fuel tank and lead to the destruction of an airplane.
Ultimately, based on "the accident airplane's breakup sequence; wreckage damage characteristics; scientific tests and research on fuels, fuel tank explosions, and the conditions in the CWT at the time of the accident; and analysis of witness information," the NTSB concluded that "the TWA flight 800 in-flight breakup was initiated by a fuel/air explosion in the CWT."
In-flight breakup sequence and crippled flight
Recovery locations of the wreckage from the ocean (the red, yellow, and green zones) clearly indicated that: (1) the red area pieces (from the forward portion of the wing center section and a ring of fuselage directly in front) were the earliest pieces to separate from the airplane; (2) the forward fuselage section departed simultaneously with or shortly after the red area pieces, landing relatively intact in the yellow zone; (3) the green area pieces (wings and the aft portion of the fuselage) remained intact for a period of time after the separation of the forward fuselage, and impacted the water in the green zone.
Fire damage and soot deposits on the recovered wreckage indicated that some areas of fire existed on the airplane as it continued on in crippled flight after the loss of the forward fuselage. After about 34 seconds (based on information from witness documents), the outer portions of both the right and left wings failed, likely causing fuel-fed fires that were the beginning of the fireball described by witnesses. Shortly after, the left wing separated from what remained of the main fuselage, which resulted in further development of the fuel-fed fireballs as the pieces of wreckage fell to the ocean.
Only the FAA radar facility in
North TruroNorth Truro is a village in the town of Truro, Massachusetts, United States. Due to its proximity to urbanized Provincetown, it is somewhat more densely developed than the rest of the town, with houses and small resort facilities lining the two main thoroughfares, U.S. Route 6 and MA Route 6A...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, using specialized processing software from the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
84th Radar Evaluation Squadron, was capable of estimating the altitude of TWA 800 after it lost power after the CWT explosion. However, because of accuracy limitations, this radar data could not be used to determine whether the aircraft climbed after the nose separated. Instead, the NTSB conducted a series of computer simulations to examine the flightpath of the main portion of the fuselage. Hundreds of simulations were run using various combinations of possible times the nose of TWA 800 separated (the exact time was unknown), different models of the behavior of the crippled aircraft (the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft without its nose could only be estimated), and longitudinal radar data (the recorded radar tracks of the east/west position of TWA 800 from various sites differed). These simulations indicated that after the loss of the forward fuselage the remainder of the aircraft continued on in crippled flight, then pitched up while rolling to the left (north), climbing to a maximum altitude between 15537 feet (4,735.7 m) and 16678 feet (5,083.5 m) from its last recorded altitude, 13760 feet (4,194 m).
Analysis of reported witness observations
At the start of FBI's investigation, because of the possibility that international terrorists may have been involved, assistance was requested from the
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA). CIA analysts, relying on sound-propagation analysis, were able to conclude that the witnesses could not be describing a missile approaching an intact aircraft, but were seeing a trail of burning fuel coming from the aircraft after the initial explosion. This conclusion was reached after calculating how long it took for the sound of the initial explosion to reach the witnesses, and using that to correlate the witness observations with the accident sequence. In all cases the witnesses could not be describing a missile approaching an intact aircraft, as the plane had already exploded before their observations began.
As the investigation progressed, the NTSB decided to form a witness group to more fully address the accounts of witnesses. From November 1996, through April 1997, this group reviewed witness documents on loan from the FBI (with personal information redacted), and conducted interviews with crewmembers from a
New York Air National GuardThe New York Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of New York. It is, along with the New York Army National Guard, an element of the New York National Guard. It is considered a part of the United States Air Force, as well as its state mission...
HH-60 helicopter and C-130 airplane, as well as a U.S. Navy
P-3The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...
airplane that were flying in the vicinity of TWA 800 at the time of the accident.
In February 1998, the FBI, having closed its active investigation, agreed to fully release the witness documents to the NTSB. With access to these documents no longer controlled by the FBI, the NTSB formed a second witness group to review the documents. Because of the amount of time that had elapsed (about 21 months) before the NTSB received information about the identity of the witnesses, the witness group chose not to re-interview most of the witnesses, but instead to rely on the original FBI documents as the best available evidence of the observations initially reported by the witnesses. However, despite the two and a half years that had elapsed since the accident, the witness group did interview the captain of Eastwind Airlines flight 507, who was the first to report the explosion of TWA 800, because of his vantage point and experience as an airline pilot.
