TWA Flight 800 alternative theories
Encyclopedia
TWA Flight 800 alternative theories allege that the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA 800) was due to causes other than those determined by the National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB), the official investigative agency. The NTSB stated that the probable cause of the crash of TWA 800 was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, most likely from a short-circuit. The most prevalent TWA 800 alternative theories state that the crash was due to either a U.S. Navy or terrorist missile strike, or alternatively an on-board bomb, and is the subject of a government coverup.
, was a scheduled international passenger flight from New York City, New York to Rome, Italy, with a stopover in Paris, France. At about 20:31 EDT, on July 17, 1996, about 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport
(JFK), TWA 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York
. Of the 230 passengers and crew on board, no survivors were found, making TWA 800 the second deadliest aircraft accident in the United States at that time.
While investigators from the NTSB arrived on scene the following day, many witnesses to the accident had seen a "streak of light" that was usually described as ascending, moving to a point where a large fireball appeared. 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. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) initiated a parallel criminal investigation alongside the NTSB's accident investigation.
in Calverton, New York
, for storage, examination, and reconstruction.
), another nitroglycerin, and the third a combination of RDX and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN
); these findings received much media attention at the time. While investigators from the FBI viewed these positive tests as strong indications of a criminal act, the NTSB was more cautious, noting the lack of any patterns on the recovered wreckage characteristic of an explosion.
Meanwhile TWA chief 747 pilot Robert Terrell Stacey, who was participating in the official investigation as a TWA representative, became convinced that a reddish-brown substance observed on the backs of recovered passenger seats was suspicious, and possibly indicative of explosive residue or rocket fuel. Working with journalist James Sanders, and Sander's wife Elizabeth, a TWA flight attendant, he removed items from where the wreckage reconstruction was taking place, specifically the samples of seat fabric as well as documents related to the investigation. Later, with the information provided by Sanders, the Riverside Press-Enterprise published a series of articles alleging that the substance was in fact consistent with unexpended rocket fuel from a missile that struck TWA 800.
On December 5, 1997, federal prosecutors charged Sanders, Stacey and his wife with theft of government property. The Sanders' defense attorney Bruce Maffeo described the prosecution as "extremely vindictive" and insisted that the couple had a First Amendment
right to take the sample and crash-related documents to expose a cover-up. In April 1999, both Sanders were convicted of stealing evidence from civil aircraft wreckage, and were sentenced to probation (Stacey had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the case previously). James Sanders later authored a book, The Downing of TWA Flight 800, in which he proposed that TWA 800 had been downed by a missile, and that a government cover-up had taken place so as to not panic the public.
Ultimately the NTSB was unable to determine the exact source of explosive residues found on the wreckage (some of the possibilities considered were contamination from the aircraft's use in 1991 transporting troops during the Gulf War
or its use in a dog-training explosive detection exercise about one month before the accident), however the lack of any other corroborating evidence associated with a high-energy explosion led the NTSB to conclude that "the in-flight breakup of TWA flight 800 was not initiated by a bomb or missile strike. The NTSB also determined the locations and appearance of the substance found on the seatbacks was consistent with adhesive used in the construction of the seats, and additional laboratory testing by NASA
identified the substance as being consistent with those adhesives (results which Sanders disputed).
, who on November 7, 1996, held a press conference in Cannes
, France
. He stated he had proof that TWA 800 was shot down by friendly fire
, and the incident was being covered up by the government. Salinger said "he was basing the claims on information he saw in a document given to him six weeks ago by someone in French Intelligence with close contacts to U.S. officials", but refused to name his source. CNN quickly found Salinger's document to be "a widely accessible e-mail letter that has been circulating for at least six weeks on the Internet's World Wide Web." Salinger's evidence was actually an e-mail from Richard Russell, a retired airline pilot.
