- 6/2/2025
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00:00Power set.
00:02A TWA flight 800 has exploded in midair.
00:07The sea is on fire.
00:09It was a horrible thing.
00:11230 lives are lost.
00:15Eyewitnesses give a frightening account.
00:19A lot of them thought they saw missiles.
00:22My gut said it was an act of terrorism.
00:25All right, let's get to it.
00:27The search for the truth will pit crash investigators
00:30against the nation's most respected crime detectives.
00:34Microscopic, explosive traces of unknown origin.
00:37The criminal aspect kept coming up over and over.
00:41To make their case, the NTSB will attempt the unthinkable.
00:46We're going to rebuild the entire plane.
00:48It really looks like an impossible job.
00:57It's a hot summer evening at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
01:10It's a hot summer evening at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
01:25Transworld Airlines flight 800 is almost an hour late for departure.
01:31The Boeing 747 jumbo jet is carrying 212 passengers.
01:41Many of them now growing impatient for the flight to Paris to get underway.
01:46We're going to start placing bets on when we actually push off.
01:58Captain Ralph Kevorkian is an experienced pilot,
02:01but this will be just his second training flight as a 747 captain.
02:06All airline pilots, including captains, are checked at least twice yearly.
02:12Flight procedures and how well they coordinate with their crew.
02:16Anything having to do with flying.
02:18And it's just another safety measure that the airlines go through.
02:22Twenty dollars on us getting out of here before sundown.
02:25I'll take that bet.
02:27Captain Steve Snyder has been flying with TWA for over 30 years.
02:33Tonight he's conducting the line check on Captain Kevorkian,
02:37while also acting as the first officer.
02:43Janet Christopher is one of 14 flight attendants on the big jet.
02:48It'll be much cooler when we're in the air.
02:57She's doing all she can to make passengers comfortable during the ongoing delay.
03:04She was very, very senior, the head stewardess, on the airplane that evening.
03:09Shouldn't be much longer. Let me check with the captain.
03:12Janet was on that plane that evening because she switched with another stewardess.
03:17Because she wanted to be home that next weekend.
03:21Because her son, Charles, was going to be given his Eagle Scout.
03:26The crowd's getting a bit restless.
03:28Any news?
03:29Haven't heard anything yet. They're still looking.
03:34The reason for the delay is that a piece of luggage is on board, but its owner is not.
03:39This is a red flag for airline security.
03:42We are in a very high state of alert in the United States,
03:45leading up to this.
03:47And we had all kinds of threats coming in.
03:49Not specific to aviation, but, I mean, real bona fide threats.
03:54The bombing of Air India Flight 182 a decade ago was a wake-up call for the entire industry.
04:01Terrorists checked a bag packed with explosives onto a jumbo jet bound for Delhi.
04:07329 people died.
04:12Since then, all checked bags must be matched to seated passengers before any flight can depart.
04:18Did your old man tell you it was going to be this exciting to fly with us, Ollie?
04:24Yeah.
04:25It's a thrill of minutes.
04:26Just like he described.
04:27Flight engineer Oliver Crick is a new recruit, with only six flights under his belt.
04:34His father is also a TWA pilot.
04:37The flight engineer was only 25 years old.
04:41It had to be pretty exciting for him to be a flight engineer on the Queen of the Skies at 747.
04:46You want to get in on this, Richard?
04:4820 bucks. Easy money.
04:50Richard Campbell completes the cockpit crew.
04:54He's on board to help train the young flight engineer.
05:02Passengers wait, as the minutes tick by.
05:16TWA 800.
05:24Go ahead.
05:26We're reconciled.
05:27Passenger was on board the whole time.
05:30Are you kidding me?
05:32Roger that.
05:34Hey.
05:35You owe me 20.
05:36Yeah, yeah.
05:37We'll settle up in Paris.
05:43Ladies and gentlemen from the flight deck, thank you all so much for your patience.
05:46We've been cleared to go.
05:48We'll be pushing back from the gate shortly.
05:55Take off thrust.
06:05Finally, at 8.19pm, TWA flight 800 is airborne.
06:16TWA 800.
06:17Amend the altitude.
06:19Maintain 13,000 for now.
06:22TWA 800.
06:23Okay.
06:24Stop climb at 13,000.