The NTSB's review of the released witness documents determined that they contained 736 witness accounts, of which 258 were characterized as "streak of light" witnesses ("an object moving in the sky...variously described [as] a point of light, fireworks, a flare, a shooting star, or something similar.") The NTSB Witness Group concluded that the streak of light reported by witnesses might have been the actual airplane during some stage of its flight before the fireball developed, noting that most of the 258 streak of light accounts were generally consistent with the calculated flightpath of the accident airplane after the CWT explosion.
However, 38 witnesses described a streak of light that ascended vertically, or nearly so, and these accounts "seem[ed] to be inconsistent with the accident airplane's flightpath." In addition, 18 witnesses reported seeing a streak of light that originated at the surface, or the horizon, which did not "appear to be consistent with the airplane's calculated flightpath and other known aspects of the accident sequence." Regarding these differing accounts, the NTSB noted that based on their experience in previous investigations "witness reports are often inconsistent with the known facts or with other witnesses' reports of the same events." The interviews conducted by the FBI focused on the possibility of a missile attack; suggested interview questions given to FBI agents such as "Where was the sun in relation to the aircraft and the missile launch point?" and "How long did the missile fly?" could have biased interviewees' responses in some cases. The NTSB concluded that given the large number of witnesses in this case, they "did not expect all of the documented witness observations to be consistent with one another." and "did not view these apparently anomalous witness reports as persuasive evidence that some witnesses might have observed a missile."
After missile visibility tests were conducted in April 2000, at
Eglin Air Force BaseEglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
,
Fort Walton Beach, FloridaFort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,992, and as of 2010, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach is 19,507 recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, the NTSB determined that if witnesses had observed a missile attack they would have seen: (1) a light from the burning missile motor ascending very rapidly and steeply for about 8 seconds; (2) the light disappearing for up to 7 seconds; (3) upon the missile striking the aircraft and igniting the CWT another light, moving considerably more slowly and more laterally than the first, for about 30 seconds; (4) this light descending while simultaneously developing into a fireball falling toward the ocean. None of the witness documents described such a scenario.
Because of their unique vantage points and/or the level of precision and detail provided in their accounts, five witness accounts generated special interest: the pilot of Eastwind Airlines flight 507, the crew members in the HH-60 helicopter, a streak-of-light witness aboard
US AirwaysUS Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....
flight 217, a land witness on the Beach Lane Bridge in
Westhampton Beach, New YorkWesthampton Beach is an Incorporated Village in the town of Southampton, Suffolk County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 1,902.-History:...
as well as a witness on a boat near Great Gun Beach. Advocates of a missile-attack scenario asserted that some of these witnesses observed a missile; however, analysis demonstrated that the observations were not consistent with a missile attack on TWA 800, but instead were consistent with these witnesses having observed some part of the in-flight fire and breakup sequence after the CWT explosion.
The NTSB concluded that "the witness observations of a streak of light were not related to a missile and that the streak of light reported by most of these witnesses was burning fuel from the accident airplane in crippled flight during some portion of the post-explosion, preimpact breakup sequence". The NTSB further concluded that "the witnesses' observations of one or more fireballs were of the airplane's burning wreckage falling toward the ocean".
Possible ignition sources of the center wing fuel tank
In an attempt to determine what ignited the inflammable fuel/air vapor in the CWT and caused the explosion, the NTSB evaluated numerous potential ignition sources. All but one were considered very unlikely to have been the source of ignition.
Missile fragment or small explosive charge
Although the NTSB had already reached the conclusion that a missile strike did not cause the structural failure of the airplane, the possibility that a missile could have exploded close enough to TWA 800 for a missile fragment to have entered the CWT and ignited the fuel/air vapor, yet far enough away not to have left any damage characteristic of a missile strike was considered. Computer simulations using missile performance data simulated a missile detonating in a location such that a fragment from the warhead could penetrate the CWT. Based on these simulations the NTSB concluded that it was "very unlikely" that a warhead detonated in such a location where a fragment could penetrate the CWT, but no other fragments impact the surrounding airplane structure leaving distinctive impact marks.
