Current and former federal officials who played key roles in the investigation of one of the nation’s worst aviation disasters said Tuesday they stand by their conclusion that the crash of TWA flight 800 was caused by an accidental fuel tank explosion, and not a bomb or missile.
The officials spoke to reporters at a briefing on the National Transportation Safety Board’s four-year investigation following the explosion and crash of the Boeing 747 off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board. The board organized the briefing in response to a new documentary film set to air this month on the 17th anniversary of the tragedy that says new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet.
The officials who spoke at the briefing dismissed allegations of a cover-up, saying that the evidence points strongly to the board’s conclusion that overheated gases in the plane’s near-empty fuel tank caused the tank to explode. The gases were most likely ignited by a spark from damaged wiring in a fuel measuring system.
Joseph Kolly, the current director of the board’s Office of Research and Engineering, was the chief fire and explosives investigator on the flight 800 investigation. He said he is “absolutely” certain the fuel tank was the cause.
“We went to the ‘nth’ degree, and then some,” he said, laying out the different facets of the investigation. In their search for clues, investigators tested shoulder-fired missiles to see if they would show up on radar and used another 747 to replicate the overheating of fuel tank vapors, among other tests.
“I am upset about bringing this back up, for the sake of the people who lost folks in the accident,” Kolly said. “It’s not good.”
Other former NTSB officials involved in the investigation who were not at the briefing have also defended its handling, describing it as one of the most extensive and exhaustive in the board’s history. The board issued a 400-page report on the accident, accompanied by more than 17,000 pages of supporting material.
But there have long been doubters. They include three former investigators — one from the NTSB, one from TWA and one from the Air Line Pilots Association — who appear in the film.
(AP)
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4 Responses
This is to be expected. Why were none of the over 200 people who testified to seeing a missile ever called to testify? The flight pattern that the investigation team displayed is patently ridiculous. There was no change to aircraft design due to their findings.
The true cause of the disaster which was probably a Muslim based missile was buried so as not to force a war with them. The Clintons were desperate to maintain the peace and buried it like they buried the cause of the first World Trade Center bombing.
tzoorba: nonsense!
the outcome of this investigation was SFAR-88 which is one of the most far reaching design changes and mandatory reworks ever to come out of the FAA. SFAR-88 mandated rewiring of all wire bundles that enter any fuel tank, repositioning of all high voltage electrically driven systems (eg fuel pumps) outside of the tanks, rerouting all high voltage wires away from low voltage wires throughout the plane, and brought in to effect new rules with regards to repairs to electrical systems and wires.
sfar-88 caused major upheaval in the aviation world but it will prevent something like this happening again.
in addition, the damage to the fuselage is entirely consistant with a fuel-air explosion in the centre wrong fuel tank. the damage to bulkheads is clearly visable as impact damage caused by progressive failure due to the shock wave of the explosion.
the only explosive residue found was known to have come from a bomb sniffing dog trial in the weeks before and some initially unidentified residue was found to have come from glue used on seat cussion covers which was wrongly reported to be from explosives.
this was the most extensive investigations ever conducted by the NSTB and the outcomes are well known and can’t be ignored in the aviation world.
(excuse typos in previous post please)
thabo,
Why weren’t those who claimed to have seen a missile called to testify? How come the design flaw didn’t cause this problem in thousands of flights before flight 800? Why did they fictionalize a flight pattern that any expert on flight would see was ridiculous? How come it wasn’t public that all major aircraft manufacturers would have to redesign their aircraft? Why are these many people who were involved in the original investigation not convinced?
tzoorba:
witnesses were called to testify and they did. their evidence was collected and reviewed. all the physical evidence shows an internal explosion in the center fuel tank and not a missile strike.
the design flaw is one that may allow high voltage current to skip over into low voltage wiring. this has happened many times in the past but in order to get a fuel tank explosion you need to have the short circuit in the correct place and you need to have conditions right in the fuel tank for an explosion.
jet a1 fuel is not highly volitile and does not burn easily but if there is sufficient heat coming from aircon packs to heat the fuel beyond its flash point and fill the tank with vapor you have a greater chance of a spark in the right place causing an explosion.
sfar-88 is well known in the aviation industry. if you have not heard of it that does not mean it does not exist.
airline manufacturers are also now required to install nitrogen generating systems for fuel tanks on all new aircraft and retrofits will be required soon on existing a/c.
this will prevent build up of vapor in fuel tanks. its a major headache for the industry but another outcome of twa800.
the flight path is not nonsense at all. engines continue to provide power for a while even if they are ripped off the wing. the elal 747 crash in amsterdam was caused by an engine that fell off the wing and because it kept producing power it flew up and over the wing instead of falling down and away. this caused damage to the next engine over and exacerbated the situation leading to the fatal crash.
why are people not convinced? no idea. why do highly educated people think there are aliens watching our every move? why do people not believe any govt report into anything anymore?