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A Decade After TWA Flight 800 Crashed, It's Safer To Fly
Newsday ^ | 8 July 2006 | Sylvia Adcock

Posted on 07/09/2006 12:12:49 PM PDT by Hal1950

In the decade since TWA Flight 800 exploded off Long Island's South Shore, flying on commercial airlines has grown so much safer that the risk of dying in a plane crash has plunged to its lowest level in history.

Improvements in technology and training -- and an added focus on safety spawned by Flight 800 in July 1996 and the ValuJet crash in Florida two months earlier -- have helped usher in an unprecedented period of air safety, experts say.

In the past five years, the accident rate "has been brought to the brink of extinction," said Arnold Barnett, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has done extensive studies of aviation statistics.

Excluding the loss of life on Sept. 11, 2001, the chance of perishing in a domestic flight in the United States has been virtually nonexistent in the past five years. Of the 46 million flights of U.S.-based airlines from 2000 to 2006, only two crashed, including 587, en route to the Dominican Republic, and Alaska Airlines Flight 261, off the California coast in January 2000.

"By every measurement the industry is safer today than it has ever been," said John Cox, a former safety chief for the Air Line Pilots Association and now a Washington, D.C.-based consultant.

Also, newer planes make up a greater percentage of the commercial fleet, after airlines parked some of their older models when Sept. 11 caused a slowdown in air travel.

In response to the TWA crash, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered new procedures to prevent sparks that can cause a fuel tank explosion, and has increased its focus on aging wiring.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: coverup; flight800; governmentlies; missile; ntsb; shootdown; twa800; twaflight800
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1 posted on 07/09/2006 12:12:52 PM PDT by Hal1950
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To: Hal1950

Crashed, my *ss.


2 posted on 07/09/2006 12:17:49 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: Hal1950

Since 911, flying is safer thanks to W!


3 posted on 07/09/2006 12:18:40 PM PDT by Rennes Templar ("The future ain't what it used to be".........Yogi Berra)
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To: Hal1950
"....the accident rate "has been brought to the brink of extinction,"

Unless a missile disguised as an exploding center fuel tank runs into your plane.........

4 posted on 07/09/2006 12:19:49 PM PDT by ALASKA
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To: All
Conpiracy theorists have continued to allege that TWA 800 was the victim of a missile(s) shootdown. The following is in anticipation that some of them will do so in this thread.

Here is the detailed report of airborne witnesses Faret & Wendell which they prepared after their interviews by the FBI and NTSB because "we felt that they did not capture the detail we expressed, or the certainty of our facts." It accordingly appears that NO government agency (including the FBI, CIA & NTSB) has this report clearly stating the the huge fireball exploded at 7500 feet, NOT at 13,800 feet where the 747 became disabled at 8:31:12

The ATC tape transcript documenting that the first radio report of the huge fireball was timestamped at 8:31:50 - 38 seconds after the initial event disabled the 747 at 13,800 feet..

When the FBI decreed that none of the witnesses would be allowed to testify at the NTSB's first hearing (in Baltimore), the NTSB made tentative plans to have Elizabeth Loftus, "a psychologist who has written extensively about eyewitness testimony", appear at the Baltimore hearing to explain the unreliability of witnesses' observations and recollections as well as the problems arising from "tainting" (input from other sources). Brain Often Blurs What Eyes See

The public was further confused thereafter by "zoom-climb" videos prepared first by the CIA/FBI and NTSB. CIA & NTSB "Explanation" Videos

In summary, it's clear from the detailed report of Faret & Wendell that the disaster did not unfold as we all (the public, government, press and conspiracy theorists) thought it did. Not only was Flight 800 not the victim of a missile attack, it would be impossible for anyone to conjure up a palatable "missile(s) shootdown" scenario that would not be in obvious conflict with the report of those 2 airborne witnesses.

5 posted on 07/09/2006 12:20:13 PM PDT by Hal1950
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To: Rennes Templar
And thanks to citizens that will beat the crap out of anyone that tries anything.
6 posted on 07/09/2006 12:20:29 PM PDT by varyouga (I no longer fear death. I only fear the day when the DUmmies take over.)
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To: Rennes Templar
That's not true, you know. Flying is safer because if you stand up on my plane and announce I hijack, I will kill you. Or the guy behind me will, but in either case, there will be no hijack.

The TSA is window dressing, and accomplishes nothing.

7 posted on 07/09/2006 12:22:25 PM PDT by patton (LGOPs = head toward the noise, kill anyone not dressed like you.)
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To: Hal1950
"In response to the TWA crash, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered new procedures to prevent sparks that can cause a fuel tank explosion, and has increased its focus on aging wiring."

