December 23, 1997: TWA 800 investigation - Capt. William S. Donaldson
Donaldson reveals that the flight data recorder's final line of data was physically lined out in documents distributed to media at the public hearing. When deciphered, that last second of recording shows the altimeter plunging 3,672 feet instantly, airspeed dropping from 298 to 100 knots, and the angle of attack vane swinging to 106 degrees before returning to normal within half a second. He argues these readings can only be explained by an external high-explosive detonation.
Using pressure calculations, Donaldson demonstrates that even at ten times the maximum estimated center tank pressure, the overpressure at the static port 70 feet away would measure only 0.43 PSI, far below the 1.32 PSI actually recorded. He urges listeners to contact Congressman Jimmy Duncan's aviation subcommittee demanding a full investigation.
Key Moments
FBI sequestered 96 missile-track eyewitnesses: Donaldson tells Bell the FBI has 96 eyewitnesses who saw something leave the surface, climb out, and intercept Flight 800, and refuses to release their names - citing potential criminal prosecution even though the official position is that no criminal act occurred. He cites Richard Goss, who saw the object turn hard left and detonate; the two FBI agents who interviewed Goss reportedly ran back to headquarters excited and were never seen again.
Donaldson exposes the NTSB fuel tank temperature gap: Donaldson dismantles the NTSB's center-tank flight test: their chartered Evergreen 747 took off at 88-93°F ambient, getting the tank to 118°F on the ground and only down to about 111°F at 14,000 feet - barely flammable. TWA 800 took off at 71°F, a 17-degree-cooler day, meaning its tank was likely 25 degrees cooler than the NTSB test that 'barely made it into the flammable explosive zone.'
The lined-out last line of the flight data recorder: Donaldson and former TWA captain Howard Mann found that the NTSB literally drew a line through the final data block on the FDR printout handed to reporters at the Baltimore hearing - labeling it 'end of flight 800 data.' At time hack 8:31:12, altitude jumps from 13,799 feet down into the 10,000-foot range, airspeed drops from 298 knots to 100 knots in one second, and the angle-of-attack vane swings from 3 degrees to 106 degrees, then back to 30 and 3 over the next half second.
1.32 PSI overpressure - the external-explosion calculation: Donaldson runs the explosive-pressure equations: the FDR's altitude jump corresponds to roughly 1.32 PSI of real overpressure on the static port. Even assuming 600 PSI inside the center tank - ten times the NTSB's stated maximum - only 0.43 PSI would reach the static port 70 feet up the fuselage. The recorded pressure can only have come from outside the aircraft.
Wing-routed wiring couldn't have survived a center-tank blast: Donaldson points out the FDR is powered through generators on the engines, with wiring routed directly past the center wing tank. If the center tank had detonated first, that wiring would have been destroyed before the final data block could record. The fact that the last line exists - and shows the angle-of-attack vane returning to normal a half second after the event - proves the center tank was not the originating explosion.