I remember flying into JFK and looking out my window at what was left of that L1011. While I do not remember if it was that day or the day after the accident, what stands out in my mind to this day is looking at that hulk and being in awe that the crew prevented any loss of life.
I hope that I react half as well if I am ever placed in that situation.
Hi - this is Kaye, I'm the creator of the website about Flight 843. I thought I might clarify a bit of information about this particular aircraft. this L1011 was #2 in the TWA fleet. It onnly recently had returned to TWA service as it had been leased to a charter operation out of Boston. The airplane itself was scheduled for a complete overhaul within the next ten days.
As is common with charter operations, they do minimum maintenance on aircraft. A modification bulletin had come out regarding the wing spar. Any L1011 that was flying under the TWA logo had the modification completed. This particular aircraft had yet to be modified because the charter operation was not required to do the modification.
Charter operations are less than kind to their equipment and this plane was a good example. It is significant to understand that the plane was scheduled for complete overhaul in a matter of a very short time.
Now about the pilots - the NTSB did not fault the Captain, as he was given seconds to make significant life altering decisions. I am not clear on the determination of the First Officer - but as pilot error is the NTSB's favorite blame - he received the blunt of the investigation.
As someone has posted here - years of experience should be credited with the success of this crash and evacuation. Captain Kinkead told us that something inside told him to keep the plane on the ground. He said he was not sure why, it was a gut feeling he had.
Me, personally - when the plane rotated and the #2 engine was fired up - my own bells and whistles were going off - words are inadequate to truly explain what I felt - but something just seemed wrong. I was in a passenger seat in first class facing forward - fire in the tail section was not even on my mind.
The debate about fire before/after take off/touch down. Despite what the NTSB would like the world to believe - fire in landing. All of the flight attendants seated in the back insisted that the fire existed before the plane left the ground. Aso my friend from Portugal was seated on the right side of the plane - one row behind the #3 right door. Fire was in her window before take-off. She jumped out of her seat, and was standing in the aisle when lift off occured. When we hit the runway - she was thrown into the armrests on the aisle seats - she had the bruises to prove it - her legs were purple from the impact.
As I am neither a pilot, mechanic or investigator - all of the information I have and explained is what I have managed to understand.
And in a few days or so, as I have time - I am adding another page to the website - so many individuals have sent me their own stories, I feel they should be included. I also would like to apologize for the many typos and grammatical errors. this was a class project, my midterm actually in webdesign. The rest of my class had 8 weeks to create their masterpieces - they asked about 2 weeks before the assignment was due - to change what I was working on and create a new site and tell the story of Flight 843. I worte everything in a couple of days and had to scan in all of the photos etc. Fortunately we TWAers are there for eachother and several of the TWA Flight attendants have proofed the work - of which I am grateful.
If there are any questions - please do not hesitate to ask and I will do my best to answer as clearly and honestly as I am able.
Kaye
BTW - thank you all for the very nice compliments - they have made me smile.
