JamesNoBrakes

Quite defensive. You made a post on the internet. What'd did you expect?
I heard we didn't land on the moon.
Really? Answering the "well no aircraft have ever blown up due to empty fuel tanks!" with; "actually, boeing aircraft HAVE blown up before due to empty fuel tanks, in fact, it's happened multiple times"-was a pretty good rebuttal if you ask me. Is military maintenance the same as commercial? Maybe not, but both are extremely complex for these types of aircraft and all the systems have to interact just right. If you were trying to say that aircraft can not crash if they pass some 20 year test, then you are sorely mistaken. I'm not sure what you're point is here actually, but I think comparing a similar relevant situation is a good call.
And therein lies the real problem. No one wants to believe a fuel tank exploded and took out an airliner full of people that included a 3 minute "death ride" to the ground. It's not emotionally satisfying. So what do people do? They make up something that "seems" right to them. It's a classic defense mechanism that allows us to keep functioning in the world and cope with stress. Unfortunately, there are not always answers that you will like, and you have to get over that. At some point, you have to shut down people like this, because it keeps getting worse and worse and out of hand.

rickair7777

Because you're accusing the Navy and it's people, an organization which I have devoted decades to, of committing mass murder and/or engaging in a vast criminal conspiracy the scope of which would exceed anything I can think of in this nation's history.

Because your sitting back somewhere like a troll in a cave gleefully spinning wild yarns which erode the public trust and confidence which many of us in public service work very hard to earn.

Your fallacy of an explanation of how fuel atomization applies in this case indicates that you have no relevant technical education, or you forgot it long ago. I am most certainly not ignorant of basic engineering principles, maybe I arrogant when people try to play fast and lose with those to bolster a BS conspiracy theory.

Grow the hell up 737 CA. Seriously consider if you're behaving like a responsible adult member of society and the aviation community. Frankly I haven't been this PO-ed by anything I've seen on APC in a long time. I said before I expect this kind of thing from certain sectors, but not from the likes of you.

mike734

You are far too personally invested in this Rick. Therenis no reason to be PO'd. There is nothing wrong in answering legitimate questions from credible journalists. Lies and cover ups by our government are NOT unprecedented. There is no reason to defend the NTSB or the FBI in this case. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose. I encourage you to do your own investigation and see if you can explain away all the legitimate concerns you uncover.

cardiomd

Yeah, don't feed the trolls. For some reason people get really emotional about stuff like this which makes it easier to suspend rational analysis. I'd hate to share a cockpit with somebody that took frequent trips to crazytown.

In case anybody has lesiure time, this is actually a pretty surprisingly well done synopsis about it, and has nice video regarding the flash point experiments, PETN contamination issue (was only trace findings) and multipath interference that gave the "missile ghosting" on radar.

Seconds From Disaster - S02E10 - TWA 800 - YouTube

I usually find Nat Geo stuff really fluffy so when this came out it was a nice surprise.

I remember also reading several years ago a book about it called "the spark that killed 200 people" which was also a quite well done documentation about the issues regarding the investigation (perhaps some should read this instead of talking to "federal friends").

cardiomd

If anybody is interested, here is the book, not in print anymore but still available. I just found it on my shelf.

The Spark That Killed 230 People!: The Scary Details of the NTSB's Final Report of the Crash of TWA Flight 800: How Safe is Flying?: Dirk J. Barreveld: 9780595217250: Amazon.com: Books

It is a good read, remember reading it right when the book came out, and goes through in somewhat technical detail about the evidence they got of the shorting right before the explosion. It was a really, really old 747 and subsequent inspection showed electrical arcing in other planes of the same age. All of the other theories were definitely entertained, which again is why this investigation was so fascinating for anybody interested in engineering/aviation.

HoursHore

Pretty sure the results of the manas mishap are not going to show this as the cause.

But yes the 135 did use to blow up in flight. Thankfully not since they got the new pumps.

brianb

It all depends upon who is dispensing the facts. Hey, I trust em all.

JamesNoBrakes

It's guys like you, guys like me, guys to the left of you, guys to the right of you. At some point you don't believe them, but it doesn't change the fact that most of them are just normal people like you and me.

savall

Yeah, the CNN article really didn't seem to offer anything new. Just that there were some shady things going on... I do think there was something weird about the case. Just what it is, I don't have a clue. Would be curious. I believe this is still one of the biggest investigations into an air crash to date... I'm thinking the only other ones might be Swissair and perhaps 447, but I don't know. I remember seeing a documentary on the investigation process for, oh hell, the Comet I believe, and they went so far as to submerge one in water to find its weak spot. Very neat.

N2264J

As mike pointed out, only eight years earlier the Navy shot down an Iranian airliner. They said they believed it to be an Iranian F-14 coming to attack them, an excuse
I find unacceptable to this day. The US settled and, to my knowledge, an official apology was never made.

Did U.S. Gov't Lie about TWA Flight 800 Crash? Ex-Investigators Seek Probe as New Evidence Emerges | Democracy Now!