We are, in the eyes of the federal government, a bunch of imbeciles who can be expected to swallow whatever garbage they choose to feed us. That is especially true in the case of the ill-fated TWA Flight 800 where a top figure in the probe simply cancelled the law of gravity in trying to explain inconvenient facts, and fully expected all of us imbeciles to believe him. He got his wish, by the way, with those gullible imbeciles known as the mainstream media.
Witnesses can be a severe pain in investigator’s hind quarters, especially when there are a whole slew of them contradicting the prober’s pre-conceived notions. When that happens it becomes very important tothe probers to discount the testimony of the inconvenient witnesses by cobbling together all sorts of theories that explain away what the eyewitnesses insist they saw.
That’s very much the case of the people investigating the downing of TWA Flight 800. Hundreds of eyewitnesses to the tragedy all say they saw what appeared to be a missile arcing through the sky, a sudden small explosion followed by a huge blast. The majority of eyewitness accounts are in remarkable agreement on the major points.
But the idea that the plane was shot down by a missile is not the conclusion the government people want to reach – for reasons known only to them – they insist that the plane went down as a result of a fuel tank explosion. It is therefor necessary for them either to totally ignore the eyewitness testimony, or find other explanations for what the witnesses say they saw.
For a long while government investigators did ignore the witness’s testimony. When that began to create a problem, they then set out to find alternative explanations for what the witnesses agree they saw. In other words what they thought they saw was something else entirely that only appeared to be what they thought they saw.
In the most recent effort to discount the testimony of hundreds of witnesses to the 1996 downing of TWA flight 800 government investigators launched Stinger missiles from Florida’s Eglin Air Force base and then leaked the story of the secret tests to the administration-friendly Washington Post.
Moreover, unnamed government sources used a thoroughly discredited theory to explain away the missile sightings reported by eyewitnesses. insisting that what the witnesses saw was not the fiery trail of a missile heading for the ill-fated plane, but the tail half of the aircraft miraculously rising 3000 feet after being blown apart from the front section.
The Post reported that the government investigators fired the Stinger missiles in an alleged effort to learn if the streaks of light seen by witnesses could have been a missile streaking toward a target.
Sources familiar with the tests told the newspaper that while final results of their tests were still weeks away “initial observations have turned up nothing to cast doubt on the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary determination that no missile hit the plane.”
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, their preliminary determination was that no missile hit the plane and TWA 800 went down after the aircraft’s nearly empty center fuel tank exploded, although the cause of the alleged fuel tank explosion has never been determined.
Most inconvenient for the Board has been the dogged insistence by eyewitnesses that they indeed saw a missile heading for the plane. Accounts of the witnesses were long ignored by the FBI and Board investigators, and their persistence in claiming they saw what they saw has been a thorn in the side of the government which for some mysterious reason is almost desperate to prove that the downing was an accident, and not caused by a missile.
As the Post put it, “Board investigators … decided that their probe could not be considered complete unless they made a detailed scientific comparison between what the witnesses said in their first interviews with FBI agents and the sights and sounds a missile would make in exactly the same atmospheric conditions and lighting as that evening on the Long Island coast.
” ‘This was a dotting of the i’s and a crossing of the t’s,’” a source told the paper. ‘Some concluded it would be very nice to know for certain what you would see. What would a missile look like?”
Most egregious, was the newspaper’s rehashing of the absurd theory that half the plane flew up about 3,000 feet after the alleged explosion – a suggestion aerodynamic experts scoff at as being absolutely impossible.
“Computerized simulations by the board and the Central Intelligence Agency in December 1997 indicated the streaks could be the flaming fuel tank,” the Post reported.
In the simulations, “The light appeared to be rising because the front of the airplane had broken away and the rest of the aircraft, including the wings, shot upward because it was no longer weighed down by the forward part of the fuselage.”
No kidding, that’s what they expect us imbeciles to believe. And that’s what the FBI’s James Kallstrom, the Bureau’s top man in the investigation told everybody who would listen. It is an alibi designed for ingestion by imbeciles.
