TWA Flight 800
230 people died when a passenger jet exploded over Long Island in 1996 — hundreds of witnesses reported seeing a streak of light rise toward the plane just before it happened, and investigators spent four years explaining, in exhaustive technical detail, why it almost certainly wasn't a missile.
TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747, exploded in midair shortly after takeoff from New York on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people aboard. Despite the National Transportation Safety Board's extensive four-year investigation concluding the cause was an electrical short circuit igniting fuel vapor in a nearly empty center fuel tank, persistent conspiracy theories, fueled partly by numerous witness reports of a streak of light, have alleged a missile strike.
- →TWA Flight 800 exploded in midair approximately 12 minutes after takeoff from JFK International Airport on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people aboard.
- →The National Transportation Safety Board's four-year investigation concluded the probable cause was a short circuit that ignited flammable vapor in the aircraft's nearly empty center wing fuel tank.
- →Numerous witnesses, including some pilots and off-duty law enforcement, reported seeing a streak of light rise toward the aircraft moments before the explosion, fueling missile strike speculation.
- →A 2013 documentary featuring former investigators directly challenging the official NTSB conclusion renewed public and media attention to the missile theory.