Closing one of the most intense and sweeping investigations in its history, the FBI on Tuesday used a haunting computer simulation of the explosion of TWA Flight 800 to bolster its conclusion that no criminal act, in particular no missile, led to the deaths of the 230 people aboard the jumbo jet.
The 16-minute videotaped simulation, created by CIA analysts, specifically addressed the sometimes conflicting reports by witnesses who watched the Paris-bound jet make its fiery plunge into the waters off Long Island a few minutes after leaving Kennedy International Airport the night of July 17, 1996.
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The simulation sought to debunk one of the more persistent theories on the cause of the crash: that a missile, possibly from a U.S. vessel, brought down the plane.
“It was not a missile; never was and never will be,” said James Kallstrom, FBI assistant director, at a news conference attended by some of the victims’ families.
The 485-day international investigation by the FBI, costing as much as $20 million, included sending some 500 FBI agents to the scene, interviewing 7,000 people, recovering and examining almost 1 million pieces of aircraft debris, 4,000 personal effects, 2,000 chemical swabbings, and inspecting the decks of hundreds of boats in the vicinity of the crash site in search of evidence.
The investigation also involved a task force from the National Transportation Safety Board and hundreds of members of local and state law enforcement agencies. Kallstrom noted that the CIA became involved five or six months ago in preparing an analysis and computer simulation of the events surrounding the crash.
The missile theory had developed from the statements by some of the 244 people who witnessed the event and said that the explosion was preceded by a streak of light moving skyward. This account gained currency with numerous mentions on the Internet and by an allegation from Pierre Salinger, former press secretary to President John F. Kennedy, that the cause of the crash was friendly fire from a military exercise in the area.
Kallstrom also said the FBI had identified and investigated all military craft within 200 miles of the crash site and accounted for all weapons with the range to target the aircraft.
Using statements from witnesses combined with forensic evidence garnered from the recovered wreckage and satellite images, analysts believe that the ascending streak of light was produced by the doomed Boeing 747 jetliner itself.
According to the simulation, the explosion caused the front one-third of the aircraft, including the cockpit, to separate from the rest of the fuselage. The loss of this weight allowed the still-thrusting engines to propel the remaining two-thirds of the craft upward as much as 3,000 feet while burning jet fuel streamed out.
Thus, the rear portion of the plane created a bright arc as it rose and then plummeted toward the Atlantic Ocean. Just before hitting the water, the plane lost its left wing, creating a spectacular cascade of flames visible up to 40 miles away, according to the simulation.
“Today, there is no evidence that anyone saw a missile shoot down TWA Flight 800,” said the tape’s narrator.
Kallstrom, who supervised the criminal investigation, presented the tape at a news conference. He repeated what had been said to victims’ families in a letter sent late last week. “Following 16 months of unprecedented investigation . . . we must now report that no evidence has been found which would indicate that a criminal act was the cause of the tragedy of TWA 800,” he said.
The simulation also aimed at reconciling another mysterious aspect of the crash: witnesses’ accounts that they heard and saw the explosion simultaneously.
Using physics and the properties of light and sound, CIA analysts concluded that most people saw the aftermath of the explosion of the plane’s center fuel tank, not the event itself.
The simulation demonstrated that because sound travels slower than the speed of light, some people heard the sound of the explosion as much as 42 seconds after it occurred.
At that point, looking skyward, what most witnessed was the crippled aircraft in flames, not the start of the sequence that took it down, the tape maintained. CIA analysts concluded that 49 seconds elapsed between the first explosion of the aircraft and the time its wreckage hit the waves.
Kallstrom ended the news conference by promising that the FBI would rejoin the investigation if new evidence warrants it.
“If something comes up,” he said, “we are going to jump into it with both feet as quickly as possible. We are putting it on `pending inactive’ status. We are not writing a big `closed’ on it and putting it in some dusty safe somewhere.”
The families of some of the victims remain frustrated that an explanation for their loss remains elusive.
Aurelie Becker, whose 19-year-old daughter, Michele, died in the crash, said she feared the search for the cause of the crash would slow with the withdrawal of the FBI.
But her husband, Walter, said, “This closes the first phase for us and allows us to go on to look at criminal negligence and an unsafe aircraft.”
With the withdrawal of the FBI, determining the cause of the crash reverts to the NTSB. The agency, which worked closely with the FBI during its investigation, plans to hold a week of hearings on the disaster in December.
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