Similarly, the investigation considered the possibility that a small explosive charge placed on the CWT could have been the ignition source. Testing by the NTSB and the British
Defence Evaluation and Research AgencyThe Defence Evaluation and Research Agency was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence until July 2, 2001. At the time it was the United Kingdom's largest science and technology organisation...
demonstrated that when metal of the same type and thickness of the CWT was penetrated by a small charge, there was petalling of the surface where the charge was placed, pitting on the adjacent surfaces, and visible hot gas washing damage in the surrounding area. Since none of the recovered CWT wreckage exhibited these damage characteristics, and none of the areas of missing wreckage were large enough to encompass all the expected damage, the investigation concluded that this scenario was "very unlikely."
Other potential sources
The NTSB also investigated whether the fuel/air mixture in the CWT could have been ignited by
lightning strikeLightning strikes are electrical discharges caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms.Humans can be hit by lightning directly when outdoors. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds and makeshift shelters...
, meteor strike, auto-ignition or hot surface ignition, a fire migrating to the CWT from another fuel tank via the vent system, an uncontained engine failure, a turbine burst in the air conditioning packs beneath the CWT, a malfunctioning CWT jettison/override pump, a malfunctioning CWT scavenger pump, or
static electricityStatic electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...
. After analysis the investigation determined that these potential sources were "very unlikely" to have been the source of ignition.
Fuel quantity indication system
The FAA and airplane manufacturers had assumed that a combustible fuel/air mixture would exist at all times in fuel tanks; consequently, airplane designers attempted to eliminate all possible sources of ignition in the fuel tanks. The primary means of ensuring this are to protect all devices from intrusion of vapor and to keep voltages and currents being used by the Fuel Quantity Indication System (FQIS) very small. In the case of the 747-100 series, the only wiring located inside the CWT was wiring associated with the Fuel Quantity Indication System (FQIS).
In order for the FQIS to be the ignition source, a transfer of higher than normal voltage to the FQIS needed to have occurred, as well as some mechanism whereby the excess energy was released by the FQIS wiring into the CWT. While the NTSB determined that factors suggesting the likelihood of a short circuit event existed, they added that "neither the release mechanism nor the location of the ignition inside the CWT could be determined from the available evidence." Nonetheless, the NTSB concluded that "the ignition energy for the CWT explosion most likely entered the CWT through the FQIS wiring."
Though the FQIS itself was designed to prevent danger from its normal operation by minimizing voltages and currents, the innermost tube of the FQIS compensator showed damage similar to that of the compensator tube that was the ignition source for the surge tank fire that destroyed a 747 near Madrid in 1976. This was not considered "proof" of a source of ignition. There was evidence of arcing in a wire bundle that included FQIS wiring that connected with the Center Wing Tank. There was also arcing evidenced on two wires sharing a cable raceway with FQIS wiring at station 955.
The Captain's Cockpit Voice Recorder channel showed two "dropouts" of background power harmonics in the second before the recording ended (with the separation of the nose). This might well be the signature of an arc on cockpit wiring adjacent to the FQIS wiring. The captain commented on the "crazy" readings of the number 4 engine fuel flow gauge about 2-1/2 minutes before the CVR recording ended. Finally, the Center Wing Tank fuel quantity gauge was recovered and indicated 640 pounds instead of the 300 pounds that had been loaded into that tank. Experiments showed that applying power to a wire leading to the fuel quantity gauge can cause the digital display to change by several hundred pounds before the circuit breaker trips. Thus the gauge anomaly could have been caused by a short to the FQIS wiring. The NTSB concluded that the most likely source of sufficient voltage to cause ignition was a short from damaged wiring, or within electrical components of the FQIS. As not all components and wiring were recovered, it is not possible to pin-point the source of the necessary voltage.
Conclusions
The NTSB investigation ended with the adoption of its final report on August 23, 2000. In it the Board determined that the probable cause of the TWA 800 accident was:
In addition to the probable cause, the NTSB found the following contributing factors to the accident:
- The design and certification concept that fuel tank explosions could be prevented solely by precluding all ignition sources
- The certification 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 tank vapor non-combustible.
