The Story of TWA 800
What happened to TWA 800? Why has the media not analyzed this disaster?
On July 17 1996 at approximately 8:31 PM TWA Flight 800, a 747 flying at 13,700 ft carrying 230 passengers and crew, exploded south of East Moriches Long Island, N.Y. Many reports from eyewitnesses on land, sea, and in the air indicated that a missile destroyed the airliner. This disaster took place three days before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta while the country was on extreme alert for terrorist activity, and U.S. Navy vessels were reported in the area south of Long Island. Despite the overwhelming evidence from nearly 100 eyewitnesses[1] of surface to air "flare-like" object that caused the disaster, federal investigators banned their live testimony from the only public hearing on the tragedy. In their place was the official word from the FBI that "what these people [eyewitnesses] reported seeing was not, in reality, what occurred."[2]
How could actions and statements like these remain uncontested? Surely, hundreds or even thousands of people had knowledge to the contrary. Perhaps not. Most federal employees involved in the investigation had limited access to data and had only a narrow view of the total picture. For instance, scientists hired by federal investigators to analyze residues from the wreckage had "no earthly idea what [they were] testing."[3] The compartmentalization of knowledge throughout the investigation allowed only a few officials and political appointees to control and release of information and reports.
Then, on March 11, 1997, the day new evidence[4] was publicized which allegedly supported the missile theory, President Clinton signed into law, executive order 1309. Executive order 1309 specifically provides for exclusion of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program, a program that provides a mechanism for workers to report wrong doing without fear of reprisal. This sealed the lips of civilian government employees, as well as a Navy Seal team involved in the recovery of wreckage from the tragedy. The media, however, did not cover the signing of this executive order and were themselves, not affected by it. But strangely the major networks repeated the government version while ignoring the conflicting evidence.
This is The Story of TWA 800 (Part I-VI), told in segments from the research of investigative reporters and researchers who continue to question the official version of the incident. The facts are available to anyone, but are not displayed on the evening news. The age of the Internet, however, has made it possible for those with access to fact check and cross reference the many discrepancies that remain within the official investigation into TWA Flight 800. We have developed a path through these links that will help the diligent reader through the maze of information and misinformation surrounding the tragedy.
The Story of TWA 800 is about events and acts brought into sharp focus by a tragic lens of 230 lives lost. It is about government openness and accountability, media accuracy and independence. It is about the rickety foundations of democracy as the United States enters into the new millenium.
Part I
Below is the official synopsis taken from the NTSB web site: http://www.ntsb.gov/Aviation/DCA/96A070.htm
"NTSB Identification: DCA96MA070. The docket is stored in the (offline) NTSB Imaging System.
Scheduled 14 CFR 121 operation of TRANS WORLD AIRLINES (D.B.A. TWA) Accident occurred JUL-17-96 at EAST MORICHES, NY Aircraft: Boeing 747-131, registration: N93119 Injuries: 230 Fatal.
On July 17, 1996, about 8:45pm, TWA flight 800, N93119, a Boeing 747-100, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island shortly after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport. The airplane was on a regularly scheduled flight to Paris, France. The initial reports are that witnesses saw an explosion and then debris descending to the ocean. There are no reports of the flight crew reporting a problem to air traffic control. The airplane was manufactured in November 1971. It has accumulated about 93,303 flight hours and 16,869 cycles. On board the airplane were 212 passengers and 18 crewmembers. The airplane was destroyed and there were no survivors."
Major Fred Meyers, in a National Guard helicopter was first to arrive during search and rescue. He observed a streaking light, which preceded any explosions and the falling wreckage. This seems to be at odds with a key point in the above official synopsis: that the event began with an explosion.
See: http://members.aol.com/bardonia/meyer.htm
Many more eyewitness accounts describe a streak of light preceding explosions and falling debris.
See: http://flight800.org/eye.html
End of Part I
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The Story of TWA 800, Part II
We now turn to what eyewitnesses saw in the sky south of Long Island on July 17, 1996. The following site shows reports taken by police from some of the eyewitnesses who called to report the disaster. The large number of witnesses allowed investigators to establish the location of objects reported by triangulation. Independent investigators have also done this, but the FBI and NTSB have not made public any official triangulation plots. Eyewitness reports are an essential part of every NTSB crash investigation, but in the case of TWA 800 they were excluded from the hearings.
