TWA Flight 800 WJE Aircraft Reconstruction | Long Island, NY

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

PROJECT PROFILE TWA Flight 800 WJE Aircraft Reconstruction | Long Island, NY CLIENT The NTSB objective was to reassemble the recovered pieces of the plane's fuselage, as well as the National Transportation main fuel cell, keel beam, cargo areas, and pressure deck, in a manner that permitted viewing of Safety Board the reassembled surfaces and installation of the passenger seating in the reconstruction. In addition, it was essential that the reassembled aircraft structure could be rolled out of the hangar BACKGROUND after completion. Additionally challenging, the reconstruction had to be completed under a very WJE was retained by the National rigid schedule of just over four months. Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to carry out the reconstruction of a 94-foot segment of the TWA Flight SOLUTION 800 Boeing 747 aircraft that WJE’s first objective for the reconstruction was to design, fabricate, deliver, crashed off of Long Island, New and erect a skeletal framework capable of supporting the recovered pieces York on July 17, 1996. of the plane's fuselage and related elements. The framework design had to satisfy several criteria: minimize alterations to recovered pieces of the aircraft; minimize viewing obstructions; accommodate substantial dimensional distortions; and allow installation of recovered cabin components. Then, a team of two WJE engineers and two technicians rigged, positioned, and attached the pieces of the damaged aircraft on the truss to reconstruct the airliner to its approximate original geometry. Finally, the WJE team designed a system to permit the reconstructed segment to be moved. WJE designed a support system and outlined procedures that met the project objectives in a timely and cost-effective manner. The entire project was accomplished within six weeks of notice to proceed. www.wje.com .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

The Collapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents, 65 J
Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 65 | Issue 4 Article 7 2000 Flying over Troubled Waters: The olC lapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents Jad J. Stepp Michael J. AuBuchon Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Jad J. Stepp et al., Flying over Troubled Waters: The Collapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents, 65 J. Air L. & Com. 805 (2000) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol65/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. FLYING OVER TROUBLED WATERS: THE COLLAPSE OF DOHSA'S HISTORIC APPLICATION TO LITIGATION ARISING FROM HIGH SEAS COMMERCIAL AIRLINE ACCIDENTS JAD J. STEPP* MICHAEL J. AUBUCHON** TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................. 807 II. D O H SA ............................................ 809 A. THE STATUTE ................................... 809 B. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ........................... 810 III. TRANS WORLD AIRLINES FLIGHT 800 LITIGATIO N ....................................... 811 A. INTRODUCTION ................................. 811 B. BACKGROUND ................................... 811 C. MOTION TO DISMISS NONPECUNIARY DAMAGES- SDNY's DECISION ............................... 811 D.
[Show full text]
Letter to the 9-11 Commission
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 301 7th Street, SW Room 5125 Washington, DC 20407 July 17, 2003 Dear Members of the 9-11 Commission: Recently, I wrote to you about Terrorist Missile Activity in the NY – Washington metropolitan areas. A copy of this correspondence is attached at the end of this letter. In that earlier correspondence I suggested that you reexamine missile activity which was reported both prior to and following the TWA 800 crash. On this anniversary of the TWA crash I would like to submit for your consideration a detailed summary of the eyewitnesses’ statements to the FBI, NTSB and other investigative agencies and media. These statements refute the government’s conclusion that the initiating event for the TWA 800 crash was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank. For example, you will find in the reports below the testimony of several pilots who flew over the smoke cloud from the center wing fuel tank detonation. TWA 800 was flying at just over 13,000 feet when the initiating incident leading to its destruction occurred. The center wing tank subsequently exploded (and generated a smoke cloud) at several thousand feet below 13,000 feet while TWA 800 was already on its way down to the ocean. In the discussion below I have interspersed items from newspaper articles, my own comments, and references to each of the eyewitness descriptions. August 25, 1996 Times of London U.S. officials are investigating reports that Islamic terrorists have smuggled Stinger ground-to-air missiles into the United States from Pakistan.
[Show full text]
Aviation Safety and Security: Challenges to Implementing The
United States General Accounting Office Testimony GAO Before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate For Release on Delivery AVIATION SAFETY AND Expected at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday SECURITY March 5, 1997 Challenges to Implementing the Recommendations of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security Statement by Gerald L. Dillingham, Associate Director, Transportation Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division GAO/T-RCED-97-90 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: We appreciate the opportunity to share our views on the recommendations contained in the recently released report of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. The Commission’s 57 recommendations broadly cover safety, security, air traffic control, and disaster response. As you know, 1996 was a bad year for aviation safety. Last year, 380 people died in air accidents involving large U.S. air carriers, the highest number in 11 years. The crashes of TWA Flight 800 off New York and ValuJet Flight 592 in Florida accounted for most of those deaths. Although the nation’s air transportation system remains the safest in the world and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the model for other nations, these tragic events have served to raise the Congress’s, the administration’s, the aviation industry’s, and the flying public’s consciousness of the need to continuously increase the existing margin of safety. During the past several years, we have reported to the Congress on the status of a wide range of programs and initiatives intended to expand that margin of safety.
