My niece and sister in law were on that flight. They were headed to Paris as a college graduation gift for my niece. My sister in law was a French teacher. We still think about both of them nearly every day. Two special women.
I lost an elderly aunt to it, she was a retired nuclear medicine technician. I was young at the time, so it was my first introduction to loss as a whole. In a unique turn of events a little under 10 years later my middle school teacher was a retired fireman who had moved out west to where I lived. He was one of the emergency responders involved in the recovery efforts.
imagine the shock of the captain from the East Wind plane seeing the TWA Flight 800 suddenly exploded in front of his eyes, that memory will forever last with him.
The Eastwind plane (not the same flight crew iirc) had a near-fatal rudder malfunction a month prior, same kind of rudder malfunction that caused the crash of several other planes.
@@caustic1611That Eastwind pilot was in a MayDay episode about those rudder malfunctions and was the one who said he was pretty sure the investigators were happier to have the intact plane to study than him.
I went to an estate sale in the Detroit area in the months following this crash. I had purchased an answering machine and noticed the tape was full when I went to set it up in my home. I rewound the tape and played it, and it was really sad- progressively more and more messages expressing concern, that the callers knew this family was traveling abroad, and hoped they weren’t on TWA 800. Seeing as these were the only messages, and the entire contents of the home were being sold, I suspect it was. I had purchased some of their Christmas decorations as well, and I still set their ornaments on my tree every year and say a little prayer for them. 😔
Hey, do you still have that answering machine? I'm wanting to do my own video on TWA 800 (I wrote the script for this video) at some point, and it would be crucial if something like this was preserved.
Please don’t share that answering machine with the person who requested it. That is very tragic and personal. That should be kept private instead of someone’s pain being used for content. I wouldn’t want my sobbing, frantic messages to a loved one being shared and exploited.
This video broke my heart. Dr. Ghassan Haurani and his wife Nina were on board on the way to Paris for their 25th anniversary. He was a vascular surgeon at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in the Detroit area and his skilled hands saved my mother's life. I will be forever grateful he saved her and I feel so sorry for his family.
And you don’t need to imagine, you just need to stop flattering your ego and stop flying planes (ego & hubris of those, who claim that planes are safe and who, for the sake of convenience and speed, use them!)😎
@@user-yp6kn2uw4k If you are privileged enough to not worry about time then good for you, but most people can't spend weeks driving just to see their family or for work. That and planes just aren't that dangerous soooooo...
My husband worked for the electronics division at Boeing when this occurred. It was well documented that this plane had numerous episodes of non-functioning electrical components. Cabin lights, personal overhead lighting, random other electric switches, etc., would often flicker, completely cut off and then back on again, etc. Those are all clear signs of electrical short-circuits and faulty connections and wiring, conditions that should never be accepted as normal on any airplane.
I was on TWA Flight 800 a month before in JFK going to Paris. As we were sitting there waiting to go the power went out three times. People were getting nervous and the captain came on and said oh we're running on the generator right now so it's not the same as when we're in the air.
In fall 2012 I flew United from SFO to Tokyo on what turned out to be my last-ever flights on a 747. This was of course right while they were starting to phase them all out, so they were probably pretty old by then. On the return trip the inflight entertainment wasn't working, and maybe it was a false memory, but I seem to think some of the lights weren't even working. Left me a little nervous.
Huge difference between something not working and it working intermittently because of faulty wiring. The latter is dangerous and a fire hazard. Something being off isn't dangerous. Lights and in-flight entertainment aren't crucial to flight operations.
I dont know if the channel owner reads the comments very thoroughly, but I hope that you read this. Before I was even born, my mother lost her brother, my uncle, in Northwest 255 leaving from Romulus, Michigan. I never knew my uncle (Nicholas Vanos R.I.P.) but the impact that his death had on my mother and our family was devastating to say the least. I don’t know if you do requests or take suggestions, but this flight was incredibly disastrous and yet miraculous in the survival of one 4 year old girl. If you’re reading this I thank you for taking the time, with every upload I wait in anticipation for the day Flight 255 is covered.
I agree he should do a documentary on it. I've never heard of it until you mentioned it. I'm sorry for your family's loss. I was surprised to see it happened on my birthday (not the same year though I was born a very long time after)
To all my horror movie enthusiasts. Did you know this crash inspired the plane crash of Flight 180 in the first Final Destination film? The directors even tried to match the exact theoretical experiences of what the last brutal moments of the passengers aboard TWA 800 was like for the movie.
Someone above mentioned they used the news footage for the scene where Devon sawa was watching the news. (He was my childhood/teen crush, what happened to him, hah?)
@@tifKhhe's still making movies, his most recent one(that I never heard about)being Who Are You People. He looks good for his age and has 2 kids now lol
@@hollyann9610Yezzir! Plus, I don't know what you've seen in your life or what you do research on, however, Final Destination is based on freak accidents which do indeed occur. I've heard plenty of stories where someone passed away in an "odd" or unrealistic way. Ways that you could only explain with "it was their time" death wanted the person and came to collect haha
It's scary to think just how many small factors can come togeater to case a disaster like this. It really drives home the importance of the "Swiss cheese" model of safety planning.
theory of ordered chaos / snowball effect / domino effect / perfect storm - one must always make efforts so that the fluctuations of chaos do not become orderly and turn into a catastrophe.
It really is. The one thing I don't get is them claiming the wires were too low voltage to cause any kind of sparks.. I'm not sure how low you can go without sparks, but I'm fairly sure even 4 or 5 volts is enough to create a spark if 2 wires are close together
This was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back for TWA. Consumer confidence was already low by that point, and between all of the safety issues and debt, there wasn't much of a chance for them to recover. What also didn't help was Carl Icahn, who basically lined his pockets with the little that was left...at the cost of lives. TWA fell, and it fell HARD.
And TWA had really old planes. They were one of the last major operators of the 747-100. Delta, for instance, had moved on to the much newer 767-300ER as had American, and United was receiving the brand new 777 at the time. Continental had 767s and 777s on order.
The TWA implosion had major consequences for my hometown, Saint Louis. We were its biggest hub. Our airport, Lambert Field, was in the process of a major expansion to accommodate TWAs growth when they folded. American ended up shutting down all their international flights out of Lambert and the place looked apocalyptically empty for years with an entire terminal basically abandoned. We had been the 8th busiest airport in the country with flights to several international destinations, and suddenly we were a bright and shiny new ghost town. The ripples of TWA's demise went far in the STL.
My dad graduated from Montoursville HS in ‘81. He knew several of the chaperones on Flight 800. The way a small town was so affected by this loss is truly heartbreaking. They have a memorial in town with 21 trees, one planted for each person loss.
My ex was part of the body recovery for this. He said everyone was still bucketed into their seats. Hopefully they all passed out and didn’t have to suffer 😢
I think the investigation said that most died/fell unconscience after the explosive decompression. There were a few who were still alive when the wreckage hit the water as they had water in their lungs. Whether they were awake or not, no one knows.
Years after this happened, I found out that the youngest sister of a childhood friend was on this flight. Her mother became a prominent advocate for more information on what exactly happened.
Just imagine seeing the car in front of you had a turn signal on.. so you flashed your high beams at it and it blew up. That had to he how that one pilot felt "I know that wasn't me but seriously wtf??"
I'm not surprised that conspiracy theories about this case were running wild. This is probably the most absurdly unlikely disaster in aviation history.
Unlikely if the plane is properly maintained but not unlikely if it’s poorly maintained, especially like TWA 800 which was not well maintained, plus I’ve seen those ‘clips’ about a missile.....and there is no missile so they end up proving themselves wrong 😂
@@neonwired4978 i mean if you see what the plane looked like during the incident, the plane itself would have looked like a missile durring its erratic climb, problem was the eye witness reports did not match what an actual missile strike would have looked like. NTSB did missile sighting tests as part of their investigation and found that these were required but missing from reports -a light from the burning missile motor ascending very rapidly and steeply for about 8 seconds -the light disappearing for up to 7 seconds -upon the missile striking the aircraft and igniting the CWT, another light, moving considerably more slowly and more laterally than the first, for about 30 seconds -this light descending while simultaneously developing into a fireball falling toward the ocean
The ATC for TWA 800 is heartbreaking, you’ve the controller trying to get in contact with them over and over, other pilots telling ATC what they’ve witnessed, and eventually after ATC tries contacting TWA again one pilot saying “I think that was them” “Yeah…” “God bless him” And ATC having to carry on helping other pilots land/take off, knowing what just happened and that he can’t just stop, and the East Wind pilot having to carry on like normal because he can’t just stop
Nowadays, once an incident happens, the controller is relieved of duty for the rest of the shift. Don't know if that was standard practice for this crash
What could be more horrifying than surviving the initial explosion only to find yourself shooting into the sky with empty space where the cockpit should be.
@@johnp139You say that but imagine if someone you really care about was on that flight or heck, if you were on the flight. Would you call it irrelevant then?
@@fredfredburger5150 You wouldn't see the ocean, rapid depressurisation combined with the lack of oxygen would knock most people out within a matter of seconds and those seconds would be filled with confusion, howling noise and ice cold air tearing at your skin before your brain would turn off all your senses while it tried to make sense of the situation. In other words you would quickly faint and then be dreaming all the way down.
the way the plane broke apart is absolutely terrifying, whether you would be in the cockpit or the main part of the plane, seeing that looks like my worst nightmare
@@mournblade1066 There was another crash in which the medical examiners opined that the decompression itself killed most of the passengers. They had massive bleeding in the lungs. Wanting to say that was in the 50's or 60's though, and that flight was at full cruising altitude? ...Edit: Meh.
@@grmpEqweer Huh. I guess I'm wrong then. I didn't think the pressure difference would be that great, unlike, say, going from 1000 meters deep in the ocean to the surface. Then again, physics is hardly my area of expertise.
I remember seeing this in the news in New York. This was the inspiration for the first “Final Destination” movie. They used actual footage of the burning wreckage in the film when Devon Sawa is watching the news at home.
