Great points. What about a onboard bomb? I have always been skeptical of the “exploding gas tank” explanation given no other instances of this occurring
I simply don’t have the subject-matter understanding of aircraft design to speak to the bomb theory.
Clearly though, any bomb of sufficient size could cause the kind of catastrophe that was seen in TWA 800.
It's happened before. In 1963 a Pan Am 707 was struck by lightning which ignited fumes in a fuel tank, killing 81. In 1990 a Philippines Airlines 737 fuel tank exploded while the airplane was on the ground, killing 8 of the 120 people on board. In 2001 a Thai airliner had a fuel tank explode, fortunately before boarding. It's not common because after each case steps were taken to try and prevent it from happening again.