I always thought there was something weird about this crash, there were just too many people that saw something [like a missile] streaking up towards the plane. The explanations of leaking fuel burning didn't make sense with some of the accounts of witnesses. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/documentary-alleges-twa-flight-800-cover/story?id=19435980 Documentary Alleges TWA Flight 800 Cover Up In a new documentary, former investigators who looked into the mysterious crash of TWA Flight 800, which killed 230, are breaking their silence to claim that the explosion that brought down the plane in 1996 was likely no accident, and that the final report on the cause of the blast was falsified. TWA Flight 800 exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1996 about 11 minutes after taking off from New York's JFK airport on its way to Paris. Though theories abounded as to what happened to the plane -- from a bomb on the aircraft to it being struck by a missile or even a meteorite -- the National Transportation Safety Board concluded after a four-year investigation that the probable cause of the crash was an accidental fuel tank explosion. The NTSB said it could not be sure what exactly ignited the blast, but "of the sources evaluated by the investigation, the most likely was a short circuit outside of the [fuel tank] that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring..." But according to the new documentary, named TWA Flight 800 and premiering on Epix next month, six former members of the official crash investigation have stepped forward to refute the NTSB's findings, saying the crash report was purposefully falsified, and to claim the investigation was "systematically undermined" by federal authorities. "We didn't find any part of the airplane that indicated a mechanical failure," one of the whistleblowers says in a trailer for the film. The former officials allege the explosion came from outside the plane, though they don't speculate any further on the original source. Another of the whistleblowers, former senior accident investigator with the NTSB Hank Hughes, said in a preview of the documentary that FBI agents were spotted on surveillance cameras going through the hanger where the crash evidence was kept "in the wee hours of the morning... for purposes unknown." Some of the previous theories about the crash have been disproven in the years since and Tom Haueter, former director of Aviation Safety at the NTSB, told ABC News today that the former officials in the documentary are wrong. He said that the evidence that the explosion was an internal accident was "irrefutable." There was "no sign" of penetration from the outside, Haueter said. The whistleblowers are calling for the NTSB to reopen its investigation, and the NTSB said in a statement today it will reexamine the case if new evidence is presented or "on a showing that the Board's findings are erroneous." "While the NTSB rarely re-investigates issues that have already been examined, our investigations are never closed and we can review any new information not previously considered by the Board," the NTSB said. "The TWA Flight 800 investigation lasted four years and remains one of the NTSB's most detailed investigations. Investigators took great care reviewing, documenting and analyzing facts and data and held a five-day hearing to gather additional facts before determining the probable cause of the accident during a two-day Board meeting."
Wow, I wasn't aware there was a documentary coming out about this. I am however an avid watcher of the series Air Disasters on the Smithsonian Channel (it goes by another name on other networks and around the world) and they had an episode regarding this flight. Definitely something weird about it, and does not surprise me if it may have been covered up. Thanks for posting.
Witness interviews An FBI witness statement summary (with personal information redacted).[58]Many witnesses to the accident had seen a "streak of light" that was usually described as ascending,[59] moving to a point where a large fireball appeared, with several witnesses reporting that the fireball split in two as it descended toward the water.[25] There was intense public interest in these witness reports and much speculation that the reported streak of light was a missile that had struck TWA 800, causing the airplane to explode.[60] These witness accounts were a major reason for the initiation and duration of the FBI's criminal investigation.[61] Approximately 80 FBI agents conducted interviews with potential witnesses daily.[62] No verbatim records of the witness interviews were produced; instead, the agents who conducted the interviews wrote summaries that they then submitted.[61] Witnesses were not asked to review or correct the summaries.[61] Included in some of the witness summaries were drawings or diagrams of what the witness observed.[63][64] Within days of the crash the NTSB announced its intent to form its own witness group and to interview witnesses to the crash.[65] However, after the FBI raised concerns about non-governmental parties in the NTSB's investigation having access to this information and possible prosecutorial difficulties resulting from multiple interviews of the same witness,[65] the NTSB deferred and initially neither interviewed nor re-interviewed witnesses to the crash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800#Witness_interviews
I remember the missile theory about bringing down flight 800 but one thing I have never gotten was why would someone shoot down flight 800? If it was terrorism why didn't any group step forward to claim it was them?
I believe the missile theory applies to the US government. That they made a call to shoot down the plane before it went into the empire state building or something. I do confess I have occasionally gone full toycen on this theory. There are some things about the crash which just is very puzzling to me.
The problem I have with the missile theory is the idea that the missile came from the ground, or the water. If they were going to shoot down a plane it would make much more sense that they'd do so with a fighter jet. I just really struggle to believe the surface to air missile theory.
One of the things I remember is the theory there was a military exercise in the area that went wrong somehow and live fired a missile (that wasn't supposed to be fired) then it went off and locked on the plane.
<object width="416" height="234" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ep_343"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2013/06/19/newday-dnt-marsh-flight-800.cnn&contentId=bestoftv/2013/06/19/newday-dnt-marsh-flight-800.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2013/06/19/newday-dnt-marsh-flight-800.cnn&contentId=bestoftv/2013/06/19/newday-dnt-marsh-flight-800.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="234"></embed></object> Hmmm, I didn't realize this was such a big deal (headline on CNN) -- definitely not fringe conspiracy theory, good report here from CNN.
That doesn't make sense to me that the US government shot it down because it was going to crash into NYC because it's heading was away from NYC since it had just taken off from JFK. It makes more sense if this was a missile it was a military accident although the reports I have heard is that all military ordinance was accounted for in the area.
This documentary seems like it's going to be really good lots of "whistleblowers" from the NTSB who actually worked on the investigation.
