Editing TWA Flight 800 (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:USS Oak Hill 110706-N-VK779-084.jpg|thumb|A wreath is cast into the Atlantic Ocean after a ceremony to honor the deaths of the passengers.]]
Many internet users responded to the incident; the resulting web traffic set records for internet activity at the time. [[CNN]]'s traffic quadrupled to 3.9 million views per day. The website of ''[[The New York Times]]'' had its traffic increase to 1.5 million views per day, 50% higher than its previous rate. In 1996, few U.S. government websites were updated daily, but the [[United States Navy]]'s crash website was constantly updated and had detailed information about the salvage of the crash site.<ref>[[David Barboza|Barboza, David]]. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/06/nyregion/many-hits-some-misses-the-post-crash-web-rush.html Many Hits, Some Misses: The Post-Crash Web Rush] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720055555/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/06/nyregion/many-hits-some-misses-the-post-crash-web-rush.html |date=July 20, 2016 }}." ''[[The New York Times]]''. August 6, 1996. Retrieved on June 5, 2009.</ref><!--Keep in mind that such things are common now, but they were novel and new in 1996!!! -->

The wreckage was moved to an NTSB facility in [[Ashburn, Virginia]], that was custom-built for the purpose.<ref>{{cite news |title=Aircraft Boneyards |publisher=History Channel |url=http://www.history.com/minisites/boneyard/ |work=Boneyard |access-date=August 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024082940/http://www.history.com/minisites/boneyard/ |archive-date=October 24, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/TC/facilityloc.htm#wreckage |title=NTSB Training Center |work=ntsb.gov |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-date=December 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228084855/http://www.ntsb.gov/TC/facilityloc.htm#wreckage |url-status=live}}</ref> The reconstructed aircraft was used to train accident investigators until it was decommissioned in 2021.<ref>{{cite news |title=TWA Flight 800 wreckage in Ashburn to be decommissioned |publisher=InsideNova.com |url=https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/twa-flight-800-wreckage-in-ashburn-to-be-decommissioned/article_b457156a-7724-11eb-924b-4328f6edccd6.html# |date=February 25, 2021 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225130940/https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/twa-flight-800-wreckage-in-ashburn-to-be-decommissioned/article_b457156a-7724-11eb-924b-4328f6edccd6.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:TWA flight 800 reconstruction by the National Transportation Safety Board was used as a training aid for about 20 years until 2021 at the NTSB’s Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia 02.jpg | thumb | right | The reconstruction of Flight 800 used as a training aid in NTSB's Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia]]
On July 18, 2008, the [[United States Secretary of Transportation]] [[Mary E. Peters]] visited the facility and announced a final rule designed to prevent accidents caused by fuel-tank explosions. The rule required airlines to pump inert gas into the tanks. The rule covered the CWT on all new passenger and cargo airliners, and passenger planes built in most of the 1990s, but not on old cargo planes.<ref>{{cite news |first=Matthew L. |last=Wald |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/16tanks.html?_r=0 |title=Rule Readied to Prevent Airliner Explosions |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 16, 2008 |access-date=November 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720055603/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/16tanks.html?_r=0 |url-status=live}}</ref> The NTSB had first recommended such a rule just five months after the incident and 33 years after a similar recommendation issued by the [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] Bureau of Safety on December 17, 1963, nine days after the crash of [[Pan Am Flight 214]].<ref name="cab">{{cite web |url=http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C120863.pdf |title=Pan Am Flight 214 CAB report (PDF) (Historical Aircraft Accident, 1963, Pan Am) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526222124/http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=%2AP%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C120863.pdf |archive-date=May 26, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The crash of TWA Flight 800, and that of [[ValuJet Flight 592]] earlier in 1996, prompted Congress to pass the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996 as part of the federal aviation appropriations bill. Among other things, the act gives NTSB, instead of the particular airline involved, responsibility for coordinating services to the families of victims of fatal aircraft accidents in the United States. In addition, it restricts lawyers and other parties from contacting family members within 30 days of the accident.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.nycbar.org/Publications/reports/show_html_new.php?rid=24 |title=Report and Recommendations Regarding TWA Flight 800 Crash |author=New York City Bar |work=nycbar.org |access-date=April 10, 2015 |archive-date=September 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908012824/http://www2.nycbar.org/Publications/reports/show_html_new.php?rid=24 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the investigation, the NTSB and the FBI clashed with each other. The agencies lacked a detailed protocol describing which agency should take the lead when whether an event was an accident or a criminal act was initially unclear. At the time of the crash, 49 CFR 831.5 specified that the NTSB's aviation accident investigations have priority over all other federal investigations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-1996-title49-vol5/pdf/CFR-1996-title49-vol5.pdf |title=49 CFR 831.5 |access-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221062243/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-1996-title49-vol5/pdf/CFR-1996-title49-vol5.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> After the TWA flight 800 investigation, the NTSB recognized the need for better clarity. {{Citation needed span|text=The NTSB sought and secured language|reason=Cite does not support NTSB sought passage of legislation|date=February 2020}} to clarify the issue in 49 USC 1131(a)(2)(B), which was amended in 2000 to read: {{Quote box
|quote= If the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of the [NTSB], determines and notifies the [NTSB] that circumstances reasonably indicate that the accident may have been caused by an intentional criminal act, the [NTSB] shall relinquish investigative priority to the [FBI]. The relinquishment of investigative priority by the [NTSB] shall not otherwise affect the authority of the [NTSB] to continue its investigation under this section
|source= 49 USC 1131(a)(2)(B)<ref name="Cornell1131" />
|width= 50%
|align= center
}}
In 2005, the NTSB and the FBI entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that stated that, "[i]n the immediate aftermath of a transportation accident, the NTSB is the presumptive lead investigative agency and will assume control of the accident scene." The FBI may still conduct a criminal investigation, but the NTSB investigation has priority. When investigative priority remains with the NTSB, the FBI must coordinate its investigative activities with the NTSB investigator-in-charge. This authority includes interviewing witnesses. The MOU states that: "[t]his procedure is intended…to ensure that neither NTSB nor FBI investigative activity unnecessarily complicates or compromises the other agency's investigation." The new statutory language and the MOU have improved coordination between the NTSB and FBI since the TWA Flight 800 accident. {{as of|2005}}, NTSB and FBI personnel conduct joint exercises. Each agency can call upon the other's laboratories and other assets. The NTSB and the FBI have designated liaisons to ensure that information flows between agencies and to coordinate on-scene operations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twa800.sites.usa.gov/improvements/ |title=Improvements Resulting From NTSB's Recommendations |work=usa.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418174242/https://twa800.sites.usa.gov/improvements/ |archive-date=April 18, 2015 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=February 2020}}

