Investigators claim FBI cover-up over plane disaster

Former investigators into an air crash off the coast of New York in 1996, which killed 230 people, want the case reopened over claims there was an FBI cover-up.

The investigators have called on the National Transportation Safety Board to re-examine the cause of the TWA 800 crash saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet.

The New York-to-Paris flight crashed July 17, 1996, minutes after the jetliner took off from John F Kennedy Airport, killing all 230 people aboard.

The effort to reopen the probe is in tandem with next month’s release of a documentary featuring the testimony of former investigators who raise doubts about the NTSB’s conclusion that the crash was caused by a centre fuel tank explosion, probably caused by a spark from a short-circuit in the wiring.

In a petition seeking to reopen the probe, they 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 the now-defunct TWA. Tom Stalcup, a physicist and co-founder of a group called Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organisation, also questioned the NTSB’s original findings and is featured prominently in the documentary.

Hughes said: “There was a lack of coordination and willful denial of information. There were 755 witnesses. At no time was information provided by the witnesses shared by the FBI.”

Investigators contend that the testimony of more than 200 witnesses who reported seeing streaks of light headed toward the plane should be reconsidered. The NTSB said after the first investigation that it found no evidence of a missile strike. It explained that what witnesses likely saw was the jetliner pitching upward in the first few moments after the explosion, but some witnesses still maintain that the streak of light they saw emanated from the waterline and zoomed upward toward the plane.

The petition filed with the NTSB to reopen the probe claims “new analyses of the FAA radar evidence demonstrate that the explosion that caused the crash did not result from a low-velocity fuel-air explosion as the NTSB has determined. Rather, it was caused by a detonation or high-velocity explosion”.