Today marks the seventh anniversary of the tragic loss of TWA 800, a 747 traveling from New York - Kennedy to Paris.

I was curious to hear what everyone thinks really happened on July 17, 1996.

I personally still do not believe that there was a mechanical problem within the aircraft, N93119.

Just curious to hear your ideas...

-Ryan

[Edited 2003-07-17 18:50:19]

It's hard to say, they recovered an awfull lot of that aircraft and re-assembled in a hanagar.

The conclusion was a center fuel tank explosion due to build up of fumes, there were theories of a missile but nothing substantial and no one took responsibility for the attack.

Terrorists usual like to boast about attacks, whether they actually comitted them or not. And no one came foward and said anything.

Honestly, this topic has been brought up time and time again here, and we've covered every logical angle, and 37 more. Today is a day of great sadness to families nationwide, and I don't feel that discussing what potential mistakes/lies were or weren't made involving their loved ones' deaths is necessary. If you really want to know the opinions of users here, do a search or two.

   USAIRWAYS321   

i don't know what happened but after that and Egyptair 990, i would never fly from JFK-Europe.

does AA or any airline fly a flight 800? hopefully not

Roswell 1947, JFK Dallas 1963, TWA800 1996, ...the book of unsolved mysteries. Food for everyone to chew, forever. Amen.

I know United uses the 800 series for transpacific flights. Perhaps they operate a flight 800? Incidentally, a few years back when United was planning to operate their own JFK-HKG service to compete with Continental, they initially planned to use 800/801 as the numbers for the new service. I don't believe they were used when the flight went into the schedules, however.

Regarding TWA800, there's a ton of conspiracy theories available on the internet, and some of the evidence presented to support the missile theory is pretty convincing. I haven't drawn my own conclusions yet, but there's some very interesting reading out there and I would suggest checking some of it out in your spare time.

It's been 7 years now without my cousin...it feels like it happened just yesterday. My 19-year-old cousin was on his way to Rome to try out for the basketball leagues there, aspiring to one day live his dream to play in the NBA. He was actually supposed to take the earlier twa flight but it was overbooked. He ended taking up the next flight, flight 800. His luggage went on the earlier flight and ended up safely in rome. Its amazing what the chances are of losing a loved one in an aircraft accident when there are so many flights going on all over the world every minute.

My strong belief was that is was a missle, accidental or not is what i still dont know, but i am leaning over to a navy accident covered up by the government. Many people in the airline industry working in maintenance and other sectors that I have come across strongly believe it was a missile that brought down twa 800 and not the mechanical theory. To them the mechanical theory just doesn't make sense. But who knows and i think years down the road the government will come forward with some light on the truth.

Fly Safe,
Elal106

Elal106:

I am very sorry to hear about the sudden loss of your cousin seven years ago.

My mother was a Flight Attendant with TWA, and was good friends with Jan Craven, one of the Flight Attendants aboard that evening. She was bringing her young son with her to visit Paris.

I do also believe it was a missile, shot by the United States government. There are pictures to prove it.

My family knows someone who works for the military up in NY, and he had told us that there was an aircraft that returned to the military base that night missing a missile. Who knows where it went, but one can surely speculate.

I'll keep your cousin in my prayers this evening, as it is a poignant one for me as well.

Regards,
Ryan P.

Holy sh!t. I guess the conspiracy theorists really DON'T need a reason to come out of the woodwork.

Are you the same guys that believe that 9/11 BS that is on the internet? After all..."there are pictures to prove it".  

Oh give me a break M717.

...I don't know what else to say.

-Ryan

Rather than drag up the conspiracy theories once again, why can't we just keep this a solemn remembrance of those lost?