Just three months before this happened, we lost my nephew. We’re from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and several of his classmates lost their lives on that flight. It was very hard for my sister, as she was friends with many of the families and was still grieving the loss of her son. The two tragedies kind of blended into one for her. 🌹
I'm truly sorry for your loss. I remember when this happened and it was especially heartbreaking, knowing about the students and how excited they must have been. May you find comfort in the memories of your nephew.
I remember reading that autopsies on a handful of passengers revealed that they had water in their lungs, indicating they survived the explosion and crash but had more than likely been severely injured or unconscious when they were in the water.
Unlikely. The plane exploded in the sky. It would’ve been a massive drop even if they had survived the initial explosion. They would’ve died on impact. Their mouths were probably open and water got into their lungs that way.
It felt like it, maybe, but it was still a tiny number of crashes, proportionally. Was it a statistical anomaly? Or was it a symptom of complacency in that period?
Absolutely scariest thing on first jumbo jet in that time because the failure system still unknown until so many crash & failure start to show up and they(Boeing) improve their safety step by step.
This has been done quite a number of times after unsurvivable airliner crashes. Such as the one at Staines, UK in the early 70s, or the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.
That's a very common practice in air crash investigation. My grandfather, who spent most of his career as a Boeing engineer, would reassemble the plane to the best of their ability to put together a sequence of events and the root cause of the problem. For instance, if a certain part of the plane is discovered miles away from the rest of the wreckage, that essentially tells you the plane fell apart mid-air. So as an investigator, you try to figure out why that happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.
Sir, you tell these stories with such sensitivity and respect for the victims... and you always focus on the lessons learned. Thank you for providing such wonderful, thought-provoking content.
I moved from Germany to the USA 1 day after the crash flying into JFK for our lay over we saw rescue crews pulling bits and pieces out of the water. It was terrible then our connection flight had engine trouble and we sat for hours thinking we might crash too😔 I will never forget twa flight 800.
I still remember being in the car on the way back from tennis practice, hearing on the radio "a 747 has exploded off Long Island, no survivors." I naively thought that surely someone must be swimming in the water of clinging to wreckage.
This is such a "pure accident" that left so little sources to find the reasons. These are the rarest of accidents. But also the most scary. They are the ones that "just happen"
@@charlieangkor8649The faulty wiring wouldn't have been a problem if the other issue- fuel vapours in a not quite empty fuel tank caused by running air conditioning for an hour thanks to a long delay- hadn't also happened.
@@exsandgrounder Just try to ignite diesel / jet fuel vapors. It's basically kerosene... (layman's terms). Aviation gas is an entirely different thing - think, muscle car racing GASOLINE... The two are so very different... yet the GovCo explanations don't mesh with reality. Wiring. Freaking wiring. You can put a sparking wire into diesel and have great difficulty getting it to ignite... explode? Nope.
@@Le_Comte_de_Monte_Felin Presumably the people at the NTSB, through some no doubt rigorous testing, found that it was possible to ignite a jet fuel vapour- air mix with a spark carried by poorly maintained wiring. Seems entirely plausible, under the right conditions.
The French club that was on TWA 800 is from my home town. It was really devestating for our small town. It still affects many today. Montoursville still doesn't have teach French, 27 years later.
My mom was a flight attendant for TWA and often flew that route. She graduated in the same training class as one of the flight attendants that died in this accident.
My mom was a flight attendant for TWA, and recruited new flight attendants. One day, my mom came across the a new recruit and the new recruit told my mom with excitement that she's going to Paris. That was the last time my mom saw her. I just hugged my mom 🤕
As soon as i heard the FBI was involved, I KNEW they'd do something stupid. Hats off to the NTSB for their diligence in solving for the root causes of this accident. I hope it provided some closure to the victims' families.
Intergovernmental infighting was common and encouraged within agencies back in the day but of course it comes backs to bite us on 9/11. The 9/11 Committee specifically pointed at this infighting that prevented the discovery of the terrorists' plot. This crash in 1996 would have been a warning for agencies to work together instead of against each other.
The NTSB doesn’t speculate before they know. Which means they are usually more accurate, but may not come up with the actual answer for months or years.
I was on board TWA flight 500 to Barcelona which departed just an hour before TWA 800, meaning I probably brushed shoulders with many of the victims, I distinctly remeber seeing the high school students on the field trip in the airport.
This is the crash the first Final Destination film is based off of and easily one of the most terrifying plane crashes in history. I can't even imagine what those poor souls on board went through in their final minutes...
@@sharp14xThe explosion blew off the front section of the aircraft which then continued to climb upwards until it stalled and then tumbled down and broke up, other than a few sitting near the front who would have either been killed instantly or rendered unconscious by the fuel tank explosion the majority of the passengers would have been left sitting in their seats looking forward through the gaping hole where the cockpit and forward galley used to be and would have experienced the entire climb, stall and aircraft breakup, it would have been a horrific last few minutes before they died.
I am from Long Island. I was on my way to karate class that night and I remember this so well, as it was immediately on the radio news shortly after it happened. I had always wondered about the "missile trail" theory. Of course, the FBI had to screw things up with the "explosive residue" report. They just couldn't wait for the NTSB to finish their own investigation...
This was the second incident involving a flight numbered TWA 800, the first being 22 years earlier in 1964 in Rome. Which probably if it hasn't been done already, deserves a video too since it is just as horrifying as the 1996 one
...So don't get on a flight numbered 800. ...There was a flight that apparently crashed in the mountains of Pakistan, and the crash site is still lost, somewhere in the Himalayas. It was flight 404. Plane not found.
@@screenwriterjohn Except they do -- planes have come apart in the skies for many reasons. In this case the FBI acted very unprofessionally thanks to its NY man in charge, whereas the NTSB was prudent from the get-go. The NTSB ended up solving the issue in spite of the FBI. Kallstrom had publicly stated at the onset: [quoted] "We feel very strongly that this is terrorism, without question". ... "without question" ... !! I know who I want leading air accident investigations.
I love your videos, Kristian. They are so well-researched and you make sure to include names of victims, humanizing so many tragedies, and the cadence with which you recount these stories is very calming. I do not know if you take requests for future videos but I have a few for your consideration: - Church of La Compañía fire (Santiago, Chile; December 8, 1863) - Laurier Palace Theatre fire (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; January 9, 1927) - Transvaal Park roof collapse (Moscow, Russia; February 14, 2004) Thank you again for these amazing history lessons.
I have thought back to this a few times recently. My parents both worked in the airline industry and "TWA flight 800" is forever etched in my mind. Learning of the fact that planes can just never come back and that there were families who would never see their loved ones again. RIP to all those lost in this and many other tragedies
I recall when this happened as a child, it interrupted my afternoon cartoons, but it seemed so scary i felt nervous about it. Years later learning about how the aircraft was destroyed, the thought of those students and families trapped in the fuselage as the plane broke, and fell to the ocean still haunts me. Condolences all the families who lost their loved ones.
@@Hobinator17 Why would that have been? Seems to me that unfortunately unless they were mercifully knocked out by debris, those in the fuselage had time to suffer the whole horrifying thing. This was a VERY big news story, absolutely dominated the nightly news for weeks and the anniversary brought it up again each year after, basically until 9/11. The horror was dwelt on for ages, poor families. A local mother with two daughters was on board and there was even a nasty theory going around that the husband blew up the plane to murder them. The public really was demented by this crash, it was such a nightmarish event, and witnessed by so many as well.
@@MegCazalet You pass out because of the force of the explosive decompression and lack of oxygen at that altitude. Along with the shock of 500 mph wind in your face
@@charlieangkor8649the definition of terrorism requires a political motivation. If there is no political conflict which motivated the sabotage it isn't terrorism. Even if no one claims an attack, there has to be suspects
How terrifying it would be sitting there in your seat and all of a sudden you just see the first half of the plane fall way and all you see is sky for a brief few minutes.
Interesting fact, the eastwind plane that spotted the initial explision was the same aircraft that had the rudder hardover incident 2 years prior, that aircraft helped solve the mystery of USAir 427 and United 585
This, imho, is a prime example of why law enforcement agencies should be frozen out of initial investigations. The NTSB is more than proven in its ability to ensure preservation of evidence and accurate & thorough investigative work. Of course there's always reason for them to look at things afterwards but creating a circumstance where different Gov Agencies ( often with little commonality OR with so much overlap they could be 'competitors') are working to an outcome rather than trying to discover if that outcome was even a reality is always going to hamper efforts & lead to impacting the public
Although, the NTSB was formed in the late 60’s, it was normal to have other agencies assist the NTSB in the 70’s/80’s and 90’s. In the 90’s and in to the 00’s, only the NTSB is called for accidents now.
You forgot that the NTSB/FAA has proven itself just as corrupt as any other alphabet agency. They *SHOULD* be forced to have additional, local, jurisdiction to keep them in check.
In all fairness, the US government was under a high tension. The World Trade Center had had its first terrorist attack only a few years earlier and the Olympic games were just 2 days away (which was subsequently bombed 10 days after the TWA 800 incident, to give a fair hint as to the state of tensions at the time). In retrospect an initial investigation made by NTSB would have been beneficial, but I imagine the FBI were seeking a quick response to give answers as fears would have been heightened. Not defending their actions of course, but having a clearer understanding of what was going on at the time does help to clarify the actions taken.
The FBI signed a memorandum of understanding with the NTSB as a result of this investigation, basically they agreed that they'd stay out of the way until an NTSB report suggesting foul play emerges.
The Alaska airlines that lost flight control off pt magu, CA….they flew inverted for a while. I mean upside down in the cabin? Also that one that got got hit by a vertical stabilizer over Switzerland…they had a long crash. There was also one that hit 6g in a recover attempt, I mean six g is a lot for a sustained time….or the suicide Egypt air one…a nice 30,0000 fr dive, tearing the plane apart from aerodynamic forces….
Ah the 90's, when planes still exploded due to mechanical failures. This story was on the nightly news for the rest of the summer that year. Looking back it's hard to imagine being one of the family members waiting on the 6 and 11 pm broadcasts to find closure.
I was a child at this time and we were going on a once in a lifetime for us trip to Florida in Jan 97, my mom was terrified on the flight and i later found out this was why. To be fair if i'd known i'd have probably been scared to fly as well.