06:27Stop climb at 13,000.
06:29Altitude reassignments are a routine part of the climb out from JFK.
06:37The airspace around New York City is probably one of the busiest in the world.
06:40So you have not only JFK, you have LaGuardia, Liberty Air Force, Teterboro,
06:44and they all have to mesh together air traffic control-wise.
06:47TWA 800.
06:48Climb and maintain 15,000.
06:49Climb thrust.
06:50TWA 800.
06:51Climb and maintain 15,000.
06:52Climb thrust.
06:53TWA 800.
06:54Climb and maintain 15,000, leaving 13,000.
06:57TWA 800.
06:58TWA 38.
06:59TWA 800.
07:00Climb and maintain 15,000, leaving 13,000.
07:04Ta- week.
07:05Climb thrust.
07:06TWA 800.
07:07TWA 4000.
07:08TWA 200.
07:09TWA 200.
07:10TWA 45.
07:11TWA 200.
07:12TWA 200.
07:25without warning a powerful explosion tears the fuselage apart
07:44in the front of the airplane that broke off centrifugal force had to be just horrendous
07:52the front third of the plane is gone what's left continues skyward engulfed in flames
08:06went up at least another thousand feet maybe 1500 feet you know and flames pouring off
08:22it had to be horrible for the passengers
08:32you'd have a 250 300 knot wind all of a sudden blasting in the face
08:41it was a horrible thing
08:52the TV had shots of pieces of wreckage on fire falling on the ocean debris from TWA flight 800
09:10litters the water nearly 75 miles east of Manhattan
09:14212 passengers 17 crew 212 passengers 17 crew
09:23search and rescue aircraft scan the sea
09:29a media swarm descends on Long Island where dozens of witnesses are describing what they saw
09:37me and my cousin joe we was over by the dock over there we was over there crabbing and uh
09:41he said yo darren look at it look up in the air there's a big ball of uh fire
09:49you had um boats coming in with pieces of wreckage on them and some bodies being brought right in there
09:56and all sorts of press people all over the place and police
09:59the national transportation safety board the faa and the fbi are on the scene of the crash
10:08as of now no survivors have been found with a nation in shock investigators begin the painstaking
10:15task of piecing together what happened to TWA 800
10:29by the next morning it's clear that none of the 230 people aboard TWA 800 have survived
10:37it is the third deadliest airline disaster in u.s history
10:51the ntsb's lead investigator al dickinson faces an urgent task
10:58it was extremely important for us to find out what happened because there are so many 747s flying
11:07at that time the ntsb will lead the investigation while the fbi launches a parallel criminal inquiry
11:17you know that people think this exclusive jurisdiction of the ntsb that's not correct
11:23if it's a criminal matter we have to get out there right away we're used to a large area they're used
11:29to a crime scene that they can tape off try taping off a couple of miles worth of area out in the ocean
11:37it's impossible to do so they had to learn that things are handled a little differently
11:44both agencies are hoping for quick results but TWA 800 will turn into one of the longest
11:51and most challenging investigations ever conducted
12:00a disused aircraft plant on long island becomes a massive hangar for thousands of pieces of aircraft
12:08debris being pulled from the ocean floor yeah you can take that just down over there it was a perfect
12:14spot for us to put every bit of wreckage we recovered i mean there's piles of it
12:19nice to see you just wish it was under better circumstances i think i should uh show you something come with me
12:31here we have andoltров
12:33investigators have matched the seat numbers with the passenger and crew manifest
12:38they're able to determine who sat where including flight attendant janet christopher
12:44Her and her husband were very close friends of my wife and I,
12:48and I happened to be in their wedding.
12:52This was almost certainly Janet's seat.
13:01You look at a seat and then you put someone that you care very much for in that seat.
13:07It's very emotional.
13:08The FBI believe they may already have an explanation for the disaster over Long Island.
13:17Three years earlier, in 1993, terrorists drove a bomb into the World Trade Center.
13:24Just over a year ago, Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma.
13:31Now the mid-air explosion of TWA 800 is also being linked to terrorism.
13:38It was all over the news how people thought they saw something going up to hit an aircraft.
13:46A lot of them thought they saw missiles.
13:48There were a lot of people that wanted to do us harm back in 1996.
13:54A lot.