Heidi Snow, the fiancée of Flight 800 victim Michel Breistroff, established the [[AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services]] nonprofit group together with families of victims of [[Pan Am Flight 103]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Angley |first=Natalie |date=February 10, 2015 |title=Coping with sudden loss after airplane crashes |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/living/ep-heidi-snow/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212010636/http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/living/ep-heidi-snow/index.html |archive-date=February 12, 2015 |access-date=February 12, 2015 |work=[[CNN]]}}</ref>

===Memorials===
[[File:Twa-memorial6.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|TWA Memorial]]
The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial was dedicated in a {{convert|2|acre|m2|adj=on}} parcel immediately adjoining the main pavilion at [[Smith Point County Park]] in [[Shirley, New York]], on July 14, 2002. Funds for the memorial were raised by the Families of TWA Flight 800 Association. The memorial includes landscaped grounds, flags from the 13 countries of the victims, and a curved black [[granite]] memorial with the names engraved on one side and an illustration on the other of a wave releasing 230 seagulls. In July 2006, an abstract black granite statue of a {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} [[lighthouse]] was added above a tomb holding many of the victims' personal belongings. The lighthouse statue was designed by Harry Edward Seaman, whose cousin died in the crash, and dedicated by [[George Pataki]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nyt-800memorial,0,7187445.story?coll=ny_news_local_xpromo |title=Remembering Flight 800 |last=Katie |first=Thomas |date=July 18, 2006 |newspaper=Newsday |access-date=June 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519014620/http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nyt-800memorial%2C0%2C7187445.story?coll=ny_news_local_xpromo |archive-date=May 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Destruction of wreckage===
For almost 25 years, the wreckage of Flight 800 was kept by the NTSB and used as an accident-investigation teaching aid. By 2021, the methods taught using the wreckage were determined to no longer be relevant to modern accident investigation, which by then relied heavily on new technology, including [[Lidar|three-dimensional laser-scanning]] techniques.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Freeze |first1=Christopher |title=NTSB'S Reconstruction of the TWA Flight 800 Fuselage to be Decommissioned |url=https://www.alpa.org/news-and-events/air-line-pilot-magazine/ntsb-reconstruction-twa-800 |website=ALPA.org |publisher=ALPA}}</ref>

As the NTSB did not wish to renew the lease for the hangar in which it had stored the reassembled accident debris, it decommissioned the wreckage in July 2021.<ref name="aratani20210716">{{Cite news |last=Aratani |first=Lori |date=2021-07-16 |title=Wreckage from TWA Flight 800 to be destroyed 25 years after crash |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/07/16/twa-flight-800-crash-anniversary/ |access-date=2021-07-17 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=July 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716235853/https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/07/16/twa-flight-800-crash-anniversary/ |url-status=live}}</ref> As the NTSB had agreements with the victims' families that the wreckage cannot be used in any kind of public memorial or be scuttled in the ocean, it plans to scan each piece of debris with a three-dimensional laser scanner, with the data being permanently archived, after which the wreckage will be destroyed and the metal recycled. Any parts of the plane that cannot be recycled will be disposed of in landfills.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hemmerdinger |first1=Jon |title=After 25 years, NTSB to dismantle TWA 800 reconstruction |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/after-25-years-ntsb-to-dismantle-twa-800-reconstruction/142551.article |website=Flight Global |access-date=22 February 2021 |archive-date=July 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717234300/https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/after-25-years-ntsb-to-dismantle-twa-800-reconstruction/142551.article |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="decomission">{{Cite web |date=2021-02-22 |title=NTSB's TWA Flight 800 Reconstruction to be Decommissioned |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20210222.aspx |access-date=2021-03-14 |website=www.ntsb.gov |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |archive-date=February 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222152922/https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20210222.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref> Destruction of the wreckage was scheduled for completion before the end of 2021.<ref name=aratani20210716/> The wreckage was destroyed in June 2023 near the former [[Ashburn, Virginia|Ashburn]] facility in which it was housed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-08 |title=NTSB dismantles TWA Flight 800 wreckage in Loudoun County this week |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/ntsb-destroys-twa-flight-800-wreckage-in-loudoun-county/65-d0bd4c7c-ecba-4e55-bbc7-25e922677fd3 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=wusa9.com |language=en-US}}</ref>