I was 12 at the time and the week that this had happened we flew up to MD from FL to visit our grandma for the summer , we watched all the live news coverage as it was happening my sister already had a fear of flying and this and the value jet accident didn't help.
There were two Norwegians onboard the plane named Lars and Svein So Lars was a drummer with Norwegian Travelling band and instructed at a achool and Svein was a bus driver, helped with baggage and loading instruments but was not a musician also was Lars's neighbour. They were on holiday, supposed to arrive before the band but couldn't get tickets so they extended their trip by three days after the band was due to leave They was in Midwest for 14 days in Minneapolis but went to see New York and flew back on the TWA 800.
Correct this is a made up joke, because all plane crash videos have about 90% of the seats on board, being related to various comments posted, from people BSing that they knew victims. So come out and joke around with the liars on here I say 👍🏼
I think it's because of the topic ..people are drawn to this case of the twa flight 800 ..no matter how many years have pass I think people still would like to hear a different angle on it or if some new evidence came forth .this is definitely one of the newest one,s I've seen in some time..
Its even crazier, that despite them going so far above and beyond to solve this incident conclusively there are still conspiracy theorists denying the proven findings, insisting on various nefarious (and factually disproven) "explanations". Some ppl just dont want to know the truth.
I swear, some people complain about various channels covering the same aircraft accidents/incidents, but the more I watch, I realize there are some new things that I didn't hear in other videos (such as the fact that 800 was originally supposed to be flown by a 767- to think that if that plane didn't have an issue, this may not have occured!). Keep it up, and definitely staying tuned for more!
this was 1996 planes now a day are way better 😭 if it helps, google recent plane accidents/crashes with the airline you’re flying. 99% it will just be minor accidents, with no deaths
@xiangjia0 yeah ur totally right, and planes are actually waay more comfortable these days too Well i made it safe so😂 Thank you for that comment tho❤️
Still the safest way to travel. Air safety is so good today. Though you can never account for the military shooting down your plane in an exercise by mistake.
One of the most terrifying plane accidents that scares me. Is the auto pilot light blew on the console. They accidentally turned it off thinking it was on.
@@caraiyaOr the one where a thrust reverser turned on in flight, and air crash investigators said it was so violent, that the only way to survive would have been to fix the issue in 6 seconds, after that, all hope was lost. Or a mid-air collision where the air traffic controller caused the crash by giving pilots the wrong instructions to avoid a collision with the other plane.
@@themidnighttavern6784 Also that accident where the window seals or screws were wrong. And the pilot ended up being outside of the cockpit during flight. And was only survived by his copilot holding onto his ankles. British Airways Flight 5390.
I think that the biggest reason so many people continue to insist that TWA 800 was taken down by a missile, is the sheer horrifying notion that it really could've been a freak accident. People don't want to face that possibility. It's less "predictable" than some guy pushing a button. For defending the "official story," I'm often accused of "burying my head in the sand" or "not wanting the face the truth" or some such sentiment. Far from it. I find the "freak accident" scenario, which happens to be supported by the known facts, to be far more disturbing.
I'm an aricraft mechanic, and I do know that stuff breaks without warning all the time. There are freak accidents. However, I had a boss years ago(retired Navy Chief) who made a strong enough case for me, that I have since believed in the conspiracy. Basically, there is too much controversy for me to believe this was a pure accident. Also, there are many other instances of this happening in aircraft, resulting in damage and loss of life, that are way more credible. TWA 800 gets all the attention because of how catastrophic it was.
I've been an airline aircraft mechanic for 32 years, I've worked on planes with packs running for hours and hours in 115 degree weather, it doesn't affect anything, the air they use from the APU at about 500 degrees F is cooled as it runs through the air cycle machines (packs) for air conditioning of the plane, they are isolated from the center fuel tanks and vented to atmosphere they will not overheat the tanks. A reporter found missile fuel residue on the seat covers samples he had tested where a missile went through the cabin at the wing root, him and his flight attendant wife were prosecuted for obtaining it. There was a shock wave on the air data instruments consistent with an explosion. Planes do not climb when weight is removed from the front they stall immediately, the CIA mickey mouse video of a zoom climb to cover up the missile arc witnessed by over a hundred witnesses and a helicopter pilot is absurd. The FBI stepping in front of the NTSB gave it away, it was not an accident and their coverup is atrocious. This video is an absurd repeat of all the lies.
I truly LOVE your Channel! It has kept me company many long and lonely nights at work! Haha. I’ve donated before to you but I want to thank you again for all your GREAT, QUICK, & VERY INFORMATIVE Videos
Im always so impressed by the people who investigate and can figure out that wiring was damaged before exploding and falling into the ocean. I know its a job you train for like any other but its still so impressive to me.
I didn't know that the initial incident in Final Destination was inspired by an actual tragedy. How sad for everyone involved! Thank you for covering this.
Yep. Glen Morgan and James Wong were going to make it an X-Files episode, but they left the show before it could be made, so they just made it into a movie instead.
Just listened to some old Art Bell episodes about this, neat coincidence to see this pop up here. Gotta love synchronicities! Thanks for another fantastic video!
I remember this like it was yesterday, as a Long Islander. Tons of boats went out to the wreckage to see if they could find help or find anyone. The stories of the victims were incredibly sad. This one will always hit close to home.
@@chrismorrison7 I’m thinking of a story about a man who put his wife and 2 little girls on the plane, and was going to join them the next day. That one always sticks in my head.
I remember the Mayday episode on TWA 800, such a complicated case. I'm impressed you got all that info into 11 minutes! The Mayday episode is worth watching, but I don't think there'd be any new info in it.
People's inability to deal with the uncomfortable reality that bad things sometimes happen without anyone being behind the scenes, secretly in control, is really wild.
Okay, but sometimes there's evidence that points to that. No one has a hard time believing that sometimes bad things happen. That's an outrageous claim. Possibly because you can't imagine a world where powerful people and governments do evil things for their own benefit and have the power and resources to get away with it. 🤷♀️
I remember when this happened. It was a breaking news sort of situation, and every network was basically saying it was probably a terrorist attack. When it became clear it probably wasn't they got bored and stopped reporting on it. As a result, I was under the impression that flight 800 was taken down by a terrorist organization until just after 9/11 happened. Everyone kept saying nothing like this had ever happened, and I was like "what about that TWA flight in the 90's?" Yeah, the news was pretty good at getting us riled up back then, too. I was a kid, but it worked pretty well on adults.
"back then" the television "news" has never been about facts, it's about getting people scared into watching or anger watching, you wanna see some things that will make you question the mainstream media's ethics? See how many of the shows that tell you the jabs are safe that are sponsored by Pfizer, try to get the names of the 100 media organizations the Joe Biden presidency paid to promote the jabs, then watch the selective edits of things Trump said vs what he actually said, take the part the media uses to brand him a racist where in reference to Charlottesville he said "there where very fine people on both sides" but then the media cuts the very next line where he says "and i'm not talking about the neo-nazis and the white supremacists they should be condemned totally", the media is not your friend, they are highly politicized and only care about their agendas and how they can spin things to push their views.
Now the delay of a flight where we had to disembark and wait back inside the terminal makes more sense. Well done, Kristian. This accident was always a mystery til now.
I'm amazed how you can continue to find fascinating and mostly unknown stories for so long. I've watched your channel for years now and it's this one of only a couple I get excited about new uploads. Great work as always. Appreciate all the hard work you do.
I mean tbf this one isn't mostly unknown. TWA 800 is one of the most famous aviation accidents in all of history - it's the only plane that's every just exploded in mid air due to technical issues.
If this is what happened, it goes to show that even trace amounts of a substance can lead to a false positive of sorts. Which in turn leads to a rush to declare something definitively or to oversell a theory, due to the agency involved having their own wheelhouse bias in formulating certain kinds of conclusions.
I believed the "missile" story for years then I saw the investigation of TWA Flight 800 and when I heard about the fuel tank explosion it made since that the plane stayed in the air for several moments, if a Missile had hit the plan, it would have exploded the entire plane right then in a million pieces and NO one would have able to put any piece of it back together. I am glad that common sense took over. Many reports of lights going out and other issues on that plane before it finally couldn't make another flight. May all those souls on board RIP and the ones who ignored the fatal flaws on that plane be haunted forever.
What a load of crap. Missiles do not hit aircraft - they explode when they sense PROXIMITY to the target. The do not "explode the entire plane right then in a million pieces and NO one would have able to put any piece of it back together." That sentence is is a real load of BS and it originated in YOUR mind, not reality.
I don't know much about this case, but a missile could still do that. It wouldn't necessarily explode into a million pieces. That's probably where your mind goes because of how every explosion is portrayed in movies
I seem to remember there were eye witnesses who claimed they saw a missile shooting up. It was later determined that what the witnesses saw was probably the back of the plane shooting up after the explosion. I was in school when this disaster happened. I couldn't remember it until the fuel vapour was mentioned. Horrific.
@@diegofondoo1780 thanks yeah, the theory that the US Navy shot it down accidentally is mentioned in the video. It doesn't surprise me that some people thought it was a flare. It's really hard to judge size and distance when looking up at the sky.
People in different locations on Long Island all thought they saw the plane destroyed by a missile. There were even videos. "The back of the plane shooting up after the explosion" doesn't disprove the missile theory at all. Or the bomb theory.
If you want that, perhaps AT630, TM470, and 4U9525 should be covered as related as well as MS990. All are suspected to be suicide by pilot. In fact, unlike here, the NTSB said it was handing over the investigation of MS990 to the FBI.
If he doesn’t that his channel will get banned in Egypt. Their are still hypersensitive to the concept a pilot from their national airline could dive an airplane in
How about Swissair Flight 111? One of my parents’ friends was among the first people out on the water searching for any survivors. He saw some pretty gruesome things. 😢
The students on the twa800 became used somewhat in the first final destination movie along with footage of the burning debris you see in the film on Alex's TV after the crash.
Finally! I remember this crash so vividly when I was working July ‘96 renting bikes in a park as a 15year old. The news fascinating, so much confusion.
