The National Transportation Safety Board announced Monday\nits decision to decommission the TWA Flight 800 reconstruction as the agency\nprepares for the expiration of the lease for its Ashburn, Virginia, Training\nCenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reconstruction, housed in the 30,000 square foot hangar\nalong with other training tools at the NTSB\u2019s Training Center, has been used in\nthe NTSB\u2019s accident investigation training courses for nearly 20 years.\nHowever, advances in investigative techniques such as 3-D scanning and drone\nimagery, lessen the relevance of the large-scale reconstruction in teaching\nmodern investigative techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TWA Flight 800<\/a>, a Boeing 747, bound for Paris, France with 230 people aboard, crashed July 17, 1996, minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport. After an exhaustive, four-year-long investigation<\/a>, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the crash was an explosion in the center wing fuel tank. Evidence indicated the explosion was the result of an electrical failure that ignited the flammable fuel\/air mixture in the tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe investigation of the crash of TWA Flight 800 is a seminal moment in aviation safety history,\u201d said NTSB Managing Director Sharon Bryson. \u201cFrom that investigation we issued safety recommendations that fundamentally changed the way aircraft are designed. The investigation also led to a memorandum of understanding between the FBI and the NTSB regarding investigations of accidents resulting from intentional acts as well as evidence collection and preservation. That investigation also led to the equally important development of our Transportation Disaster Assistance<\/a> division and the legislation in place today governing carrier responsibilities for family assistance in the wake of a transportation disaster,\u201d said Bryson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NTSB plans to stop use of the reconstruction July 7,\n2021. For several months thereafter, the NTSB will thoroughly document the\nreconstruction using various 3-D scanning techniques. The scanned data will be\narchived for historical purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the NTSB moved the reconstruction to the Training\nCenter, it did so with the stipulation that it would be used solely as a\ntraining resource and never as an exhibit or public display. To honor this\nagreement made with the families of the victims of TWA Flight 800, the NTSB\nwill work closely with a federal government contractor to dismantle the\nreconstruction and destroy the wreckage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur Transportation Disaster Assistance division and I have\nconnected with representatives of TWA Flight 800 family groups to help ensure\nfamilies of those who perished on TWA Flight 800 learned of our decision\ndirectly from the NTSB before our public announcement,\u201d said Bryson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between calendar year 2015 and 2019 the NTSB trained a\ncombined annual average of 2,622 students including NTSB investigators and\nstaff, and external stakeholders involved in transportation safety, advocacy,\nfamily assistance and emergency response. The NTSB is exploring options to\ncontinue its robust training program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Transportation Safety Board announced Monday its decision to decommission the TWA Flight 800 reconstruction as the agency prepares for the expiration of the lease for its Ashburn, Virginia, Training Center. The reconstruction, housed in the 30,000 square foot hangar along with other training tools at the NTSB\u2019s Training Center, has been used in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17763,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions\/17763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}