Preventing sparks from bombs and missiles is very important to flight safety.

8 posted on 07/09/2006 12:25:33 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Hal1950

They said the same thing about the Titanic.


9 posted on 07/09/2006 12:30:07 PM PDT by sgtbono2002 (The fourth estate is a fifth column.)
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To: Hal1950

Quoting:

" A short "pin flash of light " appeared on the ground (perhaps water). Very shortly thereafter the white light exploded instantaneously into a huge red-orange ball. My initial thoughts were "who's shooting fireworks tonight. " The magnitude of the fire ball, and altitude, quickly (less than a second) ruled that out. Immediately thereafter a large fire ball emerged from the bottom of the initial fireball, accelerating straight down, as if it had just started to fall. Like a teardrop it drew with it a tail of fire down to the water surface. We watched intently as the descending fire fell closer to the water.


10 posted on 07/09/2006 12:32:44 PM PDT by marron
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To: Hal1950

reading something like 'the accident rate "has been brought to the brink of extinction"' makes me feel a little bit uneasy. It has a definite aftertaste of the Concord's 'perfect safety record' or a ship being deemed 'unsinkable'

$hit happens, and it has a tendency to make people regret words like these.


11 posted on 07/09/2006 12:35:09 PM PDT by verum ago (Proper foreign policy makes loud noises.)
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To: Hal1950

So where are the photos of the wreckage reassembled in the hanger so we can take a look for ourselves? Various zoom ed photos of what is left of the alleged miscreant fuel tank? the wiring? Replays of the Radar tapes? Cockpit recorders, ATC tapes? A copy of the "final report" with documentation?


12 posted on 07/09/2006 12:41:31 PM PDT by Paladin2 (If the political indictment's from Fitz, the jury always acquits.)
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To: verum ago
... reading something like 'the accident rate "has been brought to the brink of extinction"' makes me feel a little bit uneasy.

It should ... it's an idiotic comment to make attributed to some so called expert with MIT credentials. This so called expert ought to put his slide rule away & get out from behind his desk and try living in the real world. Making a statement like that will come back to haunt you every time.

13 posted on 07/09/2006 12:49:22 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: Hal1950

Still won't fly. Enjoying the Flight Free Lifestyle.
Join me! Conserve more gas than a thousand Prius owners!
(You too can speak smuggly with your eyes closed! It's fun!)


14 posted on 07/09/2006 12:52:41 PM PDT by NaughtiusMaximus (Having a Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker on your car is like having "Born Loozer" tatooed on your arm.)
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To: Hal1950

It is painfull for me personally, that the benchmark iconic image of air disaster is TWA800. I was a TWA employee at the time and rode it until the end. Ever since flt800 went down, the image of that aircraft is put up with any mention of air disaster.


15 posted on 07/09/2006 12:53:35 PM PDT by Uriah_lost (http://www.wingercomics.com/d/20051205.html)
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To: Rennes Templar
We must do something to get the Bush Administration to Re-Open the TWA Investigation.
16 posted on 07/09/2006 12:55:17 PM PDT by H. Paul Pressler IV
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To: Hal1950
Conpiracy theorists have continued to allege that TWA 800 was the victim of a missile(s) shootdown. The following is in anticipation that some of them will do so in this thread.

You mean similar to you spam posting this on every thread that you post? Verbatim?

In summary, it's clear from the detailed report of Faret & Wendell that the disaster did not unfold as we all (the public, government, press and conspiracy theorists) thought it did. Not only was Flight 800 not the victim of a missile attack, it would be impossible for anyone to conjure up a palatable "missile(s) shootdown" scenario that would not be in obvious conflict with the report of those 2 airborne witnesses.

What makes your pilots more believable than the witnesses that saw a streak going upwards? Or the co-pilot, Nasir Aziz, who was told all he saw a meteor? Nothing.

17 posted on 07/09/2006 1:08:10 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: DJ MacWoW; Hal1950

Read the portion I quoted in post #10. Even his pilots saw a missile.


18 posted on 07/09/2006 1:14:38 PM PDT by marron
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To: marron
Read the portion I quoted in post #10. Even his pilots saw a missile.

:)

19 posted on 07/09/2006 1:16:55 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: Hal1950
It accordingly appears that NO government agency (including the FBI, CIA & NTSB) has this report clearly stating the the huge fireball exploded at 7500 feet, NOT at 13,800 feet where the 747 became disabled at 8:31:12

Even your pilots put the plane within range of a missile.

20 posted on 07/09/2006 1:19:57 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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