Salinger's previous position as White House Press Secretary
, as well as long time correspondent for ABC News
, initially gave credence to his statements, transforming them from "internet conspiracies" into the mainstream. However, under scrutiny, his allegations, and the reports issued with his collaborators, became the subject of much criticism in the media. Bob Francis, the vice chairman of the NTSB, was quoted as saying "He was an idiot, he didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible."
scenario was H. Ray Lahr, a retired United Airlines pilot. Lahr, recipient of the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award by the Flight Safety Foundation in 1994, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division, on November 6, 2003, against the NTSB and CIA. Lahr sought documentation and data denied to him through previous FOIA requests that the NTSB and CIA used for their calculations of the zoom climb, which was used to produce the CIA animation. When asked for his reasons for seeking this documents, Lahr stated "I believe that I could show that the zoom climb never happened. If the zoom climb never happened then they've got to find out what the eyewitnesses saw and the only logical conclusion there is that they saw a missile."
On August 31, 2006, the District Court issued an initial ruling that the evidence submitted by Lahr as justification for his FOIA lawsuit was "sufficient for the plaintiff to proceed based on his claim that the government acted improperly," and that Lahr should be granted access to some, but not all, of the documents he was seeking, based on the FOIA statutes and case law. In a further ruling on October 4, 2006, the court finalized the list of documents that the NTSB and CIA must provide to Lahr (again granting some, but not all, of his FOIA requests). While the court reaffirmed its previous ruling that Lahr had provided proof "sufficient to suggest that the government acted improperly", it also clarified that this "conclusion is based on a characterization of the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, but does not reflect or constitute any finding by the court."
Upon being handed this verdict by the court, the agencies involved claimed the documents had been "lost" and could not be located, according to the plaintiff.
article in The New York Review of Books
, titled "The Fall of TWA 800:
The Possibility of Electromagnetic Interference", was published. Scarry, a professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard
, proposed that electromagnetic interference
, also referred to as "High Intensity Radiated Fields" (HIRF), could have been the cause of the TWA 800 crash, specifically energy emitted from a U.S. military craft. Later that year, The New York Review of Books published a series of letters between Scarry and NTSB Chairman James Hall discussing the possibility of HIRF being causal to the accident, and what steps the NTSB was taking in its investigation to determine if it was a factor.
After the adoption of the Final Report, Scarry published another article in the New York Review of Books titled "TWA 800 and Electromagnetic Interference: Work Already Completed and Work that Still Needs to be Done". While praising the initial research done by the NTSB into HIRFs, she also stated that much more additional research was needed. Scarry criticized what she felt was a bias in the investigation to the "meticulous" detailing of events inside the airplane, while not fully exploring the electromagnetic environment outside the airplane. Scarry focused on a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion
close to TWA 800 as being a possible source of electromagnetic interference and cause of the CWT explosion on TWA 800.
Scarry has since written about Swissair 111 and Egypt Air 990 crashes in connection with electromagnetic radiation.
(IAMAW) submitted a report into the public docket. In this report the IAMAW disputed the NTSB's sequencing study, and proposed a breakup sequence that started on the lower left side of the airplane, when a high-pressure event "unzipped" the fuselage. The IAMAW wrote that "a major event may have occurred on the left side of the aircraft. It could have contributed to or been the cause of the destruction of Flight 800." and that "the CWT exploded, but as a result of the airplane's breakup, and was not the initial event."
The IAMAW criticized the accuracy of the "Tag database" used to document the recovered wreckage and the reliability of the witness statements. The IAMAW strongly criticized the FBI's conduct during the investigation, including the undocumented removal by FBI agents of wreckage from the hangar where it was stored. However, they also commended the NTSB staff, management and board members for their cooperation during the investigation, and stated that "The fact the media has put and other groups continue to bring pressure on the board, we find it very comforting that the focus was not changed due to these forces." They concluded that "The causes and circumstances that contributed directly to the accident are unknown."
, a retired Naval officer, formed the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals (ARAP) to investigate the TWA 800 crash. He authored the "Interim Report on the Crash of TWA Flight 800 and the Actions of the NTSB and the FBI" (The Donaldson Report
), which was released on July 17, 1998, two years before the NTSB's Final Report. In it, Donaldson stated that TWA 800 was struck by two missiles, fired from the water, most likely as a terrorist attack, and subsequently the FBI and NTSB conspired to cover-up this fact due to political pressure.
