TWA Flight 843

Trans World Airlines

Industry	Airline
Founded	1930
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Products	Air transport services

Trans World Airlines Flight 843 (TW843, TWA843) was a scheduled passenger service operated by Trans World Airlines that crashed following an aborted takeoff at John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York) en route to San Francisco International Airport on July 30, 1992. Despite a significant post-crash fire, the flight crew successfully evacuated all 280 passengers on board. No fatalities occurred, although the aircraft was completely destroyed by the ensuing blaze.

Aircraft

The airplane involved was a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1, aged 20 years and initially flown in 1972. It featured three Rolls-Royce RB211-22B turbofan engines and had logged 49,662 flight hours across 19,659 cycles. Notably, in 1975 it was engaged in a near mid-air collision incident as Flight 37 with American Airlines Flight 182, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10.

Crew

Commanding the flight was Captain William Shelby Kinkead, aged 54, a seasoned TWA pilot since 1965 with a total of 20,149 flight hours, including 2,397 on the L-1011 TriStar. The First Officer was Dennis William Hergert, aged 53, who had accumulated 15,242 flight hours with 5,183 on the L-1011. The Flight Engineer was Charles Edward Long, aged 34, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and the least experienced member of the crew with 3,922 flight hours (2,266 on the L-1011), who also served as the lead L-1011 Flight Engineer instructor in New York.

Accident

At 17:16 EDT, Flight 843 began pushback from JFK and taxied toward runway 13R. After receiving clearance for takeoff at 17:40:10 with First Officer Hergert at the controls, the aircraft accelerated to V₁ and V_R speeds by 17:41:03. At 17:41:11, the stick shaker warning activated signaling an impending stall; control was then transferred to Captain Kinkead. Judging that there was adequate runway remaining, he decided to abort takeoff six seconds after rotation at approximately 14 feet altitude and about 170 knots airspeed. The aircraft forcefully returned to the runway surface after reaching a peak speed of 181 knots. Air traffic control reported visible flames emanating from the engines.

According to the NTSB report, Captain Kinkead engaged full reverse thrust and applied maximum braking; however, brake effectiveness diminished as speed decreased. With roughly 1,500 feet of runway still available and speed near 100 knots, he realized stopping before reaching the blast fence was improbable. Consequently, he steered the burning plane leftward off the runway and came to rest on grass approximately 296 feet from runway 13R.

Evacuation efforts were supported by nine flight attendants plus five off-duty attendants; only three out of eight exits were functional but evacuation was completed within two minutes. Airport rescue units responded swiftly to the scene. Among the passengers was Oakland rapper Saafir who sustained a back injury during evacuation. Overall, ten passengers suffered injuries.

Investigation

The captain informed the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that engine stalls occurred shortly after liftoff rendering continued flight unsafe. Two prior incidents involving engine fires on L-1011 aircraft had been reported within two years—one in Boston in 1990 and another three months earlier at JFK. While the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey attributed Flight 843’s fire to a ruptured fuel line causing fuel leakage on the runway, the NTSB found no supporting evidence for this claim.

The NTSB concluded that human factors played a central role in causing the accident, citing deficiencies in Crew Resource Management as well as TWA’s training protocols, procedures, maintenance practices, and Quality Assurance systems. A malfunctioning Angle of attack sensor (AOA), which triggered an erroneous stall warning signal, had previously been reported as unserviceable on nine occasions before being inspected and returned to service prior to installation on this aircraft. This sensor exhibited an intermittent fault that was undetectable during routine pre-start checks. Shortly after liftoff at , control was handed from First Officer Hergert to Captain Kinkead without a formal transfer command due to confusion caused by the false stall alert. The first officer expressed surprise saying "Gettin' a stall," followed by "You got it."

Captain Kinkead responded with "OK" and perceived the airplane as 'sinking,' likely because the first officer relaxed control inputs during stall recovery procedures by lowering the nose. This may have reinforced the impression that normal climb performance was lacking despite the aircraft actually climbing safely.

Additional contributing factors included TWA’s failure to require formal crew pre-briefings establishing roles during takeoff phases—a practice now standard—and ambiguous handover protocols between pilots. The NTSB highlighted that TWA’s policy allowing takeoffs without mandatory predeparture briefings left crews insufficiently prepared for abnormal situations.

The captain’s rapid decision to abort takeoff stemmed from his belief that enough runway remained to stop safely. The heavy touchdown damaged the right wing causing fuel spillage which ignited after ingestion into engine intakes. The NTSB praised Captain Kinkead for bringing the aircraft to a halt safely and commended both active and off-duty flight attendants for their prompt evacuation efforts as well as airport rescue teams for their timely intervention. Conversely, it criticized the crew's choice to abort after passing V_R speed and their inappropriate reaction to stick shaker activation.

See also

• Aviation accidents and incidents
• 2008 South Carolina Learjet 60 crash, another incident involving a high-speed rejected takeoff
• Kenya Airways Flight 431, crash resulting from an erroneous stall warning
• Tower Air Flight 41, accident occurring during departure from JFK

External links

• Personal narrative by flight attendant Kaye Chandler