13:55And the FBI and other people on the National Security Front believed it was an act of terrorism without question.
14:03I'm sure this was a bomb and that we'll find the evidence of that in this wreckage.
14:08Just keep me posted.
14:09All right.
14:10We'll go through it.
14:11Jim Kallstrom has a strong personality.
14:16Agent.
14:17And even though he didn't say he's in charge, you got the impression from him that he was really running the show.
14:26Well, you know, I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you there was some professional tension, and there always is.
14:31All right, let's get to it.
14:32We tried to keep an open mind as much as possible, and that would mean considering something like a missile, until we had some honest proof that that did not occur.
14:46Seven days into the investigation, the Ocean Salvage team makes a major find.
14:54The black boxes.
14:56Recovering the CVR and the FDR is very important in every investigation.
15:01The trouble is, you never know what you're going to get.
15:04We sent them immediately down to Washington, D.C. to be read out after we found them.
15:08Technicians are able to recover the data, but it gives investigators little to go on.
15:13They hear no cockpit alarms or signs of panic from the crew.
15:19Normal conversations in the cockpit, normal readouts on the flight data recorder, up until a point where a sharp noise was heard, and then nothing after that.
15:37NTSB investigators spend weeks carefully searching for any sign of foul play.
15:43They study wreckage from almost every part of the 230-foot-long plane.
15:49Pretty much during the whole time we were there, we were looking for something that would support any kind of missile or bomb.
15:58They find no signs of an explosive device.
16:05No pitting, no cratering, nothing.
16:10We didn't find the soot patterns in a radiating pattern that might have been from a bomb.
16:17We didn't find this micro-cratering where a hot piece of metal are impacting other pieces of metal.
16:24It wasn't a bomb.
16:27No piece had any evidence of a bomb at all.
16:30Investigators know the plane exploded in mid-air, but they are convinced this was not a terrorist act.
16:38In a way, it made the safety board's job much more difficult, because we had to now determine what happened if there was no bomb or missile that caused the airplane to come down.
16:47They hope an analysis of the debris field can provide some answers.
16:53An in-flight breakup, whatever comes off first, may have something to do with the origin of the problem.
16:58They divide the ocean crash site into three zones.
17:03The red zone, nearest the airport, is where the first pieces of wreckage hit the water.
17:08The yellow zone is where the front third of the airplane landed.
17:12The green zone contains everything else.
17:16Investigators scour the debris from the red zone.
17:22We had to take these pieces and develop a sequence that showed that these pieces would have been the first ones that came off.
17:28What is this thing?
17:31Can we get a closer look at this?
17:34The wreckage recovery started to teach us some things.
17:39They check Boeing's schematics to try to identify exactly what part of the plane they're looking at.
17:48Huh.
17:50Keel beam.
17:52In the center wing section of the plane.
17:54Well, the keel beam runs underneath the wing center section fuel tank and back through the landing gear compartment.
18:02They pour through other red zone wreckage, feeling that they may be on the cusp of a breakthrough.
18:09Give me a hand with this.
18:10They soon find pieces with telltale scorch marks.
18:14That it had actual heat damage that had compressed it and wrinkled it.
18:21The scorch marks and damage point to an explosion.
18:25Now they must determine where it came from.
18:28A piece of spanwise beam from the center wing fuel tank.
18:37In the same place we found the keel beam.
18:40It's a discovery that changes the direction of the entire investigation.
18:44I think this could be it.
18:50The explosion must have started somewhere inside the fuel tank.
18:55Our first pieces came from inside of the center winged fuel tank.
19:00And I mean right in the heart of it.
19:05Hold it!
19:05The NTSB are certain they're making progress.
19:13But five weeks into their investigation,
19:17the FBI makes a shocking announcement.
19:22As a result of scientific analysis conducted by federal examiners,
19:27microscopic explosive traces of unknown origin have been found relating to TWA Flight 800.
19:34One of our problems right from the beginning of this is that the FBI and others
19:39didn't have the experience that we had.
19:43And they were thinking bombs, missiles and all sorts of other bad things.
19:47The statement directly contradicts the evidence found by the NTSB.
19:53I knew for a fact that this was not caused by a bomb on the airplane.
19:57The FBI tests show traces of RDX and PETN.
20:02Chemicals used to make plastic explosives.
