TWA Flight 800 Remembered
Today, July 17, marks the 26th anniversary of the loss of TWA Flight 800. All 230 passengers and crew onboard perished. Included were 18 active working crew, 20 other TWA employees (including deadheading cockpit and cabin crew), and passengers from 14 countries. We take a moment today to remember them all.
We do not intend to re-litigate the cause of the accident. Despite countless news articles, documentaries, magazine stories, and books, many believe there is no definitive cause. The National Transportation Safety Board took four years and one month to issue their official report. That report remains controversial. In 2013, the NTSB admitted they had received a petition to reopen the investigation. In 2014, they declined.
Over 96% of the aircraft was
recovered, then carefully pieced back together in Ashburn, VA.
Only victim’s families were permitted to view the wreckage. In July of 2021,
the reconstruction was decommissioned. By agreement with victim’s families,
no wreckage could be used further. Instead, it was melted down
or shredded.
What does remain is the TWA
Flight 800 Memorial. There, on a landscaped two-acre plot adjacent to Smith
Point County Park, Fire Island, New York, sits a curved black granite memorial
with 230 engraved names. The site flies the flags of all 14 countries of the
victims.