What We Now KNOW About TWA Flight 800

A Pair of Lawsuits Promise to Expose the Truth Behind the July 1996 Disaster

On July 17, 1996, TWA 800, a Paris-bound 747, blew up ten miles off Long Island’s south shore, killing all 230 souls on board. In the days leading up to the anniversary, I will share some fresh insights on this tragedy and the much too successful cover-up that followed.

After 25 years investigating the destruction of TWA Flight 800, I have learned to temper my enthusiasms. That said, I continue to take heart when I see signs of life. Perhaps the most promising development in the case is the progression through the courts of Krick v. Raytheon.

Ronald Krick is the father of Oliver Krick, a 25-year-old student flight engineer killed in the crash. Krick has been joined in the suit by relatives of other deceased passengers and crew. The defendants are the Raytheon Company, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the United States government.

The Krick suit gained momentum when it absorbed information gleaned from a FOIA suit brought by Tom Stalcup, a no-nonsense physicist who has been pursuing this case since he was a grad student in 1996. To establish his claims Stalcup was granted subpoena power and was able to depose several key witnesses from within the investigation.

Stalcup appeared in the 2001 documentary, Silenced, produced by me and my late partner James Sanders. In 2013 Stalcup and the late Kristina Borjesson, formerly of CBS News, produced the excellent documentary, TWA Flight 800. What follows are extended passages from Krick v. Raytheon.

—On July 17, 1996, a Boeing 747 headed for Paris took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at around 8:20 p.m. Within twelve minutes of takeoff, the plane exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island, New York. All 230 passengers and crew members perished.

—After the incident, the federal government released a false report contending that the explosion was the result of an electrical fire in the airplane’s center fuel tank.

—Only recently, thanks to the work of physicist, Dr. Thomas Stalcup, through his Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) litigation in Massachusetts federal court, has evidence emerged proving that TWA 800’s explosion was not caused by any defect in the airplane, but instead by an errant United States missile fired at aerial target drones flying nearby.

—The evidence unearthed by Dr. Stalcup establishes that the United States, including its agencies, such as the United States Missile Defense Agency (formerly known as the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization), the United States Department of Defense, and the United States Navy (the “Government Defendants”), acting in concert and working side-by-side with Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation (the “Contractor Defendants”) and DOES 1 through 20, inclusive (collectively the “Defendants”) were testing the Aegis Weapons System and firing SM-2 missiles with live warheads from warship(s) at aerial missile targets off the coast of New York in close proximity to commercial airline flight paths. One such missile struck TWA flight 800, causing it to break apart and crash into the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone aboard.

—Newly discovered evidence also shows that these Defendants engaged in a top-down cover-up to prevent the public from learning the truth about TWA 800. Proof of this cover-up, and of Defendants’ underlying culpability for the crash, was only recently unearthed by Dr. Stalcup after more than a decade of FOIA litigation against the Government Defendants.

Although Stalcup and I have not collaborated, we have reached essentially identical conclusions. He focused on the mechanics of the disaster, I on the political dynamics. For a quick summation of what I have discovered I would recommend anyone interested take a look at my presentation for C-SPAN II’s Book-TV recorded at the TWA Museum in Kansas City or read my book posted above. As to what Stalcup has discovered, a subsequent memorandum by Krick et al. offered more detail regarding the technology used or misused to bring down the 747.

—his evidence reveals that the United States and its agencies, acting in concert with Contractor Defendants, conducted initial operational tests of the SPY-ID(V) radar upgrade with testing that involved firing at least one missile with a live warhead in May of 1996. This testing—firing live warheads off the coast of New Jersey and New York—was “a departure from prior practices.” The Department of Defense urged the missile system to proceed “as quickly as possible to production and deployment” to increase defense capabilities. Consequently, the Senate Committee approved the funding and the Navy accelerated testing and development of the next-generation Aegis missile system. Instead of conducting testing away from potential flight paths of other aircrafts, SPY-ID(V) was tested on an expedited basis in and around a land-based testing site called the Combat Systems Engineering and Development Site (“CSEDS”) in New Jersey, which is a highly congested area.

—The evidence obtained through Dr. Stalcup’s FOIA litigation also suggests that the FBI interfered with the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) investigation. Following the TWA 800 collision, the FBI led the investigation of the incident and enlisted the assistance of the CIA, rather than allowing NTSB— the agency tasked with investigating all domestic aviation incidents— to lead investigative efforts. Throughout the course of its investigation, the FBI removed all copies of Navy radar tapes and refused to allow the NTSB to conduct eyewitness interviews or review the FBI’s results regarding the cause of the TWA 800 crash. These copies of the Navy radar tapes were finally released and show an object “heading straight for TWA 800.” This information appears to corroborate previously discredited testimony from eyewitnesses, many of whom maintained that they saw something “arcing” toward TWA 800 before the plane exploded, but were not permitted to testify at any NTSB hearings. Some eyewitnesses reported being threatened by the FBI to “keep quiet.”

My one quibble with the above is the word “enlisted.” The CIA joined the investigation on day one, and the evidence suggests its participation was forced on the FBI just as the FBI was forced on the NTSB. The orchestration could only have come from the White House.

Lord knows FBI Director Kash Patel has more immediate priorities—the 2020 election, the Russia collusion hoax, January 6 incitement—but no case will reveal the criminal complicity of the FBI and the CIA with the White House more precisely than the TWA 800 cover-up. The Krick suit should come to fruition in 2026, but media support in the interim would be extremely valuable. This is one conspiracy that is more than a theory. It is a crime, and many of the major perps are still in the game.

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