But he wasn’t finished. It appears that there was a verified report from another aircraft which said they saw what looked like a missile streaking towards them in the same area where the TWO 800 downing took place. Nobody disputed it because the evidence that something had shot up towards the plane was overwhelming and confirmed by radio traffic between the plane’s pilots and ground control during the moments it was happening.
So what does Kallstrom do to get rid of this inconvenient fact. Why he tells the imbeciles that there were meteor showers in the area at the time, and that’s what the pilots probably saw streaking up and over thee aircraft.
Remember, the object was going up – while in meteor showers the meteors go down. Showers, rain or meteor do tend to go in a downward direction or we’d all have to carry umbrellas upside down.
To heck with the law of gravity. In Kallstrom’s strange world everything apparently goes up. Call it Kallstrom’s New Law of Aerodynamics.
In a May 26th statement by Reed Irvine of Accuracy in Media, the dead-plane-rising theory was further exploded by the revelation that the CIA’s computerized simulations were based on what a key eyewitness said he saw. The problem is that the witness never said any such thing.
Here’s what Accuracy in Media’s courageous Reed Irvine wrote last week:
“The recently released FBI reports of their interviews of eyewitnesses to the downing of TWA Flight 800 contain enough dynamite to blow the lid off the FBI-NTSB-CIA-DOD cover-up of the cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996. The FBI wouldn’t even let the NTSB investigators see these reports for a long time. When they finally sent copies of 756 eyewitness reports to the NTSB, they were in great disarray, causing a further delay in their release to the public. The NTSB recently made them available, together with related documents, on a CD-ROM. These can now be found on Cmdr. William S. Donaldson’s web site, www.TWA800.com. This is a treasure trove for anyone interested in getting the truth about the TWA 800 crash.
“Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw TWA Flight 800 crash off the southern coast of Long Island, and what they saw was widely reported by the print and electronic media at the time. The FBI took control of the investigation and refused to let the NTSB interview eyewitnesses. No eyewitnesses were permitted to testify at the NTSB public hearing on the TWA crash in Dec. 1997, and the FBI would not permit any discussion of the 244 eyewitness reports it had shared with the CIA. The CIA used them to produce a video simulation of the crash. James Kallstrom, who headed the FBI investigation, said the questioning of eyewitnesses “would have the unintentional effect of undermining the CIA’s work.” [In other words, don’t let the facts interfere with their conclusions.]
“Now the CIA’s work is undermined by the FBI eyewitness reports, together with appendix FF, a transcript of an NTSB witness group discussion on how the CIA decided that all the eyewitnesses who said they saw anything resembling a missile were wrong.
“An unidentified CIA analyst said they had been trying to figure out what source there could be for the streak of light that 260 eyewitnesses said they had seen. At 10 p.m. on Dec. 30, 1996, he got the idea “that you can explain what the eyewitnesses are seeing with only the burning aircraft.” Eureka! Claim that everyone mistook the burning aircraft for a missile that caused it to blow up, and that gets rid of the problem created by those 260 eyewitnesses who saw a streak of light. “Analyst” based his great idea on the FBI reports on their interviews of one eyewitness, who, he said, “may be one eyewitness” who saw the entire incident.
“That one eyewitness is Michael Wire, a machinery expert who was working on a new drawbridge on Beach Lane, a road running from Westhampton, Long Island, to the beach. Wire’s FBI report says that standing on the bridge, looking toward the beach, he saw a white light just above the rooftop of a house about 900 feet away, ascending from the ground at about a 40 degree angle. It “sparkled” and he thought it was fireworks. It “zig zagged” as it traveled upward and was going south-southeast when it “arched over” and disappeared from view. Two or three seconds later he saw an orange light that appeared to be a fireball in the sky about half a mile away. It was falling at about a 30-degree angle, with a fire trail burning behind it. According to Wire, the fireball disappeared behind a house two houses away from the one where he saw the white light. He then heard the first and loudest of four explosions. It shook the bridge. Eight or nine seconds later he heard two more explosions followed by a fourth a second later.
