NTSB urged to reopen review of TWA Flight 800 crash

• Former investigators want NTSB to reopen review of what brought plane down in 1996
• Documentary suggests missiles brought down plane
• NTSB spent four years investigating crash and found no evidence to support missile theory

Former crash investigators are urging the National Transportation Safety Board to reopen the review of what brought down TWA Flight 800 in a fireball in 1996.

Former investigators from the NTSB, TWA and Air Line Pilots Association suggest in a documentary that missiles caused the plane to explode near Long Island and kill 230 people aboard. The plane was flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris.

But the NTSB spent four years investigating the crash and rejected the possibility of a missile. The board found that the plane's center fuel tank exploded, "most likely" from a short circuit that jolted the tank through wiring from a fuel gauge.

"The in-flight breakup of TWA flight 800 was not initiated by a bomb or a missile strike," the board concluded in its report.

The documentary will air on EPIX cable channel on July 17, the anniversary of the crash.

In the film, former investigators Hank Hughes from the NTSB, Bob Young from TWA and Jim Speer from the Air Line Pilots Association call on NTSB to reopen the investigation because of suspicions that missiles sparked the explosion.

Speer, a former Air Force pilot, said Wednesday an initial test found explosive residue on a part of the right wing, which was retested without him present and the first result declared a false positive. He also found holes in the piece that he said indicated an explosion outside the plane.

Hughes said Wednesday that information about physical evidence from the crash was "manipulated" and is "a cause for grave concern."

Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom, who headed the criminal investigation into the crash, told CNN that the new accusations hurt the families of the victims.

"I think it's preposterous," he told CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper. "You know, if they felt that way back then, they could have come to me."

Hundreds of witnesses on shore stepped forward after the crash, including 258 who said they saw a flare or rocket or "streak of light" heading from the ocean toward the plane, according to the NTSB report.

"We went back to many of these people and found them to be very credible," Hughes said of the documentary.

But the safety board found that many of the shore witnesses were vague or imprecise in their descriptions. The board cited research that human memory is often subject to error, and that recollections can change over time.

The board found 196 small holes in the plane's structure, but only 25 were from a high-velocity penetration. Of those, 23 were traced to the center fuel tank and the remaining two came from different directions and didn't come from outside the plane, according to the NTSB report.

Meanwhile, the safety board documented 25 incidents from 1959 to 2000 where military and civilian planes' fuel tanks explode or catch fire.

The board concluded that the plane's explosion "was initiated by a fuel/air explosion" in the center fuel tank. The spark "could not be determined with certainty," but was "most likely" a short circuit that sent excessive voltage through wiring from the fuel gauge.

James Kreindler, a Manhattan lawyer specializing in aviation accident litigation whose firm represented families of about 130 Flight 800 victims, said Wednesday that he was "100% convinced" it was a center wing fuel tank explosion that brought the plane down, as the government investigation determined.

Kreindler said his firm's investigation centered on the likelihood that the plane's scavenger pump — which was never recovered — triggered the blast. He said the NTSB was more focused on the fuel lines but had not ruled out the scavenger pump.

Kelly Nantel, a board spokeswoman, said investigators will review a formal petition that documentary participants submitted Wednesday for any new evidence about the crash. Petitions are typically reviewed within 60 days, and Nantel said the five-member board would vote on any reply.

"The TWA Flight 800 investigation lasted four years and remains one of the NTSB's most detailed investigations," she said.

Contributing: The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y.