[Show full text]
Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry Michael J
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Southern Methodist University Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 64 | Issue 3 Article 11 1999 Choosing How Safe Is Enough: Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry Michael J. AuBuchon Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Michael J. AuBuchon, Choosing How Safe Is Enough: Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry, 64 J. Air L. & Com. 891 (1999) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol64/iss3/11 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. CHOOSING HOW SAFE IS ENOUGH: INCREASED ANTITERRORIST FEDERAL ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND THE AIRPORT/AIRLINE INDUSTRY MICHAEL J. AuBUCHON* "We must choose between freedom and fear-we cannot have both." -Justice William 0. Douglas, United States Supreme Court1 I. INTRODUCTION MANY AMERICANS fear the United States can never be completely safe from terrorism. 2 This apprehension is likely fueled by a recent wave of terrorist activity on American soil, such as the bombings of the World Trade Center and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.' The Oklahoma City bombing spurred federal action increasing se- curity standards at federal buildings susceptible to a terrorist at- tack.4 The increased security measures include: control over * J.D., Drake University Law School, Des Moines, Iowa; B.S., Aviation Sciences, with honors, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.
[Show full text]
To Unify State Party NEWARK (AP) - Sup- in the Unity Drive
fl^ioia Broblem Held to Be Exaggerated SEE STORY BELOW Pleajsant THEDAILY FINAL Sunny and pleasant today. Cloudy tonight. Chance of Bbowen tomorrow morning. EDITION 44 PAGES ivionmoutMi County'** OiitMlandlng llom«i Newnpa|»er VOL.94 NO. 245 KED BANK, N.J. THURSDAY, JUNK », 1972 TEN CENTS iiiiiniiiiniitinuiiiKniitmiiuuiwimiuuuHHiiiiUHiiii aiiaiuiiuiuiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiutnHiitiiitiiiinmtfiiuiititiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiuiiiiiiiniuiMAiutfiiiiiitiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiituiiB iiiumttiiimiuiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiniiniHiuiiiiiiiuiuiiiiiHiiiw Howard Aware That Hard Work Pays Off By BEN VAN VLIET nent county Democratic leaders the county's party stalwarts probably will attend the con- feated as delegates, don't plan The McGovern slate scored rather than vote for nobody the uncommitted slate even at the hands of political neo- will be attending the con- vention anyway. to go to Miami. They are Sea a solid victory in the primary which is what they would be though they lost. WASHINGTON - "Hard phytes. vention with a vote. That • As a Democratic member of Bright Mayor Mrs/ Cccile over the uncommitted slate. doing in voting for an uncom- "We ran a very strong sec- work," says Hep. James J. Mr. Howard headed the privilege has gone to, nine Congress, he is entitled to Norton, a state eom- Running third was a slate mitted group of delegates." ond to Sen. McGovern," he Howard, D-N. J., "can pay county organization's nine- people, only one of whom has convention credentials, but mitteewoman, and Sheriff committed to Sen. Hubert H. Mr. Gerand, who had cam- said, "but I think We lost a lot off." member ticket of uncom- never been elected to any- not as a voting delegate. Paul Kit-man of Long Branch, Humphrey, and trailing were paigned for the organization of strength because we were ' And he should know.
[Show full text]
The Crash of the Boston Electra / Michael N
The Story of Man and Bird in Conflict BirdThe Crash of theStrike Boston Electra michael n. kalafatas Bird Strike The Crash of the Bird Boston Electra Strike michael n. kalafatas Brandeis University Press Waltham, Massachusetts published by university press of new england hanover and london Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England One Court Street, Lebanon NH 03766 www.upne.com © 2010 Brandeis University All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Katherine B. Kimball Typeset in Scala by Integrated Publishing Solutions University Press of New England is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. For permission to reproduce any of the material in this book, contact Permissions, University Press of New England, One Court Street, Lebanon NH 03766; or visit www.upne.com Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Kalafatas, Michael N. Bird strike : the crash of the Boston Electra / Michael N. Kalafatas. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58465-897-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Aircraft bird strikes—Massachusetts— Boston. 2. Aircraft accidents —Massachusetts— Boston. 3. Electra (Turboprop transports) I. Title. TL553.525.M4K35 2010 363.12Ј465—dc22 2010013165 5 4 3 2 1 Across the veil of time, for the passengers and crew of Eastern Airlines Flight 375, and for my grandchildren: may they ﬂ y in safe skies The bell- beat of their wings above my head. —w. b. yeats, “The Wild Swans at Coole” Contents Preface: A Clear and Present Danger xi 1.
