Most of those who have alleged a "missile shootdown" of the 747 misinterpreted the events observed by the witnesses because they assumed [1] the Massive Fireball explosion depicted in the above animated graphic was at 13,800 feet and [2] that the fiery streak that immediately preceded it and which tracked to where it then exploded was an ascending missile.

But there is clear and compelling documented evidence that the Massive Fireball exploded much later in the sequence of events, that it exploded much lower in the sky and that the "streak" was fire in the (by then) rapidly descending wreckage of TWA Flight 800.

The key to understanding that's what the witnesses actually saw is the altitude of the Massive Fireball explosion.

In a letter to the FBI's James Kallstrom dated 28 March 1997 confirming earlier communications, the CIA stated in part as follows: [Note - the portions in bold print are supportable by eyewitness reports but the portions italicized are not and appear to have arisen out of inept and incomplete FBI "302 form" interviews, a subject that will be covered in more detail later in this review.]

[quote]
Just after the initial explosion at 8:31.07.5 PM, the aircraft pitched up abruptly and climbed several thousand feet from its cruise altitude of 13,800 feet to a maximum altitude of about 17,000 feet. This is consistent with information provided by National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing engineeers indicating that the front third of the aircraft, including the cockpit, separated from the fuselage just two to four seconds after the initial explosion. This significant sudden loss of mass from the front of the aircraft caused the rapid pitch-up.

The initial explosion was not seen by any known witnesses but the subsequent fire trailing from the aircraft was clearly visible to many of the closest eyewitnesses on the land and sea, and some of the witnesses in other aircraft. The rising, burning aircraft is consistent with what some eyewitnesses described as "an ascending, bright white light resembling a flare or firework".

Shortly after Flight 800 reach the apex of its ascent - about 15 seconds or so after the initial explosion - a SECOND explosion occurred. This explosion was clearly visible to many witnesses, and often was described as "a small fireball". It was not as loud as the initial explosion, but was clearly audible more than 10 miles away.

Following this second explosion, the aircraft went into a very steep and rapid descent, falling 2 miles and traveling horizontally almost 2 miles in less than 25 seconds. As the aircraft descended, it produced an increasingly visible fire trail. When it reached an altitude of about 1 mile - 42 seconds after the initial onboard explosion - the aircraft's left wing separated from the fuselage, releasing the unburned fuel in the left wing's fuel tanks. The fuel's subsequent ignition and burning produced a dramatic fireball visible to eyewitnesses more than 40 miles away, and detected by an infrared sensor aboard the US Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning satellite.

About 50 seconds after the initial explosion - eight seconds after the left wing detached - the aircraft and detached wing hit the water.
[end quote]

Did the Massive Fireball explosion take place after the wreckage of Flight 800 had fallen from 13,800 feet to about one mile above the surface?

Witnesses Sven Faret and Ken Wendell clearly stated in their own personally prepared detailed report [ Click Here] that the Massive Fireball explosion took place below their own flight altitude of 8500 feet.

They also stated that they then flew over to the smoke cloud it left and determined that the top of it was at 7700 feet and that the sky was clear of smoke above that altitude.

Click here for the detailed report of a New York Air National Guard helicopter pilot, Major Frederick Meyer. His own press graphic dramatizes that the destination of the fiery streak was the Massive Fireball explosion via 2 small immediately preceding explosions.

NYANG Major Frederick Meyer’s Own Press Graphic

Witness Meyer was interviewed by an NTSB Witness Team on 11 January 1997, six months after the disaster and over a year before his above personal detailed presentation. The NTSB interview was transcribed and is available for review by clicking here.

Meyer stated during the NTSB Witness Team interview, referring to his helicopter crewmates and the falltime of Massive Fireball flames to the surface: "But all 3 of us asked each other, how long do you think it talk - - - took to fall? And we all three said, about 10 seconds. And - - I mean that's just crazy, but it gives you some idea of the - - the fact that when you observe things sometimes your - - your timing mechanism is off".

Why did he later consider the estimated 10 seconds falltime to the surface of the Massive Fireball flames that he and his crewmates were in agreement about right after the disaster took place "crazy"? Because he later learned the altitude where the Initiating Event took place and realized the Massive Fireball flames could not have fallen to the surface in 10 seconds from 13,800 feet.