“‘Analyst’ says that Wire was one of the few eyewitnesses who saw TWA 800, minus its nose, climbing 3000 feet. That does not appear in Wire’s interview, and he told me that is not true. He said he saw the plane blow up and immediately go down. He believes that what he saw was a missile and that the theory that a fuel explosion initiated the crash is false.
“‘Analyst’ said that CIA’s analysis was driven largely by Wire, “who gave us reference points,” the house behind which he had seen “a white light for about 15 seconds” and the other house behind which “a small fireball” disappeared from view. “He was an important eyewitness to us,” he said. The CIA never showed Michael Wise the video they claim he inspired and asked if it portrays what he saw. They have never spoken to him. If they ever do, he will tell them what he told me.”
A government source told the Post that it was extremely unfortunate that word of the tests began leaking out because it is possible that the data “will in the end conclude it [a missile] is extremely unlikely” and investigators did not want people to conclude that the tests were prompted by any new information.
In looking into the evidence painstakingly gathered by retired Cmdr. William S. Donaldson, an experienced crash investigator, Wednesday on the Web has found the eyewitness accounts to be prima facie ecodence that TWA 800 went down after being hit by at least one missile. The conclusion is inescapable. The mass of evidence contained on Cmdr. Donaldson’s Web Site – the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals is so great that we can only begin to scratch the surface of what he and other dedicated researchers have compiled. We simply have to refer you to that website for the complete story, especially the accounts of over 700 eyewitnesses.
Among the more revealing eyewitness reports were those that clearly contradicted the government’s belief that the plane was destroyed at an altitude of 13,000 feet when its fuel tank exploded.
In his tabulation of witness accounts, found on the Donaldson Website and at http://hometown.aol.com/bardonia/eyewitn.htm, analyst Michael Hull reports the testimony of three witnesses all aboard aircraft and all flying at altitudes above the second, violent explosion. One plane was flying at 11,000 feet, and a second at 8,500 feet. All three saw the explosion take place below their altitudes. The third plane’s pilot estimated that the explosion took place at about 5,000 to 6,000 feet.
What must be concluded from this testimony of three experienced pilots are the facts that the huge explosion the many eyewitnesses observed, took place far below 13,000 feet when the plane began to go down, indicating that it was struck by something at 13,000 feet, and it’s fuel tank exploded thousands of feet below the maximum altitude the plane had reached.
Hull’s analysis also has the full radio traffic and story of the other suspected missile attack on a plane flying in the same area as TWA 800 was flying when it went down. It includes Kallstrom’s upward-meteor-shower absurdity.
Here, from www.TWA800.com is a summary of the eyewitness testimony.
Eyewitness Highlights
Selected Accounts from the 755 reports
(To read the full witness report, click on the underlined title)
Witness 8 – “saw a red object flying upward.” “described the object as a flare”…”but that it was actually much bigger than any flare he had ever seen.” “As the “flare” lifted into the sky he next saw a big explosion of a large red color.”
Witness 32 – On board USAir flight 217 (3,000 ft. above Flight 800) “He observed a light which appeared to be a “flare” and looked like the shooting of an unexploded fireball into the air.” “It was moving right to left” “then observed an initial small explosion….. turned into a large explosion”
Witness 34 – “saw what he thought was a shooting star traveling west to east, coming form the south shore, over Fire Island.” “object he observed was more like a bottle-rocket with a dull orange glow to it” “further stated that the glow moved faster than an aircraft” “the object flew for 10-15 seconds before he lost sight of it”
Witness 36 – “saw an orange color flash, similar to a roman candle or rocket, flash by” “came from the northwest and was heading toward the southeast” (90 degree direction to Flight 800) “the flash streaked across the Bay” “could have been a firework or rocket”
Witness 63 – “observed an airplane off to his left flying in an eastbound direction” “observed a bright flash of white light on the rear portion of the plane”
Witness 72 – “She thought it was a flare.” “When she first observed the object, it appeared cylindrical in shape and was rising up in an arc like direction.” “The red streak was leaving a light gray smoke trail.”
