Maps
  Tel Aviv Athens  Rome  Crash site New York City Location of the crash and the airports |   Crash site Crash site near Greece |
| Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 8, 1974 |
| Summary | Terrorist bombing causing structural and control system failures followed by stall |
| Site | Over the West Coast of Greece (Ionian Sea) 38°25′N19°22′E / 38.417°N 19.367°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-331B |
| Operator | Trans World Airlines |
| Call sign | TWA 841 |
| Registration | N8734 |
| Flight origin | Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| 1st stopover | Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece |
| Last stopover | Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport, Rome, Italy |
| Destination | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, United States |
| Occupants | 88 |
| Passengers | 79 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 88 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On September 8, 1974, a Boeing 707-331B (registered N8734 [1] ) operating as TWA Flight 841 from Tel Aviv to New York City via Athens and Rome crashed into the Ionian Sea, killing all aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the plane had been destroyed by a bomb hidden in the cargo hold. The detonation of the bomb destroyed the systems responsible for operating the plane's control surfaces, causing the plane to pitch up until it stalled and dove into the sea. [2] [3]
After the ousting of the PLO from Jordan following the Jordanian–Palestinian civil war, the Palestinian military organizations made South Lebanon into their headquarters, enlisting militants from Palestinian refugee camps. South Lebanon was also referred to as Fatahland, due to the almost complete control of Fatah and other military Palestinian organizations over this officially Lebanese area, which they used to stage attacks against Israel.
N8734 (serial number 20063, manufacturing serial number) had its maiden flight in March 1969, and was purchased by Irving Trust Corporation before it was leased to TWA on April 7, 1969. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B turbofan engines. [2]
The captain was Donald H. Holliday, 55, who had 21,960 flight hours, including 7,280 hours on the Boeing 707. Due to farsightedness, he had to wear prescription glasses. Holliday's first officer was Jon L. Cheshire, 36, who had 9,139 flight hours, with 5,311 of them on the Boeing 707. The flight engineer was Ralph H. Bosh, 37, who had 6,634 flight hours, with 3,548 of them on the Boeing 707. [2]
There were six flight attendants on board the flight. [2]
The airline's Tel Aviv office said 49 passengers boarded the plane there for Rome and the United States. They included 17 Americans (plus a baby), 13 Japanese, four Italians, four French, three Indians, two Iranians, two Israelis, two Sri Lankans, an Australian and a Canadian. The nationalities of 30 other passengers and the nine crew members were not immediately known at the time. Reuters reported a total of 37 Americans aboard. [4] The crash occurred about 50 nautical miles west of Cephalonia, Greece. [2] : 1
After stopping for 68 minutes in Athens, it departed for Rome. About 30 minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into the Ionian Sea. The out-of-control aircraft was observed by crew on the flight deck of Pan Am Flight 110. They watched the aircraft execute a steep climb, followed by the separation of an engine from the wing and a death spiral. All 79 passengers and nine crew members were killed.
In Beirut, it was reported that a Palestinian youth organization claimed it had put a guerrilla on the plane with a bomb. However, a spokesman for TWA said sabotage was "highly unlikely." [4] Later, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the plane was indeed destroyed by a bomb hidden in the cargo hold, which caused structural failure resulting in uncontrollable flight. The USS Independence along with the USS Biddle was tasked with picking up the debris and bodies. The wreck of the plane rests 3,164 m (10,381 ft) of water, and it was decided that whatever additional information that plane containes (like the recorders on board) held would not justify the cost and difficulty of recovering the main wreckage. [5]
Suspicion fell on Abu Nidal and his terror organization, [6] as responsibility was claimed by the "National Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine", a group led by Abu Nidal from Libya. [7]
In January 2009 the Associated Press published an investigation saying that Khalid Duhham Al-Jawary, responsible for the 1973 New York City bomb plot, was linked to the bombing of TWA Flight 841. [8]
| Tel Aviv Athens Rome Crash site New York City Location of the crash and the airports | Crash site Crash site near Greece |
1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1985th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 985th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1980s decade.
Gulf Air Flight 771 was a flight from Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On 23 September 1983, while the Boeing 737-2P6 was on approach to Abu Dhabi International Airport, a bomb planted by Palestinian nationalist militant group, Abu Nidal Organization, exploded in the baggage compartment. The plane crashed in the desert near Jebel Ali between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE. All five crew members and 107 passengers died. To date, it is the deadliest air disaster in the history of the United Arab Emirates along with Sterling Airways Flight 296 which also killed 112 in 1972.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1972.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974. 1974 had been deemed as “the single worst year in airline history” although this has since been surpassed.
In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson's Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, Jordan, formerly Royal Air Force Station Zarqa, which then became PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport". By the end of the incident, one hijacker had been killed and one injury reported. This was the second instance of mass aircraft hijacking, after an escape from communist Czechoslovakia in 1950.
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Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 159 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from New York City to Los Angeles, California, with a stopover in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Kentucky, that crashed after an aborted takeoff from Cincinnati on November 6, 1967. The Boeing 707 attempted to abort takeoff when the copilot became concerned that the aircraft had collided with a disabled DC-9 on the runway. The aircraft overran the runway, struck an embankment and caught fire. One passenger died as a result of the accident.
Trans World Airlines Flight 840 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Los Angeles to Cairo via New York City, Rome, and Athens on April 2, 1986. About 20 minutes before landing in Athens, a bomb was detonated on the aircraft while it was over Argos, Greece, blasting a hole in the plane's starboard side. Four passengers died after being blown out, while another seven were injured by flying shrapnel and debris. The aircraft then made a successful emergency landing with no further loss of life.
On 8 February 1989, Independent Air Flight 1851, a Boeing 707 on an American charter flight from Bergamo, Italy, to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, struck Pico Alto while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores for a scheduled stopover. The aircraft was destroyed, with the loss of all 144 people on board, resulting in the deadliest plane crash in Portugal's history. All of the passengers on board were Italian and all of the crew were Americans. The crash is also known as "The disaster of the Azores".
TWA Flight 742 was a multi-leg Trans World Airlines flight from Bangkok to San Francisco. On August 28, 1973, near the end of its penultimate leg from Honolulu to Los Angeles, during the descent over the Pacific Ocean, the Boeing 707 entered severe porpoising oscillations, resulting in injuries to two crew members and three passengers; one critically injured passenger died two days later.
Marjorie Kitchel Korringa was an igneous petrologist, volcanologist, and structural geologist. She is chiefly known for her research on active fault systems as a critical part of decision-making for the location of oil pipelines and nuclear reactors.
On 13 October 1976, a Boeing 707-131F, a chartered cargo aircraft operated for Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB) crashed shortly after takeoff at El Trompillo Airport, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, into a residential neighbourhood. All three crew on board were killed, along with 88 other fatalities on the ground, bringing the total up to 91. It is the deadliest air disaster to happen on Bolivian soil.
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