Donaldson disputed the CWT fuel/air vapor explosion scenario, stating that "In the history of aviation, there has never been an in-flight explosion in any Boeing airliner of a Jet-A Kerosene fuel vapor/air mixture in any tank, caused by mechanical failure." Eyewitness, debris field, metallurgical, and victim injury evidence were all cited by Donaldson proof of the missile-attack scenario. Donaldson acknowledged James Sander's theory of an accidental shootdown, and did not rule out U.S. Navy involvement; however, he viewed circumstantial evidence of a terrorist attack "more compelling."
Much of the report dealt with Donaldson's assertions of a conspired cover-up by the FBI and NTSB, in co-operation with the Justice Department
. Donaldson believed that the Clinton Administration wanted to hide the actual cause of the crash for political reasons, specifically the upcoming presidential elections
. Donaldson concluded his report with the request that Congress should hold Congressional hearings into the crash and/or request that the Justice Department appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate (neither of which happened).
Donaldson received support and funding from the advocacy group Accuracy in Media
, who promoted his views. He died in 2001; the ARAP website is still active.
wrote that TWA 800 was blown up by a bomb intended to disrupt the trial of terrorist Ramzi Yousef
, the nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
and planner of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
. Using official FBI 302s (informant documents), Lance asserts that Ramzi Yousef orchestrated the attack from prison in an effort to get a mistrial for master-minding the Bojinka plot. Lance claimed that the FBI had prior knowledge of this plot from a prison informant, but did not act on it. Lance cites similarities to Operation Bojinka, a prior plot developed by Yousef and Mohammed in which a very small (and thus more easily carried on board) "blasting cap" device could theoretically be used to ignite the plane's fuel tank. Backing the theory is the fact that the FBI found residues of RDX, the same explosive that would have been used in a bomb like this. The occurrence of a similar incident (i.e. the explosion of TWA 800) while Yousef was safely in custody could have been used to justify a mistrial. However, it was later assumed that the RDX residue came from a K-9 unit training exercise for a bomb sniffing dog in which RDX was placed within the plane for the dog to sniff out. This exercise occurred at St. Louis airport about 1 month before the explosion of TWA 800's center wing fuel tank. The tail number of the plane which the training exercise took place was apparently not recorded, it was only noted that it took place on a "wide-body" aircraft, where three planes matching that description passed through the airport that day.
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB), the official investigative agency. The NTSB stated that the probable cause of the crash of TWA 800 was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, most likely from a short-circuit. The most prevalent TWA 800 alternative theories state that the crash was due to either a U.S. Navy or terrorist missile strike, or alternatively an on-board bomb, and is the subject of a government coverup.
Background
TWA 800, a Boeing 747-131Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
, was a scheduled international passenger flight from New York City, New York to Rome, Italy, with a stopover in Paris, France. At about 20:31 EDT, on July 17, 1996, about 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
(JFK), TWA 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York
East Moriches, New York
East Moriches is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 4,550 at the 2000 census.East Moriches is in the Town of Brookhaven....
. Of the 230 passengers and crew on board, no survivors were found, making TWA 800 the second deadliest aircraft accident in the United States at that time.
While investigators from the NTSB arrived on scene the following day, many witnesses to the accident had seen a "streak of light" that was usually described as ascending, moving to a point where a large fireball appeared. 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. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) initiated a parallel criminal investigation alongside the NTSB's accident investigation.
Search and recovery
Pieces of the airplane wreckage were discovered floating on and beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean about 8 miles south of East Moriches, New York. The main wreckage was found scattered on the ocean floor in an area about 4 miles long by 3 1/2 miles wide. In one of the largest diver-assisted salvage operations ever conducted, over 95% of the airplane wreckage was eventually recovered. Recovered wreckage was transported by boat to shore and then by truck to leased hangar space at the former Grumman Aircraft facilityCalverton Executive Airpark
Calverton Executive Airpark is a public-owned private-use airport located three miles west of the central business district of the Calverton hamlet, in the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York, United States...
in Calverton, New York
Calverton, New York
Calverton is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,704 at the 2000 census.The community is on the border of the Town of Riverhead and the Town of Brookhaven.-History:...
