What really happened?
It really, really crashed.
The NTSB says it was probably a spark.
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/TWA800/default.htm
http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2000/aar0003.htm
Thousands of conspiracy theorists say it was shot down by missiles, or a UFO, or the American military.
http://www.flight800.org/
http://www.twa800.com/index.htm
http://www.cowan70.freeserve.co.uk/miscellaneous/twa_800.htm
So, who you gonna believe, the official government report–or thousands of conspiracy theorists?
<< shrug >>
The bigger question is: why does Flying_Monk have zero posts?
Conspiracy…?
That’s kind of like the ol’ time travel paradox isn’t it?
If FlyingMonk hasn’t posted, how can we see that he/she has 0 posts? If FlyingMonk has posted, how can he/she have 0 posts?
Hmmm…
As to the OP, read Duck Duck Goose’s links and then decide for yourself who is more believable.
Were there settlements with the victims’ families? If so, it’s hard to believe TWA, Boeing and their insurers would just pay up and let the government off the hook if there was any chance that it was an errant military missile. Or did the government just pay them off to take the fall, in the process greatly widening the circle of co-conspirators who have managed to keep their mouths shut all these years?
A flying monk and a flying nun collided nearby and the tremedous ball of antienergy engulfed the airplane.
That’s as good an explanation as the NTSB provided! The NTSB should have just called you instead of going to all the trouble of a special presentation (complete with overheads), retrofitting planes with new parts, etc.
I hadn’t heard their claim about the metal shavings, though. Nice touch. 
Uh, Edlyn, are you saying an explosion in the center fuel tank was impossible, or are we being whooshed here?
An OP isn’t a post, according to Cecil’s official postercounter.
Welcome to the message board, Flying_Monk.
Anyway you look at it though, it was a dreadful terrible way to go for the people remaining in the aft 2/3rds of the plane. You see, after the first 1/3rd of the plane exploded away, the monster jet that a 747 is simply kept steaming away at full throttle on it’s upward climb to cruising altitude. She was at 17,000 ft when the explosion occurred.
Now there’s a fair bit of speculation involved here, but the facts are as follows. The plane kept flying level for about 30 seconds AFTER the explosion and then, because she was now tail heavy, started to aim upwards. It’s generally agreed, that at least a quarter of the passengers who were in the remaining 2/3rds of the plane at this point would still have been alive, and by any yardstick, you’d have to agree, that would be a pretty terrifying ordeal. Imagine sitting in the back section of a 747 and having the front 1/3rd of the plane get blown away on a sunset evening 13 minutes into your flight? Imagine looking forward and seeing open sky, and feeling wind roar etc?
Slowly, the plane gained height and went into a stall, and then, still under full power, rolled right into a straight dive into the sea. As you know, 747’s aren’t supposed to go into straight dives into the sea from 20,000 plus feet under full power. And through all of this, there were passengers still alive in the aft sections. I can but only try to imagine the horror involved in such a death.
Just for giggles - I follow aviation sites, and wander around a bit. (This is why I can’t provide a link). Anyway, AVWEB published a rather thoughtless article in which (allegedly) it reffered to a lawyer as an “ambulance chaser”, and, unfortunately, named the lawyer. He sued. In following that story, I found his web page (no link). He alleges that the plane in question was, at the time the design defect was supposed to be fixed, in the service of the Iranian Air Force (transport planes lead interesting lives), and the Iranians did not perform the specified fix.
So the question becomes: how did that plane become TWA 800 without the retro-fit being applied?
The software starts counting at 0, not 1. Also a thread with only the OP has 0 posts although it is easy to get around that by saying it has 0 “responses”.
Irrelevant. Software normally counts from 0. However, post counts start at one. The SD board has no response counter.
Sorry to point out the obvious but if you look in any of the forum pages you will see that a thread with one post has a 0 (zero) in the column titled “replies”.
I wouldn’t say impossible, it’s just not what happened to 800 to the best of my belief. I had 14 years background in aerospace (pay close attention to these things) and had someone who worked for TWA when it happened. I also had CNN on when the first announcement was made and heard everything as initially reported that evening. When the flight data was available, I gave a copy of it to the guy who designed the AOA (angle of attack) sensor for him to review. His comments: it’s like it hit a brick wall. An article buried in the local paper reported what two (local) NWA pilots in the area saw that night matched what I had heard the evening it happened. There’s more, but you know, it still upsets me to look back on this issue.
I’m not into conspiracy, but I can’t lay aside my observations to accept their story.
I like the drill shavings, though: neither explosion, nor wind, nor fire, nor water, nor transport can shake them away!
To be fair, Edlyn, all of my experience (20+ years) in electromechanical products (building, installing and maintaining) in a variety of heavy land and sea vehicles agrees with the supposition that drill shavings in wire bundles are Bad Joo-joo. They are a pervasive product of many manufacturing or repair processes, and unbelievably insidious when not properly removed. Even in moderate vibration environments, they act as efficient little abrasive monsters, filing away at wire insulation.
I think it’s quite plausible for the NTSB to say that if drill shavings were not adequately removed from proximity with that aircraft’s wire bundles, the likelihood of a short circuit caused by abrasion of insulation is fairly high.
In a fine bit of research (professional courtesy absolutely intended), Duck Duck Goose uncovered:
This pretty much punctures a lot of the conspiracy theorists’ craziness on Flight 800. If it really was a missle or other outside agent that brought down the plane, do you think TWA and Boeing would have stumped up a dime in settlement cash? Or do you think the government paid them off, Pierre Salinger?
I have a personal interest in this story, well, almost personal. I grew up not far from Montoursville, a community which lost a group of kids who were on a trip to France. My best friend taught one of their classes. I remember how many in Montoursville thought it was a real insult that the conspiracy theorists had tried to get in on the investigation, an act which could have damaged any settlement claims. So much for “conspiracy theory” being a harmless, victimless lark.
HOLY LURKER BATMAN!