On July 17,1996, TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747-131 with 230 passengers and crew on board, exploded mid-air shortly after takeoff. The flight was scheduled to depart JFK International Airport for Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport at 7 p.m. EDT but was delayed by over an hour due to issues with ground equipment and a problem that gate agents had in matching luggage to one of the passengers. It eventually departed in dusk conditions at 8:19 p.m. Weather in the area was calm, with light wind, scattered clouds and visibility greater than 10 nm, so it's safe to assume that weather wasn't a factor. After takeoff from Kennedy, the pilots were issued a series of altitude and directional changes by ATC. The pilots' last communication with ATC was with Boston Center, at 8:30 p.m., confirming a climb to one-five-thousand. Less than a minute later, the plane exploded. Its fiery debris rained down into the Atlantic Ocean, just outside East Moriches, New York. There were no survivors.
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