My Tuesdays always begin with "I wonder what today's Fascinating Horror story will be?" This is a disaster that I am well aware of, so tragic and frightening. I can't imagine the horror the victims must've experienced in those final moments. And to think that this disaster may never have happened if the passenger and their bag hadn't been identified as a mismatch.
Although the filmmakers always denied this there are interesting parallels. My guess is they had to say "Of course we didn't took this as an inspiration" because it would have been in bad taste.
Well, if you look into what the plane had to go thrugh throughout the whole accident sequence you could say the passengers of TWA 800 went through much more horrible stuff than the movie depicts the crash.
Same here. I remember coming home from roller skating that night. Some of the monitors at the rink had been tuned to the news and had been showing clips of the crash, but there was no way to tell if the plane had come down in New York, New Delhi, or New Guinea. it wasn't until I got home to see my mom watching this on the news that I found out that it had happened only ~50 miles away. Such a tragedy.
Hola from Baja. Good video! The entire Paris Gay Men's Chorus was on this flight, having competed in San Jose International GALA festival, I also performed in (solos)with Ft Lauderdale's Lambda Chorale. The flight crashed over my Mom's house on Long Island. She had plane parts in her pool. She gave me her miles the next day, and refused to fly afterwards. I flew t Paris...
I'm not even scared of flying but there's a nervous, respectful undertone I get with the helplessness you have when flying (especially a long trans-oceanic flight) from knowing accidents like this happen. Even with improved and better-monitored safety regulations in present times.. it's spooky. I'm sure the channel isn't in need of suggestions, but it would be cool to one day see you cover a thyrotoxicosis outbreak that happened in the USA. Once identified, it was suspected of being the culprit behind some previous similar outbreaks that had not been fully understood in years before. Not sure if it fits the channel content but I find it interesting how authorities had to pursue many different angles before finding out what connected the cases.
Thank you for covering this...after following this incident for over 25 years (lolwhut), I learned things I did not know about the incident. At the time, I was a high school student who loved French class, and I remember feeling a particular affinity for the kids who died.
I work on airplanes it's a pretty brutal job unfortunately. Wiring and sheet metal get corroded on jets and that's why they have to be on a continued airworthiness maintenance program to inspect stuff every so often. They also don't put wires in the fuel tanks anymore and always route wires above water lines when possible. This 747 is brought up very much in training, especially with electrical systems. I want a different job.
I'll never forget this. We were coming back from europe on twa and landed in jfk the same day this flight took off to head to Europe. We were coming back from a family vacation, my mom n I going to Italy, the Uk and Paris. By the time we got home back to Michigan from JFK, this was on the evening news. I was 14 years old and had a complete meltdown. I couldn't believe it.....we were just there 😢 rip to all the lives lost.
A Coastguardsman friend who responded to the crash told me many of the passengers floated to the surface still strapped to their seats. It haunts him to this day.
When I was in the military back in the 80's I flew a lot of miles. Mostly on Delta. Now when I see things like this I think WOW, and count myself blessed. May they all RIP.
@@JohnfromWaterFrontVillige My comment was an example of how anyone that has flew just takes saftey for granted. If you ever got on a plane I am sure you have done the same thing.
Exactly. I was a Flight Attendant for Pan Am when Lockerbie happened, lost dear friends. And I was cabin crew on the flight that took off just before TWA 800 - our pilots never told us what had happened, we heard it from the outbound crew when we landed in Europe. Both of those airlines were struggling financially - these disasters ended them.
Good presentation, I like the fact that you use actual pictures of TWA 747s, instead of random stock footage of non relevant planes like I have seen in some videos xD.
The day TWA was bought out, they canceled their flights. The EF tours group I was part of lost the first day of our trip due to this. I was sad at the time. But now I’m glad we didn’t blow up.
I was active duty military in the NYC area when this happened. A few of us where tasked with making several thousand boxed meals for the first responders on short notice. Terrible tragedy.
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 กรกฎาคม 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/B8gcGM6I6e4/mqdefault.jpg)
My niece and sister in law were on that flight. They were headed to Paris as a college graduation gift for my niece. My sister in law was a French teacher. We still think about both of them nearly every day. Two special women.
Im so sorry for your loss ❤
My uncle and 16 year old cousin were lost as well. Maybe they came across each other at some point. I think about them every day as well.
I lost an elderly aunt to it, she was a retired nuclear medicine technician. I was young at the time, so it was my first introduction to loss as a whole. In a unique turn of events a little under 10 years later my middle school teacher was a retired fireman who had moved out west to where I lived. He was one of the emergency responders involved in the recovery efforts.
@@tkemp2 I'm so very sorry for your loss. 🥺
Sorry for you loss least they died instantly
imagine the shock of the captain from the East Wind plane seeing the TWA Flight 800 suddenly exploded in front of his eyes, that memory will forever last with him.
The way story is told, it must've looked like flipping his lights caused the boom
And not just watching the explosion, but having to continue flying.
@@caraiyaand being unable to provide any assistance
The Eastwind plane (not the same flight crew iirc) had a near-fatal rudder malfunction a month prior, same kind of rudder malfunction that caused the crash of several other planes.
@@caustic1611That Eastwind pilot was in a MayDay episode about those rudder malfunctions and was the one who said he was pretty sure the investigators were happier to have the intact plane to study than him.
I went to an estate sale in the Detroit area in the months following this crash. I had purchased an answering machine and noticed the tape was full when I went to set it up in my home. I rewound the tape and played it, and it was really sad- progressively more and more messages expressing concern, that the callers knew this family was traveling abroad, and hoped they weren’t on TWA 800. Seeing as these were the only messages, and the entire contents of the home were being sold, I suspect it was.
I had purchased some of their Christmas decorations as well, and I still set their ornaments on my tree every year and say a little prayer for them. 😔
Hey, do you still have that answering machine?
I'm wanting to do my own video on TWA 800 (I wrote the script for this video) at some point, and it would be crucial if something like this was preserved.
@juliefrank5980- Wow, how thoughtful of you to continue to hang the ornaments. 👍🏽
Please don’t share that answering machine with the person who requested it. That is very tragic and personal. That should be kept private instead of someone’s pain being used for content. I wouldn’t want my sobbing, frantic messages to a loved one being shared and exploited.
@@LKA-si7lnYet you’re here watching a video about a disaster that killed 230 people for entertainment purposes. Sanctimonious weirdo.
I agree, the person likely forgot to erase the tape due to the trauma of losing someone, leave it as ìs
This video broke my heart. Dr. Ghassan Haurani and his wife Nina were on board on the way to Paris for their 25th anniversary. He was a vascular surgeon at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in the Detroit area and his skilled hands saved my mother's life. I will be forever grateful he saved her and I feel so sorry for his family.
Respect.
Wow! Such a small world, I'm from the Metro Detroit area!
was he a muslim terrorist? he might blew the plane up. solved
🧢
@@W.H.A.P.not everything is a lie
That break up mid-air must've been utterly terrifying in those final moments for everyone. I can't even imagine.
And you don’t need to imagine, you just need to stop flattering your ego and stop flying planes (ego & hubris of those, who claim that planes are safe and who, for the sake of convenience and speed, use them!)😎
There wouldn't be enough oxygen to keep them conscious so they would pass out in seconds.
@@user-yp6kn2uw4k No
@@user-yp6kn2uw4k If you are privileged enough to not worry about time then good for you, but most people can't spend weeks driving just to see their family or for work. That and planes just aren't that dangerous soooooo...
@@user-yp6kn2uw4k Calm down, Karen.
My husband worked for the electronics division at Boeing when this occurred. It was well documented that this plane had numerous episodes of non-functioning electrical components. Cabin lights, personal overhead lighting, random other electric switches, etc., would often flicker, completely cut off and then back on again, etc. Those are all clear signs of electrical short-circuits and faulty connections and wiring, conditions that should never be accepted as normal on any airplane.
All of this should have been caught in a D check.
I was on TWA Flight 800 a month before in JFK going to Paris. As we were sitting there waiting to go the power went out three times. People were getting nervous and the captain came on and said oh we're running on the generator right now so it's not the same as when we're in the air.
In fall 2012 I flew United from SFO to Tokyo on what turned out to be my last-ever flights on a 747. This was of course right while they were starting to phase them all out, so they were probably pretty old by then. On the return trip the inflight entertainment wasn't working, and maybe it was a false memory, but I seem to think some of the lights weren't even working. Left me a little nervous.
Huge difference between something not working and it working intermittently because of faulty wiring. The latter is dangerous and a fire hazard. Something being off isn't dangerous. Lights and in-flight entertainment aren't crucial to flight operations.
It seems this plane wasnt maintained properly.
I dont know if the channel owner reads the comments very thoroughly, but I hope that you read this. Before I was even born, my mother lost her brother, my uncle, in Northwest 255 leaving from Romulus, Michigan. I never knew my uncle (Nicholas Vanos R.I.P.) but the impact that his death had on my mother and our family was devastating to say the least. I don’t know if you do requests or take suggestions, but this flight was incredibly disastrous and yet miraculous in the survival of one 4 year old girl. If you’re reading this I thank you for taking the time, with every upload I wait in anticipation for the day Flight 255 is covered.
awhh so sorry for everyones loss :( fascinating horror should do a video on this, sounds interesting. Hope you are well
I'm from the downriver area and he already did that one a year or two ago...
I agree he should do a documentary on it. I've never heard of it until you mentioned it. I'm sorry for your family's loss. I was surprised to see it happened on my birthday (not the same year though I was born a very long time after)
You should do a documentary on the worst plane crash.. the tenerife disaster.
@@joelc9439He already covered the Tenerife disaster about a year ago: th-cam.com/video/pfHCNXfHmjk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=u--z3xhJwaDBh3PZ
To all my horror movie enthusiasts. Did you know this crash inspired the plane crash of Flight 180 in the first Final Destination film? The directors even tried to match the exact theoretical experiences of what the last brutal moments of the passengers aboard TWA 800 was like for the movie.
Someone above mentioned they used the news footage for the scene where Devon sawa was watching the news. (He was my childhood/teen crush, what happened to him, hah?)
I never realised the connection until watching this video! I would never have believed that any part of Final Destination was "based on true events."
Very fitting, since the chain of events leading to this disaster certainly feel like a final destination movie.