[Show full text]
Falco Builders Letter
Falco Builders Letter an engineer), David was a dentist, (now happily retired but working even harder in his own workshop and on our flying club airfield) and Arthur, who runs his own ma- chine tool trading business. We all have manual skills which we enjoy using, but none of us are at all wealthy, so we took the early decision to build as much as we could from plans. Interestingly and very sober- ingly, our 1991 estimate of the costs was about half of the final total. The difference has been a combination of the effects of in- flation over five years, the unknown costs of freighting those parts which we had to purchase from the USA, Value Added Tax (at 17.5% on all purchases!), avionics, paint and a host of other unforeseen things. (For those UK builders who are not yet aware of this, we did not have to pay duty on our imports and nor should you. You have to register with Customs and Excise England’s latest Falco is a beauty. as an aeroplane builder, and you will be allocated an End Use Number—which First Flight: There was of course no reason, so it was makes your imports duty free! ) G-OCAD straight into training with no trial lesson. Some time after gaining my licence and Almost inevitably over that period of time, by Clive Garrard having flown a few times with a fellow club the membership of the team changed and member, I joined him in the ownership of a in our case, Arthur left, to be replaced by Although the following article is about Piper Warrior—albeit my share was small Gordon Blunt.
[Show full text]
What Really Happened to TWA Flight 800?
Alum Profile COM'80 Kristina Borjesson says her documentary is the first film to focus entirely on the forensics of the plane crash, and it disputes What Really the NTSB's conclusions. Happened to TWA Flight 800? Kristina Borjesson's docu- mentary suggests that 1996 flight was downed by missiles !" #$% &'#%("))" of July 17, 1996, broadcast journalist Kristina Borjesson left work early after wrapping up a docu- mentary on Fidel Castro for CBS. Her husband was at JFK International Air- port, putting their 11-year-old son on a plane to visit relatives in France, and an exhausted Borjesson climbed into bed for a nap. “All of a sudden the phone rang,” she says, “and I heard my neighbor’s voice say, ‘Was that your son’s plane that just went down?’” A Paris-bound Boeing 747 had exploded off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., just after 8:30 p.m., killing all 230 on board. “I can’t even describe to you that feeling,” says Borjesson (COM’80). “It was like hot oil was poured on my brain. I started dry-heaving.” But her son was safe; his Air France flight was five minutes behind the doomed aircraft, TWA Flight 800. “For that moment, I knew what the family members of those victims were going through,” she says. “I lived it.” The tragedy would remain part of Borjesson’s life for the next 17 years, the subject of her own on-again, off-again investigation. Her documentary, TWA Flight 800, which she wrote, directed, and produced, premiered on the EPIX But some, including Borjesson, ques- “This was an investigation that was cable TV channel last July.
[Show full text]
How Old Is Too Old? the Impact of Ageing Aircraft on Aviation Safety – Ii – ATSB TRANSPORT SAFETY REPORT Aviation Research and Analysis Report - B20050205
ATSB TRANSPORT SAFETY REPORT Aviation Research and Analysis Report –B20050205 Final How Old is Too Old? The impact of ageing aircraft on aviation safety – ii – ATSB TRANSPORT SAFETY REPORT Aviation Research and Analysis Report - B20050205 Final How Old is Too Old? The impact of ageing aircraft on aviation safety February 2007 – iii – Published by: Australian Transport Safety Bureau Postal address: PO Box 967, Civic Square ACT 2608 Office location: 15 Mort Street, Canberra City, Australian Capital Territory Telephone: 1800 621 372; from overseas + 61 2 6274 6130 Accident and incident notification: 1800 011 034 (24 hours) Facsimile: 02 6274 6474; from overseas + 61 2 6274 6474 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.atsb.gov.au © Commonwealth of Australia 2007. This work is copyright. In the interests of enhancing the value of the information contained in this publication you may copy, download, display, print, reproduce and distribute this material in unaltered form (retaining this notice). However, copyright in the material obtained from non- Commonwealth agencies, private individuals or organisations, belongs to those agencies, individuals or organisations. Where you want to use their material you will need to contact them directly. Subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, you must not make any other use of the material in this publication unless you have the permission of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Please direct requests for further information or authorisation to: Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Copyright Law Branch Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 www.ag.gov.au/cca ISBN and formal report title: see ‘Document retrieval information’ on page viii.
