Missile theory is resurfacing in 1996 jetliner crash that killed 230 National News from AP
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In this Aug. 7, 1996, photo, authorities retrieve the cockpit of TWA Flight 800. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the crash was the result of a fuel-tank explosion caused by short-circuited wiring, but former investigators say that new evidence points to a missile.
By Frank Eltman
MINEOLA, N.Y.  -  Former investigators are pushing to reopen the probe into the 1996 crash of TWA
Flight 800 off the coast of New York, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory
that a missile strike might have downed the jumbo jet.
The New York-to-Paris flight crashed on July 17, 1996, just minutes after the jetliner took off
from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 230 people aboard.
The effort to reopen the probe is being made in tandem with the release next month of a
documentary that features the testimony of former investigators who raise doubts about the National
Transportation Safety Board's conclusion that the crash was caused by a center fuel-tank explosion,
probably caused by a spark from a short-circuit in the wiring.
"We don't know who fired the missile," said Jim Speer, an accident investigator for the Air Line
Pilots Association, one of those seeking a new review of the probe. "But we have a lot more
confidence that it was a missile."
In a petition filed yesterday seeking to reopen the probe, the former investigators say they
have "reviewed the FAA radar evidence along with new evidence not available to the NTSB during the
official investigation and contend that the NTSB's probable cause determination is erroneous and
should be reconsidered and modified accordingly."
Those calling for a review of the investigation include former NTSB accident investigator Hank
Hughes and Bob Young, a former senior accident investigator for now-defunct TWA. Tom Stalcup, a
physicist and co-founder of a group called Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization, also
questions the NTSB's findings and is featured prominently in the documentary, which is slated to
air on the 17th anniversary of the crash next month.
The NTSB issued a statement saying it was aware of the upcoming documentary.
"All petitions for reconsideration are thoroughly reviewed, and a determination is usually made
within about 60 days," spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. She noted that the TWA Flight 800
investigation lasted four years.
"Investigators took great care reviewing, documenting and analyzing facts and data, and held a
five-day hearing to gather additional facts before determining the probable cause," Nantel
Robert Francis, a former vice chairman of the NTSB who headed the investigation, declined to
The former investigators calling for a new probe say new evidence that a missile might have
taken down the jet includes analysis of radar of the jetliner.
Speculation of a missile strike began almost immediately after the crash. Theories that an
errant missile might have been fired from a U.S. military vessel were widely rebutted, but
conjecture about a shoulder-fired missile launched by terrorists in a small boat has never gone
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