20:07The same chemicals used in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 eight years earlier.
20:13For the FBI, the evidence points in just one direction.
20:18You know, we represent the American people.
20:20You know, so we don't speculate.
20:23We try not to speculate about it.
20:24But yes, my gut said it was an act of terrorism.
20:33There's a chance.
20:34In our view, a good chance.
20:35But there's a chance this is a criminal act.
20:37This is an act of terrorism.
20:38The NTSB employs the nation's best air crash investigators.
20:45Suddenly, it seems their work is in question.
20:49My thoughts about the fact that the criminal aspect kept coming up over and over.
20:56It was frustrating.
21:00With their reputation on the line, they decide to attempt something that has never been done before.
21:08We're going to put all this back together again.
21:12We're going to rebuild the entire plane.
21:14They hope to reconstruct the entire downed 747 piece by shattered piece.
21:24It may be the only way to prove to the world that TWA 800 suffered no bomb damage anywhere.
21:32It will be a Herculean task.
21:36There's a picture taken from above in the hangar of all these pieces laid on the floor.
21:40And there are literally tens of thousands of them.
21:42And it really looks like an impossible job.
21:48NTSB investigators believe it was an exploding fuel tank that took down TWA 800.
21:54But they still don't know what sparked the blast.
21:59If you find evidence of an explosion in a fuel tank,
22:05you have to look for what could cause an explosion to start in there.
22:11And you work backwards.
22:12We need to prove three things.
22:20The fuel was flammable.
22:22The explosion has to be powerful enough to rupture the tank.
22:26And finally, something created a spark to ignite the fuel.
22:31Let's start with the first one.
22:34Flammability.
22:34Jet fuel, in its liquid form, is not flammable.
22:39But when heated, the fuel starts to vaporize.
22:44When combined with oxygen already present in the tank,
22:48this vapor can become highly flammable.
22:50At the altitude where TWA 800 exploded, almost 14,000 feet,
22:59jet fuel needs to reach 96 degrees Fahrenheit before it can ignite.
23:04There's just one problem.
23:09The manufacturer said, well, it never gets that hot in there.
23:12According to Boeing, the fuel tanks housed inside the wings would never get hot enough for the fuel to vaporize.
23:20On the day of the fatal flight, the temperature at JFK airport hit 87 degrees Fahrenheit,
23:29well below the flashpoint for jet fuel.
23:33The NTSB's theory may be in trouble.
23:39Investigators examine the design schematics of the aircraft.
23:43An intriguing detail catches their eye.
23:48I remember learning that the placement of the air conditioning units were underneath the center tank.
23:55And those generate a fair amount of heat.
23:58They cool the aircraft, but the packs themselves got quite hot during that process.
24:04On TWA 800, the air conditioning units were working extra hard to keep the cabin cool on a hot evening.
24:12The air conditioning packs underneath the center ring fuel tank had been operating for, I believe, several hours prior to takeoff.
24:20And we all looked at each other and thought, boy, is that design correct?
24:27I wonder.
24:28Could heat from the units have boosted the temperature inside the tanks to a dangerously high level?
24:38There's only one way to find out.
24:40Air conditioning on.
24:48We had to prove to ourselves that the temperature inside the tank would be flammable.
25:00Because if we couldn't prove that, how is it going to explode?
25:05The only way we were going to determine the actual conditions inside the fuel tank was by performing a flight test.
25:11They decide to reproduce the exact conditions of the accident flight.
25:18All right, let's start it up.
25:19The same type of plane, the same fuel load, and most importantly, exactly the same air conditioning units.
25:28We preheated the center wing tank fuel by running the packs for hours.
25:35Boeing engineers installed, oh gosh, it must have been two or three dozen different types of sensors inside the tank.
25:42Probes to measure temperature, pressure, vibration.
25:45It's a risky undertaking, filled with uncertainties.
26:02We knew that one of the requirements to have a fuel air explosion inside the tank would be a high temperature.
26:08But we didn't know how high the temperature got inside a tank.
26:11The test flight reaches the same altitude as TWA-800.
26:19Holy crow.
26:21The temperature readings are terrifying.
26:25These air conditioner packs were getting up to 350 degrees.
26:30350 degrees is about what you turn your oven to to bake a chicken.
26:35This is off the charts.
