Flight 800 Case Study

What Really Happened to Flight 800? When flying on a plane many might be scared for there life when soaring through the sky at such a high height, but with the chance of losing your life being only at one in a 11 million it is unlikely anything would happen (curiosity.com). Tragically this one in a 11 million chance happened to everyone on TWA Flight 800, with odds in their favor this became a national mystery for the cause of this intentional or unintentional mishap. The aircraft and the cause for the explosion was a question from the beginning and has stayed unsolved to this day. This case created serious thought among what had happened which brought two main theories front and center which being an explosion in the fuel tank or a government …show more content…
When the FBI conducted their investigation they found no evidence of interference with the aircraft but when the National Transportation Safety Board had finally finished the investigation after years of work they concluded it was only a mistake in the faulty fuel tank (McDowell-Smith 1). To clarify, after the NTSB ran continuous tests they came to the final analysis that the center fuel tank came across an electrical spark due to tangled wires causing fuel vapors to catch fire which lead to the explosion of Flight 800 (Cole 36). Furthermore, the NTSB was also able to recover the cockpit voice recorder where the pilot of the flight stated near the time of the crash saying “Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four...See that?” which can only be seen as giving more evidence for this theory (McDowell-Smith 1). Furthermore, the FBI was also leading an investigation looking specifically for criminal interference but then closed the case due to no evidence pointing in that direction (McDowell-Smith 1). After four years after the crash taking place the NTSB stated there main thought of what had happened and then released 15 safety warnings some of it stating the issues that could’ve been avoided such as “fuel tank flammability, fuel tank ignition sources, design and certification standards, and …show more content…
The fuel tank theory being reason for the aircraft going down in flames seems the most notable with all the evidence and can be seen as most reasonable. Although with what witnesses say claiming to see something hit the aircraft push the tank theory to the curb and make this theory more believable? The Flight 800 case will always be remembered by many with the misfortune it brought to many and puzzlement to the people trying to end the mystery, as Neil Armstrong once said “ Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to