N93119, a Boeing 747-131, was delivered to Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA) in October of 1971. On July 17th of this same year, N93119 under the flight plan TWA Flight 800, took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) at 8:19 P.M., only to be destroyed 12 minutes later. There were 230 people on board this flight that day and all perished when the aircraft, exploded, tore apart and plunged into the sea ("In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean Trans World Airlines Flight 800", 2016). According to TWA records, N93119 had 93,303 total hours of operation (16,869 flight cycles) at the time of the accident, far exceeding Boeing’s minimum design service objective of 60,000 flight hours for a 747.
Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be joined by a large and concurrent investigation by the FBI. TWA 800’s demise is still shrouded in conspiracy theories as to what actually brought down the aircraft. Numerous eyewitness reports recount seeing something rise through the air, terminating in a large fireball. There was even a made for TV movie where conspiracy theorists voiced their different visions on what
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The wiring location is more of a concern, more so, its route throughout the aircraft. Boeing’s Standard Wiring Practices Manual gave no special separation requirements for FQIS and fuel system wiring, including the fuel quantity probes and interconnecting wiring and the fuel quantity gauges. Boeing did however incorporate an EMI shield on the FQIS wire bundle between the flight engineer’s panel and the CWT on 747s produced after line number 243; the accident airplane was line number 164. Wiring diagrams show that the FQIS and fuel flow indication wire bundles were routed along a common path from the flight engineer station to the electrical equipment