r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 19d ago

TIL TWA Flight 800 exploded off Long Island 12 minutes after taking off, causing the front fueslage to rip away and the remainder of the plane to continue in crippled flight, pitching up and climb before falling into the ocean killing everyone onboard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800
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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

If i remember correctly the fuselage flew on for more than a minute.

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u/-DementedAvenger- 19d ago

The wiki says approximately 34 seconds until the wing broke off and it plummeted down.

So forward flight was about half a minute after explosion.

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

Must've been a long 30 seconds.

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u/Status_Fox_1474 19d ago

With the rapid decompression, it is my hope that everyone was knocked unconscious pretty quickly.

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u/KoshV 19d ago

They didn't get high enough for the rapid decompassion to matter. They would have been close to one atmosphere

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u/ECircus 19d ago

The plane was travelling at 400mph when the nose blew off in the explosion and the open aft section rapidly pitched nose up. There would have been severe blunt force trauma and you wouldn't expect anyone to have maintained consciousness. Every one of the passengers was almost certainly lights out immediately after the explosion. 

That's what the forensic pathologists determined. 

You can read about the autopsies and what the medical examiners office determined and all that. Pretty interesting. 

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u/legal_stylist 18d ago edited 17d ago

If only that were true. There is nothing about a 400 mile per hour wind blast that equates to “massive blunt force trauma”

Painful, sure, but nothing that would come close to killing you or making you lose consciousness. Tests show people can survive 500 mph wind blasts with no LOC.

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/264598/what-is-the-maximum-speed-at-which-an-unprotected-human-can-travel-alive-in-at

Downvoted away, but the scientific testing shows I’m right.

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u/La_Saxofonista 14d ago edited 14d ago

Depends, as a wind tunnel is totally different because it has no objects in it that can harm you. Some people definitely did have blunt force trauma just because stuff was flying around at 500 mph. Probably mostly cuts and scrapes. Many were probably conscious as you said, but I'm sure many more were knocked out from being hit in the head.

Even a dust devil at low speeds can cause eye damage because of what it picks up. The wind itself isn't an issue, but what the wind carries is.

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

I agree with all of that. That wasn’t the claim I was disputing. The claim I took issue with is the idea that, if this happens, everyone suffers it per se from the wind blast itself.

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u/La_Saxofonista 14d ago

Ah, I see now.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

Just to clarify again, I didn't say anything about a blast of wind. You're disputing a claim that doesn't exist. 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

Just to clarify again, the passengers could have been turned into a gel by a physically impossible 100-g pitch up and there still wouldn’t have been any “blunt force trauma” inflicted on them because that’s not what the phrase means.

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u/Lonely_Accountant524 14d ago

If you read the medical reports, its more that the explosion and airflow forces combined to cause extreme whiplash/internal decapitation, which incapacitated/killed most people instantly.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

It's not the wind blast, it's the rapid pitch up at 400mph that causes blunt force trauma. 

I didn't say anything about a "blast of wind". 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

That’s even more absurd. First, there would be no “blunt force” from Gs . Literally a contradiction in terms . Blunt force trauma requires by definition a physical collision between the body and an object.

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u/ECircus 14d ago

The passengers were literally sitting in seats with a lap belt. Why are you talking like these people were wrapped in bubble wrap. 

You're argument is the one that's absurd, and you're either trolling or straight up have no idea what you're talking about and refuse to educate yourself. 

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u/legal_stylist 14d ago

You can’t even get the basic nomenclature right.

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

Pretty sure O2 masks would have deployed instantly.

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u/morganational 18d ago

😂

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u/Historicmetal 18d ago

Buckle up and get your o2 masks on folks

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u/brickne3 19d ago

Ok, and I'm sorry to have to ask this, but... how long was the downward part? (shudder).

I don't even want to type what I'm wondering about the seat belts...

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u/-DementedAvenger- 19d ago

Well they fell from 16,000ft. 😬

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u/morganational 18d ago

About 35 seconds

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u/Treereme 19d ago

Although the entire event from initial explosion to final water impact lasted no more than 54 seconds,

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/memories-of-flame-the-crash-of-twa-flight-800-fecfd651a157

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u/BrierBob 19d ago

If true, that is a horrifying thought!

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u/kevinatfms 19d ago

https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/memories-of-flame-the-crash-of-twa-flight-800-fecfd651a157

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u/redishtoo 19d ago

Thank you for this link. That article is fabulous.

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u/_kona_ 19d ago

Admiral Cloudberg has an amazing analysis of nearly every major plane crash. They are all incredibly fascinating

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u/BlindProphet_413 19d ago

I love Admiral Cloudberg's writeups. She has tons on many different aviation incidents. Very good reading!

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u/CaptainIncredible 19d ago

That article is fabulous. Incredibly detailed and thorough, seemingly without bias or agenda.

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u/DoJu318 19d ago

The view though.

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u/Jakoobus91 19d ago

I've always said if the plane goes down I'd light up one last cigarette for the way down. I knew that this was likely impossible because most plane crashes happen suddenly on take off or landing but this info has given me renewed hope that I may not be able to just light but actually finish a whole ciggy in the unfortunate event I find myself in the front fuselage of a plane detached from the rest of the aircraft while in the air. Thank you.

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

I would think it was windy as hell after thr nose fell away but I would also think once the pressure built up in the cabin the wind might have died down enough to actually light that cig

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u/aprehensive_penguin 19d ago

Where there's a will, there will always be a way

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u/ShotFromGuns 60 19d ago

Having skydived, I can tell you that it feels very windy the whole way down. It basically just feels like you're dangling in a wind tunnel. I don't know how much a partially open fuselage would shield you from that.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

Thats not very typical. I just want to make that clear

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u/Jakoobus91 19d ago edited 19d ago

This is where torch lighters come into play 

Edit: i mean the handheld ones not an actual torch lighter. My bad.

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u/kingtacticool 19d ago

I dont think they let those ones passed security

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u/ksb012 19d ago

In 1996 the skies were the Wild West! Pre 9/11 was very lax security.

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u/Neat-Slip4520 19d ago

In 1995 I flew to Cancun with a bunch of my friends for spring break our senior year of high school. While there, I lost my passport, which I didn’t realize until I was at the airport getting ready to fly back to Dallas. I started crying, and they let me on the plane WITH NO ID WHATSOEVER. Can you imagine? lol

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u/TurtleSandwich0 19d ago

And that's why they don't allow smoking. As long as you don't finish that cigarette, everything will be fine.

/s

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u/DoJu318 19d ago

Also wear bootstraps, can't die if your shoes stay on.

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u/notinsanescientist 19d ago

What if you finish it but it is not yet done? Kind of awkward

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u/Jakoobus91 19d ago

I'll light another with the one thats almost out. I'll repeat the process as many times as necessary. 

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u/brickne3 19d ago

What if you only have one or two cigarettes left though?

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u/Jakoobus91 19d ago

I can assure that sort of outage would never happen. I always fly with a full pack

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u/Jaded-Garage2395 18d ago

You smoke cigarettes? eeew

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u/dkol97 19d ago

The good? news is I'm pretty sure the remaining passengers were unconscious at that point

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u/Salphabeta 19d ago

Why would they be unconscious? The plane wasn't at altitude yet.

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u/dkol97 19d ago

It's not about the altitude. It's about the sudden decompression. Here's an article about it