@@tifKhhe's still making movies, his most recent one(that I never heard about)being Who Are You People. He looks good for his age and has 2 kids now lol
@@hollyann9610Yezzir! Plus, I don't know what you've seen in your life or what you do research on, however, Final Destination is based on freak accidents which do indeed occur. I've heard plenty of stories where someone passed away in an "odd" or unrealistic way. Ways that you could only explain with "it was their time" death wanted the person and came to collect haha
It's scary to think just how many small factors can come togeater to case a disaster like this. It really drives home the importance of the "Swiss cheese" model of safety planning.
theory of ordered chaos / snowball effect / domino effect / perfect storm - one must always make efforts so that the fluctuations of chaos do not become orderly and turn into a catastrophe.
It really is.
The one thing I don't get is them claiming the wires were too low voltage to cause any kind of sparks..
I'm not sure how low you can go without sparks, but I'm fairly sure even 4 or 5 volts is enough to create a spark if 2 wires are close together
Actually iirc you can short an AA battery (1.5v) and get sparks from it.
The wires being old and in poor condition is a recipe for fire problems, though... No matter where you are. Let alone inside a plane.
Wiring in poor condition is not a small factor.
This was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back for TWA. Consumer confidence was already low by that point, and between all of the safety issues and debt, there wasn't much of a chance for them to recover. What also didn't help was Carl Icahn, who basically lined his pockets with the little that was left...at the cost of lives. TWA fell, and it fell HARD.
Carl Icahn is a monster
@@stevenjlovelace To quote Dr. Hammond, “I really hate that man!”
And TWA had really old planes. They were one of the last major operators of the 747-100. Delta, for instance, had moved on to the much newer 767-300ER as had American, and United was receiving the brand new 777 at the time. Continental had 767s and 777s on order.
@@AEMoreira81To be fair, TWA had started its own fleet renewal with 767s. They were just slow in doing so.
The TWA implosion had major consequences for my hometown, Saint Louis. We were its biggest hub. Our airport, Lambert Field, was in the process of a major expansion to accommodate TWAs growth when they folded. American ended up shutting down all their international flights out of Lambert and the place looked apocalyptically empty for years with an entire terminal basically abandoned.
We had been the 8th busiest airport in the country with flights to several international destinations, and suddenly we were a bright and shiny new ghost town.
The ripples of TWA's demise went far in the STL.
My dad graduated from Montoursville HS in ‘81. He knew several of the chaperones on Flight 800. The way a small town was so affected by this loss is truly heartbreaking. They have a memorial in town with 21 trees, one planted for each person loss.
My ex was part of the body recovery for this. He said everyone was still bucketed into their seats. Hopefully they all passed out and didn’t have to suffer 😢
Can you pls give anymore details and what your ex said about they’re experience doing that😅
I think the investigation said that most died/fell unconscience after the explosive decompression. There were a few who were still alive when the wreckage hit the water as they had water in their lungs. Whether they were awake or not, no one knows.
@@derekgrayjr Probably they regained consciousness in the water, injured or badly burned, panicked after realizing what happened and drowned.
they wouldn't survive the impact with the water @@DepecheGuy99
Irrelevant since none of them would have any memories of the event.
Years after this happened, I found out that the youngest sister of a childhood friend was on this flight. Her mother became a prominent advocate for more information on what exactly happened.
Just imagine seeing the car in front of you had a turn signal on.. so you flashed your high beams at it and it blew up.
That had to he how that one pilot felt
"I know that wasn't me but seriously wtf??"
...and she has had to contend with propaganda pieces like this video.
Wdym “propaganda”? Do you buy in to be the BS conspiracy theories about this disaster?
@@mriconoclast13propaganda pieces?
@@weightedtraininggear Repeating the government explanation against almost all of the eyewitness and physical evidence.
I'm not surprised that conspiracy theories about this case were running wild. This is probably the most absurdly unlikely disaster in aviation history.
There’s no conspiracy theory it was shot down.
there are so many witnesses that independently reported seeing a missile, nearly a hundred witness testimonies taken by the FBI.
Unlikely if the plane is properly maintained but not unlikely if it’s poorly maintained, especially like TWA 800 which was not well maintained, plus I’ve seen those ‘clips’ about a missile.....and there is no missile so they end up proving themselves wrong 😂
@@neonwired4978eyewitnesses aren't reliable
@@neonwired4978 i mean if you see what the plane looked like during the incident, the plane itself would have looked like a missile durring its erratic climb, problem was the eye witness reports did not match what an actual missile strike would have looked like. NTSB did missile sighting tests as part of their investigation and found that these were required but missing from reports
-a light from the burning missile motor ascending very rapidly and steeply for about 8 seconds
-the light disappearing for up to 7 seconds
-upon the missile striking the aircraft and igniting the CWT, another light, moving considerably more slowly and more laterally than the first, for about 30 seconds
-this light descending while simultaneously developing into a fireball falling toward the ocean
The ATC for TWA 800 is heartbreaking, you’ve the controller trying to get in contact with them over and over, other pilots telling ATC what they’ve witnessed, and eventually after ATC tries contacting TWA again one pilot saying
“I think that was them”
“Yeah…”
“God bless him”
And ATC having to carry on helping other pilots land/take off, knowing what just happened and that he can’t just stop, and the East Wind pilot having to carry on like normal because he can’t just stop
Nowadays, once an incident happens, the controller is relieved of duty for the rest of the shift. Don't know if that was standard practice for this crash
What could be more horrifying than surviving the initial explosion only to find yourself shooting into the sky with empty space where the cockpit should be.
Only no one actually remembered it so it’s irrelevant.
@@johnp139it’s not irrelevant… that is a horrible way to spend you’re last minutes…
@@johnp139You say that but imagine if someone you really care about was on that flight or heck, if you were on the flight. Would you call it irrelevant then?
seeing the sky disappear and being replaced with the ocean getting closer and closer before it floods in through the empty space like a wall?
@@fredfredburger5150 You wouldn't see the ocean, rapid depressurisation combined with the lack of oxygen would knock most people out within a matter of seconds and those seconds would be filled with confusion, howling noise and ice cold air tearing at your skin before your brain would turn off all your senses while it tried to make sense of the situation. In other words you would quickly faint and then be dreaming all the way down.
the way the plane broke apart is absolutely terrifying, whether you would be in the cockpit or the main part of the plane, seeing that looks like my worst nightmare
The decompression was likely fatal.
...Or at least I hope it was.
@@grmpEqweer No, decompression in the atmosphere wouldn't be fatal. It might render people unconscious, though.
@@mournblade1066
There was another crash in which the medical examiners opined that the decompression itself killed most of the passengers. They had massive bleeding in the lungs.
Wanting to say that was in the 50's or 60's though, and that flight was at full cruising altitude?
...Edit: Meh.
@@grmpEqweer Huh. I guess I'm wrong then. I didn't think the pressure difference would be that great, unlike, say, going from 1000 meters deep in the ocean to the surface. Then again, physics is hardly my area of expertise.
@@mournblade1066
Me neither, so take it with a big lump of salt.
I remember seeing this in the news in New York. This was the inspiration for the first “Final Destination” movie. They used actual footage of the burning wreckage in the film when Devon Sawa is watching the news at home.
It’s creepy that the captain was named “Kevorkian”. That name was synonymous with death during the 1990s because of a famous and controversial doctor.
The French club, too. 😢
Also, 800 and 180 (the flight number in FD) both have Paris as their 'final destination'.
@@Dystopia1111 800s final destination was in Rome
@@railfandepotproductions NY to Rome, then Paris.
Just three months before this happened, we lost my nephew. We’re from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and several of his classmates lost their lives on that flight. It was very hard for my sister, as she was friends with many of the families and was still grieving the loss of her son. The two tragedies kind of blended into one for her. 🌹
I'm truly sorry for your loss. I remember when this happened and it was especially heartbreaking, knowing about the students and how excited they must have been. May you find comfort in the memories of your nephew.
🙏
I remember reading that autopsies on a handful of passengers revealed that they had water in their lungs, indicating they survived the explosion and crash but had more than likely been severely injured or unconscious when they were in the water.
Unlikely. The plane exploded in the sky. It would’ve been a massive drop even if they had survived the initial explosion. They would’ve died on impact. Their mouths were probably open and water got into their lungs that way.
Water enters the lungs of an immersed corpse
damn, reminds me of JAL flight 123, some of the passengers survived the initial crash but help didn’t get there in time
MY God, can you imagine the terror they must have felt?? Unimaginable
Yeah, I have a few FBI friends….they didn’t believe the short-circuit story. They thought it was a friendly-fire incident with the US Navy.
This was a really scary period in airline travel. It felt like planes were going down regularly
What’s crazy is that I survived because it was the time in my life I flew the most!
It felt like it, maybe, but it was still a tiny number of crashes, proportionally. Was it a statistical anomaly? Or was it a symptom of complacency in that period?
@@ArgumemnonGood point, & good question...
@@Argumemnon With how most of these stories always go, it seems to be the later tbh
Absolutely scariest thing on first jumbo jet in that time because the failure system still unknown until so many crash & failure start to show up and they(Boeing) improve their safety step by step.
Incredible though how they managed to put the plane back together again after it was destroyed
This has been done quite a number of times after unsurvivable airliner crashes. Such as the one at Staines, UK in the early 70s, or the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.
the ocean isn't really that deep off Long Island.
...It is a common practice in fatal plane crashes.
However, it's still pretty freaking impressive.
And now it has been removed for good.
That's a very common practice in air crash investigation. My grandfather, who spent most of his career as a Boeing engineer, would reassemble the plane to the best of their ability to put together a sequence of events and the root cause of the problem. For instance, if a certain part of the plane is discovered miles away from the rest of the wreckage, that essentially tells you the plane fell apart mid-air.
So as an investigator, you try to figure out why that happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.
Sir, you tell these stories with such sensitivity and respect for the victims... and you always focus on the lessons learned. Thank you for providing such wonderful, thought-provoking content.
I wrote the script. I tried to mimic his way of storytelling, and I'm glad to see that I succeeded in doing so. His voice was born for this role.