Witness 73 – Watched the aircraft for approximately 10 seconds. She then noticed a “contrail that appeared to come from an object which was flying toward the plane she was watching.” “This object approached the aircraft from behind.” Described the “contrail as a long elongated tail..” “She replied that she believed that she witnessed a missile, which was fired from a boat which was located somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean.”
Witness 77 – “observed what he believed to be a meteor flare, round in shape, red in color…” The “the red meteor moved upward and arched in a northeasterly direction.”
Witness 79 – “she noticed what she believed to be a shooting star.” “described the star as being elliptical in shape, that was white in color with glowing surroundings.”
Witness 80 & 754 – “He saw what he described as an orange flare, which appeared to be launched from the beach or beyond which went straight up then suddenly he saw a large red glow which he described as an “explosion” and thereafter saw the fireball split into tow distinct parts and drop from the sky”
Witness 81 – saw a “flare” “the arc initially started very slightly to the west and moved in a slightly easterly fashion.”
Witness 82 – “She was facing southeast when she saw a flare shoot from the water.” “There was a thin black smoke trail following the flame.” “The trail was visible for about 6 minutes”
Witness 84 – “He advised that this flare was orange and went up into the air at about the same speed as a firework.” It went from west to east in a flight further out toward the ocean.”
Witness 86 – “he observed two orange streaks ascending in a curved path. He stated that the streaks were bigger and brighter than ordinary boat flares and left long trails to the water.”
Witness 87 – “he observed a bright white light … travel from the southeast and arc towards the east.” “about four seconds after .. he observed a second flash which was orange/red in color.”
Witness 88 – “observed what he thought was a firework ascending into the sky.” ” originally felt this firework emanated form the shoreline” “this object which was ascending left a wispy white smoke trail.” “observed an airplane come into the field of view ..” “the object ran into the airplane….and then exploded..”
Witness 91 – “she describes as appearing to be a “Roman Candle” coming east parallel to the horizon.”
Witness 108 – “in southwest he saw what appeared to be a flare rise up from below the tree line.” “rising at a 65 degree angle at a steady speed.” “the flare left behind a smoke trail which was bluish/gray in color.” “The flare rose upward and then arced downward.” “the flare descended from the arc for approximately on second and exploded into an orange ball.”
Witness 129 & 643 – “he noticed .. a flare to the southeast. … it continued to rise upward from that point, at a fast rate of speed” “It rose to a certain point and appeared then to curve southeast and slightly downward.” “He then saw a small flash or explosion and then a large explosion or fireball.”
Witness 144 – “she then saw an object angle to the right with a bright orange glow with a white streak behind it.” “described this streak as “taking off like a rocket”.” “She thought at first that she saw fireworks, but then changed her mind and said “no way, it was a missile”.”
Witness 145 – “stated that she saw a plane and noticed an object spiraling towards the plane.” “The object, which she saw for about one second, had a glow at the end of it and a grey/white smoke trail.” “she saw the object hit the plane”
Witness 147 – “states that she observed a flare shoot upward from the water, ascend with a bright orange-red glow skyward and at its apex, burst into numerous orange red flames. The flare had a very large orange red tail”
Witness 150 – “noticed an unusual object traveling at high speed from north to south.” ” described the object as cylindrical, tubular and bullet shaped. Having no apparent wings, except perhaps, a small vertical shape at the rear” “moved more quickly than any plane” “almost flat trajectory” “she followed the object for 2 or 3 seconds when she then noticed a large commercial airliner which appeared to be traveling at the same altitude” “the object headed toward the side of the plane.”
Witness 151 – “he described what he thought was a flare” “he described the flare as a white wispy trail that went straight up.” “he followed the flare for about 5 seconds, then the flare turned into an orange burst.”
Witness 153 – “observed a light that he thought looked like a flare or firework” “object was round, similar in color to a setting sun” “object moved upward, away from him” “then moved in a sharp horseshoe turn downward… began to leave a smoke trail”
Witness 157 – “noticed a red flare or firework trailing white smoke ascending over the tree line” “approximately seven to ten seconds later he observed a large fireball erupt”
Witness 158 – “observed double orange flares streak upward and explode into a large orange fireball. She states the flares were slanted, arcing and trailed by gray smoke.”
