Trans-World Airlines Flight 800

Trans-World Airlines Flight 800
	The hull reconstructed from wreckage
Accident summary
Accident type	Structural ; failure after tank explosion
place	Atlantic Ocean , ; near East Moriches , New York , United States
date	July 17, 1996
Fatalities	230
Survivors	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-131
operator	Trans World Airlines
Mark	N93119
Departure airport	John F. Kennedy International Airport , United States
Destination airport	Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport , France
Passengers	212
crew	18th
	Lists of aviation accidents

On 17 July 1996 a shattered Boeing 747-100 on the TWA Flight 800 ( Flight number : TW800) after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport because of a tank explosion in the air and crashed off Long Iceland in the Atlantic . The Trans World Airlines (TWA) machine was supposed to make a scheduled flight to Paris . All 230 inmates were killed.

plane

The 1982 plane at London Gatwick Airport

The Boeing 747-131 with the aircraft registration number N93119 was delivered brand new by Boeing to Trans World Airlines on October 27, 1971 and has been operated by it ever since.

the accident

Shortly after take-off at 8:31 p.m. local time, the almost empty central tank of the 747 exploded, tearing the aircraft apart in the middle. The bow crashed immediately after the explosion, the rest of the fuselage with the wings and the engines still running rose steeply for another 30 seconds and finally also fell into the sea.

Wreck, salvage and debris fields
Tangled, damaged cables hang from the wreck
The map shows the areas of the red, yellow and green zones
The zones correspond to certain areas of the aircraft
The path the wreck took on its way into the ocean

root cause

Official cause of the crash

The NTSB , FBI and CIA investigative boards stated that the crash was caused by an explosion of the central center tank. Two components were required for this explosion:

1. Tank system: The 64,000 liter central tank contained only a small amount (around 189 liters) of Jet A type fuel . This is hardly combustible in the liquid state, but becomes gaseous at higher temperature or low pressure and can then form an ignitable mixture in connection with oxygen. In addition, one of the cables on the fuel sensor had been exposed for a long time due to mechanical wear. However, since a fuel sensor is only operated with extra-low voltage, this was not a problem at first.

2. Air conditioning: On the Boeing 747, part of the air conditioning (pack no. 2) for the cabin is located directly under the central wing tank. Since the machine waited more than an hour on the tarmac for a missing passenger whose luggage was already in the hold, the fuel heated up to approx. 53 ° C and thus above its flash point of 38 ° C. A defective insulation in the wiring harness caused a higher voltage from the cabin lighting to reach the fuel sensor. There the exposed cable shorted to another metallic component; a spark formed and ignited the fuel fumes.

Other representations

Shortly after the accident, speculation arose about a missile launch, as eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a trail of light ascending at the time of the crash. This has often been interpreted as a missile that hit the aircraft. The possibility of a bomb explosion on board the machine was also investigated. At the end of the taking of evidence in February 1997, both theses were assessed as unfounded. According to the official accident report, the witnesses likely saw the burning and initially ascending main body of the aircraft in the seconds after the fuel tank exploded.

On August 23, 1996, an article appeared in the New York Times that reported that traces of PETN , a chemical used in explosives and surface-to-air missiles, were found between rows 17 and 27.

In June 2013, six of the investigators at the time filed a petition to have the NTSB reopen the case . They justified their request by stating that information and data that spoke in favor of a rocket launch were ignored or deliberately ignored and concealed at the time. The re-evaluation of the radar recordings and eyewitness reports can prove that the cause of the crash was the result of a missile launch. On July 17, 2013, a TV documentary was released in the United States that documents the new evidence brought forward by the former investigators for the rocket launch theory.

At a press conference in July 2013, several NTSB investigators reaffirmed their conviction that "there was neither a bomb nor a missile."

Improvements after the accident

Although the exact location of the short circuit could not be determined with certainty, numerous improvements to this and other types of aircraft have been proposed by the NTSB. This also includes a device that fills the tank with nitrogen as soon as the fuel is consumed ( inerting ) in order to displace the oxygen and thus prevent an explosive air-fuel mixture from developing. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had already rejected the installation of such a system after an alleged explosion of the central wing tank on Philippine Airlines Flight 143 in 1990.

The FAA issued a total of more than 70 new guidelines after this disaster, including improving the insulation of the wiring harnesses running to the tank. This should also help to prevent short circuits and sparks from occurring in the tank system.

Victim

nationality	Passengers	crew	total
Algeria Algeria	9	0	9
Belgium Belgium	4th	0	4th
Denmark Denmark	6th	0	6th
France France	42	0	42
Germany Germany	2	0	2
Ireland Ireland	4th	0	4th
Israel Israel	1	0	1
Italy Italy	8th	1	9
Norway Norway	2	0	2
Spain Spain	1	0	1
Sweden Sweden	1	0	1
United Kingdom United Kingdom	7th	0	7th
United States United States	125	17th	142
total	212	18th	230

Among the passengers were:

Marcel Dadi , French guitarist
Rico Puhlmann , German fashion photographer
16 members of the French Club of Montoursville Area High School from Lycoming County , Pennsylvania and their five companions.

