The truth about what really happened to TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996 was hidden behind the National Transportation Safety Board’s findings that the disaster was caused by a fuel tank explosion. But why? Many speculated it was politically motivated because at the time then President Bill Clinton was running for reelection and with less than 4 months to go til election day – he didn’t want to incriminate the Federal government that his administration was in control of. However, even after his reelection, the truth of what happened to Flight 800 was kept secret.
James Sanders, the author of The Downing of TWA Flight 800, has spent the last 18 years investigating the event. He recently appeared on the Coast to Coast AM radio and announced that the flight was brought down accidentally by two missiles fired from a Navy vessel and/or submarine that were in the area to intercept a smaller plane involved in a plot to bring down a commercial flight. The terrorist attack was allegedly ordered by the architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef. Sanders said Yousef planned the event with calls to the Middle East and chose the date for the attack.
The former police officer and investigator has interviewed many of the witnesses to the shoot-down and other people who support his contention. Sanders said that one woman’s testimony is all that is needed to prove the terrorist attack on the 747 but what she saw was also supported by other witnesses. In FBI reports, the woman is known as Witness 73. She was on the beach on the south side of Long Island when the flight left John F. Kennedy airport about 8:30 p.m. on July 17.
She watched it climb to 13,000 feet and level off prematurely as it passed her flying from right to left of her eyesight. Sanders said at that time of night on that date, it is still light enough to see the colors on the planes. Out of the corner of her left eye, she saw a missile climb from the ocean level up to the right side of the plane and explode near the wing.
Nearby, two men on a drawbridge and another man in a small boat saw a missile rise from the sand line toward the plane. While the witness in the boat saw the missile rise from the sand line, the man on the bridge turned to see it pop from behind a roof line and zigzag upwards toward the plane. Other witnesses reported seeing three ascending missiles, some coming from the ocean, some from land.
Sanders said the CIA admitted that the descriptions the witnesses gave were that of a missile strike, but upon the FBI interviewing the man on the bridge his story changed – afterwards claiming he didn’t see what he previously stated.
According to Sanders the small plane suspected of nefarious, terror related activity was targeted by the Navy which had been alerted to its expected presence by the intelligence community, and that in taking out the small plane one of the missiles used also took out the 747.
Sanders said the Navy was in the area with ships and three submarines, some of which were equipped with Cooperative Engagement Capability, an automation of the fleet defense systems to track and engage a ballistic missile. He also said following the tragedy, the missile system was ripped out of one submarine, and it was unexpectedly not given the go ahead for combat. It was only recently signed off for combat, some 18 years later. One of the submarines in the area that night, the Wyoming, had its commissioning delayed and its captain and exec were both relieved of command.
More odd behavior by the Navy immediately followed the crash. The Navy sent its best deep salvage ships to the crash site, kicking out the New York City Police Department divers. The Navy reported it couldn’t find the plane’s black boxes yet several owners of private boats in the area heard the boxes pinging.
The following is one such FBI witness statement summary (with personal information redacted).
Evidence of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, censored reports and even false testimony before Congress was reported. Not one of the 200 witnesses to the event was allowed to testify at the public hearing.
Finally, in 2003, the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization, a group consisting of scientists, engineers, aviation professionals and former airline crash investigators – all dedicated to determining the truth about what happened to Flight 800 – announced it’s findings:
“Probable Cause: A surface-to-air missile, launched from the ocean off the coast of Long Island rose up and exploded at or near TWA Flight 800. The explosion of the near-empty center wing fuel tank was a secondary explosion, initiated by the explosion a missile warhead. The combined destructive power of the missile and the fuel tank explosion caused catastrophic structural failure of TWA Flight 800.”
(The captain of Eastwind Airlines 507 further describes to air traffic control what he saw both before and after the explosion)
Supporting Docs
Federal Bureau of Investigation Forensic Analysis
The above link leads to the FBI website where the 707 page analysis file resides. From that analysis the following lab assessment form indicates that of 18 swabs used to collect evidence following the fatal crash – 3 were positive for “explosive chemicals.”