, for storage, examination, and reconstruction.
Explosive residues
As wreckage was recovered preliminary testing indicated the presence of explosive residue on three samples of material from three separate locations of the recovered airplane wreckage (described by the FBI as a piece of canvas-like material and two pieces of a floor panel). These samples were submitted to the FBI's laboratory in Washington, D.C., which determined that one sample contained traces of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDXRDX
RDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...
), another nitroglycerin, and the third a combination of RDX and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN
PETN
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate , also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite , is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.PETN is most well known as an explosive...
); these findings received much media attention at the time. While investigators from the FBI viewed these positive tests as strong indications of a criminal act, the NTSB was more cautious, noting the lack of any patterns on the recovered wreckage characteristic of an explosion.
Meanwhile TWA chief 747 pilot Robert Terrell Stacey, who was participating in the official investigation as a TWA representative, became convinced that a reddish-brown substance observed on the backs of recovered passenger seats was suspicious, and possibly indicative of explosive residue or rocket fuel. Working with journalist James Sanders, and Sander's wife Elizabeth, a TWA flight attendant, he removed items from where the wreckage reconstruction was taking place, specifically the samples of seat fabric as well as documents related to the investigation. Later, with the information provided by Sanders, the Riverside Press-Enterprise published a series of articles alleging that the substance was in fact consistent with unexpended rocket fuel from a missile that struck TWA 800.
On December 5, 1997, federal prosecutors charged Sanders, Stacey and his wife with theft of government property. The Sanders' defense attorney Bruce Maffeo described the prosecution as "extremely vindictive" and insisted that the couple had a First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
right to take the sample and crash-related documents to expose a cover-up. In April 1999, both Sanders were convicted of stealing evidence from civil aircraft wreckage, and were sentenced to probation (Stacey had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the case previously). James Sanders later authored a book, The Downing of TWA Flight 800, in which he proposed that TWA 800 had been downed by a missile, and that a government cover-up had taken place so as to not panic the public.
Ultimately the NTSB was unable to determine the exact source of explosive residues found on the wreckage (some of the possibilities considered were contamination from the aircraft's use in 1991 transporting troops during the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
or its use in a dog-training explosive detection exercise about one month before the accident), however the lack of any other corroborating evidence associated with a high-energy explosion led the NTSB to conclude that "the in-flight breakup of TWA flight 800 was not initiated by a bomb or missile strike. The NTSB also determined the locations and appearance of the substance found on the seatbacks was consistent with adhesive used in the construction of the seats, and additional laboratory testing by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
identified the substance as being consistent with those adhesives (results which Sanders disputed).
Radar data
Unidentified radar tracks
One of the first widely reported criticisms of the official investigation was by Pierre SalingerPierre Salinger
Pierre Emil George Salinger was a White House Press Secretary to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...
, who on November 7, 1996, held a press conference in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He stated he had proof that TWA 800 was shot down by friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
, and the incident was being covered up by the government. Salinger said "he was basing the claims on information he saw in a document given to him six weeks ago by someone in French Intelligence with close contacts to U.S. officials", but refused to name his source. CNN quickly found Salinger's document to be "a widely accessible e-mail letter that has been circulating for at least six weeks on the Internet's World Wide Web." Salinger's evidence was actually an e-mail from Richard Russell, a retired airline pilot.
Salinger's previous position as White House Press Secretary
White House Press Secretary
The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
, as well as long time correspondent for ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, initially gave credence to his statements, transforming them from "internet conspiracies" into the mainstream. However, under scrutiny, his allegations, and the reports issued with his collaborators, became the subject of much criticism in the media. Bob Francis, the vice chairman of the NTSB, was quoted as saying "He was an idiot, he didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible."