particularities

The jazz singer Jon Lucien - who lost his daughter in the crash - dedicated to her and the other deceased passengers his album Endless Is Love (1997).
The first scenes of the US horror film Final Destination (2000) are loosely based on this accident (a Boeing 747 on its way to Paris explodes shortly after take-off for unexplained reasons).
In the US animated series Roswell Conspiracies, there are subsequently questions without answers that allude to the flight.
The plot of the book Nachtflug by US writer Nelson DeMille is based on the conspiracy theories for this disaster.
The US chaplain Mychal Judge - who was one of the pastors for the bereaved - was killed five years later in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 .

media

"Flight TWA 800 - Explosion off Long Island" (original title: "TWA 800"). Seconds before the calamity, season 2, episode 10.
"From track to track" (original title: "Explosive Proof"). Mayday - Alarm in the Cockpit Season 17 , Episode 4.
"TWA Flight 800" . Documentary film from 2013, director: Kristina Borjesson , distributor: Lionsgate Television

Web links

Commons : Trans-World-Airlines-Flight 800 - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

National Transportation Safety Board : Investigation Report
Flight accident data and report of the flight accident of Flight 800 in the Accident Database of Plane Crash Info
Website on conspiracy theories related to the TWA 800 plane crash in July 1996

Individual evidence

↑ Boeing 747-100 with registration number N93119 in the Airfleets.net database, accessed on January 30, 2011, English
↑ National Transportation Safety Board: Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800. (PDF; 8.97 MB) In: NTSB AAR-00/03. P. 80, image 24 , archived from the original on October 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 13, 2010 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c National Transportation Safety Board: Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800. (PDF; 8.97 MB) In: NTSB AAR-00/03. Pp. 66–88, images 22a – 22c , archived from the original on October 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 13, 2010 .
^ Don van Natta Jr .: Prime Evidence found that Device exploded in Cabin of Flight 800. In: The New York Times . August 23, 1996, accessed on January 8, 2013 (English): “Chemists at the Federal Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory in Washington have found traces of PETN, a chemical in plastic explosives, on a piece of wreckage retrieved from the jet's passenger cabin between Rows 17 and 27, according to three senior officials deeply involved in the investigation. "
↑ PRIME EVIDENCE FOUND THAT DEVICE EXPLODED IN CABIN OF FLIGHT 800. In: The New York Times . August 23, 1996, accessed March 2, 2016 .
↑ What caused flight TWA 800 to crash? Tagesschau, June 21, 2013, archived from the original on June 24, 2013 ; Retrieved July 27, 2013 .
↑ Crash of flight TWA 800: Jumbo is said to have been hit by a missile. In: Stern.de . June 20, 2012, accessed December 20, 2014 .
↑ Mystery of Death Flight 800 - What Really Happened Back then? In: Focus . June 20, 2013, accessed June 27, 2013 .
↑ Crash of TWA Flight 800: Investigators deny the attack "from outside". In: Der Spiegel . July 3, 2013, accessed December 20, 2014 .
^ Passenger List: TWA Flight 800. In: The Washington Post . 1996, accessed December 20, 2014 .
↑ Ben Burnstein: Town still mourns 10 years after TWA 800. CNN , July 17, 2006, accessed December 20, 2014 .

40.65 -72.633055555556Coordinates: 40 ° 39 ′ 0 ″ N , 72 ° 37 ′ 59 ″ W.

[airfleets-1] Boeing 747-100 with registration number N93119 in the Airfleets.net database, accessed on January 30, 2011, English

[Final_Report_Figure_24-2] National Transportation Safety Board: Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800. (PDF; 8.97 MB) In: NTSB AAR-00/03. P. 80, image 24 , archived from the original on October 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 13, 2010 .

[Final_Report_Figure_22-3] National Transportation Safety Board: Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800. (PDF; 8.97 MB) In: NTSB AAR-00/03. Pp. 66–88, images 22a – 22c , archived from the original on October 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 13, 2010 .

[nytimes-4] Don van Natta Jr .: Prime Evidence found that Device exploded in Cabin of Flight 800. In: The New York Times . August 23, 1996, accessed on January 8, 2013 (English): “Chemists at the Federal Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory in Washington have found traces of PETN, a chemical in plastic explosives, on a piece of wreckage retrieved from the jet's passenger cabin between Rows 17 and 27, according to three senior officials deeply involved in the investigation. "

[5] PRIME EVIDENCE FOUND THAT DEVICE EXPLODED IN CABIN OF FLIGHT 800. In: The New York Times . August 23, 1996, accessed March 2, 2016 .

[6] What caused flight TWA 800 to crash? Tagesschau, June 21, 2013, archived from the original on June 24, 2013 ; Retrieved July 27, 2013 .

[7] Crash of flight TWA 800: Jumbo is said to have been hit by a missile. In: Stern.de . June 20, 2012, accessed December 20, 2014 .

[8] Mystery of Death Flight 800 - What Really Happened Back then? In: Focus . June 20, 2013, accessed June 27, 2013 .

[9] Crash of TWA Flight 800: Investigators deny the attack "from outside". In: Der Spiegel . July 3, 2013, accessed December 20, 2014 .

[10] Passenger List: TWA Flight 800. In: The Washington Post . 1996, accessed December 20, 2014 .

[11] Ben Burnstein: Town still mourns 10 years after TWA 800. CNN , July 17, 2006, accessed December 20, 2014 .