This Friday, July 17, will be the 30th anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800, a flight headed from New York City to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. Approximately twelve minutes after takeoff, the plane exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. All 230 people board (212 passengers and 18 crew members) were killed.
Authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion, and in 2000 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the explosion’s probable cause was due to an explosion of the center wing fuel tank (CWT), which in turn was the result of an ignition of the mixture of air and flammable fuel. The NTSB also decided the explosion (or actually an in-flight breakup) took place due to 1) a design and certification concept of fuel tank explosions being prevented by precluding all ignition sources, and 2) the plane’s certification with heat sources located beneath the CWT with no way to reduce the heat being transferred into the CWT or preventing the fuel tank vapor from being combustible. In addition, the airliner’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR) produced the captain mentioning the fuel flow indicator just prior to the explosion, as well as a loud noise that was similar to other noises heard on planes prior to in-flight breakups. As a result of its report, the NTSB issued a series of recommendations, primarily dealing with fuel tanks and electrical wiring.
Despite the NTSB’s report, other theories have emerged as to how the explosion occurred, including some other type of internal ignition or combustion, engine failure, electrical malfunction, a bomb being detonated on board, a lightning strike, and even a meteor strike. But one theory that also emerged was that TWA Flight 800 had been brought down by a missile. According to eyewitness accounts, a “streak of light” had ascended towards the airliner, resulting in a fireball.
If it was indeed a missile that brought down TWA Flight 800, then who was responsible? Some people claim the Navy accidentally shot down the airliner, thus resulting in a cover-up. It is unclear how and why the Navy carried out such a tragic error, especially towards a passenger plane that was departing the United States (as opposed to an incoming plane that, if unidentified, could pose a threat).
As a result, the cause of the explosion that brought down TWA Flight 800 remains a mystery to some people.
But this tragedy had it own form of serendipity (i.e. an unexpected, yet fortunate by-product). One of the passengers aboard TWA Flight 800 was a young woman named Courtney Johns. Her brother Geoff Johns later became a writer for DC Comics, and decided to create a superheroine based on her. So, he came up with Courtney Whitmore, the alter ego of Stargirl.
Stargirl would make her first appearance in the comics in July 1999, and in television shows such as Smallville and Legends of Tomorrow. Then in 2020, D.C.’s Stargirl premiered on the CW Network, with Brec Bassinger in the title role.
Thus, a mysterious tragedy led to the birth of a superheroine.
History’s Greatest Mysteries did an episode on TWA Flight 800, discussing the possible causes of the explosion. However, there was no mention of the incident leading to the creation of Stargirl. It is possible the people who developed that episode unaware of such serendipity.