TWA 800 flightpath after explosion
Ray Lahr
Another proponent of the U.S. Navy shootdown theory and prominent critic of the zoom climbZoom climb
A zoom climb is a climb where the rate of climb is greater than the maximum for a sustained climb, as determined from the thrust of the aircraft's engines. During a zoom climb, the aircraft accelerates to a high air speed at an altitude at which it can operate in sustained level flight. The pilot...
scenario was H. Ray Lahr, a retired United Airlines pilot. Lahr, recipient of the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award by the Flight Safety Foundation in 1994, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division, on November 6, 2003, against the NTSB and CIA. Lahr sought documentation and data denied to him through previous FOIA requests that the NTSB and CIA used for their calculations of the zoom climb, which was used to produce the CIA animation. When asked for his reasons for seeking this documents, Lahr stated "I believe that I could show that the zoom climb never happened. If the zoom climb never happened then they've got to find out what the eyewitnesses saw and the only logical conclusion there is that they saw a missile."
On August 31, 2006, the District Court issued an initial ruling that the evidence submitted by Lahr as justification for his FOIA lawsuit was "sufficient for the plaintiff to proceed based on his claim that the government acted improperly," and that Lahr should be granted access to some, but not all, of the documents he was seeking, based on the FOIA statutes and case law. In a further ruling on October 4, 2006, the court finalized the list of documents that the NTSB and CIA must provide to Lahr (again granting some, but not all, of his FOIA requests). While the court reaffirmed its previous ruling that Lahr had provided proof "sufficient to suggest that the government acted improperly", it also clarified that this "conclusion is based on a characterization of the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, but does not reflect or constitute any finding by the court."
Upon being handed this verdict by the court, the agencies involved claimed the documents had been "lost" and could not be located, according to the plaintiff.
Electromagnetic interference
On April 9, 1998, Elaine Scarry'sElaine Scarry
Elaine Scarry , a professor of English and American Literature and Language, is the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University...
article in The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
, titled "The Fall of TWA 800:
The Possibility of Electromagnetic Interference", was published. Scarry, a professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, proposed that electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
, also referred to as "High Intensity Radiated Fields" (HIRF), could have been the cause of the TWA 800 crash, specifically energy emitted from a U.S. military craft. Later that year, The New York Review of Books published a series of letters between Scarry and NTSB Chairman James Hall discussing the possibility of HIRF being causal to the accident, and what steps the NTSB was taking in its investigation to determine if it was a factor.
After the adoption of the Final Report, Scarry published another article in the New York Review of Books titled "TWA 800 and Electromagnetic Interference: Work Already Completed and Work that Still Needs to be Done". While praising the initial research done by the NTSB into HIRFs, she also stated that much more additional research was needed. Scarry criticized what she felt was a bias in the investigation to the "meticulous" detailing of events inside the airplane, while not fully exploring the electromagnetic environment outside the airplane. Scarry focused on a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...
close to TWA 800 as being a possible source of electromagnetic interference and cause of the CWT explosion on TWA 800.
Scarry has since written about Swissair 111 and Egypt Air 990 crashes in connection with electromagnetic radiation.
IAMAW
As an invited party to the NTSB investigation, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace WorkersInternational Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries.-Formation and early history:...
(IAMAW) submitted a report into the public docket. In this report the IAMAW disputed the NTSB's sequencing study, and proposed a breakup sequence that started on the lower left side of the airplane, when a high-pressure event "unzipped" the fuselage. The IAMAW wrote that "a major event may have occurred on the left side of the aircraft. It could have contributed to or been the cause of the destruction of Flight 800." and that "the CWT exploded, but as a result of the airplane's breakup, and was not the initial event."
The IAMAW criticized the accuracy of the "Tag database" used to document the recovered wreckage and the reliability of the witness statements. The IAMAW strongly criticized the FBI's conduct during the investigation, including the undocumented removal by FBI agents of wreckage from the hangar where it was stored. However, they also commended the NTSB staff, management and board members for their cooperation during the investigation, and stated that "The fact the media has put and other groups continue to bring pressure on the board, we find it very comforting that the focus was not changed due to these forces." They concluded that "The causes and circumstances that contributed directly to the accident are unknown."
