that dreamed up "zoom climb" scenario and then produced a video to show how TWA800, with the forward one third of the fuselage blown clean off, climbed 3000ft trailing burning fuel which in turn "fooled" the observers on the ground into thinking they were witnessing a missile ascending into the sky from sea level, intercepting the 747 and the aircraft then exploding. Since when is it the CIA's role to participate in such a way in civilian aircrash investigations anyway?
Ray Lahr is a Graduate engineer from USC, a WWII era Navy pilot and former Air Lines Pilots Association Safety Representative as well as former United Airlines pilot. Following snips are from a letter to the Retired United Pilots Association by Ray Lahr
Months later, the FBI did release some of the witness reports, but the identities had been redacted which prevented verification. Fortunately, many of the witnesses had already spoken to the press so their stories and identities were known. Somehow, these witnesses had to be discredited. During the 17 months leading up to the first public hearing, the CIA was called in. It was the CIA that dreamed up the zoom-climb. This is quoted from the CIA briefing of the NTSB on April 30, 1999:
CIA ANALYST #1: The conclusion that the eyewitnesses were only seeing the burning aircraft was made at 10:00 p.m. at night on the 30th of December 1996.
Mr. Walters (ALPA representative): Was it really?
CIA ANALYST #1: Yes, as I was sitting behind the computer. It's -- up until then, what we're doing is trying to interpret these reports the way you are now. If it's a streak, where is the streak originating from? What external source could there be for the streak? There was a realization, having all the data laid out, that you can explain what the eyewitnesses are seeing with only the burning aircraft.
The subsequent CIA zoom-climb video animation was prepared in coordination with the FBI using data and conclusions provided by the NTSB. It portrayed the nose and cockpit being blown off of TWA800 by a fuel explosion of unknown origin. The CIA claimed that not a single eyewitness saw this initial explosion because the sound had not yet reached them (a ridiculous claim since several airborne eyewitnesses saw the initial explosion where sound was not a factor). Then, even though the sound still had not reached the ground witnesses, the CIA claimed that they looked up and saw TWA800 trailing flames in a zoom-climb from 13,800 feet to 17,000 feet. At the peak of the zoom-climb, there was a hypothetical second fuel explosion. Supposedly, this zoom-climb and second explosion is what the witnesses mistook as a missile, even though the witnesses saw the missile rising from the surface, not a point two and a half miles in the sky. One month before the first public hearing, James Kallstrom showed this CIA video on national TV, and he announced that the FBI was withdrawing from the investigation because it could find no evidence of criminality. The aviation community laughed. Still, the NTSB stuck with the story and hastily prepared its own modified versions of the CIA video which it showed at the first public hearing on December 8-12, 1997. Would you believe that not a single eyewitness was allowed to testify at either of the two NTSB public hearings, even after a group of these eyewitnesses took out a full page ad in the Washington Times asking to be heard? Unprecedented.
I don't believe the zoom-climb ever happened. Boeing provided before-and-after data to the NTSB, and it was published in the accident report. Eighty thousand pounds of nose and cockpit were blown off. This shifted the center-of-gravity far aft and generated about 6,000,000 ft-lbs of nose-up torque. The aircraft immediately pitched up and stalled. The wing probably failed right then since its center box structure had been blown apart. But using Boeing's data, I calculated that even if the wing had held together, the most it could have climbed is a few hundred feet, not the 3,200 feet claimed by the CIA. That is why I want the data and calculations that were used to produce the CIA and NTSB videos. It is against all of the principles of accident investigation to base a conclusion, such as the zoom-climb, on secret evidence, data, and calculations.
Dick Russell and I went to the second NTSB hearing. No questions were allowed from the floor. During the coffee break, we tried to question Dennis Crider, NTSB author of the zoom-climb. Dr. Bernard Loeb, NTSB Director, intervened and cut off any answers. So I wrote to Jim Hall, Chairman of the NTSB. We exchanged several letters, but still no answers. This led to my filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the CIA and NTSB. The CIA responded that it had used data and conclusions provided by the NTSB. The NTSB responded that it couldn't release the information because it was proprietary to Boeing. But Boeing had previously issued a press release saying in part, "While we provided basic aerodynamic information to assist in the CIA's analysis of the airplanes performance, we are not aware of the data that was used to develop the video". My appeal of the NTSB decision was refused, so my only recourse was a lawsuit.
http://raylahr.entryhost.com/ABOUTUS/update.htmLinks to the CIA video (Apple Quick Time format)
#1
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9711/18/twa.presser.update/pt1.35.mov#2
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9711/18/twa.presser.update/pt2.14.mov#3
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9711/18/twa.presser.update/pt3.31.movMore info at:
http://raylahr.entryhost.com/
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