I moved from Germany to the USA 1 day after the crash flying into JFK for our lay over we saw rescue crews pulling bits and pieces out of the water. It was terrible then our connection flight had engine trouble and we sat for hours thinking we might crash too😔 I will never forget twa flight 800.
I still remember being in the car on the way back from tennis practice, hearing on the radio "a 747 has exploded off Long Island, no survivors." I naively thought that surely someone must be swimming in the water of clinging to wreckage.
The depressing comfort of childhood ignorance
I was young enough to imagine the same about the Challenger Shuttle disaster.
Unfortunately, when you hit the water that hard...💀
I'm just clinging to the idea that the low oxygen and g forces caused them to pass out🙏🙏🙏
@@gohawks3571I like the cut of your jib!
This is such a "pure accident" that left so little sources to find the reasons.
These are the rarest of accidents.
But also the most scary.
They are the ones that "just happen"
No that is not pure accident is leaving wires in poor condition where death is just waiting to happen.
@@charlieangkor8649The faulty wiring wouldn't have been a problem if the other issue- fuel vapours in a not quite empty fuel tank caused by running air conditioning for an hour thanks to a long delay- hadn't also happened.
@@exsandgrounder Just try to ignite diesel / jet fuel vapors. It's basically kerosene... (layman's terms).
Aviation gas is an entirely different thing - think, muscle car racing GASOLINE...
The two are so very different... yet the GovCo explanations don't mesh with reality.
Wiring. Freaking wiring. You can put a sparking wire into diesel and have great difficulty getting it to ignite... explode? Nope.
@@Le_Comte_de_Monte_Felin Presumably the people at the NTSB, through some no doubt rigorous testing, found that it was possible to ignite a jet fuel vapour- air mix with a spark carried by poorly maintained wiring. Seems entirely plausible, under the right conditions.
@@Le_Comte_de_Monte_Felinaight so why does the reconstructed wreckage clearly show an outward explosion in the area of one of the fuel tanks
The French club that was on TWA 800 is from my home town. It was really devestating for our small town. It still affects many today. Montoursville still doesn't have teach French, 27 years later.
My mom was a flight attendant for TWA and often flew that route. She graduated in the same training class as one of the flight attendants that died in this accident.
My mom was a flight attendant for TWA, and recruited new flight attendants. One day, my mom came across the a new recruit and the new recruit told my mom with excitement that she's going to Paris. That was the last time my mom saw her. I just hugged my mom 🤕
Who cares?
As soon as i heard the FBI was involved, I KNEW they'd do something stupid.
Hats off to the NTSB for their diligence in solving for the root causes of this accident. I hope it provided some closure to the victims' families.
There's only two things you can trust the FBI do do without fail.
1. Do something stupid.
2. Be used as a political weapon.
Intergovernmental infighting was common and encouraged within agencies back in the day but of course it comes backs to bite us on 9/11. The 9/11 Committee specifically pointed at this infighting that prevented the discovery of the terrorists' plot. This crash in 1996 would have been a warning for agencies to work together instead of against each other.
The NTSB doesn’t speculate before they know. Which means they are usually more accurate, but may not come up with the actual answer for months or years.
The NTSB know what the f••k they're doing on planes. The FBI needed to go back to terrorizing environmental activists.
Especially because this was only a few years after Ruby Ridge and Waco. The FBI had a terrible reputation in the 90s.
I was on board TWA flight 500 to Barcelona which departed just an hour before TWA 800, meaning I probably brushed shoulders with many of the victims, I distinctly remeber seeing the high school students on the field trip in the airport.
They were just normal every day people.
Eerie
Life is scary man
Yeah, sure you did
❤
This is the crash the first Final Destination film is based off of and easily one of the most terrifying plane crashes in history. I can't even imagine what those poor souls on board went through in their final minutes...
@@sharp14xThe explosion blew off the front section of the aircraft which then continued to climb upwards until it stalled and then tumbled down and broke up, other than a few sitting near the front who would have either been killed instantly or rendered unconscious by the fuel tank explosion the majority of the passengers would have been left sitting in their seats looking forward through the gaping hole where the cockpit and forward galley used to be and would have experienced the entire climb, stall and aircraft breakup, it would have been a horrific last few minutes before they died.
The only problem is, this wasn’t a crash, it was a mid-air explosion.
I am from Long Island. I was on my way to karate class that night and I remember this so well, as it was immediately on the radio news shortly after it happened. I had always wondered about the "missile trail" theory. Of course, the FBI had to screw things up with the "explosive residue" report. They just couldn't wait for the NTSB to finish their own investigation...
I was working summer job as waiter in posh E.Hampton that summer I would often go fishing, even at night. After this happened, no more fishing.
This was the second incident involving a flight numbered TWA 800, the first being 22 years earlier in 1964 in Rome. Which probably if it hasn't been done already, deserves a video too since it is just as horrifying as the 1996 one
Also a crazy coincidence how the '96 crash's final destination was the same airport in Rome where the '64 crash took place.
...So don't get on a flight numbered 800.
...There was a flight that apparently crashed in the mountains of Pakistan, and the crash site is still lost, somewhere in the Himalayas.
It was flight 404.
Plane not found.
@@grmpEqweerAm I going to hell for laughing at this? Because I think I'm going to hell for finding that darkly hilarious...
@@ladysilverwynde
Well, I'll be right beside you.
I'm tacky.
NTSB: “So, we have this plane crash. Let’s start investiga-“
FBI: “TERRORISM”
Ha. But planes don't just fall apart in America. Except for this one time.
@@screenwriterjohn Except they do -- planes have come apart in the skies for many reasons.
In this case the FBI acted very unprofessionally thanks to its NY man in charge, whereas the NTSB was prudent from the get-go. The NTSB ended up solving the issue in spite of the FBI. Kallstrom had publicly stated at the onset: [quoted] "We feel very strongly that this is terrorism, without question".
... "without question" ... !! I know who I want leading air accident investigations.
Sounded like they wanted to blame a certain group for terrorism...hmmm
Well when there's reports of an explosion...
@@M.TTT.olympic levels of jumping to conclusions
I love your videos, Kristian. They are so well-researched and you make sure to include names of victims, humanizing so many tragedies, and the cadence with which you recount these stories is very calming.
I do not know if you take requests for future videos but I have a few for your consideration:
- Church of La Compañía fire (Santiago, Chile; December 8, 1863)
- Laurier Palace Theatre fire (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; January 9, 1927)
- Transvaal Park roof collapse (Moscow, Russia; February 14, 2004)
Thank you again for these amazing history lessons.
I have thought back to this a few times recently. My parents both worked in the airline industry and "TWA flight 800" is forever etched in my mind. Learning of the fact that planes can just never come back and that there were families who would never see their loved ones again. RIP to all those lost in this and many other tragedies
Shut up
I recall when this happened as a child, it interrupted my afternoon cartoons, but it seemed so scary i felt nervous about it. Years later learning about how the aircraft was destroyed, the thought of those students and families trapped in the fuselage as the plane broke, and fell to the ocean still haunts me. Condolences all the families who lost their loved ones.
Most everyone would have lost consciousness very early into the breakup
@@Hobinator17 Why would that have been? Seems to me that unfortunately unless they were mercifully knocked out by debris, those in the fuselage had time to suffer the whole horrifying thing. This was a VERY big news story, absolutely dominated the nightly news for weeks and the anniversary brought it up again each year after, basically until 9/11. The horror was dwelt on for ages, poor families. A local mother with two daughters was on board and there was even a nasty theory going around that the husband blew up the plane to murder them. The public really was demented by this crash, it was such a nightmarish event, and witnessed by so many as well.
@@MegCazalet You pass out because of the force of the explosive decompression and lack of oxygen at that altitude. Along with the shock of 500 mph wind in your face
I remember a lot of people thought it was terrorism because I think the Lockerbie crash was still on everyone's mind.
I think it was, I think maintenance of airplane of this kind is terrorism.
@@charlieangkor8649the definition of terrorism requires a political motivation. If there is no political conflict which motivated the sabotage it isn't terrorism. Even if no one claims an attack, there has to be suspects
And that’s why the flight was held up due to a bag not matching with a passenger at first.
They still do ! Many people & some authorities .
@@mchjsosde What about the missile theory? Credible people saw one heading for the plane.
The summer of 1996 was wild. This happened during the Atlanta Olympics, and then there was the Olympic Park bombing. Eric Rudolph is a monster.
You believe that stuff happened the way the media reported it? Sounds like priming the public for 9/11.
The 90s were wild. Man, it all seems like a blur these days.
Don’t forget the Valujet crash earlier that year
@@georgeandritsakis1482 forgot about that. The pilots had no chance to save the plane.
How terrifying it would be sitting there in your seat and all of a sudden you just see the first half of the plane fall way and all you see is sky for a brief few minutes.
Interesting fact, the eastwind plane that spotted the initial explision was the same aircraft that had the rudder hardover incident 2 years prior, that aircraft helped solve the mystery of USAir 427 and United 585
Wait really?
Yep, but its hardover only happened a month before TWA 800. USAir happened 2 years prior
Same plane but a different pilot, N221US.
@@OwlRTA- US427 and UA585 had been unsolved to that point.
This, imho, is a prime example of why law enforcement agencies should be frozen out of initial investigations. The NTSB is more than proven in its ability to ensure preservation of evidence and accurate & thorough investigative work. Of course there's always reason for them to look at things afterwards but creating a circumstance where different Gov Agencies ( often with little commonality OR with so much overlap they could be 'competitors') are working to an outcome rather than trying to discover if that outcome was even a reality is always going to hamper efforts & lead to impacting the public
If only they could apply their efforts to cars.
Although, the NTSB was formed in the late 60’s, it was normal to have other agencies assist the NTSB in the 70’s/80’s and 90’s. In the 90’s and in to the 00’s, only the NTSB is called for accidents now.
You forgot that the NTSB/FAA has proven itself just as corrupt as any other alphabet agency. They *SHOULD* be forced to have additional, local, jurisdiction to keep them in check.
