TWA Flight 800 conspiracy theories are alternative explanations of the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA 800) in 1996. The NTSB found that the probable cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800 was an explosion of flammable fuel/air vapors in a fuel tank, most likely from a short circuit. Conspiracy theories claim that the crash was due to a U.S. Navy missile test gone awry, a terrorist missile strike, or an on-board bomb. In 2013, a documentary alleging that the investigation into the crash was a cover-up made news headlines with statements from six members of the original investigation team, now retired, who also filed a petition to reopen the probe.
Background
TWA 800, a Boeing 747-131, was a scheduled international passenger flight from New York City to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. 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 then 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 from 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.
Search and recovery Pieces of the airplane wreckage were discovered floating on and beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean about eight 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 miles wide. In one of the largest diver-assisted salvage operations ever conducted, over 95 percent 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 facility in Calverton, New York, for storage, examination, and reconstruction.
Aspects of conspiracy theories Explosives residue As wreckage was recovered, preliminary testing indicated the presence of explosives residue on three samples of material from three separate locations of the recovered airplane wreckage (described by the FBI as consisting of one piece of canvas-like material and two pieces of a floor panel). These samples were submitted to the FBI's laboratory in Washington DC, which determined that the first sample contained traces of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), the second has traces of nitroglycerin, and the third had a combination of RDX and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). These findings received widespread 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.
Ultimately, the NTSB was unable to determine the exact source of explosive residues found on the samples of wreckage. The strongest possibilities considered were contamination from the aircraft's use in 1991 transporting troops during the Gulf War, or its use in a training exercise for canine explosive detection 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".
Meanwhile, TWA's lead 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 indicated explosive residue or rocket fuel. Stacey began collaborating with a colleague, TWA flight attendant Elizabeth Sanders, and her husband James Sanders, a journalist, to prove this hypothesis. Stacey removed items from the wreckage reconstruction site, particularly samples of seat fabric and documents related to the investigation. CNN: "Couple arraigned on TWA evidence theft" December 9, 1997 In 1997, James Sanders published a book, The Downing of TWA Flight 800, in which he proposed that a missile had destroyed TWA 800 and that the government had covered up the missile in order to avoid public panic. Subsequently, and using information provided by James Sanders, the Riverside Press-Enterprise published a series of articles alleging that the reddish-brown substance was consistent with unexpended rocket fuel from the missile which had struck TWA 800. Riverside Press-Enterprise News Archive for July 17, 1998
The NTSB determined the locations and appearance of the reddish-brown substance found on the seat samples was consistent with an adhesive used in the construction of the seats, a finding confirmed by additional laboratory testing at NASA, yet James Sanders disputed these results.
On December 5, 1997, federal prosecutors charged James Sanders, Elizabeth Sanders, and Robert Stacey with theft of government property. CNN: "Pilot and author charged with stealing TWA 800 wreckage" December 5, 1997 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 samples and crash-related documents in order to expose the cover-up. In April 1999, both were convicted of stealing evidence from civil aircraft wreckage, and were sentenced to probation; meanwhile, Stacey had plead guilty to a misdemeanor in the case. In 1999, James Sanders authored a second book, Altered Evidence.
Radar data
Unidentified radar tracks One of the earliest, and most widely-reported, criticisms of the official investigation came from President Kennedy's White House Press Secretary and former Senator for California, Pierre Salinger. On November 7, 1996, he held a press conference in Cannes, France, wherein he claimed to have proof both that TWA 800 was shot down by friendly fire and that the government was covering this up. CNN: "Federal agencies deny TWA Flight 800 shot down by missile" November 8, 1996 Salinger was quoted saying that "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 was refusing to name his source. CNN quickly found Salinger's proof was merely "a widely accessible e-mail letter that has been circulating for at least six weeks on the Internet's World Wide Web." Richard Russell, a retired airline pilot, had written the email. CNN: "'Pierre Salinger Syndrome' and the TWA 800 conspiracies" July 17, 2006
Salinger's statements gained attention and credence partly due to his prior position as the White House Press Secretary for President Kennedy, and partly due to his extensive work as a correspondent for ABC News - particularly his coverage of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 - so that his reputation and authority in American media circles transferred his "internet conspiracies" into the mainstream news. However, his allegations and the 'reports' he issued with his collaborators, quickly became the subject of much scrutiny and overt criticism in the news media. CNN: "Salinger offers new 'evidence' in Flight 800 missile theory" March 12, 1997 Time Magazine: "The Worst Performance of 1996" December 23, 1996 NTSB's Vice Chairman Bob Francis was quoted as saying, "He was an idiot, he didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible." Supporters of Salinger's view included a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Thomas Moorer, who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times - then the country's largest newspaper - demanding a new Congressional hearing.
TWA 800 flightpath after explosion
Ray Lahr Another proponent of the "friendly fire" (U.S. Navy shoot‐down) theory - and prominent critic of the "zoom climb scenario" - was H. Ray Lahr, a retired United Airlines pilot. Lahr had received the 1994 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award from the Flight Safety Foundation,Flight Safety Foundation: The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award which lent greater authority and credence to his critiques for many years after the TWA 800 incident.
Ultimately, on November 6, 2003, Lahr filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit in federal court seeking documentation and data from both the NTSB and the CIA, which agencies had denied his previous FOIA requests. Freedom of Information Advocacy Coalition, Inc. Lahr wanted the agencies to release their original numbers and methods used to calculate of the zoom climb and, subsequently, used to produce the CIA's incident animation. Asked for his rationale in seeking this information, Lahr replied, "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." ABC 7 Eyewitness News: "Major court ruling in TWA Flight 800 case"
On August 31, 2006, the Court issued an initial ruling that Lahr's evidence justifying for his FOIA lawsuit was "sufficient for the Plaintiff to proceed based on his claim that the government acted improperly," United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. CV 03-8023 AHM (RZx) and that Lahr be granted access to some - but not all - of the documents he sought, citing contemporary statutes and precedenta. In a further ruling issued on October 4, 2006, the Court finalized the list of documents which the NTSB and CIA must provide to Lahr - again granting some, but not all, of his FOIA requests. United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. CV 03-8023 AHM (AJWx) While the Court reaffirmed its initial ruling on Lahr's proof "sufficient to suggest that the government acted improperly", it also clarified; writing that its "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, Lahr asserted that the NTSB and the CIA each claimed that their documents were irretrievably "lost".
Bolide strike American amateur geologist Michael Davis proposed in 1997 that a bolide exploded near the airplane. (A bolide is a large meteoroid, explosively torn apart by friction with Earth's atmosphere.)
Davis proposed that the mysterious streak observed just before the incident was the meteoroid's entry path, moments before it exploded. At least one of the resulting bolide's pieces could have penetrated the fuselage and ripped through the almost-empty central wing tank, destroying the wing's structural integrity before exiting the fuselage. "
Although raising an interesting possibility, other scientists dismissed this theory due to the extremely low probability of a bolide's intersecting the aircraft's flight path at precisely the required moment.Air & Space/Smithsonian, October/November 1997, p. 16 "Was It a Cosmic Catastrophe?"
On July 10, 1997, NTSB Chairman James Hall testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Aviation that the bolide hypothesis was not plausible, stating: