A Certain Scientific Pair Of Railgun Aces

"Hello viewers, Keiko here...Yep, I am still in Shinko's body thanks for asking...So viewers, though I did say that we would be getting right back into action in this chapter...I didn't entirely mean that...As unfortunately viewers...this is going to be another sort of...*ahem*...non action filler sort of chapter...So, let us now get on with the chapter...Which by the way viewers...As I just mentioned...is going to be another filler chapter of sorts...now then viewers...shall we begin?...*I say this, while smiling with both eyes closed, and my head, tilted to one side, in a cute manner*...

Now then viewers...in this filler chapter of sorts, we will be covering a somewhat darker topic, in the history of aviation...And just for a sort of warning ahead of time viewers...Since this subject will be dark for some...readers discretion, is very much advised...As each aviation incident, in this chapter, is going to be covering several aviation accidents, involving in flight fires...which by the way viewers...is one of the worst case scenarios to take place on board an aircraft...

And so viewers...with this in mind...let us begin...

And we will start, by going back to July 17, 1996...

Which...for those who don't already know, was when a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-131 operating a route from New York's JFK International Airport to an intermediate stopover at Charles De Gaulle in Paris...suffered a catastrophic in flight breakup, roughly 12 minutes and 12 seconds into its flight...just as the plane approached an altitude, of 13,760 feet...or a portion in the climb out from JFK, on its approach to one-five-thousand...

And this of course, is the in-flight breakup incident of Trans World Airlines Flight 800...

And for those who don't already know...one of the very last transmissions, on Flight 800s CVR...or Cockpit Voice Recorder...for those who are interested in the full name of the device in question...was "TWA 800, climb and maintain one-five-thousand"...

Now, for those who don't know of the flight crew...Flight 800, was under the command, of TWA Captain Steven Snyder...who for this particular flight, was acting as First Officer...

The reason, was that he was performing a sort of line check, on the soon to be Captain that was sitting in the Captains seat on this flight...One Ralph G. Kevorkian...who was to be promoted to Captain on this particular flight...should everything go well...

And, because this was a 747-100 series aircraft...Tail Registration N93119...and not a 747-400 series aircraft...this had the requirement for a Flight Engineer to be on board, in order to monitor the necessary systems, that were later relegated to the computers that were used in place of the Flight Engineer, on the later variations of the 747...

Now the Flight Engineer on this flight...was 25 year old Oliver Krich...who at the time of this disaster, was to have this be his first flight as Flight Engineer on board a 747...But, oddly enough, he was also another pilot that was being line checked somewhat like that of Captain Kevorkian...Which was why, rather then the three usual pilots aboard a 747...this flight, had a second, and more senior Flight Engineer on board...one Richard Campbell...

Who for this flight to Paris, was to be helping the younger Flight Engineer...

And as for the rest that were on board?...Well, there were a total of 13 flight attendants, a flight service manager, and a further 212 passengers...for a total of 212 passengers, and 18 crew members...

However, another TWA flight coming in from Chicago, had been delayed due to mechanical problems...and 150 of those passengers, were due to fly onto Paris on Flight 800...

And, while they did not know it at the time, this minor inconvenience, would wind up saving them in the end for what was about to happen at 8:31:12 pm...

Now then viewers...onto the next incident...

And this one, is another one that you all should know a bit about...

On September 2, 1998...Swissair Flight 111, A McDonnell Douglas MD-11...

Had taken off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States...

and was headed to Cointrin Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...

The flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines...

Anyway about one hour into the flight, flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax Stanfield International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, due to an in-flight fire in the aircraft's cockpit...

And unfortunately, the resulting crash into the ocean, killed all 215 passengers, 12 flight attendants, and both the Captain...as well as the First Officer...

Which makes this crash the deadliest accident in the history of Swissair and the deadliest accident involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-11...

And as for the cause?...

Well after a several year exhaustive investigation...it was determined that the cause of the in-flight fire...was due to a wire suffering what is known, as electrical arcing...

Which had actually been part, of the Swissair in-flight entertainment system, that had been present on board their aircraft at the time of this accident...

And with the case of this particular system, it unfortunately didn't have an off-switch...

And viewers...for those who are going to try and argue, that the pilots of flight 111, made a poor choice during the accident sequence, in them diverting to over the ocean, in an attempt to dump some of their fuel...

As it would later be determined...to safely land flight 111...they would've had to have begun their decent, right after they had said the phrase, 'pan, pan, pan'...

But, even if this had been done...to safely land flight 111, the aircraft would've had to have been fully functioning for at least a full 13 minutes...

And tragically, flight 111, was only fully operative, for 10 minutes...

So, as accident investigator Larry Vance would later say...'It didn't matter one iota of difference, as to whether they were going to live or die'...

And tragically viewers...he was right...

Now then viewers...onto the third incident...

In the early morning of November 28, 1987...A Boeing 747-244BM Combi...Operating as South African Airways Flight 295...call sign SPRINGBOK 295...

was on route from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport,

Taipei, Taiwan...

to Plaisance Airport, on the island of Mauritius...

And at the time of the in-flight fire and subsequent in-flight breakup...

Flight 295 was carrying 5 pilots...some of which were relief pilots...14 flight attendants...and 140 passengers...

And the reason why this particular 747 was known as a Combi...

was due to this particular type of 747, being able to carry passengers and crew in the forward section of the aircraft's cabin, and cargo in the aft portion of the cabin...

But tragically, the cause of this particular in-flight fire aboard flight 295...was apparently due to something in the cargo, that was theorized not to be on the aircraft's cargo manifest...

As to exactly what it was, we will never know for sure...

but what we do know, was that the resulting in-flight breakup, wound up killing all 159 passengers and crew...

Now then viewers...onto the next one...and also the last one...

and this particular in-flight fire type incident, is particularly horrific...

In the early evening of August 19, 1980...Saudia Flight 163...had taken off Riyadh International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...

and was bound for Kandara Airport, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia...

at the time of this accident...flight 163, was carrying 3 pilots, 11 flight attendants...and 287 passengers...

And though the cause, and the source of the in-flight fire on flight 163, was never fully determined...

What is known, is the very last thing heard on flight 163s Cockpit Voice Recorder...right before the fire on board caused it to stop working was the Captain saying...'tell them not to evacuate'...

And if you have a fierce fire as this was, burning through the cabin floor up from the aft cargo hold...

The Captain saying this particular statement...doesn't exactly bode well, nor does it instill confidence...for everyone on board...

As even though they were able to make it back to Riyadh...

not even three and a half minutes after touching down...the fire wound up consuming the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar...and wound up also killing all 301 passengers and crew on board...

And even to this day, flight 163...is still the 2nd deadliest single aircraft accident, in aviation history...behind that of Japan Airlines Flight 123...

And, is the 5th deadliest aviation accident of all time...

Surpassed only by the bombing of Air India Flight 182...On June 23, 1985...

The crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981...On March 3, 1974

The Charkhi Dadri Mid Air Collision...On November 12, 1996...

The crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123...On August 12, 1985...

And finally, the Tenerife Airport Disaster...On March 27, 1977...

And this viewers...now marks the end of this particular filler chapter...and unfortunately viewers...there will wind up being another one of these filler chapters right after this one...But the good news here viewers...is that after the next chapter...we will be getting right back into the action...So viewers...see you lot in the next chapter...okay?...*I proceed to say this, while tilting my head to one side, and smiling with both of my eyes closed, in a very cute looking manner*"