TWA Flight 800 Eyewitness streak explained



TWA 800 was a Boeing 747 flying at 13700 feet at 8:35 PM on July 17th. It was headed northeast. The sun was down to the observers on the ground yet the plane was in bright sunlight high up. The fuselage would appear to be a light object as the sun from the west struck the almost parallel fuselage and reflected down to observers on the ground facing east. At a certain relationship of sun, airplane, and observer, the sun reflects at such an angle that a bright light will appear on the fuselage and last for a few seconds. This bright orange flash is the start of the streak. The light source is the sun. When the cargo door went up, out, and away, taking large fuselage skin with it, the sun reflected off this metal object and bounced down to observers below. As the door and skin decelerated from 300 knots to zero knots horizontally and from zero knots vertically to about two hundred knots, it appeared as a streak to those at the proper angle and would appear as a parabola as it fell to the sea. The direction of the streak could appear to be any direction based upon the angle observed and the relative activity of the rest of the destructing aircraft. In addition, the sudden unexpected appearance and duration of the streak of just a few seconds at most would make it difficult to judge direction.

The radar anomaly of blips at TWA 800 is the primary radar returns of the door and skin spinning away erratically as it falls to the sea.

To see the TWA 800 streak source for yourself, the sun, do this: at the same time after sunset, about ten minutes, look to east at a 747 at 13700 feet and wait for glint of reflection. That is the source. It is the sun reflecting off the forward fuselage, or the aft fuselage, or the vert stab, or the winglets if it is a 747-400. I've viewed the sight many times from my vantage point underneath the heaviest 747 traffic in the world, San Fran to LA.

To be perfect, wait for July 17th, at 831 PM, ten minutes after sunset, and look to east at 747 climbs out of Kennedy on a clear evening. You will see the glint/flash that last about three seconds. If a piece of fuselage were to come loose you would see a streak as the piece decelerates from 300 knots to zero horizontally and from zero to terminal vertically.

Reference:

Longitude -73.0 Latitude 41.0 Date 1996/ 7/17

SUN:

Time of solar meridian passage 1158

Altitude at meridian passage: 70 deg.

Sunrise 0435

Sunset 1921

Length of daylight (hrs min) 1446

Beginning of civil twilight 0402

End of civil twilight 1953

Beginning of nautical twilight 0322

End of nautical twilight 2034

Times are HHMM in local standard time zone

Add one hour when daylight (summer) time in effect

Civil twilight is when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon

Nautical is 12 deg

Astronomical is 18 deg

40deg 40min North 72deg 38min West for event site, and 831PM event local time at 13700 feet heading northeast at 300 knots CAS for TWA 800 altitude, heading, and speed. Sunset local time was 8:21 PM because of daylight savings time.


Comment: It all fits. The forward cargo door opened inadvertently on TWA 800 and tore up and away and down, observed by human eyes and radar eyes as it fell to the sea. I videotaped the bright flash on the fuselage of Boeing 747s as they fly overhead my house. I am under a major jet airway from San Francisco to Los Angeles and see approximately 40 Boeing 747s fly overhead daily. The video tape clearly shows the sunset, the airplane, the start of the flash, the bright light, and the fading light as the plane flies overhead and changes the viewing angle. If the door were to depart during the short few seconds duration of the reflective sunlight, I would see a streak as the door and skin peeled away and fell to the surface.

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