TWA FLIGHT 800 CRASH After 20 years, there's healing and heartache

Associated Press

SHIRLEY, N.Y.

For many who lost loved ones from TWA Flight 800, the passage of 20 years has helped them carry on. Others say they will never get over the heartache from what remains one of the most hotly debated air disasters in history.

Soon after the Paris-bound flight took off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on July 17, 1996, the Boeing 747 exploded off Long Island, killing all 230 aboard and leaving a surreal, fiery crash site on the water.

Some still question the findings that the jet airliner was brought down by a center fuel-tank explosion ignited by a spark from a short-circuit – a conclusion reached after investigators painstakingly reassembled the wreckage like a jigsaw puzzle.

Naysayers contend witnesses saw a missile hit the plane, something the National Transportation Safety Board has consistently rejected.

“Let it go,” says John Seaman, whose niece died in the crash; he has led an organization of victims’ families since the crash.

“It’s time to take a deep breath and reflect,” he said. “I think the passage of time is helpful. It allows some of us to forget a lot of the details. The loved ones are not forgotten. To us, it’s about healing.”