Joan Lunden Was Reporting on the TWA Flight 800 Crash When She Found Out a Childhood Friend Was Among the Victims, 30 Years Ago

Joan Lunden said she learned that her childhood friend was among the victims of TWA Flight 800 while she was reporting on the disaster. The journalist, 75, posted on Instagram on Friday, July 17, sharing a photo of Jed Johnson and describing how she discovered, during live coverage, that Johnson was on board. Lunden wrote that “Charlie Gibson and I” were reporting on the tragedy when she learned Johnson was among those on the aircraft. TWA Flight 800 departed New York around 8:19 p.m. on July 17, 1996, bound for Fiumicino Airport in Rome with a stop at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle. Twelve minutes later, an explosion occurred in the center wing fuel tank, and all 230 people on board died as the Boeing 747 exploded over the Atlantic. Lunden said she was called into the control room after producers confirmed her worst fear. The crash cause was initially unknown and speculation followed.