Patricia Kwiat, 21, of Briarcliff Manor, NY, was an honors student at The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. She would have entered her senior year in the fall. Her college friends remembered her as a cheerful woman who always smiled and who cared deeply about others. I remember her from high school -- mostly as a fellow band member. As her squad and later her section leader in marching band, I can say she always gave 110%. She was an excellent musician and also a member of the National Honor Society. As a supervisor of volunteer events for NHS, I could always count on Patty's participation even if only for one hour. She was quiet in high school, but not aloof, and even though some of her friends were cruel to my sister and me, Patty was never like that.

Kimberly Kwiat was Patty's older sister. She attended the Lubin School working toward her Master of Business Administration. She and Patty had dreamed of a trip to France and their presence on TWA 800 was the culmination of years of studying French, saving money, and planning.

They were seated near where the aircraft broke apart in the first explosion. Patty's body was one of the first pulled from the water. Kim's body was found days later in the submerged wreckage.

Rest in peace.

PS My sister flies JFK-CDG several times a year to spend time with her French boyfriend; if I thought for a second that she was in danger of being shot down for any reason, I would be very upset. I'm not.

[Edited 2003-07-18 02:33:47]

I still have a hard time believing it is now 7 years. Yes let us remember those who lost here lives and put the theories on the back burner for now.

I'm sorry everyone, I really didn't mean to have this bring up any conspiracy theories today, rather have people remember this tragic day in history.

I'll never forget where I was this night seven years ago.

I was sitting at home, watching television with my mother, a TWA flight attendant.

Eleven at the time, the CNN break-in of the disaster made me cry instantaniously. I begged my mom never to fly again all night long, crying in her arms, as I didn't think I'd be able to live without her.

It was a very poignant experience for me, as one-year and two-days to the day, on July 19, 1997, I lost my mom to Breast Cancer...

-Ryan

Ryan sorry to hear bout your loss, please accept my sympathy. This anniversary needs to be remembered and the people who's lives have been affected deserve are thoughts at this very trying time.

Ryan,

Conspiracy theories aside, thanks for giving people the opportunity to remember. I'm sorry for your loss...very much so. And sorry for my flippant remarks above. Take care.

Ryan,

As with the above posters, I am also sorry for your loss. I have a friend who also lost his mom (at age 17) and I know it's tough on him too.

Given the possibilities, I don't believe that TWA800 wasn't a simple explosion of the center fuel tank; I believe there's more to it than that.

It's hard to believe that it has been 7 years. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims of this horrible disaster.
Adam

Oops, I didn't mean for the double negative in my above post. I meant to say "I don't believe that TWA800 was a simple explosion of the center fuel tank".

It does seem rather hard to believe that 7 years have gone by since we lost all of those people to something-be it a missile or whatever, they are gone from us. I feel the same way every December thinking of Lockerbie. Many friends gone, many many families forever with a hole in them. As Redngold said, this is not the time to once again get into a debate over what happened, just that it did and pray that all from TWA800 and PAA103 are all resting in peace.

I believe the mechanical theory. There have been numerous cases of other aircraft having center wing tank explosions i.e the Philippines 737 etc. It's not so hard to believe that an empty fuel tank on a hot summers day sitting on a hot tarmac can build up dangerous fuel vapours, enough to destroy a 747 even. I think the NTSB even did some tests and they found that the force of the explosion was much higher than they anticipated, definitely enough to bring a 747 down. And what caused the spark? The plane was pretty old and a bit of chafed wire somewhere near the tank could have easily sparked the explosion. No conspiracy in my opinion just a terrible accident.

I to agree with Positive Rate on the center fuel tank explosion explination. We studied it heavily in Aviation Safety and came to the samce conclusions that the NTSB found. What fuel left in the center tank turned from the liquid state into a gas while it was sitting on the ground in JFK. Once airborne the frayed wires running to the tank probes sparked and ignited the gas/fuel in the take causing the plane to split apart...Engines throttled up to full and the plane climbed until it stalled and gravity took over...

Aside from that I to send out my sympathies to all those families that lost loved ones in the accident. If i'm not mistaken in the issue wasn't this also concided one of the biggest PR disasters in TWA with the way they did/didn't release any info to the families with loved ones onboard?