Dear Webmaster, please forward to Mr. Jim Hall, Chairman, NTSB. Thank
you John Barry Smith
Dear Mr. Hall,
There is a plausible mechanical explanation for the crash of TWA 800. When
a nine foot by 15 foot hole appears on the side of an early model 747 accompanied
by bent and fractured floor beams, (as exactly happened to UAL Flight 811)
the logical jump can be that at 300 knots the wind force will blow out other
side of fuselage, bend nose, tear off nose, sever power cables and leave
half second loud sound of decompression on cockpit audio tape and abrupt
power loss to FDR, as exactly happened to TWA 800.
I offer as culprit the forward cargo door, a villain who has killed nine
already and has several ADs against it. My web site at http://corazon.com
has extensive documentation and pictures to support this hypothesis. Please
assign a staff member to evaluate my claim or visit the site. It all fits.
Inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door in flight brought down TWA
800 and others. Sincerely, John Barry Smith.
23 Sep 96
I have established contact via email with you before so I know you are receiving
my information have direct conversation links to so are included in this
email.
Determining the cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800 is urgent. Several
hundred of the same type of early model Boeing 747 are flying with passengers
as I type. The US government flies four E-4B and Air Force One, all modified
Boeing 747-200s. All those 747s are at risk from a cause officially unknown
at this time.
I know the cause. It is the inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door
in flight. This cause is documented at my website <http://www.corazon.com>
with over 50 megabytes of data extracted from four government accident reports,
news articles and based on thirty five years of flying experience.
You have sent me emails regarding this possible cause. Your replies would
be adequate from a layman who has a passing interest in plane crashes but
totally unsatisfactory from aviation career professionals or investigative
journalists.
Let's go through them, it shan't take long.
"From e on 29 July 96:
Be assured that we are checking that. I was the investigator in charge of
the UAL flight 811 case and fully knowledgeable in its causes and factors.
Thanks for the interest.
----------
From: barry
Subject: TWA crash cause ATTN Robert Francis
Date: Sunday, July 28, 1996 9:58AM
Mr. Francis. The reasonable cause of the TWA crash is the inadvertent
opening of the forward cargo door. That is the mechanical cause that must
be ruled out. Compare to United Flight 811 of Feb 1989."
end email.
Wel I am not assured you are checking that, in fact, I am quite unassured
you are not checking that.
Another email:
"From:
To: barry <barry@corazon.com>
Subject: RE: TWA crash cause
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 11:39:00 -0400
Encoding: 13 TEXT
Status:
I have examined the cargo door from twa 800--it is locked and latched!"
end email.
there are three cargo doors on 800, you never replied to my question of
which one; did you check?
an email
"Mr. Smith, thank you for your message concerning the TWA 800 crash
investigation. We have recovered many of the door/hatch/access
panel/windows from the sea floor and none of them indicate that they came
off the aircraft prior to the event which lead to the crash. In
addition, both the CVR and the FDR do not have any information that
indicates any of the above things departed the aircraft prior to the
event. A depressurization event most certainly would have been noted by
the crew and recorded on the CVR. We will continue to look for any
indications leading to the source of the event and definitely pay
attention to items memtioned in your letter.
Thank you for your interest in aviation safety."
end email.
thank you for your imterest in aviation safety. Spelling error indicates
you never proof read your email and two verb tense errors indicate you may
not know better. And yes, the crew would have noticed depressurization event
when their eardrums blew out. Did you check their bodies for baro-trauma?
And yes, the event was recorded on the CVR as short loud sound.
email from
"Speculation like this is fascinating, but it has no place in responsible
reporting. As a journalist, I have to grit my teeth and wait until
sufficient hard data is available to draw a conclusion."
end email.
Like another mystery crash and 300 more dead to add to the 838 dead and
four crashes already, before sufficient hard data is available to draw a
conclusion?
an ezine comment:
"This one could find its way onto "The X-files." Speculation
that an
errant missile launched by a U.S. warship or aircraft downed TWA 800
abounds in cyberspace; ditto theories purporting that a baggage door
came open in-flight, or that ET did it -- actually, that a meteorite
pierced the plane. Of course, it's all being covered up by the
government, many say."
end excerpt.
