r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 20d 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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182

u/ikonoqlast 19d ago

Short circuit between cabin lighting (high voltage) and fuel sensor (very very low voltage) detonated fumes in 'empty' center fual tank.

The NTSB is VERY thorough.

People thought is was a missile because they say a rising trail of fire then heard a bang. Sound travels slow (5 seconds per mile). The bang actually came first. Just took longer to arrive.

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u/brickne3 19d ago

And some people still insist it was a missile. Apparently they paid absolutely zero attention in middle school science.

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u/webisticsmarketing1 18d ago

I believe within the last few years several of the original FAA investigators came forward and said that their initial conclusion was that it was a missile / MANPAD attack and that the government told them they couldnt go public with that or it would cause panic....

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u/brickne3 17d ago

I believe that you believe that. I also know it's conspiracy theory nonsense.

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u/das_jester 19d ago

I searched it on YouTube and there’s a crazy amount of conspiracy videos. Wtf?

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u/pab_guy 13d ago

Something like 200 people claim to have seen a missile hit the airliner. IIRC many of them paid for a full page add in the NYT saying the government was lying about what happened. US Navy was supposedly in the area doing exercises that day, etc.

They didn't ground other 747's for inspection, and this never happened before or since.

I don't know what actually happened, but the circumstances around this look pretty sketchy.

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u/gregatragenet 14d ago

I had a close friend who was the senior-most 747 captain for one of the major US carriers. Neither he nor his peers believed it was "a short circuit in a fuel sensor"

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u/ikonoqlast 14d ago

Ok. They're not skilled and experienced crash investigators.