Witness reports: http://www.accessone.com/~rivero/CRASH/TWA/STATEMENTS.html
Below is the address for the eyewitness report of Paul Angelides: http://twa800.com/pages/eyewitness.html
Note that triangulating these separate independent reports locates the approximate point of origin of a flare-like object in relation to the Flight 800. The fact that these independent observations produce a triangulation point is evidence of their veracity. http://users.erols.com/igoddard/twa-core.htm
The following address from the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization (FIRO) site provides eye witness reports. http://flight800.org/eye.html
Hoe did federal investigators handle these independent observations? Part III will deal with the official response.
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The Story of TWA 800, Part III
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the government had on its hands a missing 747, two hundred thirty people killed, and hundreds of eyewitnesses. Nearly 100 witnesses described a flare-like object rise up from the surface, ending in the explosion of TWA 800. The federal investigators, however, decided to: 1) ban eyewitness reports from the official NTSB hearing which was televised on C-Span[5, 6]; and 2) maintain that the 747 itself was the flare-like object reported by eyewitnesses[7].
The analysis of all data is a fundamental method of NTSB crash investigation and this includes eyewitness reports. In the case of TWA 800 the NTSB, on the direction of the FBI[6], violated its own procedures. The government maintained that the 747 had its nose blown off then climbed several thousand feet, and this was what the many eyewitnesses saw (eyewitnesses who were excluded from the public hearings in any case and who's official statements and interviews remain hidden from the public). The government even hired the CIA to produce an animation to show a 747 following the official crash sequence.
The following gives the location of the CIA and NTSB produced videos. They do not hold up under analysis[8] and in fact reveal that the government dismissed the accounts of nearly 100 eyewitnesses. http://www.twa800.com/#Videos
Readers interested to see how well or poorly the official simulations fit the actual radar data from the night of the crash can do so here: http://flight800.org/radar3.htm
Part IV deals with the properties of Jet A1 and the center wing tank that is supposed to have spontaneously produced the explosion.
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The Story of TWA 800, Part IV
Eyewitness reports describe a high velocity explosion. Radar data presented by Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization indicates that fragments were ejected from TWA 800 at twice the speed of sound at a distance of nearly two miles. Could a spontaneous explosion of the center wing tank produce such velocities? An explosion of the center wing tank has been repeatedly blamed by federal investigators, but the NTSB has no evidence that the center wing tank spontaneously exploded.
Commander William Donaldson has been an outspoken critic of the official investigation. On C-span he showed a video of his bare hand sticking a match into a cookie tin of Jet A fuel. The match went out. The surface of the fuel will not even burn until the temperature is above 100 degree F. The NTSB only succeeded in blowing up a full-scale center wing tank in tests when adding propane to the mix[9]. And even after these tests, the test aircraft was deemed impossible for flight, and therefore could not follow the official flight path.
The following links are from correspondence between Commander Donaldson, the NTSB and FBI. Note that there is a wealth of technical information about jet fuel and other matters that never make it to the mass media.
There has never been an accident caused by a spontaneous 747 center wing tank explosion with Jet A fuel. Please go to: http://www.angelfire.com/hi/TWA800/fueltanktheory.html
At the following address: http://twa800.com/ one may scroll down to "letters" and select : Cmdr. Donaldson's Letters to various officials.
The address below is from the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization (FIRO) analysis of a 1/4 scale center wing tank explosion.
http://flight800.org/spark.html
The NTSB blew up a center wing tank but used propane to assist in the explosion. Please go to: http://twa800.com/ and scroll down to videos and view:
Simulation of CWT explosion using hydrogen & propane - 3.3mb Added 9-14-99 Short version of CWT simulated explosion - 1.6mb - Added 8-14-99
End of Part IV. Part V deals with ships in the vicinity of the explosion
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The story of TWA 800, Part V
Radar targets, consistent with the speeds of surface vessels surrounded the immediate vicinity of TWA Flight 800. A peculiar feature within the NTSB exhibits is a radar plot which reveals a surface craft traveling at 30 knots within 3 nautical miles of the TWA explosion and which continues on its course away from the disaster at 30 knots and finally disappears over the horizon[10].
At the following address, Phil Weiss of the New York Observer discusses the 30-knot track. http://www.observer.com/cgi-win/homepage.exe?nyo1/PW071299
The following gives the report of Lisa Perry describing a Navy ship off of Fire Island. http://twa800.com/pages/perry.htm
The following gives the drawing from Jane's Fighting Ships by Lisa Perry http://twa800.com/Images/ship2.jpg
Photos from Jane's Fighting Ships http://twa800.com/Images/ship.jpg
Report from the yacht Aphrodite http://twa800.com/Report/Exhibit36.htm
Radar data: Thirty ships ignored the huge fireball and continued on course. http://www.flight800.org/flotilla.htm
End of Part V
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The Story of TWA 800, Part VI
Summary
Nearly 100 eyewitnesses all over Long Island and in the air saw a flare like a light rise up from the surface and end in the explosion of Flight 800[1].
