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Springfield, MA Federal District Court
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2004
TWA 800: Wreckage Missing, Cases Pending, Eight Years Later
As the eight-year anniversary of the crash approaches, the first piece of wreckage that radar sites recorded separating from the plane is missing. Navy divers located and recovered this piece, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) apparently never got it.
The piece was recorded by multiple FAA radar sites hurling off the right side of the plane just as it exploded. Its significance cannot be overstated. It was ejected at apparent supersonic speeds, traveled horizontally 1/2 a mile (perpendicular to TWA 800’s flight path), and landed more than 1/4 mile closer to JFK airport than can be explained in the official crash scenario.
See http://Flight800.org/missing.htm for more information.
The NTSB is responsible for determining the probable cause of the crash by analyzing all of the physical evidence. Without this and other crucial pieces of evidence, the NTSB did not conduct a thorough investigation.
Two federal court cases--one on the West-coast in Los Angeles, and another on the East-coast in Springfield, MA--are making headlines this month as they seek tightly held crash documents being withheld by US government agencies.
In Massachusetts, Graeme Sephton, President of the Freedom of Information Advocacy Coalition (FIOAC), is suing the FBI for forensic data and analyses of foreign objects found during victim autopsy examinations. After winning an appeal at Boston Appeals Court last year, Sephton's case will be heard on July 22, 2004 at 2:30 PM at Springfield, MA District Court.
The case has already unearthed a report describing an FBI policy of withholding "suspicious" physical evidence from the NTSB during the investigation. Such a policy may explain how wreckage recovered by the Navy never made it to the NTSB.
On the West-coast, retired commercial pilot Ray Lahr is suing the NTSB to release data used to explain away what were believed to be missile sightings before the crash. According to the NTSB, the witnesses were actually watching Flight 800 climb sharply, after it exploded. Lahr's case will be heard August 2, 2004 at 10 AM at the Los Angeles Federal Court House.
TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed off the coast of Long Island, NY on July 17, 1996. Witnesses reported seeing a streak of light rise from the ocean and collide with Flight 800 before the crash. Federal investigators dismissed the witness accounts due to an alleged absence of corroborating physical evidence, settling instead upon an electrical short circuit inside a fuel tank.
Contacts
Tom Stalcup, FIRO Chairman, for general TWA Flight 800 information.
E. Falmouth, MA
www.Flight800.org
774-392-0856
Graeme Sephton, FOIAC President, for information on FOIA litigation.
www.FOIAC.org
413-367-2253
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