But what he saw did not take place anywhere near 13,000 feet. It took place at about 5500-7500 feet and it took place 30+ seconds AFTER the 747 started coming apart well over a mile higher in the sky - and about 2 miles distance horizontally.

Witness Meyer did not and could not have seen a "flak" shootdown of the airliner at 13,800 feet at 8:31:11 only 3-4 seconds before he saw the reportedly 2000 feet in diameter Massive Fireball explosion fill the sky between 5500 and 7500 feet at approximately 8:31:47. And, of course, he indicates that he and his crewmates agreed at the time that only about 10 seconds elapsed between the time the Massive Fireball exploded and the splashdown of its flames.

As in any incident, there was only ONE sequence of events and ALL of the events observed by the eyewitnesses clearly appear to have taken place below about 7700 feet. In short, there were NO "missile shootdown witnesses" and, as earlier noted, the confusion about what the witnesses actually saw arose out of the mistaken assumption that the Massive Fireball explosion took place at 13,800 feet. It didn't.

Incredibly, it appears that James Kallstrom also made that same mistake at the outset.

The timeline and location of the major events of the disaster was approximately as follows:

8:31:11 Intact and climbing 747 approaches 13,800 feet.

8:31:12 Initiating Event at 13,800 feet followed immediately by the commencement of the decapitation process.

8:31:43-8:31:47 Streak of light appears.

8:31:47 Explosion of Massive Fireball at 5500-7500 feet.

8:31:55-8:31:57 Splashdown of the Massive Fireball flames.

In short, [1] the elapsed time between the Initiating Event at 8:31:12 and the Massive Fireball explosion at about 8:31:47 was approximately 35 seconds, and [2] it appears from the witness reports that the elapsed time between the appearance of the streak of light and the Massive Fireball explosion was between a split second and about 4 seconds.

How do we know that the Massive Fireball explosion took place at approximately 8:31:47? Because the Air Traffic Control tape transcript documents that Eastwind Airline pilot David McClaine’s radio report of the MF explosion was timestamped at 8:31:50 and he reportedly later indicated his reaction time to get on the radio after seeing it was about 3 seconds. Click here for the tape transcript.

It’s appropriate to note here that an Australian member of the LSoft Flight 800 Forum calculated the size of the Massive Fireball explosion at approximately 2000 feet in diameter based upon the very detailed description of it given by witness Meyer. Also that a government satellite reportedly detected the MF explosion about one mile above the surface. It accordingly appears that the Massive Fireball explosion was indeed huge and filled the sky between about 5500 feet and about 7500 feet. A number of the witnesses indicated that two streamers of flame shot downward from the bottom of the MF whereas other witnesses said the Massive Fireball "split into 2 parts"..

NYANG Animated Graphic

Note that the Massive Fireball explosion ENGULFED the immediately preceding small explosion(s) reported by witness Meyer and dramatized in his above press graphic.

Further confirmation of the Massive Fireball altitude is in the following Airborne Witness Matrix portion of NTSB Exhibit 4-A. For a complete version of NTSB Exhibit 4-A Click Here.

NTSB Exhibit 4-A Airborne Witness Matrix

Note that the Massive Fireball altitude estimates of all the airborne witnesses who gave such estimates are compatible with the report of Faret & Wendell.

Two addendums were later added by witnesses Sven Faret & Ken Wendell to their original detailed report:

Feb 97: Addendum: Time has passed, the mystery of the downing of Flight 800 still eludes us. (probably not all of us). Until all data is evaluated, we’ll have to wait for the official facts. From an idealistic view, there is no reason to think otherwise. (what a perfect world we live in). Since Ken & Sven made this report public, we have heard many opinions on our sighting. We saw what we saw and report it as such. We have nothing to gain or loose. It has apparent that some aviation experience is required.

There is one fact that bothers us, however. No mention is ever made of the fact that the explosion was at 7500 feet! We do not dispute the fact that something happened at 13,800 feet, but what happened after that. There is 5000 feet unaccounted for.

We would like to emphasize:
We approached the black-gray smoke cloud on the west side. We were at 7700 feet and were at the top edge of the cloud. The cloud center was at 7500 feet. There were 2 small bumps atop it. There was no smoke or smoke trails above it. It was still lit up a little by the sun, clear above.

