Wreckage from TWA Flight 800 to be destroyed years after explosion By: CNN Originally Published: 27 FEB 21 03:08 ET Updated: 27 FEB 21 15:58 ET By Claire Colbert, CNN (CNN) -- The reconstructed wreckage of Trans World Airlines Flight 800, which exploded minutes after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 17, 1996, will be decommissioned and destroyed, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. All 230 people on board the Paris-bound flight were killed. The Boeing 747 was destroyed, and the wreckage fell into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the shores of Long Island, New York. The reconstructed wreckage has been used in accident investigation training courses for nearly 20 years, the NTSB said in a statement on Monday.