On the evening of Wednesday, July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, carrying 212 passengers and 18 crew members, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island shortly after taking off from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. There were no survivors.
The cause of the explosion has since been traced to the belly fuel tank of the Boeing 747-100 series aircraft, but what actually caused that explosion still remains a mystery.
The Boeing 747 is one of the mainstays of the world's long-haul commercial aircraft, it has a safety record equal to that expected of all commercial models in use around the world, and can be seen at many airports around the world. It's size, and distinctive bulge which forms the upper deck and cockpit area, give rise to the name "Jumbo Jet"
The aircraft which was Flight 800 that day was an older type of 747, a "100" series, but all indications are that it had a reasonable safety record and gave no cause for concern. What is concerning though, I think to the friends and families of loved ones lost in this tragedy, are the myriad of "conspiracy theories" which sprung up around the time of the crash. While I understand that there is always bound to be speculation, lets just hope the cause of the belly fuel tank explosion will be found one day and that finally we can all know the reason why Ana died.
For those interested, here are some facts and figures relating to the aircraft in question: (source: NTSB)
The flight number, as we all know, was 800.
The Aircraft type was a Boeing 747-100.
The Aircraft registry (USA) was N93119.
The Aircraft was manufactured during November 1971.
The Aircraft had accumulated about 93,303 flight hours and 16,869 cycles.
(Cycles are basically "flights", which contain take-off, climb, cruise, let-down & landing)
The air accident which happened to TWA Flight 800 on July 17th, 1996, was the 17th worse aviation accident in number of fatalaties (source Aviation Safety Net) - the worlds worst being the runway collision between 2 Boeing 747's beloning to KLM and PanAm on the March 27th 1977, in which 583 people lost their lives.
Although this is an increadable loss of life, flying remains the worlds safest form of mass transport. The Boeing 747 is truly an amazing aircraft wihch flies thousands of people in safety and comfort each day without incident or accident. At any one time, there are aproximately 70,000 people around the world in the air.. and another 70,000 waiting to go up. Flying is, compared to other means of transport, increadibly safe. The fact that people regularly sit in an aluminum tube, get boosted to around 35,000 ft in the air, and cruise around the planet at around 500mph in total safety and relative comfort is an amazing testamtent to the dedication of those who work in the airline industry.