The 1996 Crash of TWA Flight 800
Added 2023-08-15 10:15:01 +0000 UTCWhile looking into the background of this disaster, I was surprised to find that this is not the first time a Trans World Airlines Flight 800 has crashed. A previous accident destroyed a plane with the same flight number decades before in 1964.
The two accidents were quite different. The 1964 crash took place after an aborted take-off. As pilots struggled to get the plane back down on the ground it struck a vehicle, before coming to rest a little further along the runway. Before everyone on board could evacuate, the plane burst into flames and exploded.
In many cases, when an accident takes place, the flight number of the accident plane will be retired… both due to public perception and to avoid any confusion. For some reason (and somewhat uniquely) this simply wasn’t done in this case. If anyone knows if there was a specific reason why, do let me know!
Comments
That's a new one to me. Was really surprised by the CCTV footage - it looks like a pretty bad accident, so was expecting a higher death toll. Will do some more reading on it!
Fascinating Horror
2023-08-28 19:42:38 +0000 UTCIt's absolutely fascinating... there was so much uncertainty and back and forth in this story, so not surprised that the final conclusion got lost!
Fascinating Horror
2023-08-28 17:58:48 +0000 UTCInteresting! I recall all the news reports about “friendly fire”, and the missle theory… and then later, the bad wires. Never knew the whole story or final conclusion. Very well done!
2023-08-17 02:25:54 +0000 UTCOn another note, I'd like to see a video on Bek Air Flight 2100. It was a plane that crashed during takeoff in icy weather in December 2019. 13 of the 98 people onboard died. I found out about it a few days ago after stumbling upon CCTV footage of the crash on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOd8mMK6JCI
Michael Rutherford
2023-08-15 19:01:04 +0000 UTC