During the course of its investigation, and in its final report, the NTSB issued fifteen safety recommendations, mostly covering fuel tank and wiring-related issues. Among the recommendations was that significant consideration should be given to the development of modifications such as
nitrogen-inerting systemsAn inerting system increases the safety of a fuel tank, ball mill, or other sealed or closed-in tank that contains highly flammable material. Inert in scientific terminology means ‘not readily reactive with other elements; forming no chemical compounds or something that is not chemically...
for new airplane designs and, where feasible, for existing airplanes.
Alternative theories
The NTSB's conclusions about the cause of the TWA 800 disaster took four years and one month to be published. The FBI's earliest investigations and interviews, later used by the NTSB, were performed under the assumption of a missile attack, a fact noted in the NTSB's final report. Six months into the investigation, the NTSB's chairman, Jim Hall, was quoted as saying, "All three theories—a bomb, a missile or mechanical failure—remain." Speculation was fueled in part by early descriptions, visuals, and eyewitness accounts of this jet disaster, including a sudden explosion and trails of fire in the sky; particularly, trails of fire moving in an upward direction.
The two most prevalent specific theories around TWA 800 are that of a terrorist bomb on board, or a missile striking the plane (attributed by some to American armed forces and by others to non-state actors). Those supporting these alternative explanations for the crash typically claim that the NTSB's explanation was created as a cover-up; that the NTSB did not investigate sufficiently; or that the NTSB did not have all the evidence it should have had to reach the correct conclusion.
Aftermath
Many users of the Internet responded to the incident. The resulting web traffic set records for internet activity in 1996.
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's traffic quadrupled to 3.9 million hits per day. After the flight crashed, the website of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
had its traffic increase to one and one half million hits per day, an increase by half of its previous rate. In 1996 few U.S. government websites were updated daily; the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
's website regarding the crash was constantly updated and had detailed information about the salvage of the crash site.
International Memorial
The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial was dedicated in a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) parcel immediately adjoining the main pavilion at
Smith Point County ParkSmith Point County Park is a park located fronting on the Atlantic Ocean on the east end of Fire Island, New York, United States, in central Long Island by Shirley. It is the largest park owned by Suffolk County, New York....
in
Shirley, New YorkShirley is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, Shirley population was 26,395....
, on July 14, 2004. Funds for the memorial were raised by the Families of TWA Flight 800 Association. David Busch of Busch Associates PC
Bay Shore, New YorkBay Shore is a hamlet and a census-designated place located in the Town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York, USA. It is situated on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. Bay Shore celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. The population of the CDP was 23,852 at the time of...
designed the memorial. The memorial includes landscaped grounds, flags from the 14 countries of the victims, and a curved black
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
memorial with the names engraved on one side and an illustration on the other of a wave releasing 230 seagulls into the sky. In July 2006 an abstract design of a 10 feet (3 m) high
lighthouseA lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
in black
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
designed by Harry Edward Seaman, who had lost his cousin in the crash, was added. The lighthouse sits above a tomb holding many of the victims' personal belongings.
The wreckage is now permanently stored in an NTSB facility in
AshburnAshburn, Virginia is a census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, northwest of Washington, D.C., and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area...
,
Loudoun County, VirginiaLoudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...
that was custom built for the purpose. The reconstructed aircraft is used to train accident investigators. On July 17, 2008 the
Secretary of TransportationThe United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fourteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966,...
visited the facility and announced a final rule designed to prevent more accidents caused by explosions in fuel tanks. The NTSB first recommended such a rule just five months after the Flight 800 accident and thirty-three years after a similar recommendation issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board Bureau of Safety on December 17, 1963, nine days after the crash of
Pan Am Flight 214Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121 registered as , was en route from Baltimore to Philadelphia on December 8, 1963, when it crashed near Elkton, Maryland after being hit by lightning, killing all 81 on board.-Flight history:...
. In 2009 Boeing advised the FAA that its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner could not meet the new safety standards. The FAA proposed to relax the safeguards for preventing sparks inside the fuel tank, calling them "impractical."
