TWA Flight 800 wreckage in Ashburn to be decommissioned
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This is just down the street from LSD's house
I was at a safety seminar at the NTSB several years ago and they took us in to see this. Access to this wreckage was very limited, they bragged how congressmen and Senators would try to get permission and they always said no.
The deal with the families of victims was that it would only be used for education. They didn't even tell us beforehand that that it would be part of the seminar.
It was really creepy walking up that scaffold and looking at the empty seats.
And you could stick your head inside the fuel tank where the explosion began, that was interesting.
TWA Flight 800 wreckage in Ashburn to be decommissioned
For nearly two decades, the wreckage from the TWA Flight 800 tragedy has sat in a huge Ashburn warehouse.
The reconstructed aircraft has been used by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its training courses. Now, the agency has announced that it will decommission the reconstruction, document each and every piece with high-tech computer equipment and then destroy the remains of the aircraft.
“The reconstruction, housed in the 30,000 square foot hangar along with other training tools at the NTSB’s Training Center, has been used in the NTSB’s accident investigation training courses for nearly 20 years,” the announcement reads. “However, advances in investigative techniques such as 3-D scanning and drone imagery, lessen the relevance of the large-scale reconstruction in teaching modern investigative techniques.”
As most Americans know, on July 17, 1996, TWA 800 took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport bound for Paris. Moments after take off, it exploded over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast. 230 passengers and crew lost their lives in one of the deadliest aviation accidents in U.S. history. A four-year investigation determined an electrical failure had caused an explosion in the center wing fuel tank.
The NTSB plans to stop using the reconstruction in July. Then it will use 3D scanners to document the wreckage before dismantling and destroying it.
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That is very interesting. Amazing that they were able to put it back together as much as they did.
Sad story, but good that it was able to be used for future training.
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Kind of surprised that it won’t end up at Udvar Hazy...