In all fairness, the US government was under a high tension. The World Trade Center had had its first terrorist attack only a few years earlier and the Olympic games were just 2 days away (which was subsequently bombed 10 days after the TWA 800 incident, to give a fair hint as to the state of tensions at the time). In retrospect an initial investigation made by NTSB would have been beneficial, but I imagine the FBI were seeking a quick response to give answers as fears would have been heightened. Not defending their actions of course, but having a clearer understanding of what was going on at the time does help to clarify the actions taken.
The FBI signed a memorandum of understanding with the NTSB as a result of this investigation, basically they agreed that they'd stay out of the way until an NTSB report suggesting foul play emerges.
I think this is considered the most horrific plane crash ever because of the passengers being aware of what was happening.
This crash was without a doubt terrifying for passengers and crew but watch Japan Airline flight 123😢
They didn’t know what happened. Almost all were killed instantly and the few that did survive the explosion were instantly knocked unconscious.
@@depalma13And none of them have any memories of this so it’s irrelevant.
The Alaska airlines that lost flight control off pt magu, CA….they flew inverted for a while. I mean upside down in the cabin? Also that one that got got hit by a vertical stabilizer over Switzerland…they had a long crash.
There was also one that hit 6g in a recover attempt, I mean six g is a lot for a sustained time….or the suicide Egypt air one…a nice 30,0000 fr dive, tearing the plane apart from aerodynamic forces….
I've been binge-watching your videos over the past few days. Love them! 🩷
Ah the 90's, when planes still exploded due to mechanical failures. This story was on the nightly news for the rest of the summer that year. Looking back it's hard to imagine being one of the family members waiting on the 6 and 11 pm broadcasts to find closure.
I was a child at this time and we were going on a once in a lifetime for us trip to Florida in Jan 97, my mom was terrified on the flight and i later found out this was why. To be fair if i'd known i'd have probably been scared to fly as well.
I was 12 at the time and the week that this had happened we flew up to MD from FL to visit our grandma for the summer , we watched all the live news coverage as it was happening my sister already had a fear of flying and this and the value jet accident didn't help.
I was 15 back then and travelling from Montreal to Vancouver with my parents a few weeks after that crash. I was terrified.
There were two Norwegians onboard the plane named Lars and Svein
So Lars was a drummer with Norwegian Travelling band and instructed at a achool and Svein was a bus driver, helped with baggage and loading instruments but was not a musician also was Lars's neighbour.
They were on holiday, supposed to arrive before the band but couldn't get tickets so they extended their trip by three days after the band was due to leave
They was in Midwest for 14 days in Minneapolis but went to see New York and flew back on the TWA 800.
I know this is horrible to say but the way this read, initially I thought it was going to be a joke.
They could of got married these days. Born 25 years too soon.
Do you want to build a snowman ☃️?
Correct this is a made up joke, because all plane crash videos have about 90% of the seats on board, being related to various comments posted, from people BSing that they knew victims. So come out and joke around with the liars on here I say 👍🏼
This was really well put togeter and concise , thank you for telling this story.
man you know a channel is good when it gets over 1k views in under 15 minutes. congrats on your success, keep it up!
why did you start by saying ‘man’ are you gay?
I think it's because of the topic ..people are drawn to this case of the twa flight 800 ..no matter how many years have pass I think people still would like to hear a different angle on it or if some new evidence came forth .this is definitely one of the newest one,s I've seen in some time..
Crazy that they recovered and rebuilt the plane with wreckage from the ocean!
Its even crazier, that despite them going so far above and beyond to solve this incident conclusively there are still conspiracy theorists denying the proven findings, insisting on various nefarious (and factually disproven) "explanations". Some ppl just dont want to know the truth.
The Challenger Shuttle was also mostly recovered and rebuilt to find faults.
Hey, plenty of pieces to be found elsewhere to 'fill in the blanks'.
Remain calm. Nothing to fear. Your government is watching out for you.
Literally.
The amt of wk dd !!! 😮😮
👍👍👍
It was probably due to the water being way more forgiving than solid land when something crashes on it
I swear, some people complain about various channels covering the same aircraft accidents/incidents, but the more I watch, I realize there are some new things that I didn't hear in other videos (such as the fact that 800 was originally supposed to be flown by a 767- to think that if that plane didn't have an issue, this may not have occured!). Keep it up, and definitely staying tuned for more!
I have a 7 hour flight tomorrow and youtube is legit recommending plane crashes videos to me lmao
Thanks i guess
this was 1996 planes now a day are way better 😭 if it helps, google recent plane accidents/crashes with the airline you’re flying. 99% it will just be minor accidents, with no deaths
@xiangjia0 yeah ur totally right, and planes are actually waay more comfortable these days too
Well i made it safe so😂
Thank you for that comment tho❤️
Still the safest way to travel. Air safety is so good today. Though you can never account for the military shooting down your plane in an exercise by mistake.
I know they’re rare and so many safety issues are in effect because of incidents like this but man human error still terrifies me with planes.
One of the most terrifying plane accidents that scares me. Is the auto pilot light blew on the console.
They accidentally turned it off thinking it was on.
@@v8mateyAnd the one where a pilot actually lit his teenage kid take the helm. 😠
@@caraiyaOr the one where a thrust reverser turned on in flight, and air crash investigators said it was so violent, that the only way to survive would have been to fix the issue in 6 seconds, after that, all hope was lost.
Or a mid-air collision where the air traffic controller caused the crash by giving pilots the wrong instructions to avoid a collision with the other plane.
@@themidnighttavern6784 Also that accident where the window seals or screws were wrong. And the pilot ended up being outside of the cockpit during flight. And was only survived by his copilot holding onto his ankles.
British Airways Flight 5390.
@@v8matey Terrifying for sure. But at least everyone survived.
I think that the biggest reason so many people continue to insist that TWA 800 was taken down by a missile, is the sheer horrifying notion that it really could've been a freak accident. People don't want to face that possibility. It's less "predictable" than some guy pushing a button.
For defending the "official story," I'm often accused of "burying my head in the sand" or "not wanting the face the truth" or some such sentiment. Far from it. I find the "freak accident" scenario, which happens to be supported by the known facts, to be far more disturbing.
I remember the earlier broadcast saying that witnesses saw what appeared to be MANPADS...
bet you think covid came from the wet market and the jabs are totally safe and totally effective too.
Idk buddy i'd rather get got by an accident than get blowed up by the government
I'm an aricraft mechanic, and I do know that stuff breaks without warning all the time. There are freak accidents. However, I had a boss years ago(retired Navy Chief) who made a strong enough case for me, that I have since believed in the conspiracy. Basically, there is too much controversy for me to believe this was a pure accident. Also, there are many other instances of this happening in aircraft, resulting in damage and loss of life, that are way more credible. TWA 800 gets all the attention because of how catastrophic it was.
I've been an airline aircraft mechanic for 32 years, I've worked on planes with packs running for hours and hours in 115 degree weather, it doesn't affect anything, the air they use from the APU at about 500 degrees F is cooled as it runs through the air cycle machines (packs) for air conditioning of the plane, they are isolated from the center fuel tanks and vented to atmosphere they will not overheat the tanks. A reporter found missile fuel residue on the seat covers samples he had tested where a missile went through the cabin at the wing root, him and his flight attendant wife were prosecuted for obtaining it. There was a shock wave on the air data instruments consistent with an explosion. Planes do not climb when weight is removed from the front they stall immediately, the CIA mickey mouse video of a zoom climb to cover up the missile arc witnessed by over a hundred witnesses and a helicopter pilot is absurd. The FBI stepping in front of the NTSB gave it away, it was not an accident and their coverup is atrocious. This video is an absurd repeat of all the lies.
I truly LOVE your Channel! It has kept me company many long and lonely nights at work! Haha. I’ve donated before to you but I want to thank you again for all your GREAT, QUICK, & VERY INFORMATIVE Videos
Im always so impressed by the people who investigate and can figure out that wiring was damaged before exploding and falling into the ocean. I know its a job you train for like any other but its still so impressive to me.
I didn't know that the initial incident in Final Destination was inspired by an actual tragedy. How sad for everyone involved! Thank you for covering this.
I was just thinking about that
Yep. Glen Morgan and James Wong were going to make it an X-Files episode, but they left the show before it could be made, so they just made it into a movie instead.
I watched the clip. I am not getting on an airplane anytime soon.
I remember flying TWA to Spain a couple years after this happened. It was still heavily on our minds because there had been so much news coverage.
Just listened to some old Art Bell episodes about this, neat coincidence to see this pop up here. Gotta love synchronicities! Thanks for another fantastic video!
I remember this like it was yesterday, as a Long Islander. Tons of boats went out to the wreckage to see if they could find help or find anyone. The stories of the victims were incredibly sad. This one will always hit close to home.
What were some stories of the victims? I’m just finding out about this
@@chrismorrison7 I’m thinking of a story about a man who put his wife and 2 little girls on the plane, and was going to join them the next day. That one always sticks in my head.
I always make sure to tune in on Tuesday mornings and I'm never disappointed
I remember the Mayday episode on TWA 800, such a complicated case. I'm impressed you got all that info into 11 minutes! The Mayday episode is worth watching, but I don't think there'd be any new info in it.
That’s what surprises me about this and also The Flight Channel.
Anyone else feel bad when they get excited that fascinating horror has a new video out. A guilty pleasure in deed.
People's inability to deal with the uncomfortable reality that bad things sometimes happen without anyone being behind the scenes, secretly in control, is really wild.
Okay, but sometimes there's evidence that points to that. No one has a hard time believing that sometimes bad things happen. That's an outrageous claim. Possibly because you can't imagine a world where powerful people and governments do evil things for their own benefit and have the power and resources to get away with it. 🤷♀️
I remember when this happened. It was a breaking news sort of situation, and every network was basically saying it was probably a terrorist attack. When it became clear it probably wasn't they got bored and stopped reporting on it. As a result, I was under the impression that flight 800 was taken down by a terrorist organization until just after 9/11 happened. Everyone kept saying nothing like this had ever happened, and I was like "what about that TWA flight in the 90's?"
Yeah, the news was pretty good at getting us riled up back then, too. I was a kid, but it worked pretty well on adults.