Other supporting documentation
Lab Tests showing “nitrates” on CW504 – 7-29-98
Information on the Fuel Tank Theory
Information on Clinton’s Executive Order # 13039
Response from Navy about Executive Order # 13039 – 4-20-99
Stinger Shoulder-Launched Missile – 12-23-99
Stinger specifications – 12-20-99
Mistral Shoulder-Launched Missile – 5-31-99
National Conference on Presidential Powers & Executive Orders – July 14, 1999
Debris Field Database- Leaked to Outside Investigators 9-2-99
Debris Field Database Plot by ARAP 9-2-99
Audio transcript of Air Traffic Control Center
Addendum to FDR analysis (pdf 658k) – 12-20-99
The Rand Report – Safety in the Skies (pdf 357k) – 12-20-99
NTSB Exhibit 20I, FBI Chemical Study of Residue (pdf 133k) – 12-20-99
Bruntingthorpe CWT explosion test (pdf 2.7mb) – Exhibit 18 – 12-20-99
Kabot Photo from Paris Match (gif 30k) – 12-23-99
Krieger Contrail Photo (gif 8k) – 12-23-99
Supervisor of Salvage Report on TWA Flight 800 Recovery (pdf 5.1mb) – May 1998
List of Victims of Flight 800
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History shows that the destruction of passenger aircraft in flight by errant regimes or terrorist factions are either to promote revolution in a country or in retaliation for something These 9/11 styled attacks commenced with missile attacks on Air Rhodesia, Flights RH 825 & RH 827 in 1978 and 1979 were designed to create catastrophic disasters to demoralise the Nation and put pressure on the Government to succumb to political demands. (www.viscountdown.com)
This strategy to topple the Country for its mineral agricultural and strategic wealth was seen to be so successful that it was applied to Malaysia Flight MH17. The same strategy was employed in the Lockerbie & Twin Towers disasters but for retaliation purposes. In recent times, MI6 foiled terrorist plans for multiple coordinated attacks on several aircraft when they would be halfway between Europe and the USA and too late to turn back.
It will be interesting to look into what motivated the downing of TWA Flight 800, revolution or retaliation, and why there were allegations of cover-ups? Any information from authoritative sources would be much appreciated.
It was an embarrassing accident. As simple as that. The US Navy shot down flight 800 by accident. They will never admit it though. That would make them look inept and open the door to mass lawsuits. People know, but they’re keeping quiet.
I lost a daughter on TWA 800. It would be wonderful to be given the truth.
My condolences for your loss, Sandra. In my humble opinion you are not alone in wishing for the “truth” behind many things perpetrated by the US government. The cover-ups are endless and the lies equally so. My faith in the government has completely diminished to the point where I feel like moving out of the country and revoking my citizenship. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to do so of course and must remain living out my days watching the horrible decline of this once great nation.
My advice is to not wish for something that will never happen. The evil that exists throughout the government is unprecedented. They will never admit that they made a mistake and launched a missile(s) at that plane. So many people want closure whether it is from that horrible crash, unexplained disappearances, cop murders in the street, or even military operations where families are told one thing but something completely different happened to their sons and daughters. The indifference that exists everywhere in the government is disturbing beyond belief. I wish you the best in these trying times. Don’t cling to an empty hope.
Not sure if it’s still up but there was an excellent TWA 800 expose website complete with the pictures that the clinton crime family always claimed didn’t exist. Includes a party photo showing the missile and the infamous back porch picture showing the impact.
It’s painfully obvious that it was a submarine shootdown, and the coverup is yet another lapdog media / political scandal.
Were there any passengers on board that were of Political Importance to the USA or to other countries? I believe the flight was shot down purposefully but by who and why is the key to solving this mystery. Perhaps someone who possessed important info against Clinton was on board or perhaps someone with pertinent documents about another country or individual. I believe the truth lies in the passenger list being scrutinized ,looking for some political assassination at the expense of unknowing ,uninvolved ,innocent people
The Navy shot this plane out of the sky, some say because they were targeting another plane and 800 was an accident. There is no evidence that there was a particular passenger being targeted.