TWA Flight 800 crash not due to gas tank explosion, former investigators say
By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 5 hrs ago

The reconstruction of TWA Flight 800's fuselage. (Daniel Brooks/Epix)
The producers of an upcoming documentary on TWA Flight 800—which exploded and crashed into the waters off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board—claim to have proof that a missile caused the Paris-bound flight to crash. And six former investigators who took part in the film say there was a cover-up and want the case reopened.
"There was a lack of coordination and willful denial of information," Hank Hughes, a senior accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said on Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. "There were 755 witnesses. At no time was information provided by the witnesses shared by the FBI."
Jim Speer, an accident investigator at the time of the crash for the Airline Pilots Association, who sifted through the recovered wreckage in a hangar, said he discovered holes consistent with those that would be formed by a high-energy blast in the right wing. He requested it be tested for explosives. When the test came back positive, he said, he was "physically removed" from a room by two CIA agents.
The investigators would not speculate on the reasons for the alleged coverup or who would have fired the missile that they believe took down the plane.
After a four-year investigation, the NTSB concluded the plane was destroyed by a center fuel tank explosion likely caused by a spark from faulty wiring. But according to Tom Stalcup, a co-producer of the documentary, the film presents new "radar and forensic evidence proving that one or more ordnance explosions outside the aircraft caused the crash." The film will premiere on EPIX on July 17, the 17th anniversary of the disaster.
"These investigators were not allowed to speak to the public or refute any comments made by their superiors and/or NTSB and FBI officials about their work at the time of the official investigation," a news release announcing the documentary said. "They waited until after retirement to reveal how the official conclusion by the (NTSB) was falsified and lay out their case."
The investigators filed a petition with the NTSB on Wednesday calling for a new probe. The NTSB had said it would review any petition related to the 1996 crash, which touched off one of the most complex air disaster investigations in U.S. history.
The CIA and FBI conducted a parallel investigation to determine if a bomb or missile had brought down the plane.
Dozens of eyewitnesses in the Long Island area "recalled seeing something resembling a flare or firework ascend and culminate in an explosion," the CIA said in a 2008 report. "Had the crash been the result of state-sponsored terrorism, it would have been considered an act of war." Also from the report:
The CIA responded to the FBI’s request within 24 hours of the crash. This support consisted primarily of help from the Counterterrorist Center in the Directorate of Operations and from a small group of analysts in the Office of Weapons, Technology and Proliferation in the Directorate of Intelligence.
But after an eight-month investigation, the CIA "concluded with confidence and full substantiation that the eyewitnesses had not seen a missile."
The CIA's deputy director of intelligence wrote in a 1997 memo,"Our analysis demonstrates that the eyewitness sightings of greatest concern to us—the ones originally interpreted to be of a possible missile attack—took place after the first of several explosions aboard the aircraft."
"We went back and interviewed these people and found them to be quite credible," Hughes said on Wednesday.
He added: "We have no hidden agenda here—we just want the truth."

Figured I'd post this here, because I'd want to see what playa thought about this one. I generally don't buy these conspiracy theories, but this one is a little more compelling.

Wasn't that the one shot down by accident by US navy doing weapons drills?

playa2 wrote:Solace, don't make excuse for those who choose to remain in the dark.

Wasn't that the one shot down by accident by US navy doing weapons drills?

What excuse? I didn't make an argument; just was interested in your opinion, since you seem to follow these.

So you're saying it was shot down by accident by the US Navy? I was interested in what the missile was. Seems unlikely to be accidental, though, no?

Nalod wrote:

Solace wrote:

playa2 wrote:Solace, don't make excuse for those who choose to remain in the dark.

Wasn't that the one shot down by accident by US navy doing weapons drills?

What excuse? I didn't make an argument; just was interested in your opinion, since you seem to follow these.

So you're saying it was shot down by accident by the US Navy? I was interested in what the missile was. Seems unlikely to be accidental, though, no?

Not quite sure Navy was doing missle testing off Long Island to the effect a commercial flight would fall victim.

If it was, and the Navy was liable then the cover up was financial.

I recall thinking it was someone in a boat and Gov't did not want to cause a Terror Panic and stop commercial traffice which would hurt the economy (money) but most "conspiracies" seemingly are labled as acts to install fear where it does not exist to "trick" the people into thinking government will keep you safe and prepare you for the "Takeover" thats been planned for the last 1000 years but only now disclosed thanks to the internet.

Does the film address the reasons why such an act took place?

I don't think so, I think they don't know the reasons either.

Solace wrote:

playa2 wrote:Solace, don't make excuse for those who choose to remain in the dark.

Wasn't that the one shot down by accident by US navy doing weapons drills?