We don’t why this has never been discussed in any scenarios.

Nov. 97: Addendum: "In our opinion, the CIA presentation of what happened to flight 800 seems to be the best explanation to date. There are of course, different opinions. Ken & I agree that it's closest we'll get to an official explanation with the facts as presented." Source .

Interestingly, Faret & Wendell prepared their own detailed report because they felt their interviews at the outset by the FBI failed to include important specifics of their observations. Many of the other witnesses also considered the FBI interviews to be similarly superficial and far too brief, often only about 5 minutes - during which one of the 2 man FBI team made notes on a pocket pad.

It appears to be standard FBI procedure to use 2 man interview teams, take notes without recording the interview, and at some later time dictate their recollections and understanding of what was said while looking over the notes, the dictation sometime thereafter being transcribed onto FBI 302 forms , then returned to them for signature. As an investigator for over 50 years and a taxpayer, I consider that procedure to be outrageously unprofessional and a horrendous waste of the public’s money. The only way to properly interview witness is to record everything said.

For more on the FBI's untenable 302 form interview procedure click here.

It is always of vital importance in the investigation of major cases to promptly, competently and thoroughly interview the witnesses - and to properly document those interviews - for many reasons such as tainting. More on that and some of the other complexities of interviewing witnesses is available here.

Note: It is not routine for investigators employed by government to properly document interviews. Even the NTSB Witness Groups don't routinely do so as evidenced in the following:

David Mayer: When we conduct an interview of an eye-witness, as I said, we do so under group process. Group members would assemble with the eye-witness and each of them, as interviewed, each member would take notes what the witness reported. We would ask questions such as, what did you see, tell us about your experience. Sometimes, if we felt it was prudent, we'd ask for a tape recorder or ask a court reporter to be present at the interview. Source

James Kallstrom’s erroneous assumption on the basis of intial reports that Flight 800 may have been the victim of a missile shootdown led to the FBI being authorized to seize control of the investigation from the NTSB at the outset. He promptly elbowed aside the NTSB Witness Interview Teams, as documented in NTSB Exhibit 4-A, and substituted his own agents to interview the witnesses, ignoring the fact that the NTSB Teams were far better qualified for that role. Making matters worse, as the complaints from so many of the witnesses reflect about extremely brief and sketchy interviews, it appears he gave them orders to move fast to find the "smoking gun" of a missile shootdown that he was apparently convinced would be readily found.

Yet, he should have known within 24-72 hours that he was likely on the wrong track because of the satellite sighting of the Massive Fireball explosion "about a mile above the surface", the witness reports flooding in that the destination of fiery streak was the Massive Fireball explosion, not the 747 and the ATC tape recording documenting the time of McClaine’s radio report of the MF explosion.

Click here for the transcript of FBI whistleblower William Tobin’s sworn testimony during the much later Grassley hearing that arose out of complaints about Kallstrom’s unprofessional conduct of the investigation. It documents the mindset of a man who had his neck bowed that the airliner was a missile shootdown victim [who shortly would have gladly settled for evidence of a bomb] and ignored and quarreled with the reports of his own experts that NO evidence of a missile or bomb was turning up in the wreckage.

The end result of Mr. Kallstrom’s conduct was the expenditure of $30,000,000-$40,000,000 and a mass of mess including the untenable "explanation" video’s and graphics, vastly more complicated, expensive and time consuming civil litigation procedures for the Flight 800 Families and the defendants - made even worse because of the bureaucratic footdragging in releasing evidence, groups of fanatical people convinced that the 747 was the victim of a missile shootdown and falsely accusing thousands of innocent Americans of heinous crimes ranging from mass murder to treason - or the criminal coverup of those alleged heinous crimes.

It could have been avoided if James Kallstrom had simply followed the fundamental investigation procedure of staying OBJECTIVE and getting oriented to the locations and times of the events at the outset.

It could also have been avoided if FBI Director Louis Freeh and/or Attorney General Janet Reno had properly supervised Mr. Kallstrom's conduct of the investigation.

Sworn Testimony of FBI Chief Forensic Metallurgist William Tobin The Untenable and Unprofessional FBI "302" Interview Procedure Transcript of An Inept Interview of Witness Dwight Brumley