Current Campaigns

TWA Flight 800

TWA 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New York on July 17, 1996. All 230 passengers and crew lost their lives.

The NTSB concluded that a spark in the center fuel tank caused the crash after allegedly igniting heated fuel-air vapor. Our recent ballistics report challenges this conclusion, because the low-velocity tank explosion was not powerful enough to launch debris at supersonic speeds perpendicular to the flight path, as recorded by several FAA radar sites.

For more information on this, read our July 2008 press release on the report here.

American Airlines Flight 587

Flight 587 crashed in Queens, NY on November 12, 2001, two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. On the day of the crash, the media interviewed eyewitnesses who reported a midair explosion, while the Associated Press interviewed a Bush Administration official corroborating these observations.

The Bush Administration quickly dismissed the AP story and before the day ended, the Administration, together with the FAA, the FBI, and the NTSB all released separate statements downplaying terrorism as the cause of the crash.

One possible explanation for the early dismissal of terrorism was to quell concerns on Wall Street, which according to the AP were significant.

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AP (November 12, 2004): "'Fears are running high,' said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co. 'We're dealing with a bruised U.S. psyche, whether it is at the consumer level or the investor level. One can only hope that this plane crash had nothing to do with terrorism.' ...

The cause of the crash, which occurred near Kennedy Airport, was not immediately known. However, some investors, worried that it might have been the result of a terrorist attack, began selling immediately to preserve recent profits.

By early afternoon the market had recovered much of its losses as reports indicated that terrorists were not involved."
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Whether or not terrorists brought down Flight 587, the near unanimous dismissal of the idea by all relevant government agencies is troublesome for two reasons: 1) that no sufficient analysis of the wreckage had yet begun; and 2) that many witnesses reported seeing an airborne explosion before the crash.

Since that first day, the mainstream media has more or less reported uncritically on the crash and the government's investigation. However some (most notably former NTSB board member Dr. Vernon Grose) have spoken out against the government's quick thinking. The website USRead.com has been following the case closely and contains original research and analysis from independent experts. USRead concludes that there is more to the crash than the government is admitting.

From reviewing the official eyewitness reports, USRead reported that most of the witnesses who were looking at Flight 587 before its fateful descent saw an explosion or fire on the aircraft prior to any other signs of distress. Some saw objects separate from the plane, one part striking the tail section and ripping it off.

Ultimately however, the government blamed the crash on pilot error and improper pilot training. As for the relevant witness accounts, they were all but ignored.

Action Items

• NTSB Watch will press the NTSB to release of full accounting and statistical analysis of the witness evidence, as well as an accounting of the wreckage that reportedly sunk to the bottom of Jamaica Bay. According to USRead.com, the NTSB has not discussed or catalogued any such wreckage.
• We will call for a more thorough study of the vibrations recorded by the cockpit voice recorder, which may be able to show whether the cabin was breached during the crash or not.
• Press Release (10/26/04)

TWA Flight 800