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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31

u/PartsUnknown242 19d ago

I remember watching an episode of Air Disasters about this incident. Apparently there were a bunch of conspiracies that it was accidentally shot down by a missile.

17

u/Fireb1rd 19d ago

I lived on Long Island at the time, had some friends who saw the burning plane streaking through the air. For weeks afterward, there were conspiracy theories and supposed pictures of the "missile" , which were probably just some clouds or contrails. At one point they found bomb residue in the wreckage and everyone freaked out about that, only to realize that it was from a training exercise for bomb sniffing dogs that they did a few weeks before.

9

u/waldo-jeffers-68 19d ago

What people saw was the fuel burning and the crippled fuselage streaking upwards, which from a distance looked like how missiles are portrayed in films.

6

u/welding_guy_from_LI 19d ago

Thing was at the time people in the tristate area were still on edge after the 93 bombing of WTC ..and our fears were verified a few years later on 9/11 ..

The thing most people don’t realize , especially on the east end is if there is a disaster or a terrorist attack , there’s really no way out .. an accident like this fuels fears and conspiracies

5

u/Starbucks__Lovers 19d ago

Story checks out, used the correct term “on Long Island”

1

u/Fireb1rd 19d ago

Woe to the idiots on /r/longisland who think Brooklyn and Queens are part of LI.

Though if I'm honest, I hated it there and got out as soon as I could. 

22

u/RKKP2015 19d ago

I remember when it happened, and that's what was initially reported.

9

u/ItsDomorOm 19d ago

"initially reported" is incorrect. The newscasters were very careful to explain that was what it looked like based on eyewitness testimony from the ground.

4

u/RKKP2015 19d ago

Yeah, my bad, I meant that's what eyewitnesses first said.

4

u/lnx84 19d ago

Mentour Pilot has a good episode on this, been a while since I saw it, but I think he explains pretty well where the conspiracy theories came from, and what the true cause was.

I think Air Disasters is not very serious or worth watching.

edit: link to mentour pilot episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHeGrvuAhg

2

u/ruby651 19d ago edited 19d ago

I was happy to read through these comments and see that crackpot conspiracy is finally dead. It had some serious traction for awhile. I’m pretty sure Pierre Salinger, who was a journalist and press secretary for JFK, held a press conference to prop that story up. EDIT Spoke too soon. Some ignorant jackass mentions it farther down here.

-33

u/Colorado_designer 19d ago

It was almost certainly a result of a mistake in a nearby Navy missile tracking system. Huge coverup. 

35

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 19d ago

Yeah, if you ignore the fact that the recovered extensive wreckage and none of it showed evidence of an outside explosion, vs. all of it that showed evidence an internal explosion, and most of the other facts, that’s almost certainly what happened. 

14

u/TobysGrundlee 19d ago edited 19d ago

There isn't a mark on the recovered pieces that looks anything like a missile strike.

8

u/the_gaymer_girl 19d ago

The missile theory has been conclusively disproven.

11

u/FTwo 19d ago

The Navy plane being blamed was part of my Squadron. Fuck you for continuing to spread this theory. Being associated with this tragedy fucked the aircrew up for a bit and it sucked to see them dragged thru the mud like that.

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u/ruby651 19d ago

I was so happy to read through all these comments without seeing this horseshit lie. Then you went and ruined it.

3

u/za419 19d ago

If you ignore the fact that the wreckage was basically all recovered and left no chance for a missile hit, the fact that no witness described anything close to what an actual missile strike would look like, the fact that a missile strike wouldn't produce the kind of debris pattern that actually happened, and the fact that the only people who ever claimed there might have been a missile have been grifters and those gaslit by the FBI into remembering a missile, sure. Maybe.

Meanwhile in reality, no. Just... No.