Major Fred Meyers, a combat veteran, saw two (2) hard explosions out of the window of his Black Hawk helicopter. He described them as "high velocity...ordinance," explosions, followed by a huge fireball.
Triangulation of Major Meyers' observations with other eyewitnesses have allowed independent investigators to plot: 1) the launch point of the flare-like object; and 2) the location of the Flight 800 explosion. None of this eyewitness testimony was allowed in the official NTSB investigation, nor were their statements or the subsequent triangulations publicly released.
In place of the eyewitness evidence were government animations showing a decapitated jet climbing 3000 feet and leaving a fiery trail. Hundreds of eyewitness statements and the radar data from the night of the crash do not support the official crash scenario[8]. Furthermore, the NTSB explosion test aircraft would not have been able to climb at all[9]. The radar data revealed that Flight 800's ground speed did not slow in a manner consistent with government simulations after it exploded. If it had, radar data from that night would have matched the federal simulations, consistent with government theory. It did not. http://flight800.org/radar3.htm
The center wing tank was alleged to have spontaneously exploded, but history has shown that there has never been an 747 accident involving such an explosion[11]. In another test, the NTSB blew up a 1/4 scale center wing tank for television but used propane and hydrogen, together with a spark 63,000 times stronger than what was deemed necessary at the NTSB hearings.
The disaster took place ~15 miles northwest of W-105, a Warning Zone south of Long Island, which had been activated on the day of the disaster. Navy ships were observed traveling nearby earlier in the evening and radar identified over 30 targets consistent with the speeds of surface vessels that ignored the explosion and continued on course. These ships have not been publicly identified. Radar also reveals an aircraft flying in and out of W-105.
The mainstream media continues to ignore this data uncovered by independent investigators, yet repeats the sometimes confusing and misleading information emanating from official sources. In place of eyewitness testimony, the major networks aired a CIA produced animation depicting a crash sequence that is not supported by the radar data[8], nearly 100 eyewitnesses[1], or a full-scale recreation of the explosion by federal investigators[9].
Some of the remaining discrepancies are well summarized by Flight 800 Independent Investigators within their written testimony to Congress: http://flight800.org/sub_rep.htm
Readers who study the data carefully will reach their own conclusions. Whether or not the federal investigators are to blame for the above discrepancies, a public explanation for each one is necessary.
The federal investigation into TWA Flight 800 remains plagued with serious discrepancies, which call into question many official assumptions and conclusions. The decision by the major news networks to ignore these problems, while regurgitating the official line is disturbing. Are we really a democratic society with an independent media, or are we merely subjects of federal authorities with a complacent and non-confrontational media?
1. NTSB, Witness Group Factual Report: Exhibit 4A. NTSB Baltimore Hearings into TWA Flight 800, 1997.
2. Schiliro, L.D., Letter in Response to Congressman James A. Traficant, (D) Ohio, . 1998, FBI.
3. Basssett, C., Private Communication, . 1998.
4. Hendrix, D., Solid Fuel for Rockets Follows Basic Recipe, in Press Enterprise. 1997: Riverside.
5. NTSB, Chairman Hall's letter replying to hearing objections from FBI. Letter from James Hall, NTSB to James Kallstrom, FBI, 1997.
6. FBI, Letter to NTSB Chairman James Hall: Objections to Hearing Items, . 1997.
7. CIA, CIA Animation of TWA Flight 800 Crash Sequence. FBI Novermber 1997 Press Conference, 1997.
8. FIRO, TWA Flight 800: Evidence the Main Wreckage Did Not Climb. http://Flight800.org/radar3.htm, 2000.
9. NTSB, NTSB Exhibit 18: Sequencing Group Study on Explosion of Center Wing Fuel Tank of a Test Airplane: Report 99-74. NTSB Exhibit Items from TWA Flight 800, 1999.
10. Pereira, C., et al., Airplane Performance Study, . 1997, NTSB: Washington, D.C.
11. NTSB, NTSB Exhibit 9D: Accidents, Incidents, and Safety Recommendations. NTSB Exhibit Items for TWA Flight 800, 1996.
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