TWA Flight 841 (1974)

Infobox Airliner accident|name=TWA Flight 841
Date=September 8, 1974
Type=Terrorist bombing
Site=Over the North Coast of Greece
Origin=Ben Gurion International Airport
Stopover1=Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport
Stopover2=Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport
Destination=John F. Kennedy International Airport
Fatalities=88
Injuries=0
Aircraft Type=Boeing 707-300
Operator=Trans World Airlines
Tail Number=airreg|N|8734|disaster
Passengers=79
Crew=8
Survivors=0

On September 8, 1974, a Boeing 707-331B (tail number N8734) operating as TWA Flight 841 took off from Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv en route to JFK International Airport, New York City. It was scheduled to land in Athens, followed by Rome, and then proceed to New York. 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 110. They watched the aircraft execute a steep climb, the separation of an engine from the wing, and the death spiral. All 79 passengers and nine crew members were killed.

Although the idea of terrorism was initially scoffed at, the National Transportation Safety Board determined later that the plane was destroyed by a bomb hidden in the cargo hold, which caused structural failure resulting in uncontrollable flight.

A youth organization in Beirut claimed responsibility for putting a guerilla on board with a bomb, and suspicion has fallen on Abu Nidal and his terror organization. This was the first known instance of a young Arab boarding an American plane in a suicide mission, [ Barry Werth, 31 Days : Gerald Ford, The Nixon Pardon and a Government in Crisis (New York: Anchor Books). 2006, p. 324-5. ISBN 978-1400078684 ] predating the September 11 attacks by nearly three decades.

References

Notes

*Barry Werth, 31 Days: Gerald Ford, The Nixon Pardon and a Government in Crisis (New York: Anchor Books). 2006. pp. 324-5 ISBN 978-1400078684

External references

* [http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR75-07.pdf AAR 75-07 Boeing 707 Ionian Sea Crash]