26:37The temperature in the tank hits 127 Fahrenheit, 30 degrees above the flashpoint.
26:47It was a bit disconcerting because we were, in a sense, in an aircraft that was identical to the accident flight.
26:53Now, if you're going to ask me whether I would do it again, I'd probably say no.
26:56Okay, let's get back down to the ground.
27:04Investigators are now certain the fuel in the tanks of TWA-800 did become flammable.
27:10But before they can take the next step in their investigation, another media firestorm hits.
27:18154 people living in the Long Island area, where the missile testing was going on, saw one or two missiles rising in the air.
27:29President John F. Kennedy's former press secretary, Pierre Salinger, claims he has proof that a missile hit TWA-800.
27:44And that the missile was fired by the U.S. Navy.
27:48The missile fired down TWA-800.
27:55Journalist Pierre Salinger releases unverified radar images showing a foreign object in the night sky.
28:04He claims the USS Normandy, a guided missile cruiser, accidentally targeted the 747.
28:13No matter how far-fetched the claim may seem, the FBI must investigate.
28:18We had to look at the military because the military has assets to shoot down aircraft.
28:25As the head of the office, I wouldn't take anything off that board until someone could prove to me that that wasn't the cause or couldn't have been the cause.
28:33While the FBI examines Salinger's extraordinary claim, NTSB investigators continue reconstructing the downed plane.
28:42They hope the task will ultimately put the missile theory to rest.
28:48At the same time, they worked to prove their own theory that the explosion started in the tank.
28:55Okay. So we've proved flammability. Now for the second challenge. Can the tank rupture?
29:02One of the contentions from industry was that if we had an explosion in the fuel tank, the airplane was so strong, it would contain it.
29:13It wouldn't be a problem. We wouldn't structurally fail the fuel tank or the fuselage.
29:17According to Boeing, the tanks can withstand up to 25 pounds per square inch of pressure.
29:25Investigators need to know if the TWA blast could have exceeded those limits.
29:29They rig up a scale model of the center wing fuel tank.
29:34We did some what we call quarter-scale testing of different fuel air mixtures.
29:39We built a replica, one-fourth the size of the fuel tank, with baffles and everything in it like the fuel tank.
29:46Gentlemen, the level's good?
29:49They fill the tank with the same ratio of jet fuel as on TWA 800.
29:53Then they heat it to the same temperature.
30:17The results are clear.
30:19The study showed that if the fuel-air vapor mixture was ignited, that it could generate more than 50 pounds of force per square inch.
30:28It creates double the amount of explosive force the tank was designed to withstand.
30:34The tank simply wasn't strong enough to contain a full-scale explosion.
30:40Okay, I think this tells us what we need to know.
30:42NTSB investigators need one last critical element of proof before they can be absolutely certain what caused one of the worst air disasters in U.S. history.
30:53Once we determined that the fuel tank became hot enough to sustain the flame,
31:02and once we determined that the fuel tank itself was not strong enough to contain an explosion,
31:09we needed to try to figure out an ignition source.
31:13While the NTSB is confident they're on the right track,
31:17the FBI is seeing signs that the Navy missile theory won't hold up.
31:23You know, one of the first things I did in talking to the Pentagon was to ask them to give me all military assets.
31:31So there's no way anything was fired from that ship?
31:36It's helpful.
31:38We interviewed the entire crew.
31:43We looked at all their ordnance that was on the ship that day.
31:47And of course, we also found out that the TWA Flight 800 was not in the range of the USS Normandy.
31:54So case closed.
31:55Though Pierre Salinger's controversial theory is now discredited,
32:02it continues to gain traction in the media and among the general public.
32:06The Navy is a suspect.
32:08Let's get it, come on.
32:09The Navy is a suspect.
32:10Why should they be involved in the investigation?
32:13The monumental reconstruction of TWA 800 might be the only way to put all the rumors to rest.
32:23But as the complex crash investigation drags on,
32:27there are growing fears that another disaster could be just around the corner.
32:31It became kind of obvious to most of us that the fuel tank had exploded.
32:37And that, I think, gave us a sense of urgency.
32:42Because if it happened one time, it could happen again.
32:45Passengers flying on 747s every hour of every day may be in danger.
32:53Okay.
32:54We've proven the first two.