Witness 174 – “saw a skyrocket type object streak up into the night sky from behind Sheffield Island. The skyrocket had an orange contrail which had a continuous brightness.” “A few seconds later, after the skyrocket contrail disappeared, he saw a large orange fireball appear”
Witness 175 – “observed a flare going straight up, but he was unclear as to whether it had originated from land or water.”
Witness 179 – “she observed an object …which looked like a flare or a firework going up. She thought at first it was a firework which was a dud because it arced and went down.” “she observed the object climb in an erratic fashion for about five seconds at which point she noticed an explosion”
Witness 199 – “saw an orange elongated mass shoot straight up from the horizon.” “an orange glow seemed to follow it” “the object went straight up into the sky for about two seconds, reached its apex, and then broke apart.” “could not tell if it originated from the land or sea.”
Witness 261 – “saw a red navigator light from an airplane in the distance.” “then saw an orange firework, with a tail, in the air southwest of him” “The firework traveled up, then arched down” “seconds later he saw a second and third fire work in the sky simultaneously.” “Both were orange with tails and they traveled in the same arching pattern of the first firework.”
Witness 364 – “FBI Flare sightings plotting report of selected witnesses” “These locations have been used in providing possible locations of a MANPAD launch tube or “Stinger” eject motor for acoustic side-scan sonar and possible recovery.” “These locations are within the preliminary envelope of foreign MANPADs obtained from the Defense Intelligence Agency which might have been used against TWA Flight 800. These locations are just outside of the preliminary envelope obtained from the U.S. Army for the U.S. “Stinger” missile system. The Army will provide a more accurate envelope after careful modeling.”
Witness 396 & 397 – “saw two red streaks, very vivid in color, ascend …traveled straight, slightly west to east.” “they assumed it was fireworks” “the streaks he saw were side by side and very close”
Witness 409 & 607 – “saw a light grayish streak/line ascending into the sky over the ocean. The streak…. .was moving …almost vertical angle.” “The streak was fine, like a pencil line”. “then observed a bright white light in the sky in the area where the streak disappeared.”
Witness 411 & 412 – “observed a reddish glowing flare streak skyward” “could not tell if it was from land or water.” “Flare was tight, corkscrew shaped with and even but fast speed.”
Witness 429 – “observed a brilliant red flare commencing above the horizon moving in a straight line upward towards the sky. The flare then exploded into a brilliant red ball. Approximately a half second later another explosion occurred directly under the first explosion.”
Witness 432 – “saw a trail of fire going up in the sky.” “Thought it was some kind of flare or firework.” “flare .. was bright orange and red, that went straight up into the sky.”
Witness 435 & 436 – “saw a flare rise up in front of her” “the flare went straight up into the sky and then curved before they lost sight of it.” “got thinner as it rose up in the sky.”
Witness 437 & 438 – “observed a white ball shooting across the sky” “it looked like a shooting star.” “traveled in an arc from right to left” “left a “skinny” white trail.”
Witness 445 – “saw a suspicious looking red work boat.” “believed that it would be a perfect place to hide things” “believed the work boat was involved in the explosion”
Witness 458 – “saw a pinkish-red flare …for about eight to ten seconds.” “the flare seemed peculiar”
Witness 461 – “saw red flare arching in the sky.” “the flare was very bright”
Witness 465 – “saw a reddish/orange object projecting in an upward southern position” “the object looked like a flare.” “maintained a view of the object until he saw an explosion in the air.”
Witness 484 – “for approximately ten seconds, observed the object traveling in an arc from her lower right to upper left. The object disappeared for approximately one second and then observed a large explosion in the same area where the object had disappeared.”
Witness 485 – “witnessed what appeared to be a “flare” rise above the horizon over the water. The flare was red-orange in color and had … an upward diagonal trajectory.” “the flare disappeared and seconds later a “wide area” of the sky was filled with something descending on fire.”
Witness 491 – “This flare traveled in the air for what he estimated was 30 seconds. He stated that this red flare was moving in an irregular type arc. He felt this red flare was trying to follow something. The red flare suddenly turned into a huge ball of flame.”
