TWA Flight 800 Tests to Check Fuel Tanks

Investigators trying to learn why TWA Flight 800 exploded have installed monitors on the fuel tanks of a Boeing 747 and will measure vibrations and temperatures under various conditions during a rigorous set of tests. Data from the flight tests will be compared to what is known about the Flight 800 mystery nearly a year after the plane went down off Long Island, killing all 230 people on board. Investigators know that Flight 800’s nearly empty center fuel tank exploded. They have been unable to pinpoint why but have raised the possibility that some kind of mechanical malfunction ignited vapors in the tank.