TWA Flight 800 and Swissair 111: Two Tragedies, One Disturbing Pattern On July 17, 1996, just twelve minutes after takeoff from New York’s JFK Airport, Trans World Airlines Flight 800—a Boeing 747-100—exploded midair and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. All 230 people on board were lost. The cause, officially attributed to a fuel…