Michael Marx, a former metallurgist with the NTSB, saidFBI personnel unreasonably pushed thesabotage theories, even after a January 1997 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pegged the cause as a mechanical failure. It was a perfect summer night, 70 degrees, the sky clear.. Among the dead were 18 crew members and 212 passengers, including 16 students and five chaperones from Pennsylvania's Montoursville Area High School French Club. Both camps agreed on a government coverup. Meanwhile, the NTSB'sassessment overlooked evidence of a missile strike, such as radar data, witness statements and holes in the fuselage, according to Hughes. Baggage and other items normally stored in the front section of the plane have been discovered in a debris field closest to John F. Kennedy International Airport, from where the Paris-bound jet departed, further buttressing investigators' belief that the explosion was in that part of the plane. Once subjected to microscopic and chemical examination, federal investigators found the red flaky residue was from contact adhesive used to stick the upholstery to its foam base, not rocket fuel. Disclaimer. Uncontained engine failures can be very destructive, ejecting parts as far as three thousand feet and often destroying any adjacent engines. Over the years, she has been invited to speak publicly about the crash, typically on the anniversary. I think it was the CWT explosion. Fragments of a third engine have also been sighted, but the divers and sophisticated sonar equipment have yet to detect the jet's fourth engine. Borjesson says that the man who had received the foam from a member of the official investigation and sent it to her for testing had every right to do so, but the FBI came calling and claimed it was stolen. re: TWA 800 What do you think actually happened? A comparison of these injuries with those of takeoff and landing crashes showed differences in injury pattern and severity. As recently as July 2014, NTSB officials had to publicly respond to requests to reconsider its findings in the investigation of the 1996 crash. The U.S Navy is always believed to be the . Moreover, contrary evidence can easily be dismissed as another stage in the alleged conspiracy'scoverup. TWA Flight 800 grabbed the world's attention when . Navy divers, meanwhile, cleared the area around two of the 747's engines. gathered by the National Transportation Safety Board in its Pilots of Eastwind Airlines Flight 507, descending to 16,000 feet, were nearly head-on and observed the 747 as it climbed towards them in the clear air. Joseph A. Kirby and Tribune Staff Writer. Several people then claimed these witness reports were evidence of Friendly Fire by a missile from a Navy vessel or a terrorist attack. plane. Analysis revealed that the severity of injury and anatomic injury pattern did not generally correlate with seating position or structural damage. On 19 July 1996, a 747 had been parked for four hours at JFK airport, while its airconditioner pack heated an almost empty center wing tank (CWT); making fuel vapors even more volatile. Bloody awful! While the NTSB Final Report suggested defective wiring insulation inside the CWT to be the most likely origin of the fuel vapor ignition and explosion, no clear cause was ever determined by the NTSB. All All rights reserved. The mother opened her box of memories and the pain and . Stalcup says he is trying to get more information from the US Department of Defenses Missile Defense Agency. Previous reports of commercial airline disasters have reviewed incidents occurring at takeoff and landing. at 100 degrees. plane were well above explosive levels even before takeoff. Ask the Captain: The unnecessary mystery of EgyptAir 804. He said the explosion remains a mystery because "we still don't have the parts of the plane that we need to look at. By the fall of 1996, in looking at all of the physical evidence and not seeing any evidence of any bomb or missile damage, it became unreasonable to continue to push that theory, Marx said during a May 1999 congressional hearing. Seventeen years ago, TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. FOIA After loading, TWA Flight 800 took off and headed for Paris. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, charges that the federal government released a false report contending that the explosion in the plane was the result of an electrical fire in its center fuel tank. I reported on the crash and investigation for the Fairfield County Weekly and then for the Village Voice. Meanwhile, the NTSB'sassessment overlooked evidence of a missile strike, such as radar data, witness statements and holes in the fuselage, according to Hughes. Shane Miller, a professor at St. Johns University in Minnesota who researched the conspiracy theories surrounding the crash, said the Flight 800 conspirators used the web in novel ways. I worked on a ground crew at JFK that day and watched Flight 800 take off while on a rest break. 8:06. ABC canceled the show. Her documentary, TWA Flight 800, which she wrote, directed, and produced, premiered on the EPIX cable TV channel last July. The cargo area has been the site of explosives in past bombings, including that of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Another photo that appeared to show an object near the airplaneshowed debris on the film surface,FBI officials said. The film says the plane was brought down not by a fuel tank explosion,. Soon EPIX was on board, agreeing to fund and broadcast the documentary. CBS, much to my chagrin and dismay, returned it immediately, she says, and I was given my walking papers a few weeks after that.That told me that the story was controversial, that there were limits to the freedom of the press. plane. It is further contended by plaintiffs that the. BACKGROUND. Defense contractors and the U.S. Department of Defense are among defendants being named in a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs in connection with the TWA Flight 800 crash 26 years ago. The findings will be detailed through a series of questions Yet witnesses on Long Island had heard a thunderclap, suggesting a high explosive detonation. Still, investigators seemed to havedifficultyfinding a definitive answer for the trailsof light witnesses claimed to see near the plane, Miller said. May 1st National College Baseball Rankings, LSU Report, LSU Centerfielder Dylan Crews Named SEC Player Of The Week, Video: Introducing 2023 SI Swimsuit Model Olivia Dunne, No. The four-year investigation into what caused the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was the longest, and at $40 million, the priciest in the history of the National Transportation Safety Board. the plane landed in the Atlantic Ocean. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Saturday marked 25 years since the crash of TWA Flight 800. After a four-year, $40 million investigation the longest in the history of the National Transportation Safety Board board officials concluded that an electrical failure ignited fuel vaporsin a nearly emptytank in the belly of the jet. An official website of the United States government. Damage to portions of the engines may indicate from which direction the fatal explosion that downed the plane came. 1996 crash off of New York's Long Island: The NTSB concluded that 15 people may not have died instantly Remnants to be scrapped, 25 years after explosion killed 230 passengers, crew, NTSB officials had to publicly respond to requests to reconsider its findings in the investigation, 25 years later, the wounds are 'still raw.'. A private memorial service for the families of the victims of the 1996 TWA Flight 800 explosion is being held on Saturday, 25 years after the disaster that killed 230 people and just before the. This July 16, 2008, file photo shows the recovered wreckage of TWA Flight 800 standing reassembled at the National Transportation Safety Board Training Academy in Chantilly, Va., where it is used for training new investigators. Below is a list of those on board, according to family, friends or officials . In the early days and weeks after the accident, the FBI was in charge because there was concern about it being a crime. Only the FAA replied, with nearly 2,000 accident reports, including many with uncontained engine failures and fatal crashes of 747s. The NTSB was never able to pin-point the precise cause, but it was clear that it was from within the tank.. Henry Hughes, a senior accident investigator with the NTSB,was among the group that in 2013 unsuccessfully petitioned the NTSB to reinvestigate the crash. Last Tuesday marked the 22nd anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 which exploded and crashed into the ocean only 12 minutes after leaving Kennedy Airport on an overnight flight to Paris on July 17, 1996. Although the source that led to the explosion was never discovered, the investigation concluded the crashs cause was not a terrorist attack, but an electrical failure that ignited a nearly empty center wing fuel tank in the 25-year-old aircraft. and transmitted securely. Robert Davey is a journalist who lives in Bridgeport. The plane, en route to France from New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, claiming the lives of all those aboard, including Montoursville Area High School students and their chaperones. Henry Hughes, an NTSB senior accident investigator who had been part of the governments Flight 800 investigation, had just retired. Robert Davey: What really happened to TWA Flight 800? As quickly as the wreckage plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, questions arose. Analysis of victims' autopsies revealed that as many as Shane Miller, a professor at Saint Johns University in Minnesota who researched the conspiracy theories surrounding the crash, said the Flight 800 conspirators used the web in novel ways. One animation will simulate how the plane came apart. The animated simulations are based on the best guesses of the The purpose of the present study, which represents the first analysis of aviation injuries incurred during a midflight incident, was to examine the injuries sustained by the victims of the TWA Flight 800 disaster and to determine any correlation of injuries with structural damage and seat location. No shrapnel damage or other evidence of external sourced fuselage penetration. The nation was still processing the1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City explosion and the trial of Ramzi Yousef for conspiracy to destroy American-bound airliners. the center fuel tank may have exploded and brought down the One allegedthe plane may have been struck by fragments of a meteor that broke up as it entered the Earths atmosphere. A bit too lean. The Search for the Truth "Jack Cashill has worked tirelessly for almost twenty years to bring the truth of what really happened to TWA Flight 800 to the public, and most of all, to the families who lost . I believe it was shot down by terrorist or the navy and it was covered up to prevent panic. status changed two weeks ago when the FBI announced it had I made two visits to the mockup the NTSB assembled from the wreckage in a hangar on Long Island at the time, he says. Haar: Lamont deflects demands to spend CT surplus on education, Why a New York business wants to move its headquarters to CT, The CT legislature has 500 bills. TWA Flight 800 was en route from New York to Paris when it All of this raised questions about the NTSBs theory that a short circuit outside the tank produced excess voltage on wiring inside the tank which somehow generated a spark that ignited fuel vapors produced by the tiny amount of fuel in the tank. The site is secure. However, the aircraft was only seen descending by airline pilots shortly after it exploded, with a small smoke trail behind that was most likely engine #3. that many seaman mishandling their missile, leading to an unexpected explosion would raise eyebrows, especially in the 90s. Here are some top priorities, What CT colleges could do in response to state budget shortfalls. I