physics

TWA Flight 843

TWA Flight 843 is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand TWA Flight 843 rather than just read about it. In short: TWA Flight 843 was a scheduled Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar passenger flight that crashed after an aborted takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York) to San Francisco International Airport (California) on July 30, 1992.

Key takeaways

TWA Flight 843 belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect TWA Flight 843 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of TWA Flight 843 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TWA Flight 843 was a scheduled Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar passenger flight that crashed after an aborted takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York) to San Francisco International Airport (California) on July 30, 1992. Despite an intense fire after the crash, the crew was able to evacuate all 280 passengers from the aircraft. There was no loss of life, although the aircraft was destroyed by the fire.

Background

Aircraft The aircraft involved was a 20-year-old Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1 that had first flown in 1972. Powered by three Rolls-Royce RB211-22B turbofan engines, it had logged a total of 49,662 hours of flying time in 19,659 takeoff and landing cycles. In 1975, the aircraft was previously involved in a near mid-air collision as Flight 37 with American Airlines Flight 182, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10.

Crew In command was 54-year-old Captain William Shelby Kinkead, a veteran TWA pilot who had been with the airline since May 24, 1965, and had 20,149 flight hours, including 2,397 hours on the L-1011 TriStar. He had also previously served with the United States Air Force (USAF). His co-pilot was 53-year-old First Officer Dennis William Hergert, another veteran TWA pilot who had joined the airline on February 17, 1967, and had 15,242 flight hours with 5,183 of them on the L-1011 TriStar; 2,953 of which were as a first officer and 2,230 as a flight engineer. The flight engineer was 34-year-old Charles Edward Long, another former U.S. Air Force pilot who joined TWA on September 2, 1988. He was the least experienced member of the flight crew but still had sufficient flight experience, having clocked up a total of 3,922 flight hours, 2,266 of which were on the L-1011 TriStar. He was the head L-1011 Flight Engineer instructor in the NY domicile.

Accident At 17:16:12 EDT, Flight 843 pushed back from the gate at JFK and taxied to runway 13R. The flight was cleared for takeoff at 17:40:10 with First Officer Hergert as the pilot flying. The aircraft reached V1 (the speed at which takeoff can no longer be safely aborted) and VR (rotation speed) at 17:40:58 and 17:41:03, respectively. According to the flight data recorder (FDR), the aircraft began to rotate at 158 knots (182 mph; 293 km/h). The first abnormality was indicated at 17:41:11 when the stick shaker activated. First Officer Hergert said, "Gettin' a stall. You got it.", transferring control of the aircraft back to Captain Kinkead. The Captain said "OK" and, believing he had sufficient runway available, retarded the thrust levers and aborted the takeoff just six seconds after rotation. At the time the takeoff was rejected, the aircraft was 14 feet (4.3 m) above the ground and traveling at a speed of 170 knots (200 mph; 310 km/h). The aircraft then slammed back onto the runway having reached a maximum speed of 181 knots (208 mph; 335 km/h) during the attempted takeoff. Air traffic control (ATC) warned Flight 843 of "numerous flames" coming from the engines. In the NTSB report, "The Captain stated that he closed the thrust levers and put the airplane back on the runway. He applied full reverse thrust and maximum braking and the airplane began to decelerate, but not as fast as he had expected. He said that the brakes seemed to be losing their effectiveness and concluded that with approximately 1,500 feet [460 m] of runway remaining and the air speed still about 100 kts [120 mph; 190 km/h], he would not be able to stop before reaching the blast fence at the end of the runway." Captain Kinkead turned the now-burning aircraft to the left and it went off the runway, finally stopping on an area of grass 296 feet (90 m) from runway 13R.

In addition to the nine flight attendants on board, there were five additional off-duty flight attendants who assisted in the evacuation. Although only three of eight exit doors were available for use, the evacuation was completed within two minutes, and the airport rescue and fire fighting teams' response was timely and adequate. Oakland rapper Saafir was a passenger on the plane and injured his back while jumping to the ground. He eventually used a wheelchair due to the injury and died in part from complications from the injury 32 years later. Only 10 people (all of whom were passengers) were injured.

Investigation

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with TWA Flight 843

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what TWA Flight 843 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to TWA Flight 843 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about TWA Flight 843 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of TWA Flight 843

In research: TWA Flight 843 appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses TWA Flight 843 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: TWA Flight 843 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1990s in Queens, 1992 in New York City, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by instrument failure, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for TWA Flight 843 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study TWA Flight 843 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what TWA Flight 843 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain TWA Flight 843 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is TWA Flight 843 in simple terms?

Why does TWA Flight 843 matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study TWA Flight 843?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on TWA Flight 843.