[Show full text]
Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Aviation Case
Committee Perspectives Aerospace Law Committee Upon takeoff, however, the plane struck a flock Where the Sea Meets the Sky of seagulls, lost power, crashed, and ultimately sank in the navigable waters of Lake Erie. Id. at 250. Executive Jet, invoking federal admiralty jurisdiction, subsequently sued the city of Admiralty Jurisdiction Cleveland, alleging that the crash was caused by their negligent failure to keep the runway free of birds or to adequately warn of their presence. Id. at 251. in the Aviation Case The Supreme Court, in refusing to extend admiralty jurisdiction, noted two principal shortcomings of a mechanical application of by Lisa J. Savitt the “locality of the wrong” test to aviation ac- cidents. First, the fact that a plane crashes into navigable waters is entirely fortuitous and has nothing to do with the underlying tort. Id. at 266. That a plane bound from Boston to Phila- delphia crashes into Boston Harbor instead of Courts and Congress have struggled for de- with respect to maritime accidents and, in more Massachusetts proper should not impact the cades with the question of how to treat aviation recent years, with respect to aviation accidents. recovery of the next of kin of those passengers accidents which occur in or near a body of wa- DOHSA provides: “Whenever the death of a killed. Id. Second, it is impossible to apply the ter. That an airplane crash occurs over “navi- person shall be caused by wrongful act, ne- “locality of the wrong” test with any degree of gable waters” does not automatically turn an glect, or default occurring on the high seas certainty, because in aviation accidents it is airplane negligence case into a general mari- beyond a marine league from the shore of any often unclear where the wrong actually took time action.
[Show full text]
1997-2015 Update to FAA Historical Chronology: Civil Aviation and the Federal Government, 1926-1996 (Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration, 1998)
1997-2015 Update to FAA Historical Chronology: Civil Aviation and the Federal Government, 1926-1996 (Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration, 1998) 1997 January 2, 1997: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an airworthiness directive requiring operators to adopt procedures enabling the flight crew to reestablish control of a Boeing 737 experiencing an uncommanded yaw or roll – the phenomenon believed to have brought down USAir Flight 427 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1994. Pilots were told to lower the nose of their aircraft, maximize power, and not attempt to maintain assigned altitudes. (See August 22, 1996; January 15, 1997.) January 6, 1997: Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced a compromise under which the city would reopen Meigs Field and operate the airport for five years. After that, Chicago would be free to close the airport. (See September 30, 1996.) January 6, 1997: FAA announced the appointment of William Albee as aircraft noise ombudsman, a new position mandated by the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-264). (See September 30, 1996; October 28, 1998.) January 7, 1997: Dredging resumed in the search for clues in the TWA Flight 800 crash. The operation had been suspended in mid-December 1996. (See July 17, 1996; May 4, 1997.) January 9, 1997: A Comair Embraer 120 stalled in snowy weather and crashed 18 miles short of Detroit [Michigan] Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 aboard. (See May 12, 1997; August 27, 1998.) January 14, 1997: In a conference sponsored by the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security and held in Washington, DC, at George Washington University, airline executives called upon the Clinton Administration to privatize key functions of FAA and to install a nonprofit, airline-organized cooperative that would manage security issues.
[Show full text]
Office of the Chief Scientist for Human Factors Human Factors Aviation
Office of the Chief Scientist for Human Factors Human Factors Aviation Maintenance Program Review FY02 Dr. William K. Krebs, Aviation Maintenance Human Factors Program Manager Federal Aviation Administration AAR-100 (Room 907A) 800 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20591 phone (202) 267-8758 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.hf.faa.gov/krebs Human Factors Aviation Maintenance Research Program AAR-100 The Federal Aviation Administration Office of the Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Human Factors (AAR-100) directs an aviation maintenance human factors program that focuses on identifying human factors issues across all aspects of aircraft maintenance and inspection personnel. The Aviation Maintenance research program has maintained a focused research approach in four major components – skill development, organizational influences, human error, and maintainer proficiency. The following report lists projects between October 1st, 2001 and December 31st, 2002 (Appendix I). These projects address requirements identified by the Federal Aviation Administration Flight Standards office (Appendix II). The intent of this report is to allow Federal Aviation Administration sponsors to determine whether their requirements have been satisfactorily addressed, allow investigators to receive feedback from Federal Aviation Administration sponsors and other interested parties, and to provide feedback to the AAR-100 aviation maintenance program manager on the quality of the research program. Basically, this document is a means of holding each group (sponsor, investigator, AAR-100 program manager) accountable to ensure that the program is successful. In FY02, the aviation maintenance research program distributed $934,500 contract and grant dollars to multiple organizations. In addition, one project received supplemental support from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Oklahoma City, OK.
[Show full text]