Between a missile and an alien fits the cargo door; birds that fly together
flock together, weirdos love company.
an excerpt from print article,
"Smith, who said he has been "sensitive" to doors since his
finger was slammed in a car door when he was 5-years old, has contacted
the White House, FBI, FAA, Air Force, NTSB, and airline insurance companies
to alert them to his view of the problem."
end excerpt.
Well, I knew that when the questions referred to my smashed finger and ignored
800 dead persons, this was not a serious interview, and I never said "coverup."
an email
"I agree your thesis is plausible."
end excerpt of email.
What? What? Plausible? And then asked reasonable, relevant, and probing
questions regarding that thesis. Hope lives!
an email from
"This is one of the most cogent malfunction scenarios I have
encountered so far, especially since the detail reported by
REUTERS, the NY Times and others on 30 Jul 96 that a cargo door
fell into the sea well ahead of the fuselage and the decapitated
cabin of TW800."
Ah! Articulate reasoning!
Yes, gentlemen and lady, hope lives that reason, logic, and clear thinking
will prevail and the truth of the cargo door will emerge, one way or the
other.
See, if I'm wrong, and I could be wrong about the cargo door cause, no one
dies. If you are wrong, someone dies. And will, the clock is ticking.
The time between Pan Am 103 and UAL 811 was 65 days. The time between uncommanded
door opening of UAL preflight and TWA 800 was almost five years. It's been
77 days since TWA 800 and counting as I type this.
I'm assuming you know about the uncommanded cargo door opening of June 13,
1991, on a UAL preflight where the cargo door started to open by itself
and the ground crew could not stop it until the circuit breakers were pulled
in the cockpit? Put that on the list of times the door opened when it shouldn't.
The list includes that one plus Pan Am 125, UAL 811, Air India 182, Pan
Am 103, and TWA 800.
Well, maybe you don't know about it. I'm assuming that government officials
assigned to investigate one of the more serious accidents to occur in the
country's history are well qualified by education, experience, and demeanor.
But I could be wrong. The evidence as shown by correspondence is of inarticulate,
incoherent bumblers who don't have any focus on what they are doing. At
best the response to detailed and reasonable documented evidence about the
accident cause presented by an informed citizen responding to a public appeal
for help has been a vague brush off. I am left with the impression that
the priority of government investigators is not the urgent mystery solution
but figuring out how to get on the next boondoggle flight to London, or
Paris, or Athens. What is the per diem in Paris, anyway, must be a bunch.
The press, ah, the press. Gives me chills to think of the First Amendment.
And stomach cramps to realize what that means in reality. It means that
the press is now a shill to government press releases and a copy machine
for TV sound bites and photo ops.
I'm assuming that press and radio reporters are interested in their subject,
curious, and feel satisfaction when presenting all aspects of an issue.
But I could be wrong. The evidence as shown by correspondence and several
articles is of meek, narrow minded, uninformed sensationalists. (With one
exception yet to be fully tested and one still on the fence.) I am left
with the impression of reporters who look at computer screens and cut and
paste what other reporters have cut and pasted from manufacturer and government
pufferies. As soon as an original idea passes into your consciousness you
cut and run. Safer on the fence, in the cave, don't commit.
You are not doing your job, gentlemen and lady. You are failing. You are
betraying your professions. You are living a lie.
You have had your asses kissed so often you think your shit don't stink.
The proof is that today, this minute, the cause of the crash of TWA 800
is officially unknown. The proof is that today, the only explanation given
any depth of investigation in the papers, ezines, TV, and radio is bomb,
bomb, bomb.
One focus, one failure, and that's it. 77 days and 7 million dollars and
what do you have? Another day older and deeper in debt.
OK, let's sit down and have a meeting now that the pleasantries are over.
It's a round table. My name is John Barry Smith. We've all flown supersonic
in combat, ejected from flaming jet aircraft, landed on pitching carrier
decks at night, flown passengers for hire, written aviation articles for
pay, and constructed extensive web sites on the internet, haven't we? Oh,
we haven't? Am I the only one to have done all those things? Well, then
I guess I will open the meeting.
I've discovered something. I didn't invent it. Through hindsight and the
internet I've discovered a link to several Boeing 747 crashes over a period
of eleven years. It is the inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door
inflight. It is a common type of mechanical malfunction. It has happened
before on this type aircraft. The event is well documented on cockpit tapes
and data recorders. The consequences of the event are clearly shown on wreckage.
