Causes of Trans World Airline Flight 800 Accident

         Causes of Trans World Airline Flight 800 Accident

The explosion of the Trans World Airline Flight 800 over the shores of Long Island in New York on the 17^th July, 1996 raised concerns and debates from members of the public, the United States Government and the aviation sector as a whole. Various eye witnesses who were interrogated mentioned that they saw an object heading towards the place a few seconds before it exploded. These testimonies raised suspicions of terrorism, leading to the biggest investigation of an accident in the history of the aviation sector. Various perspectives of information that were provided by witnesses compelled the United States government, through the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) to spend approximately four years and substantial millions of dollars in order to determine the actual causes of the accident.

In a report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 1997 it was indicated that the accident experienced by Trans World Airline Flight 800 was not as a result of criminal or terrorist act. The FBI indicated that considering the fact that the accident was not as a result of criminal act, it was the responsibility of the NTSB to conduct further investigations. Four years later, the National Transport and Safety Board indicated in their report that the probable cause of the accident was as a result of a spark in middle of the fuel tank, leading to an explosion of the aircraft. Despite the fact the NTSB applied the best hypothesis to explain the cause of the explosion, a definitive answer was not found.

 

  Structural and Mechanical Factors Involved in the Accident

Different theories and perspectives regarding the cause of TWA Flight 800 crash have been provided by various stakeholders for instance; government institutions, former aviation industry workers and other research institution. However, the structural and mechanical factors that have been associated with occurrence of the accident are an explosion that occurred in a central empty fuel tank that had been probably ignited by a spark due to a faulty fuel quantity challenge.

            According to the investigations that were performed by the National Transport and Safety Board, it was indicated that there was a crack along the insulation that allowed lighting at a higher voltage from the lighting circuit to generate sparks leading to the ignition of the vapors within the empty fuel tank. This report has been highly criticized by mechanics and other concerned stakeholders in the aviation industry indicating that most major flights or aircrafts are usually used with an empty middle or the center fuel tank, but have never experienced such a challenge.

Contributing Factors to the Accident

One of the concerned stakeholders that have refuted claims indicating the TWA Flight 800 crashed as a result of sparks in the fuel tank is Captain Andy, a former Pilot to the current U.S President Barack Obama. In his view, he believes that one of the factors that might have contributing to the accident is shooting down the Plane using a missile. He is also of the perception that the Federal Bureau of Investigation might have covered certain contributing factors that led to the accident experienced by TWA Flight 800. In an investigation conducted by the FBI, involving an interview of about 755 eye witnesses, it is indicated that most of the eye witness believed that they saw an object moving towards the plane, a few seconds before it crashed.

Mechanical failures could also be indicated as one of the contributing factors of the accident. Investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded their investigation by indicating that terrorist or criminal attacks were not the contributing factors of the accident. They believe that the major contributing factor of this historical accident might have been caused by mechanical failures, hence requested the NTSB to conduct further investigations. According to the National Transport and Service Board, mechanical failure characterized by ignition of the vapor in a center fuel tank by high voltage sparks was probable contributing factor of the accident. The NTSB also indicated in their report that another contributing factor to the accident would have been certification and design concepts stipulating that the explosions experienced in the fuel tank would have been prevented only by precluding the entire sources of ignition, the design as well as the certification of TWA Flight 800, characterized by heat source underneath the central fuel tank and without means of reducing the amount of heat transferred towards the central fuel tank.

         Investigation Board Findings

As aforementioned, two major government institutions participated in the investigations of the probable causes of the accident experienced by TWA Flight 800. One of the major government institutions that participated in the investigations was the FBI; it began its investigation by interviewing about 755 eye witnesses followed by analysis of other relevant issues that might provide required results. Their findings concluded that the accident was not caused by criminal attacks or terrorist attacks, hence recommended that further investigations be conducted by the NTSB.

The National Transport and Safety Board is another institution that participated in investigations of the probable causes of the accident that was experienced by TWA Flight 800. Through analysis of the wreckage or the remains of the aircraft, they concluded that the probable cause of the accident was as a result of ignition of vapors in a central tank by high voltage sparks from the lighting circuit leading to the explosion of the entire aircraft.

  Recommendations

A year after occurrence of the accident, the Federal Bureau provided their report indicating that they did not identify any terrorist or criminal acts that might have led to the accident. In this regard, they provided a recommendation to the National Transport and Safety Board (NTSB), to conduct further investigations on the structural and mechanical features of the wreckage in order to determine whether mechanical failures would have caused the accident.

After filing their report, the National Transport and Safety Board provided various recommendations to concerned stakeholders specifically the Federal Aviation Administration. One of the recommendations that were provided to the FAA by NTSB after the accident is referred as Recommendation A-96-174. This recommendation required changes in regard to design and development of fuel tanks for instance: Inserting insulating materials between fuel tanks and heat-generating equipment. The NTSB also recommended that the FAA facilitates implementation of changes on designs in a manner that operational processes reduce potential explosion for instance refueling the central wing tank CWT in cooler grounds et cetera.

      Outcomes

Following the two investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recommended that the National Transport and Safety Board engage in further investigations that could determine whether the accident was caused by mechanical or structural failures. This led to a final investigation, which led to a determination that the probable cause of the accident might have been as a result of the ignition of water vapor at the Central Wing Tank CWT, by sparks from the lighting circuit. 

The National Transport and Safety Board upon completion of the investigation two major recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration indicating that there should changes or modifications on the structural designs and modification aircrafts i.e. using insulating materials to separate CWT with other heating parts and refueling of the CWT at cooler grounds: These strategies have been so far implemented by the FAA.