get the spark answer and it is somewhat plausible. The personal investment involved in accepting or progressing conspiracy theories can make them tough to dismiss, said Barkun, of Syracuse. Her husband was at JFK International Airport, putting their 11-year-old son on a plane to visit relatives in France, and an exhausted Borjesson climbed into bed for a nap. Combined with concurrent reporting about real government experiments and other real conspiracies, atone had been set, he added. But the bulk of passengers -- 183 posed to panels of investigators by both NTSB technical HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The eyewitness reports of a missile leading to an explosion were just the nose section of the plane falling off with some flames, rest of plane ascending, and then boom with wing separation and fire. One such missile, it is contended, struck TWA Flight 800, causing it to break apart and crash into the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone aboard. Early in the investigation there were reports that traces of chemical explosives were detected in the cabin. . Bostonia is published in print three times a year and updated weekly on the web. explosion. Background: Later I interviewed Tom Dougherty, a retired supervisor for Suffolk County, who said he had heard two explosions, then seen a streak of light like a flare or fireworks shoot up to the south as he left a restaurant close to the ocean in East Quogue. During the NTSB's four-year investigation, federal officialsobtained signed certifications from U.S. military chains of command running crash area assets, training exercises and armaments capable of reaching the aircraft. The finger-pointing and varyinginterpretations of the data between officials at the federal agencies added to the uncertainty, Miller said. Before National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Francis said his investigators will first rebuild the portion of the plane--a 25-foot-by-40 foot area--that stretches from the front cargo bay to just beyond the right wing. They also spurred the aircraft producer, Boeing, to replace the brittle old wiring on other 747s and redesign their air conditioning packs. CNN On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 took off from JFK Airport headed for Paris. I wrote to the FAA and NTSB, sure that people with more experience and qualifications would know the cause was a classic uncontained engine failure. At 8:31 PM and 11 miles south of Long Island, NY, the CWT exploded while the 747 was climbing towards its assigned 15,000 foot altitude. He believes he uncovered the smoking gun: Federal Aviation Administration radar data showing unexplained debris flying away from the plane at four times the speed of sound. The reconstructed wreckage of TWA Flight 800, painstakingly reassembled as part of the investigation into what happened to the Boeing 747, is set to be destroyed following the 25th anniversary of . The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the tank, but they say even if the exact cause of the crash is Copyright Williamsport Sun-Gazette | https://www.sungazette.com | 252 W. Fourth Street, Williamsport, PA 17703 | 570-326-1551, Only recently, thanks to the work of physicist, Dr. Thomas Stalcup, through his Freedom of Information Act litigation in Massachusetts federal court, has evidence emerged proving that the TWA 800 explosion was not caused by any defect in the airplane, but instead by an errant United States missile fired at aerial target drones flying nearby., engaged in a top-down cover-up to prevent the public from learning the truth about TWA 800.. Officials believe the crash was caused by an explosive, a missile or mechanical failure. Flight 800 is a seminal moment in aviation safety history, the safety boards managing director said in a 2021 statement. Other potential causes introduced in late 1990persistalong with the friendly-fire claim more than two decades later. He turned to Borjesson, whom hed met about a year after the crash. TWA Flight 800 was en route from New York to Paris. The electrical resistance inside the tank would likely have stopped any stray voltage in its tracks. That was by design. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/re-open-investigation-twa-800-plane-crash/L57zGrMM. The conspiracy theory then becomes a closed system, Barkun said. As quickly as the wreckage plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, questions arose. All 230 aboard were killed. However, the eyewitness accounts of something fired toward the plane are out there. found no evidence that a bomb or missile brought down the The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I sincerely hope that the investigation is reopened and the truth is finally known. NTSB investigators examined every piece of wreckage for any physical evidence that the crash of Flight 800 could have been caused by a bomb or missile, the board said at the time. The data, released on the eve of public hearings on the made public Sunday on the Web. CIA analysts determined the Linda Kabot photo of amissile in flight was taken from the opposite direction and featuredanairplane flying the opposite way. It may have something to do with what happened here. In an effort to test the mechanical failure scenario, NTSB investigators will examine the area around the tank, where fumes could have ignited and exploded during flight, according to officials. Borjesson says she and Stalcup included only information they could document and verify. 2012 Apr;83(4):412-7. doi: 10.3357/asem.3155.2012. Why are TWA Flight 800 conspiracies still around 25 years later? Lessons from a large trauma center: impact of blunt chest trauma in polytrauma patients-still a relevant problem. She and Tom Stalcup, film coproducer and a physicist who began looking into the accident on his own time shortly after the explosion, charge that the FBI stepped in early and sidelined the experts in aviation investigation: the NTSB.
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