What excuse? I didn't make an argument; just was interested in your opinion, since you seem to follow these.

So you're saying it was shot down by accident by the US Navy? I was interested in what the missile was. Seems unlikely to be accidental, though, no?

Nalod wrote:Ok, who made the missle, how was it launched and who did it?

Do some research, stop asking and start looking into it get proactive get off the fence. Well I shouldn't be so hard on you now you have come around a bit.

http://www.100megspop3.com/bark/X_Part_IV_Evidence_Review.pdf

I dare you to just do a small research on wars the united states were in and how they really were started. We have sic people who think it's ok to knock off our own citizens for a so called greater cause called "GREED". Men's hearts are evil and what you or I wouldn't do they would.

Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor , Operation North woods, 911, Colorado theater , Sandy Hook, Shooting at Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin.
Do some research on these and find out what really happened.

playa2 wrote:Our government, regardless of which party holds is in office, has allowed attacks on its military and innocents with a greater frequency and larger body count, especially through the 20th century, in order to stoke the desire for war among its citizenry. The goal is less about defeating evil empires than it is about scoring major profits for industrialists and financiers.

no, that's stupid,

it's about scoring profits and peace for the world,

it's about securing markets so that we can all focus on the business of making money instead of having some idealistic blood thirst so that you will look cool, because you're too afraid of success,

IronWillGiroud wrote:

playa2 wrote:Our government, regardless of which party holds is in office, has allowed attacks on its military and innocents with a greater frequency and larger body count, especially through the 20th century, in order to stoke the desire for war among its citizenry. The goal is less about defeating evil empires than it is about scoring major profits for industrialists and financiers.

no, that's stupid,

it's about scoring profits and peace for the world,

it's about securing markets so that we can all focus on the business of making money instead of having some idealistic blood thirst so that you will look cool, because you're too afraid of success,

You kind of on the right track.

The wars we have been involved, especially WW2 was enevitable. Pearl Harbor was about knocking out our fleet to prevent furhter embargo activities on Japan a the time. Europe was about 3 three things, England losing and the "lend lease" program bankcrupting, If wins the Axis powers as an economic union closes us out, and the very least the moral obligation to a small extent.

While a post WW2 Europe looks good with the Soviet empire knock down, the socialistic dictator Hitler kills our economy which was about dead anyway. It was totally a good intellectual argument to question the validity of capitalism as it was failing. Isolated it would have. Was it a matter of time before war came to our shores? If the Nazi's secure europe quickly and take the Soviet empire it was a matter of time. with Nuclear bombs and advanced weapons we might not have sustained.

while open markets might sound superficial the lack of them would have created quite a misery and perhaps civil discord that could have been ugly.

Kennedy and vietnam is about the post WW2 economy and the industrial military complex which dominated our economy. Kennedy was on the right track but was he too premature in pulling away from that theme? Was the economy (jobs) ready for a rapid peacetime surge?
Was Kennedy brain rotting from STD's and pain killers which left him weak leading to the messy confrontation with Russia over Cuba? Was he really fit to be president?

Im not saying he deserved to have his head blown off or that Vietnam was a good idea but in the absence of those events one has to ponder the moment, the problem, and what if things continued as they were?

Im not sure lopping in Sandy Hook and some of the others into this mode of Government control is really accurate. Seems when conspiracy theorist believes on then all are in the same vein.

Not every question that goes unanswered is a gov't plot.

I think the TWA flight was not because the fear in would have invoked would have slowed air travel and thats a big damper on our economy!

Healthy economies make people lots of money, not concentration camps. I do get that "fear" keeps people in line but to think that for hundreds of years "they" are conspiring is a bit out of line. Why would generations of greedy self serving "they" be so interested in a future domination and those very selfish not get to enjoy the fruits of such a conquest?

I also think the average person is way to ignorant to digest the big picture of why we must be in the middle east but the theme of "open markets" is one that makes sense and keeps many economies going. Without it the price COULD be much higher in terms of death and destruction. Ask what happens if Nazis run over europe and our economy? What if Japan conquers China? You think without our involvement we eliminate pain and suffering and our country survives as we know it? Our economy was in shambles! I'd venture to say things don't look to good. Maybe our history is stained but maybe its the lessor of the evil?

Ponder that. while we are not as "Free" as we might think it could have been far worse. In desporate times we might have voted in a totalitarian leader who might have done far worse things than anything our gov't has ever done! Don't forget what life was like in the 30's, our system was failing!!!!

This is why I keep asking what is the end game and who gains? Playa, you don't go far enough and the "reasearch" you speak of is usually alternative websites that are basically interesting rants by imaginative writers. There might be some truths to SOME OF IT but not every unsanswered question is an evil plot.