The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.35           October 7, 1996 
 
 
TWA Bomb Theory Is Blown Apart By Facts  

BY NANCY ROSENSTOCK

NEW YORK - Nine weeks after Trans World Airlines Flight 800 exploded in midair near Long Island's coast and plunged into the Atlantic killing all 230 people aboard, new revelations virtually put to rest the government/TWA hoax that a bomb was the cause of the crash.

The final blow to the bomb theory came September 21, when a well kept secret saw the light of day. Most big-business papers reported on that date that the Flight 800 Boeing 747 jet had been used to train a bomb-sniffing dog five weeks before it exploded. The Federal Aviation Administration organized the test on June 10 at TWA's hub in St. Louis. In the exercise, packages containing explosives were placed in the passenger cabin of the plane. These explosives are the same as those detected in microscopic quantities on two pieces of the TWA 800 wreckage lifted off the ocean floor.

This story rendered useless the only "evidence" the government and capitalist media have pointed to as proof that some "terrorist" blew the plane up with a bomb: minuscule traces of explosives discovered on the wreckage.

These facts were revealed after teams of federal investigators - complete with 100 Navy divers and sophisticated sonar equipment scouring the ocean floor every day for the past two months - have not been able to fish any evidence supporting the theory of a terrorist bombing.

The "discovery" ruffed feathers among government circles. "Setback in TWA Crash Inquiry Adds Urgency to the Search for Evidence of a Bomb," said the headline in a September 22 New York Times story. "For some investigators, who are still optimistic they will find evidence that a bomb brought down the jet, the revelation of the bomb-sniffing dog amounted to a stunning setback," the article said. "When he found out about it on Friday, one investigator said the news hit him like `a punch in the gut.' "

Two days prior to the news about the bomb detecting dogs, the Times reported in a front-page article that investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) intend to do tests to show that the explosion could have been caused by a mechanical failure alone. This was announced after 70 percent of the plane had been retrieved from the ocean floor. As the Times reported, "The failure to find proof of a bombing, after more than two months, lends indirect credence to another theory, that an explosion in the Boeing 747's center fuel tank might have been sufficient to destroy the plane."

Probability of mechanical failure
While the big-business media has been peddling the government/company line that a bomb destroyed TWA Flight 800, very little attention has been given to the fact that Boeing 747 jets have a history of problems with fuel tanks. The only other time a 747 jet exploded in mid-air was in 1976. That plane was at the time owned by the Iranian military and exploded near Madrid. No cause was ever determined for this crash, but it was reported that lightening could have triggered an electrical spark from a fuel system pump.

A front-page article in the August 21 Seattle Times by the paper's aerospace reporter Byron Acohido detailed that incident. Once fuel vapors were ignited inside the wing, and after the wing skin was breached from an initial fire and explosion, the outboard engine snapped off leaving its fuse pins - fasteners designed to break if the aircraft pitched up or down too drastically - intact.

Acohido reported that the TWA Flight 800's two right engines were found separated from the right wing with the fuse pins from both engines still intact.

In the crash near Madrid in 1976, as the wing disintegrated, thousands of gallons of jet fuel spilled into the air, creating a highly combustible cloud of fuel vapor, which fed and multiplied the original explosion. In conclusion, Acohido stated that "officials have declined to say whether they are discussing the possibility of something akin to the Madrid disaster in the TWA 800 crash."

Following the 1976 crash, the FAA ordered 747 wings checked for fuel leaks. Most found leaks and the FAA ordered upgrades. But the TWA jet that crashed July 17 was owned by Iran's military and was exempt from civil aviation rules. Boeing spokesman Doug Webb would not say whether the fuel system upgrades were made once the plane was repurchased by TWA in December 1976. Just before the July 17 crash, the TWA pilots reported "an erratic fuel gauge," in a statement recorded in the jet's black box. This fact has been buried in most news stories.

In discussions this reporter had with fellow unionists at JFK Airport in New York, most workers did not buy the idea that the plane crashed as a result of a bomb. Many were suspicious of the government investigation and commented that some type of a cover-up of information is underway.

In order to bolster declining public confidence in aviation safety, and to justify government support for employer cutbacks that undermine aircraft maintenance, many airplane crashes remain "unsolved."

On Sept. 8, 1994, USAir Flight 427 crashed in Pittsburgh killing all 132 passengers and crew aboard. For a long time, the crash was not explained after the initial investigation. Now, two years later, New York Newsday reported in a small news item in its September 22 issue that "recent laboratory tests suggest dirty hydraulic fluid may have caused a rudder component to fail on the USAir flight."

The article continued, "The tests, which were suggested by an independent panel of aviation experts formed by the National Transportation Safety Board, revealed that the main hydraulic power unit in a 737's rudder can jam under certain conditions."

Nancy Rosenstock is a member of the International Association of Machinists and works for TWA at JFK Airport in New York.  
 
 
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