The event has been seen visually, tracked on radar, heard on audio tapes,
felt by engines and passengers bodies, and thought about by many people.
It is a mystery no more. The cause of the crashes of Air India 182, Pan
103, UAL 811, and TWA 800 was the forward cargo door opening outward when
it shouldn't, tearing off skin forming nine foot by 15 foot gash in the
side of the nose of the early model Boeing 747 allowing a 300 knot airstream
to flow into the fractured and broken floor beam compartments and snapping
off the nose leaving a short loud sound of explosive decompression on the
audio tape, abrupt power loss to data recorder, fodding of number three
engine, and at least nine missing bodies.
After we get over the mental hurdle of the cargo door causing the crashes,
the next mystery is why do the doors open inadvertently. There are twelve
possible reasons and many more to be discovered. That is the proper focus,
why do doors open?
But back to the cargo door cause. What is it that makes you reluctant to
consider the door as culprit? Too ordinary? Not exciting enough?
I think of a musical hook in a song...what can be the hook for the cargo
door theory. It is not enough to discover a great truth, but it must be
presented in a persuasive manner.
The O rings were put into a glass of ice water to show brittleness.
I can use a soda can as a pressurized hull. If the integrity of the can/hull
is not cracked, it is impossible to open can/hull by pressing down with
fingers/wind on round drink opening. But when cracked by tab lever/open
door, the soda/baggage spews out into face/engine 3. Then the cracked drink
hole/nose can be easily pushed open by finger/airstream.
You are not plumbers who know not the force of 300 knot slipstream. You
are not a movie viewer who watches Arnold Schwartzenegger in movie "Erasers"
holds on to the outside of a flying jet passenger airplane with his bare
hands and believes it. You know that 300 knots of slipstream is twice as
much force as any natural force on earth, twice as powerful as the recent
hurricane Fran that tore roofs off and leveled houses. And they were sealed
up.
You are not the car driver who hears baggage door and thinks car trunk.
You know that a forward cargo door of a Boeing 747 is huge, eight feet by
nine feet, and when that poorly designed door opens outward into the 300
knot slipstream it gets torn up and away leaving an even larger nine foot
by fifteen foot hole in the nose. When the combination of the large hole
and forceful air come together, the nose gets snapped off in an instant.
The picture of UAL 811 with the huge gash in the nose after it landed may
be the hook for you, but not for me. For me the connecting event which ties
it all together is the .6 second loud sound on the cockpit voice recorders.
This is the link inside the links.
It started with the DC-10 cargo door explosive decompression event recorded
on tape. That short loud sound matched the short loud sound on the cockpit
tape of Air India 182. The short loud sound on the tape of Pan Am 103 and
TWA 800 are similar also. The loud sound does not have the short rise time
of a bomb explosion. The sound is followed by an abrupt power loss. The
sound is explained by acoustic experts as describing a structural breakup
or explosive decompression.
Structural breakup or explosive decompression is what happens when the forward
cargo door comes off in flight based upon the events of UAL 811.
Once the link of the short sound and abrupt power loss connects AI 182,
Pan Am 103, and TWA 800, then the similarities of the consequences match
UAL 811 which is a confirmed, explained forward cargo door opening in flight
with fodded engines, missing bodies, wreckage patterns, radar blips, and
breakup locations.
What else is there, gentlemen, before you start a vigorous investigation?
Can you overcome the horror of falling down into the abyss of killing men
woman and children by incorrectly giving accident cause of Air India 182,
Pan Am 103 and maybe TWA 800 as bombs? Are you afraid of the dominoes falling
on you as the cargo door cause ripples out to Boeing, FAA, DOT, the President,
NTSB, FBI, and the airlines?
Maybe you are and maybe you shouldn't be. The government system gives you
protection to defend you against that fear. The NTSB is an independent board
aloof from political influence. The press is protected by the First Amendment
which allows conjecture, speculation, and hypothesizing without fear of
censorship.
The two institutions you represent, the press and independent boards, are
acting as if the police were standing outside your offices with handcuffs.
And that's why it is always the guy in the converted garage, me, who finds
out all this interesting neat stuff first, before the guys who are supposed
to find it first and tell all these rest of us about it.
