On the summer evening of July 17, 1996, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet operated by the Trans World Airlines took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, flying for Paris.

What was supposed to be a routine transatlantic flight turned into a tragedy, leaving 230 people dead and triggering one of the most extensive aviation investigations in history. To this day, TWA Flight 800 remains the third-deadliest aviation accident in United States (US) history. Let’s find out together what happened.

Trans World Airlines Flight 800 accident

On the evening of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800’s Boeing 747-100, took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, bound for Paris.

Approximately 12 minutes after takeoff, at an altitude of about 13,700 feet (4,200 meters), the aircraft suddenly exploded, sending a massive fireball into the sky. The center section of the aircraft came down first, followed by the forward fuselage, and ultimately the wings and the remaining portion of the fuselage. The plane plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island, claiming the lives of all 230 people on board.

Aircraft involved in the accident

The TWA Flight 800 accident involved a Boeing 747-131, a wide-body, four-engine jet that had been in service for nearly 25 years. This aircraft, registration N93119, was one of the oldest types in service, having accumulated 93,303 flight hours since 1971 without any incidents. At the time of the accident, it was operated by TWA, one of the US major carriers, operational from 1930 to 2001 and subsequently acquired by American Airlines.

Passengers and crew

TWA Flight 800 carried a total of 230 individuals, including 18 crew members and 20 off-duty employees. Among them, 17 crew members and 152 passengers were Americans, with one crew member being Italian. The remaining passengers came from a variety of other countries.

Celebrity passengers on board included French ice hockey player Michel Breistroff, renowned French guitarist Marcel Dadi, American composer David Hogan, and American crime victims’ rights advocate and former TWA flight attendant Pam Lychner.

TWA Flight 800 investigation

Eyewitnesses on the ground reported seeing a streak of light in the sky before the explosion, leading to initial speculation that it might have been the result of a missile strike. According to investigators, these witnesses had actually seen a trail of ignited fuel escaping from the damaged aircraft.

There were a total of 736 witnesses:

• 258 witnesses saw a “streak of light.”
• The overwhelming majority of witness testimonies aligned with the notion of the airplane being on fire.

Nearly all components of the 170-ton aircraft were retrieved from the seabed and reconstructed as an integral part of the ongoing investigation. Initial tests revealed the existence of explosive traces on three samples from distinct locations of the retrieved airplane debris. However, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) could not definitively trace the precise origin of these explosive residues.

Various possibilities were explored, including potential contamination from the aircraft’s prior use in transporting troops during the Gulf War in 1991, or its involvement in an explosive detection exercise for dog training approximately one month before the accident. However, further investigation would reveal a different cause.

The NTSB conducted a meticulous examination of the wreckage. Ultimately, the four-year investigation concluded that the explosion had been the result of an electrical fault in the plane’s center wing fuel tank, triggered by a short circuit. The flammable mixture of fuel vapors and air in the tank ignited, leading to the disastrous explosion.

John Purvis, who served as the head of the accident investigation division at the Boeing Company during the incident, said: “The explosion that occurred on TWA 800 was in the center wing fuel tank and was not from anything external. The NTSB was never able to pin-point the precise cause, but it was clear that it was from within the tank."

To date, the investigation into the TWA800 air disaster has been the biggest, most complex and costly ($40 million) in US history.

Safety changes implemented

In the wake of the TWA Flight 800 disaster, significant safety changes were implemented within the aviation industry. The most notable changes included modifications to the design and maintenance of aircraft fuel tanks to prevent similar explosions. Improved fuel tank inerting systems and increased inspection procedures have become standard practices, enhancing the overall safety of air travel.

Conspiracy theories of TWA Flight 800

Perhaps inevitably, the TWA Flight 800 tragedy also spawned numerous conspiracy theories, which claimed that the explosion was the result of a missile strike or a government cover-up. On July 17, 2013, the 17th anniversary of the tragedy, the documentary TWA Flight 800 was released, alleging that the investigation into the crash was a cover-up.

On September 19, 2022, a legal case, Krick et al v. Raytheon Corporation was initiated by the families of 15 victims in the United States District Court of Massachusetts. Their claim suggests that the explosion of the flight resulted from Aegis Combat System testing. The lawsuit further asserts that both the Department of Defense and the FBI covered up the incident.

These theories, though extensively examined and debunked by experts and investigators, persist to this day.