Notable passengers
Some of the notable passengers on TWA 800 included:
- Pam Lychner
Pamela Sue Rogers "Pam" Lychner, born Pamela Sue Rogers was a Spring Valley Village, Texas, United States real estate agent who promoted the "Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996" bill...
, American crime victims' rights advocate
- Michel Breistroff
Michel Breistroff was a French professional ice hockey defenceman.Breistroff was born in Roubaix, France. A graduate in anthropology from Harvard University, he died at 25 in the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, New York. He was playing professional ice hockey for French league team Ducs...
, French hockey player
- David Hogan, American composer
- Marcel Dadi
Marcel Dadi was a Tunisia-born Jewish French guitarist known for his finger-picking style which faithfully recreated the instrumental styles of American guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed...
, French guitarist
- Jed Johnson
Jed Johnson was an American interior designer and film director. Initially hired by Andy Warhol to sweep floors at Warhol's Factory, he subsequently moved in with Warhol and became his lover. He died in the TWA Flight 800 explosion in 1996.-Warhol years:In 1967, Johnson and his twin brother Jay...
, interior designer and director of the 1977 movie Andy Warhol's BadAndy Warhol's Bad is a 1977 comedy film, directed by Jed Johnson, starring Carroll Baker, Perry King and Susan Tyrrell. It was written by Pat Hackett and George Abagnalo, and produced by Andy Warhol....
- Ana Maria, wife of saxophonist Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
- Rodolphe Mérieux, physician, son of Alain Mérieux
- Courtney Johns, sister of DC Comics writer Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...
, and his inspiration behind DC Comics' Stargirl
- Rico Puhlmann, fashion photographer
- 16 members of the French club at Montoursville High School in Montoursville, Pennsylvania
Montoursville is a borough in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the borough population was 4,777. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was named for Madame Montour, a Native American leader and skilled interpreter...
, and their five chaperones
In the media
- TWA Flight 800 was the subject of the premiere episode of Best Evidence
Best Evidence is a 2007-present documentary television series on the Discovery Channel and Discovery Times channel.-Episodes:# "TWA Flight 800"# "Bigfoot"# "Chemical Contrails": Jet-aircraft vapor trails may be toxic.# "The Roswell Incident"...
, a documentary show on the Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, the first episode of Conspiracy?Conspiracy? is a documentary television series that was created and originally aired on The History Channel that examines recent historical events from the perspective of conspiracy theory.Premiering in 2004 and hosted by Tom Kane, notable episodes have examined the President John F...
, a documentary show on the History Channel, and an episode of two documentary series Seconds From Disaster-By original broadcast date:National Geographic Channel has broadcast many episodes under multiple titles. The title currently or most recently listed on the NGC Calendar is shown first...
, which receives regular screening on the National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
. James Sanders' 2001 documentary film Silenced: Flight 800 and the Subversion of Justice presents evidence that "Flight 800 was actually destroyed by a surface-to-air missile".
- The film Final Destination
Final Destination is a 2000 supernatural slasher film written and directed by James Wong. The film was co-written by Glen Morgan and Jeffrey Reddick, both of them having previously worked with Wong in the TV series The X-Files. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith and Tony Todd...
was loosely based on the crash of TWA Flight 800. In the film, a class of high school students boards Volée Air Flight 180 for a class field trip to Paris for ten days. The plane explodes right after takeoff. Alex Browning (Devon SawaDevon Edward Sawa is a Canadian actor. Although he appears in independent films, he is best known for portraying the part of Alex Browning in the 1999 movie Final Destination...
) has a premonition of the plane exploding, and saves seven people, including himself from dying in the explosion.
- TWA Flight 800 was a central plot device of Nelson DeMille
Nelson Richard DeMille is an American author of thriller novels. His works include Word of Honor , The Charm School, The Gold Coast, Plum Island, and The General's Daughter .DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt...
's book Night FallNight Fall is a 2004 novel by American author Nelson DeMille.The story begins with the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, New York...
, a novel about John Corey's investigation of the flight.
See also
- Pan Am Flight 214
Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121 registered as , was en route from Baltimore to Philadelphia on December 8, 1963, when it crashed near Elkton, Maryland after being hit by lightning, killing all 81 on board.-Flight history:...
, an aircraft that suffered a fuel tank explosion after being hit by lightning
External links