Facts, facts, facts. My hypothesis, which is documented by facts, is never
rebutted by facts but by attacking the messenger. Hey, easy target, this
messenger is telling you unpleasant truths, not the pleasant lies you are
used to. The type of messenger who tells unpleasant truths, me, is not the
kind of guy you like and want to be friends with. So what? You're not gonna
like me anymore? You never liked me, so what? Cargo doors don't fall in
love and they don't read Airworthiness Directives.
I assume you know about AD 88-12-04 ("To Insure That Inadvertent Opening
Of The Lower Cargo Door Will Not Occur In Flight,") issued on May 13,
1988? And (AD) ADT 89-05-54 which superseded AD 88-12-04?
Ah, the cargo door, protected by friends in high places, Boeing; convicted
of killing nine in UAL 811, suspected as culprit in AI 182, ignored as suspect
in Pan Am 103, and idly mentioned in TWA 800 although the villain was on
the scene of the crime, as stated by investigators, forward of the wing
on the right side, and left first.
The invisible suspect: A great big hunk of malfunctioning piece of aluminum
complex mechanical system that happens to be right there at the scenes of
destruction of similar model aircraft, forward cargo hold Air India 182,
forward cargo hold Pan Am 103, forward cargo hold TWA 800.
Well, let's us the word coverup here as a word to consider. I reject the
word. I believe from day one there is no coverup, no plot, and no conspiracy
to protect the killer from identification.
The reason the obvious suspect has not been fully investigated is blind
self interest by the detectives and fear of their supervisors who definitely
do not want the suspect named. The President of the United States, the boss
of all of us has stated, "These terrorist acts..." referring to
the Olympic village bombing and the crash of TWA 800. He thinks it's not
a cargo door. He thinks it's a bomb; who are we to disagree with a person
who holds our lives in his hands?
Well, I do. Mr. Clinton is not a pilot, he's not a sound expert, he's never
crashed in a plane, he's never stuck his hand out into a fast moving slipstream
while flying, and he's not an avionics technician. Well, I am, and I disagree
that it was a terrorist act. It was not a bomb or missile or alien. It was
the inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door in flight. Of course the
President does not want a cargo door fault, he's a politician and this cargo
door cause is trouble politically. Well, too bad, that's his problem and
his job to solve it. My problem is to find out why TWA 800 crashed and I
solved it.
You can too. This is how. Go to the website at http://corazon.com and review
the literature. I've just added about thirty pages from the Canadian and
Indian accident report of Air India Flight 182. The documentation for the
description of the short sound as explosive decompression and not bomb sound
is there on page 23.
Obtain the thick official accident reports from the governments of US, Canada,
India, and UK.
http://www.open.gov.uk/aaib/aaibhome.htm will lead you to 103.
http://bst-tsb.gc.ca/english.html will lead you to 182
http://www.ntsb.gov/ will lead you to 811
I encourage the NTSB to put technical data of the 800 crash on the TWA 800
link on the NTSB homepage; things like engine breakdown info, wreckage plot
of items found, cvr and fdr tape printouts.
Compare all the many similarities in the reports to all the crashes: loud
sound, type model A/C, fod, wreckage, passenger injuries, missing bodies,
abrupt power loss, crew activity, destruction datum, and many many more,
some trivial and some possibly significant. The crashes of UAL 811, AI 182,
PA 103, and TWA 800 are inextricably linked together by many clues and one
event, the inadvertent opening of the forward cargo door in flight.
Get to where I am on the mental ledge to the peak of understanding these
crashes, the door openings are causing the crashes but why do the doors
open when they shouldn't? Could be bomb, could be cargo shift, could be
transient electronic interference to door motor, could be nine other possibilities
and I want to hear more.
Review, investigate, think, write, discuss, conclude, commit. Get to it.
See, gentlemen and lady, if I am wrong, I am the bad person and I'm sorry.
If you are wrong, people die, you are the bad persons and sorry doesn't
help. You have to prove me wrong. You can not ignore cargo door as possibility.
Rule the door out. Prove me wrong. Do not ignore. Respond. Interact. Now.
Any questions? Meeting adjourned until next time.
John Barry Smith, Amateur Sleuth
To re-create streak, charter C-130, take up some old cargo doors, open back
cargo door (the way cargo doors should be), determine time that would match
sun angle from July 17 to present time, get to 13700 feet, up to 300 knots,
toss out door, make another pass toss out door, ask witnesses on ground
if they saw streak. I say yes. John Barry Smith
John Barry Smith here waiting patiently in line for my theory to be considered
as a cause for TWA 800. I've watched as bomb came and went, missile came
and went, fuel center tank came and went, and now toying around with unexplained.
