Date: Wed, 05 Feb 1997 12:34:04 -0800

From:

To: barry@corazon.com

Subject: 747 cargo door final report

 

>From the head of the NTSB team working TWA 800:

1. He personally, even again this morning, looked at all the doors from

the airplane. All latches were either destroyed or in closed positions.

The destroyed latches were adjacent to ones in closed positions.

2. Nobody associated with the investigation is considering further

a cargo/passenger door malfunction to be part of the probable cause of

this accident. Door problems have been categorically ruled out because

there is simply no evidence pointing to the doors (and latches).

 

- So, there it is. They had already looked at the doors (so I still have

faith in the system) and they looked at it further and replied back basing

their answer on the actual evidence in hand. It may not be the answer

you were looking for, but I believe that you were looking for the attention

to the possible problem and not a particular answer o that problem. And

you accomplished that.

Five weeks later the NSTB contradicted itself:

"NTSB investigators have suggested unofficially that the streaks the pilot saw

could have been light reflections from the skin of the aircraft, tongues of

flame from the airliner or the forward door of the aircraft popping open, a

possibility that still intrigues investigators, the second official said." Aviation Week and Space Technology, 10 Mar 97 Page 35.


Comment This email was from a professional aircraft investigator who was able to communicate with the NTSB investigators working on site. They replied to him and he replied to me. At first blush the report of latched doors seems to rule out forward cargo door, however, there are fourteen doors on the 747, all with several latches. The forward cargo door is not mentioned. The problem of cargo door is subtle with the latch cams being unlocked while the locking sectors are locked. The door looks locked but isn't, that was the problem with UAL 811. The recovered door had the locking sectors locked but the latch cams unlocked. To say the doors are latched is too vague and incomplete. In addition, the forward cargo door was out of NSTB hands for months while it was actively examined for bomb residue by the FBI laboratory. Forward cargo door can not be ruled out with such cursory examination. The similarities with other 747 crashes was not considered. The effort of the accident investigator to contact the NSTB was appreciated and the main goal was attained, to bring to the attention of the NTSB of the possibility that the inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door in flight caused the crash of TWA 800 and others. And then it appears the NSTB was just giving brushoff and is still 'intrigued' by 'forward door popping open." There may be infighting on the investigation team with different members saying different things. The point is the door is a worthy line of investigation based upon the hard evidence.

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barry@corazon.com