32:56Now we're at the final, most important condition.
32:58The final question that we had to answer was, what caused the spark?
33:04We knew it was flammable.
33:06We knew the tank was destroyed.
33:09But we didn't know where the spark started.
33:13Without a spark, there wouldn't be an explosion in the first place.
33:19You rule items out until you're left with some core potential causes to look at.
33:25It's kind of the Sherlock Holmes approach.
33:28We spent months and months eliminating potential ignition sources.
33:34We looked at whether something may have come in through the vent system,
33:38such as a stroke of lightning.
33:40Some folks thought that perhaps a meteorite had struck the aircraft.
33:44More than a year after the crash, investigators still don't know what could have caused a spark in the center wing fuel tank.
33:57In desperation, they turned to something they thought was a dead end.
34:02How about the CVR?
34:03Let's go back to the CVR.
34:14When investigators first listened to the cockpit recording,
34:18they didn't hear anything that might explain the explosion.
34:21They decide to listen to it again.
34:24Maybe we've missed something.
34:28Everybody listen closely.
34:29Okay, play it.
34:31TWA 800, amend the altitude.
34:36Maintain 13,000 for now.
34:40TWA 800, okay, stop climb at 13,000.
34:44Stop climb 13,000.
34:46It was a pretty nonchalant takeoff and climb.
34:53Fuel 179, estimated time of arrival 6.28 a.m.
34:59And the only thing that was a little bit different was
35:02one of the crew members mentioned that the fuel flow indicator was erratic.
35:08Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four.
35:11And he only mentioned it once, and then it apparently calmed down, and they kept climbing.
35:23The airplane has a half dozen electrical generators,
35:26and it has all sorts of fans and motors and pumps that use this electricity.
35:32The background noise captured by the cockpit voice recorder is kind of like a static hum.
35:41Hey, wait, stop.
35:49Play that back.
35:56Let me see that waveform.
35:58Blow it up.
36:02In the last one second of the flight before the explosion,
36:08we had two dropouts in that background noise,
36:12that background hum on the CVR recording.
36:17That electrical noise had gone somewhere.
36:21Investigators are on the cusp of a major discovery.
36:25There was a short circuit somewhere in the plane's wiring.
36:28A short circuit is an abnormal connection between points of an electrical circuit
36:35where current is not supposed to flow.
36:38The dropout on the CVR can only be explained by this type of fault.
36:43We know we had a short circuit somewhere.
36:46What we did not know is where the energy came from specifically.
36:50They begin the enormous task of examining all of the 747's wiring.
36:58We had 180 miles of wire to work with.
37:02We had wire all over that hangar.
37:05After hours of examining the plane's wiring,
37:09investigators begin to notice a disturbing pattern.
37:12The condition of these wires is abysmal.
37:16We had cracks in the insulation.
37:19We had chafes.
37:21When it was discovered that these wires were brittle
37:24and falling apart basically and shouldn't have been,
37:27that was very important.
37:30Let's see the fuel indicator system.
37:33They check wiring schematics to see where the wires
37:37for various aircraft systems are rooted,
37:39including the fuel system.
37:41The fuel quantity indicating system
37:44has an extensive amount of wiring in the fuel tanks.
37:53Following the wiring,
37:55investigators make a stunning discovery.
38:01That's crazy.
38:04The discovery of bundled wires
38:07in a crumbling electrical system
38:08is a major step in the NTSB's search for a deadly spark.
38:14In going to the cockpit,
38:15the fuel quantity wiring
38:16is tied into bundles
38:18with wiring that go to the aircraft lights
38:21and all sorts of other aircraft systems.
38:23Those wires carry a ton of energy.
38:27These cabin light wires,
38:28they were up to 350 volts peak,
38:31and they were co-routed with these 5-volt DC low-power wires
38:36that went to the fuel quantity probes in the fuel tank.
38:39If you have cross-currents into these wires,
38:45it sets you up for something drastic could easily happen.
38:50This was certainly a short circuit.
38:53It was more than enough to create a short circuit
38:56that would go into the fuel tank
38:58and ignite the vapor cells.
38:59The full sequence of events is now clear.
39:11While idling at the gate for two and a half hours,
39:14the air conditioning system heats the fuel
39:17in the center wing tank.