Is it my turn yet? The cargo door theory? Well, there is no conspiracy,
no coverup, no plot to conceal the truth of the cause of TWA 800, it's just
a matter of time, of waiting my turn. Is it the cargo door turn yet? Please
call me when it is. I know you will leave no stone unturned in your pursuit
of the true cause of that crash.
How about pilot error? I personally believe not but it must be considered
and ruled out because it is the number one cause of all aircraft accidents.
Can a pilot crash a 747? Of course by flying straight down to the ground.
Can a pilot crash a 747 and leave the clues left by TWA 800? Radar blips,
short loud sound, fodded engine, abrupt power loss, nose torn off, and streak?
I say no but let's look. Let's say a pilot jammed full left rudder, pulled
the stick all the way aft, gave full right wing down on yoke, and then pulled
power all the way back to idle. Plane yaws left, goes nose up, right wing
down, stalls, spins, crashes but not in .6 second of loud sound on tape
and abrupt power loss on flight data recorder with nothing unusual before
that. So, I say that after consideration there is no way a pilot or flight
crew member can cause a 747 to destroy itself within the evidence constraints
of TWA 800. The cargo door can.
The mechanical malfunction that you have been saying for two months is the
right answer. You have the right answer. Cargo door. Pictures on web site
www.corazon.com from your report, NTSB on UAL 811 show it all.
Let the cargo door have its turn in the spotlight. Offer it up for consideration
as a plausible mechanical explanation for TWA 800.
I have been reading about another theorist about the cause and he said he
had a vicious exchange with NTSB investigators. Well, that's not right.
I was wrong also. I couldn't help it. If you believed you knew the cause
of airplane crashes and the cause was still there and could happen any minute,
then you would be impatient too.
So, I am patient, is it cargo door turn yet?
FBI said bomb, you said maybe mechanical and you are right. You have always
been right. It is mechanical and specifically, the door closing and opening
mechanism on the forward cargo door.
I await the cargo door turn for investigation. Sincerely, John Barry Smith
What is going on here? The Justice Department is now making decisions about
TWA 800? And she's right! How about a nine foot by 15 foot hole could cause
a crash...and did...when the forward cargo door opened in flight. Is the
cargo door turn yet to be investigated? Is bomb done, and missile done,
and unexplained done, and center fuel tank done? Time for the obvious yet?
John Barry Smith
>WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Investigators may dredge the Atlantic Ocean floor
for more wreckage of TWA Flight 800 in an effort to learn what caused the
plane
>to crash, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick said Thursday.
>
>"We are considering dredging," she told the weekly Justice
Department news conference when asked about the investigation into the July
17 explosion of the
>Paris-bound jetliner shortly after takeoff from Kennedy International
Airport.
>
>"Even a small hole in the plane could cause the crash...and it
is for that reason that recovery of as much of the plane -- wreckage --
as possible is necessary,"
>Gorelick said. She added that it could be an eight-inch or 10-inch hole.
>"It's looking more and more like mechanical failure because of
the lack of other evidence," said one senior law enforcement official.
"It's important to
> understand that the NTSB is not just chanting a mantra when they say
they are looking into mechanical causes."
Mantra, cargo door, cargo door, cargo door...
Mechanical causes is plural, fuel tank explosion is singular, what other
mechanical causes are you looking into? A nine foot by 15 foot hole in side
of nose at 300 knots? Called the cargo door theory?
Well, still waiting patiently in line for cargo door theory turn.
I got the following off your web site...
>
>The Safety Board conducts an accident investigation in a public environment.
For a major accident, press briefings are held on scene in the days immediately
>following the accident. A public docket containing factual information
about the accident is available within a few months. Usually within a year,
the Board
>Members will review a draft of the accident report in a public meeting
at Safety Board headquarters in Washington, D.C. Soon after the meeting,
the Board's
>Public Affairs Office issues an abstract containing the Board's conclusions,
probable cause statement, and safety recommendations from the accident
>report. The final report of a major accident is subsequently printed
for public distribution.
Looking forward to the public docket and public meeting in DC. Do you take
questions from the floor, like cargo door cause? Check it out, that's all
the request is and will be. Check it out. John Barry Smith
Comment:
Contents
barry@corazon.com