TWA Flight 800 Disaster

TWA 800 was a 25-year-old Boeing 747-131 (registration number N93119) owned and operated by Trans World Airlines.

On July 17, 1996, TWA 800 left JFK Airport on its way to Paris, France. Approximately 13 minutes after take off, Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All 230 passengers and crew were killed.

Following the crash of TWA 800, several theories arose as to what brought down the jumbo jet. At the time, the public and investigators believed that a terrorist bomb had brought down the plane, but as the investigation progressed, a new theory developed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed over 500 witnesses who claim they saw an object in the sky streaking up towards the plane. Many believed that perhaps a terrorist missile brought down the plane. As the investigation continued, rumors spread that the object the witnesses saw was actually a U.S. Navy missile. The TWA 800 conspiracy was born.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had a different theory, however. After examining much of the plane and conducting several experiments, the NTSB published its report, blaming the disaster on a spark that ignited jet fuel vapors in the center wing tank, causing a catastrophic explosion that ultimately destroyed the plane.

Prior to its departure, TWA 800 was delayed while waiting for ground personnel to locate a "missing" passenger. While the plane sat on the hot tarmac, the air conditioning units kept the passengers cool, but at the same time they generated tremendous heat. Because the A/C units on the 747 are located directly beneath the center wing tank, the heat they generated heated the fuel in the center tank.
As a liquid, JET A-1 fuel is extremely difficult to ignite, but as a vapor it is highly explosive.
Eventually the ground personnel found the "missing" passenger (was already onboard) and TWA 800 left JFK over an hour late. The delay had allowed the fuel in the center wing tank to be heat up to its flash point.
As the 747 climbed past 13,000 feet, a short circuit in the plane's tangled and corroded wiring sent high voltage electricity through the fuel probe wires and into the center wing tank. Here the high voltage electricity jumped from a wire on the fuel probe to another metal surface, creating an electrical arc which ignited the fuel vapor. The resulting explosion blew out the front of the tank, forcing its way into the front cargo hold. There it blew a hole on the bottom of the plane. Unable to cope with the structural damage, the plane's nose broke off. As the nose fell towards the ocean, the rest of the plane (unbalanced by the shift in the center of gravity) pitched up and climbed several thousand feet before stalling and falling back down to earth.

Despite the NTSB publishing its report, many still believed that a missile was involved.
To this day, the debate as to what brought down TWA Flight 800 rages on.

Video from National Geographic's Seconds From Disaster TV series

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[VaxtesMusic]

well, i think we never will find out the cause of the crash.

Was it a missile or a bomb or a spark in the fuel tank? The NTSB said a spark has caused the explosion, other people think its a missile and only a few part thinks that it is a bomb. Well all this 3 possibilitys could be the cause of the disaster. In my opinion the first is the true, but evreyone can believe what he want. Its true that a spark can jump into the fueltank wires, when it has cracked isolation. So why not?

[omalor]

No bomb, no missile, no mechanical malfunction .....

..... it was Death's Design!! 

[pettyofficer30]

How can anybody "inspect" damaged wiring from a plane that exploded over the Atlantic?

[MasterPwny]

Its saaaad

[Rariimnida]

@bjnboy thank you for the information! i've never seen the full episode, so it's great to know.

[bjnboy]

@kanukster

Hundreds of witnesses saw the plane itself climbing up into the sky after the explosion. People are highly prone to suggestibility and when the missile theory got out there, they might have started believing they saw a missile when they did not. And no, Seconds From Disaster showed the tests replicating the conditions in the fuel tank and set off a spark. The tank exploded from the jet fuel's heated vapor.

[bjnboy]

@Rariimnida

The full episode explains that after the disaster, airlines have topped up fuel tanks with nitrogen to keep in there cool enough so it does not superheat up like it did on flight 800.

[bjnboy]

@ononsual

In the full show, they tested the explosiveness of a 747 fuel tank by making one out in a testing field. They replicated the conditions inside of TWA's tank, set of a spark... and them BOOM! Even the panels inside were blasted against the centre tank's walls.

On top of that, if you examine the reconstructed fuselage in the hanger, the area by the fuel tank shows the outside blown out with the metal curving outwards as if an explosion had taken place.

[TheDylanJoyce]

MMMMM Bombs?

[fraroc]

@RIEKSONE Because the 747-100 that was being operated for Flight 800 was a very old plane and the wiring was extremley corroded. And it is possible for corroded wiring to form a short circuit, zap the fuel tank and set fire to the gases. The "missle" everyone saw was something much worse, they witnessed the final moments of TWA 800 rising into the air, then bursting into flames.

[RIEKSONE]

i dont believe the spark in the tank theory

first off how come that hasnt happened before with 747(correct me if iam wrong)

they shot it down

[bjroberts65]

Thats some Final Destination shit.