39:19The liquid fuel turns to vapor,
39:21its temperature rising well above
39:24the 96-degree ignition point.
39:28The flammable fuel and air mixture
39:31is a disaster waiting to happen.
39:34All it needs is a spark.
39:37In the plane's aging electrical system,
39:40high-voltage wires are bundled with low-voltage ones.
39:44Some are so warm they can short-circuit.
39:48High-voltage surges where it was never designed to go.
39:52Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator
39:54there on number four.
39:57In the blink of an eye,
39:59deadly voltage reaches the fuel probe
40:01inside the center wing tank.
40:03And then it blew up.
40:08Talk to me.
40:09What do you have for us?
40:10The NTSB's explosion theory
40:30is now rock-solid.
40:32And their ambitious reconstruction
40:34of TWA 800
40:36is finally complete.
40:38There were thousands and thousands of parts
40:43on this very sturdy structure.
40:46It was an amazing thing for us to see.
40:51I was really pretty proud
40:53of the definitive nature
40:54in which we were able to show
40:56where the airplane's breakup began.
40:58The FBI finally agree with the NTSB
41:04on what happened to TWA 800.
41:09It brought us to the conclusion
41:11the center fuel tank blew up,
41:13which was a huge finding.
41:15And we were very, very confident
41:17at a very high level
41:18that that was true.
41:19people have said
41:26that the FBI
41:27should have pulled out sooner,
41:28but
41:28it's their business.
41:30They can do what they want.
41:32They have guns.
41:33So
41:33it was a nice feeling
41:36when they eventually said
41:37you guys were right.
41:39After more than four years
41:45of investigation,
41:47the NTSB recommends
41:48in its official report
41:50that all Boeing 747s
41:53undergo a review
41:54and repair
41:54of older wiring.
41:59Significant design modifications
42:00are also advised,
42:02including the addition
42:03of insulation
42:04between the fuel tanks
42:06and the air conditioning system.
42:11Though investigators
42:12have found the cause
42:13of the TWA 800 disaster,
42:16one question lingers.
42:18How did bomb residue
42:19get on the wreckage?
42:21We think that
42:22the residue probably
42:24was placed on there
42:25during the wreckage recovery.
42:26A lot of military folks
42:27were out helping us.
42:28Perhaps that residue
42:30came off boots
42:31or clothing
42:32or something like that.
42:34And eventually,
42:35the FBI agreed.
42:37Investigators also believe
42:38that witnesses
42:39who thought they saw a missile
42:41were actually seeing
42:42the flaming remains
42:43of the plane
42:44ascending skyward.
42:46The fuel in the wings
42:48still kept the engines
42:49going for some time.
42:50So they did see
42:51things going up,
42:52but they were looking
42:53at a TWA coming apart.
42:57The conspiracy-type people
42:59were still out there
43:01saying we were wrong.
43:03We knew we were right.
43:04and I got tired
43:06of arguing with people
43:07who had their minds
43:09made up.
43:10So I just turned away
43:12from TWA
43:13and didn't talk about it
43:14for a long time.
43:15TWA 800
43:17was the most complex,
43:20hardest investigation
43:22that I had ever
43:23been involved in.
43:25I'm just glad
43:26we had the expertise
43:27to get through it all.
43:28Even though it took
43:31quite a while,
43:32we think all the effort
43:33and all the complications
43:34involved were well worth it.
43:36we had ceremonies
43:48out in Long Island
43:50every year for a while.
43:51You know,
43:52those were very emotional things,
43:53so that's what
43:54I'll always remember.
43:55I'll always remember.
43:56I'll always remember.
43:57I'll always remember.
43:58I'll always remember.
43:59I'll always remember.
44:00I'll always remember.
44:01I'll always remember.
44:02I'll always remember.
44:03I'll always remember.
44:04I'll never remember.
44:05I'll never remember.
44:06I'll never remember.
44:07I'll never remember.
44:08I'll never remember.
44:09I'll never remember.
44:10I'll never remember.
44:11I'll never remember.
44:12I'll never remember.
44:13I'll never remember.
44:14I'll never remember.
44:15I'll never remember.
44:16I'll never remember.
44:17I'll never remember.
44:18I'll never remember.
44:19I'll never remember.
44:20I'll never remember.
44:21I'll never remember.
Recommended
44:00
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