On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 blew apart in flight.
To observe the anniversary of the July 17, 1996, disaster, hundreds of family members will gather for a memorial Monday on Long Island at Smith Point County Park, the closest point on land to the crash site.
Back in 1996, I had just started to travel frequently for my company, and this tragedy sent a chill down my spine. Just a couple of days ago, I viewed an animation of what happened when the plane exploded (located three paragraphs down within the story on this page). Based on investigator findings, we now know exactly what the passengers experienced. It’s pretty awful.
Unfortunately, as CNN discovered, there are planes flying today with the same problems that led to the disaster of TWA 800, making it likely that more of these kind of disasters could happen in the future. The network will broadcast a special report focusing on the anniversary of the doomed flight.