TWA Flight 800 left John F. Kennedy
International Airport on July 17, 1996 at 8:19pm and was carrying 212
passengers and 17 crew members en route to Paris. About 10 minutes
into flight, TWA Flight 800 fell off of radar screens. After many
months of study by the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board
still have no explanation of exactly what happened.
On March 10, 1997, the Riverside county California newspaper, The Press-Enterprise published a story about new evidence on the TWA Flight 800. The Press-Enterprise is a local newspaper severing the "Inland Empire" region of southern California, this is their first, non-local national story.
On March 10, 1997 National syndicated radio talk show host, Peter Weissbach (heard on KOGO AM 600 in southern California, 3pm-6pm) held an exclusive interview with the managing editor of the Press-Enterprise, about the story and the new information it uncovered.
On March 11, 1997, Peter Weissbach held an exclusive interview with the primary source for the Press-Enterprise story, retired Police officer, James Sanders. Mr. Sanders acquired a small strip of material covering one of the passenger seats. A red rubber powder was apparent. In January, he took one sample of the residue from seats in rows 17-19 to West Coast Analytical Service, Inc., in Santa Fe Springs. A copy of the one-page report, dated Jan. 31. According to the test, the material included:
Magnesium 18% Silicon 15% Calcium 12% Zinc 3.6% Iron 3.1% Aluminum 2.8% Lead 2.4% Titanium 1.7% Antimony 0.53% Nickel 0.38% Manganese 0.21% Boron 0.081% Copper 0.053% Silver 0.032 Chromium 0.032%
Missile propellant has three basic components, essentially unchanged the last decade except for minor "proprietary" adjustments. In Sanders' sample, he believes the magnesium is ocean salt, while silicon, mixed with a small amount of copper, is the essential ingredient in synthetic rubber. The rubber, in liquid form, is the base into which the fuel is mixed before being poured into a container where it hardens into solid fuel. The rubber bonds the material together so it doesn't fragment, If a solid motor cracks, you have a disaster because it burns too fast and blows up. If dropped, it has to withstand breaking. Aluminum powder is the preferred fuel and calcium is mixed with a perchlorate to provide the pyrotechnic effect. Silicon, mixed with a small amount of copper, is the essential ingredient for synthetic rubber which, in liquid form, is the base into which aluminum powder, calcium and a substance that provides oxygen are mixed, then poured into a container where it hardens into solid fuel, waiting for use. The Associated Press has quoted unnamed sources in the FBI saying the red compound is consistent with the adhesive used in the backing of the seats. Sanders claims that the sample is from the front part of the seat.
The interviews are reproduced below. Please bookmark this section for updates and interviews covering more details.
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Update:
The NTSB has failed in attempts to get the agency to rule out the possibility that Flight 800 was shot down.
By David E. Hendrix
The Press-Enterprise
The Federal Aviation Administration has rejected a plea by the National Transportation Safety Board to reverse its radar analysis that a missile may have hit TWA Flight 800 and caused the July 17 crash that killed all 230 aboard.
Although subsequent FAA reviews said chances of a missile strike appeared remote, the agency's chief accident investigator said its equipment and staff could not rule the possibility in or out, recently released documents say.
The NTSB had asked the FAA to renounce its early analysis, in part to contend with potential public or media inquiries about the findings.
The radar analysis and some of the ripples it created are discussed in an exchange of letters between the NTSB, the crash's lead investigating agency, and the FAA, responsible for monitoring and controlling U.S. air space.
More than 10 months after the crash of the jet NTSB and FBI officials say they still do not know what caused the nation's second-most-deadly civilian air disaster. A possible missile strike, a bomb or mechanical failure remain the official options but FBI Director Louis Freeh on May 4 said his staff was leaning toward "catastrophic mechanical failure" and ready to close the criminal investigation, leaving the entire probe to the NTSB.
But right after the disaster, the FAA reported that its radar "showed primary radar hits that indicated the track of a high speed target that approached and merged with TWA 800." An FAA staff member advised the NTSB the morning after the crash that a missile may have struck the jetliner.
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Government Cover-Up Exposed
The Book the FBI Doesn't Want PublishedREAD CHAPTER 1 Zebra Books is rushing into print THE DOWNING OF TWA FLIGHT 800 by James Sanders, an investigative journalist and former police officer. Sanders, who has thoroughly and independently researched the case, now presents extensive supporting evidence that TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a U.S. Navy missile that killed 230 people on July 17, 1996. Evidence indicates that top government officials knew the truth just a few hours later, and immediately ordered a campaign of disinformation. The book which contains 16 pages of photographs will be available in mid-April.
Among the evidence:
- Proof of the straight line pattern of reddish-orange residue left in the missile's wake on the passenger seats
- The structural damage to the plane: a bullet-like entrance and exit "wound"
- The original FAA radar report indicating an unidentified object approaching the plane that the FBI tried to suppress
- 34 independent eye-witnesses to the "flare in the sky"
- Photographic proof of the missile
- Confirmation of the Navy's target/missile exercises in the restricted area where flight 800 went down
Who launced the missile? Who is behind the cover-up? How far does it extend?
Now, Saunders, who specializes in crash-scene investigation exposes the shocking truth behind the nation's worst air disaster--and what the Government has been doing to keep it hidden from the American public. Saunders uses original, first hand scientific evidence, actual U.S. government documents and inside sources.
FBI Probes TWA Book Publisher
Friday, March 28, 1997 6:09 pm EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- The publisher of a forthcoming book that contends TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a Navy missile said Friday that he has been ordered to give the FBI documents relating to the book.
Paul Dinas, publisher of ``The Downing of TWA Flight 800'' by James Sanders, said he would comply with the subpoena served Thursday, but added he was ``concerned about anything that impacts on the book.''
Dinas' Kensington Publishing Corp. will release ``The Downing of TWA Flight 800,'' on April 7, the same day he is ordered to turn over documents. Sanders, a retired police officer and free-lance author, said earlier this month that he had a piece of seat fabric from the plane that showed traces of missile fuel. He gave the swatch to CBS News, which last week sent it back to crash investigators.
At the time, the FBI said it was investigating the possible theft of documents and other evidence from the hangar in Calverton, N.Y., where wreckage of the jumbo jet is being reassembled and studied.
Investigators still don't know what brought down the Paris-bound airliner July 17, killing all 230 people aboard. But the FBI, National Transportation Safety Board and Pentagon have flatly ruled out friendly fire.
Neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's Office would comment on whether or why Dinas was being subpoenaed. Sanders, of Williamsburg, Va., did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Dinas accused the government of ``trying to use all the legal methods to discredit the missile theory and keep it from getting into the public eye.''
A copy of the subpoena provided by Dinas asks him to turn over all documents relating to Sanders' book, including contracts, correspondence and payment records.
© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press
CBS Turns Over TWA 800 Fabric
By RICHARD PYLE , Associated Press Writer, Wednesday, March 19, 1997 10:53 pm EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS said Wednesday that it has turned over to investigators a piece of seat fabric that a free-lance writer claims holds proof that TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a Navy missile.The FBI wanted the fabric back because they are investigating whether evidence from the crash has been stolen from the hangar in Calverton, L.I., where pieces of the plane are being reassembled.
James Sanders, an advocate of the friendly fire theory that government officials say has no basis in fact, said he gave CBS the fabric, which he claims to have gotten from someone ``inside the investigation.''
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