William Donaldson
William S. DonaldsonWilliam S. Donaldson
Cmdr. William S. Donaldson III was a United States Navy pilot with more than 24 years of experience in nearly all phases of naval aviation and Vietnam War veteran...
, a retired Naval officer, formed the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals (ARAP) to investigate the TWA 800 crash. He authored the "Interim Report on the Crash of TWA Flight 800 and the Actions of the NTSB and the FBI" (The Donaldson Report
The Donaldson Report
The Donaldson Report was the result of an independent investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. The report was prepared by retired United States Navy Commander William S...
), which was released on July 17, 1998, two years before the NTSB's Final Report. In it, Donaldson stated that TWA 800 was struck by two missiles, fired from the water, most likely as a terrorist attack, and subsequently the FBI and NTSB conspired to cover-up this fact due to political pressure.
Donaldson disputed the CWT fuel/air vapor explosion scenario, stating that "In the history of aviation, there has never been an in-flight explosion in any Boeing airliner of a Jet-A Kerosene fuel vapor/air mixture in any tank, caused by mechanical failure." Eyewitness, debris field, metallurgical, and victim injury evidence were all cited by Donaldson proof of the missile-attack scenario. Donaldson acknowledged James Sander's theory of an accidental shootdown, and did not rule out U.S. Navy involvement; however, he viewed circumstantial evidence of a terrorist attack "more compelling."
Much of the report dealt with Donaldson's assertions of a conspired cover-up by the FBI and NTSB, in co-operation with the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. Donaldson believed that the Clinton Administration wanted to hide the actual cause of the crash for political reasons, specifically the upcoming presidential elections
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
. Donaldson concluded his report with the request that Congress should hold Congressional hearings into the crash and/or request that the Justice Department appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate (neither of which happened).
Donaldson received support and funding from the advocacy group Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media
Accuracy In Media is an American, non-profit news media watchdog founded in 1969 by economist Reed Irvine. AIM describes itself as "a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that...
, who promoted his views. He died in 2001; the ARAP website is still active.
Peter Lance
In his book Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror, Peter LancePeter Lance
Peter Lance is an American journalist who is a multiple Emmy Award winner.-9/11:Peter Lance is the author of 1000 Years for Revenge which is a broad survey of Al-Qaida operations in the US prior to 9/11 and Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror...
wrote that TWA 800 was blown up by a bomb intended to disrupt the trial of terrorist Ramzi Yousef
Ramzi Yousef
Ramzi Yousef was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a co-conspirator in the Bojinka plot. In 1995, he was arrested at a guest house in Islamabad, by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and United States Diplomatic Security Service, then extradited to the...
, the nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....
and planner of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
. Using official FBI 302s (informant documents), Lance asserts that Ramzi Yousef orchestrated the attack from prison in an effort to get a mistrial for master-minding the Bojinka plot. Lance claimed that the FBI had prior knowledge of this plot from a prison informant, but did not act on it. Lance cites similarities to Operation Bojinka, a prior plot developed by Yousef and Mohammed in which a very small (and thus more easily carried on board) "blasting cap" device could theoretically be used to ignite the plane's fuel tank. Backing the theory is the fact that the FBI found residues of RDX, the same explosive that would have been used in a bomb like this. The occurrence of a similar incident (i.e. the explosion of TWA 800) while Yousef was safely in custody could have been used to justify a mistrial. However, it was later assumed that the RDX residue came from a K-9 unit training exercise for a bomb sniffing dog in which RDX was placed within the plane for the dog to sniff out. This exercise occurred at St. Louis airport about 1 month before the explosion of TWA 800's center wing fuel tank. The tail number of the plane which the training exercise took place was apparently not recorded, it was only noted that it took place on a "wide-body" aircraft, where three planes matching that description passed through the airport that day.