"back then" the television "news" has never been about facts, it's about getting people scared into watching or anger watching, you wanna see some things that will make you question the mainstream media's ethics? See how many of the shows that tell you the jabs are safe that are sponsored by Pfizer, try to get the names of the 100 media organizations the Joe Biden presidency paid to promote the jabs, then watch the selective edits of things Trump said vs what he actually said, take the part the media uses to brand him a racist where in reference to Charlottesville he said "there where very fine people on both sides" but then the media cuts the very next line where he says "and i'm not talking about the neo-nazis and the white supremacists they should be condemned totally", the media is not your friend, they are highly politicized and only care about their agendas and how they can spin things to push their views.
Now the delay of a flight where we had to disembark and wait back inside the terminal makes more sense. Well done, Kristian. This accident was always a mystery til now.
I remember seeing vhs footage on live tv of missile looking things nearby the day after it happened. Now you can’t find any footage
I'm amazed how you can continue to find fascinating and mostly unknown stories for so long. I've watched your channel for years now and it's this one of only a couple I get excited about new uploads.
Great work as always. Appreciate all the hard work you do.
I mean tbf this one isn't mostly unknown. TWA 800 is one of the most famous aviation accidents in all of history - it's the only plane that's every just exploded in mid air due to technical issues.
I remember watching a documentary of this accident made me fear being inside a delayed flight with the aircon running.
If this is what happened, it goes to show that even trace amounts of a substance can lead to a false positive of sorts. Which in turn leads to a rush to declare something definitively or to oversell a theory, due to the agency involved having their own wheelhouse bias in formulating certain kinds of conclusions.
I believed the "missile" story for years then I saw the investigation of TWA Flight 800 and when I heard about the fuel tank explosion it made since that the plane stayed in the air for several moments, if a Missile had hit the plan, it would have exploded the entire plane right then in a million pieces and NO one would have able to put any piece of it back together. I am glad that common sense took over. Many reports of lights going out and other issues on that plane before it finally couldn't make another flight. May all those souls on board RIP and the ones who ignored the fatal flaws on that plane be haunted forever.
What a load of crap. Missiles do not hit aircraft - they explode when they sense PROXIMITY to the target. The do not "explode the entire plane right then in a million pieces and NO one would have able to put any piece of it back together." That sentence is is a real load of BS and it originated in YOUR mind, not reality.
I don't know much about this case, but a missile could still do that. It wouldn't necessarily explode into a million pieces. That's probably where your mind goes because of how every explosion is portrayed in movies
I seem to remember there were eye witnesses who claimed they saw a missile shooting up. It was later determined that what the witnesses saw was probably the back of the plane shooting up after the explosion. I was in school when this disaster happened. I couldn't remember it until the fuel vapour was mentioned. Horrific.
@@diegofondoo1780 thanks yeah, the theory that the US Navy shot it down accidentally is mentioned in the video. It doesn't surprise me that some people thought it was a flare. It's really hard to judge size and distance when looking up at the sky.
Maybe what they saw was just swamp gas and a weather balloon
@@BertPaulson True for at least 95% of the witnesses but that last 5% is always difficult to completely dismiss... 👀
People in different locations on Long Island all thought they saw the plane destroyed by a missile. There were even videos. "The back of the plane shooting up after the explosion" doesn't disprove the missile theory at all. Or the bomb theory.
There's a reason eyewitness testimony is one of the weakest forms of evidence.
Human sight, perception, and memory are all very flawed.
Studies
Good job telling this story. Could you cover another plane crash, EgyptAir 990? Love your channel.
If you want that, perhaps AT630, TM470, and 4U9525 should be covered as related as well as MS990. All are suspected to be suicide by pilot. In fact, unlike here, the NTSB said it was handing over the investigation of MS990 to the FBI.
If he doesn’t that his channel will get banned in Egypt.
Their are still hypersensitive to the concept a pilot from their national airline could dive an airplane in
How about Swissair Flight 111? One of my parents’ friends was among the first people out on the water searching for any survivors. He saw some pretty gruesome things. 😢
All of these suggestions are good ones. I hope they get covered in future stories on this channel.
Thank you for this video. I remember all of the rumors and disinformation. You gave a succinct and factual accounting of what actually happened.
As always, thank you for your work
When I was a kid in 70s I did a lot of international air travel due to my dad’s job. I remember flying TWA and PanAm both of which are no more.
The students on the twa800 became used somewhat in the first final destination movie along with footage of the burning debris you see in the film on Alex's TV after the crash.
I love FD, and I knew the movie was based on this crash, but isn't using the footage just disrespectful as shit to the victims?
@@bufogeistThats americans for you
@@bufogeist when you see the footage of the burning debris I thought the same thing honestly a bit disrespectful since over 200 people died.
@@bufogeist Kinda, but also meh.
Someone who gets upset over things like that = someone who's just looking for a reason to get upset.
Isn’t that the movie that all shows them burning while breaking apart?
Always top tier content. Keep up the great work FH.
Finally! I remember this crash so vividly when I was working July ‘96 renting bikes in a park as a 15year old. The news fascinating, so much confusion.
I can remember seeing this on the evening news. All those lives lost. How terribly sad.😢
This is a fantastic breakdown of an incredibly complex investigation. Well done.
Another amazing video from a fantastic channel. I'm addicted to the narrator's voice! If he read the phone book aloud, I'd listen.
RIP to all souls lost and condolences to all those who lost loved ones~
My Tuesdays always begin with "I wonder what today's Fascinating Horror story will be?"
This is a disaster that I am well aware of, so tragic and frightening. I can't imagine the horror the victims must've experienced in those final moments. And to think that this disaster may never have happened if the passenger and their bag hadn't been identified as a mismatch.
This air disaster was definitely the inspiration for the airplane explosion and crash on the first Final Destination movie.
That's what I was thinking.
Although the filmmakers always denied this there are interesting parallels. My guess is they had to say "Of course we didn't took this as an inspiration" because it would have been in bad taste.
Well, if you look into what the plane had to go thrugh throughout the whole accident sequence you could say the passengers of TWA 800 went through much more horrible stuff than the movie depicts the crash.
Not only that but the footage that you see of the burning wreckage in that movie is the actual burning wreckage of TWA 800 too. Absolutely horrific
@@wolpertingera5829 They used TWA800 wreck footage *in the movie.* lol
Thank you for this video. Very sad, tragic and informative
Being from LI, NY I remember when this happened. Absolutely devastating. May all who perished be at peace.
Same here. I remember coming home from roller skating that night. Some of the monitors at the rink had been tuned to the news and had been showing clips of the crash, but there was no way to tell if the plane had come down in New York, New Delhi, or New Guinea.
it wasn't until I got home to see my mom watching this on the news that I found out that it had happened only ~50 miles away.
Such a tragedy.
Hola from Baja. Good video! The entire Paris Gay Men's Chorus was on this flight, having competed in San Jose International GALA festival, I also performed in (solos)with Ft Lauderdale's Lambda Chorale. The flight crashed over my Mom's house on Long Island. She had plane parts in her pool. She gave me her miles the next day, and refused to fly afterwards. I flew t Paris...
I'm not even scared of flying but there's a nervous, respectful undertone I get with the helplessness you have when flying (especially a long trans-oceanic flight) from knowing accidents like this happen. Even with improved and better-monitored safety regulations in present times.. it's spooky.
I'm sure the channel isn't in need of suggestions, but it would be cool to one day see you cover a thyrotoxicosis outbreak that happened in the USA. Once identified, it was suspected of being the culprit behind some previous similar outbreaks that had not been fully understood in years before. Not sure if it fits the channel content but I find it interesting how authorities had to pursue many different angles before finding out what connected the cases.
Thank you for covering this...after following this incident for over 25 years (lolwhut), I learned things I did not know about the incident. At the time, I was a high school student who loved French class, and I remember feeling a particular affinity for the kids who died.
It can't be understated the amount of experience in that cockpit
I work on airplanes it's a pretty brutal job unfortunately. Wiring and sheet metal get corroded on jets and that's why they have to be on a continued airworthiness maintenance program to inspect stuff every so often. They also don't put wires in the fuel tanks anymore and always route wires above water lines when possible. This 747 is brought up very much in training, especially with electrical systems. I want a different job.
My first thought is WTH would you run wires through a fuel tank? Unless it's through a vapor-tight conduit...
I'll never forget this. We were coming back from europe on twa and landed in jfk the same day this flight took off to head to Europe. We were coming back from a family vacation, my mom n I going to Italy, the Uk and Paris. By the time we got home back to Michigan from JFK, this was on the evening news. I was 14 years old and had a complete meltdown. I couldn't believe it.....we were just there 😢 rip to all the lives lost.
A Coastguardsman friend who responded to the crash told me many of the passengers floated to the surface still strapped to their seats. It haunts him to this day.
When I was in the military back in the 80's I flew a lot of miles. Mostly on Delta. Now when I see things like this I think WOW, and count myself blessed. May they all RIP.
…ok? how is that relevant?
@@JohnfromWaterFrontVillige My comment was an example of how anyone that has flew just takes saftey for granted. If you ever got on a plane I am sure you have done the same thing.
Just as Lockerbie was to Pan Am, this flight was to TWA.
Exactly. I was a Flight Attendant for Pan Am when Lockerbie happened, lost dear friends. And I was cabin crew on the flight that took off just before TWA 800 - our pilots never told us what had happened, we heard it from the outbound crew when we landed in Europe. Both of those airlines were struggling financially - these disasters ended them.
Good presentation, I like the fact that you use actual pictures of TWA 747s, instead of random stock footage of non relevant planes like I have seen in some videos xD.
The day TWA was bought out, they canceled their flights. The EF tours group I was part of lost the first day of our trip due to this. I was sad at the time. But now I’m glad we didn’t blow up.
I was active duty military in the NYC area when this happened. A few of us where tasked with making several thousand boxed meals for the first responders on short notice. Terrible tragedy.
If you want a more detailed video on this incident, I would recommend The Flight Channel. His flight simulator recreation videos are top notch 👍🏻
Good recommendation. The Mentour Pilot and Disaster Breakdown channels both put out some good 'when aviation goes wrong' content as well.
I had watched this before there. The Eastwind pilot was the first one to say that he thought TW(TWA)800 went down.