Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Frank C. Duarte Jr.
What: TWA Boeing 747-131 en route from NY to Paris
Where: East Moriches, New York
When: July 17, 1996
Who: 2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, and 212 passengers
Why: On July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines, Inc. Boeing 747-131, N93119, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, en route from New York to Paris, France. The flight departed JFK about 2019, with 2 pilots, 2 flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, and 212 passengers on board. All were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. Investigation revealed that the crash occurred as the result of a fuel/air explosion in the airplane’s center wing fuel tank .Ignition energy for the CWT explosion most likely entered the CWT through the fuel quantity indication system wiring short circuit. There was no evidence of a missile or bomb.