Witness 493 – “saw a firework/rocket go up from his car.” “said the rocket was orange in color and had fire coming from its tail. He realized it was not a firework but a rocket. He saw the plane explode.”
Witness 497 – “observed what he thought was a red flare appear and ascend in the sky.” “the red flare-like object appeared to be moving straight up at a steady, high rate of speed.” “the object’s shape, color and speed remained constant for approximately four to five seconds.” “At this time, the object disappeared in an intense bright white explosion.
Witness 498 – saw “a shooting star in the sky” “looked like a boat flare”
Witness 499 – “observed a gray and white flare in the sky, arching from south to north.” “the flare lasted about 10 seconds.
Witness 539 – Witness was taking photographs over the ocean. When they were developed she “noticed a small white streak” The FBI requested the negatives and “contacted here three days later to inform her that the negative was clear and there was nothing wrong with her camera.”
Witness 550 – saw “a plane coming from the west to east and then what looked like a “smaller” plane coming from the northeast on a dead course toward the nose of the larger plane.”
Witness 571 – saw “what appeared to be cheap fireworks coming off the beach” “described this one firework as a white spark (meteor), that went up and arched across the sky.”
Witness 649 – ” stated object number one appeared to be a bright white light with a reddish pink aura surrounding it.” “compared the moving object to a “fire work”.” “initially, object one ascended almost vertically” “object one evolved into a “squiggly” pattern going up vertically and increasing in velocity and then arced off to the right in a south westerly direction.” “observed a second stationary object (object number two) that appeared to glitter in the sky. Object number one was heading toward object number two” “object number one appeared like it was initially going to slightly miss object number two unless it made a dramatic correction at the last moment.” “in less than a second he believed object number one impacted with object number two.” “observed a white “puff” (white flash)” ” out of the puff came two objects that arched upward from the initial impact trailing smoke.” “the objects then turned into large rectangular balls of fire descending at an angle”
Witness 650 – “observed a white colored object that appeared to be fireworks travel up into the sky. The object traveled fast and left a trail. The object appeared to come from the water.” “seconds later, observed a big, reddish/orange fireball.”
Witness 665-666 – “stated he only saw the object ascending for a split second when he observed an orange or light colored object ascending from the southwest direction. He stated it ascended for approximately five seconds, and just prior to what appeared to be it’s maximum height, it hooked to the right and then exploded. He stated the smoke trail went all the way to the point of impact.”
Witness 667 – saw “something that looked like a shooting star in the sky” “left a trail like a comet” “described the trail as a streak that disappeared very quickly.” “This streak then exploded in the air.”
Witness 668 – “observed what she described as a comet” “stated it started from ground level” “went skyward and traveled from the west to the east….duration of the event lasted from eight to ten seconds. The comet had and orange tail and it maintained its tail while skyward.”
Witness 675 – “an orange flare flew up into the air from the direction of southeast” ..The orange flare ascended to , and appeared to impact with, a speck in the air above and at a higher altitude from where the orange flare was first observed.” “the path of the orange flare was further described as ascending vertically and arching to the right” “was certain of the left to right direction” [Flight 800 was traveling right to left] “its speed which was described as “very quick”….this ascending object traveled at approximately twice the speed of a normal aircraft and took approximately three and one half seconds to reach the grey “speck””. “The orange flare ascended to the exact same point in the sky as the grey speck and exploded.”
Witness 692 – [Pilot of an H-60 helicopter, flying a night refueling mission (Maj. Meyer)] “saw a streak of red light moving very fast from his right to his left..described the streak from light as having the trajectory and image of a shooting star. The streak moved from a higher elevation to a lower elevation in a gently descending curve. He observed the streak for one or two seconds after which he saw an explosion.”
Witness 695 – “the witness observed a flare, yellowish in color, shooting upward from the ocean, southwest of his location and a few miles away.” “the flare reached an apex, then burst into a large golden yellow fireball”
For a complete rundown on the incredible mass of evidence, go to TWA800 Home and read Michael Hull’s commentary as well as the other material. We also recommend reading Adm. Moorer’s letter found on the website.