The Flight 800 Investigation

TWA Flight 800 - Google Earth Project

We recently started using Google Earth as a tool to locate the events leading up to the crash of TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996. Google Earth is a fantastic tool for precisely locating the eyewitnesses and where Flight 800 was at different points in time. By overlaying the radar data onto the Google Earth (GE) map, we can see precisely where Flight 800 was in relation to the eyewitnesses. By using the altitude data provided we can see how high in the sky Flight 800 was from the perspective of each eyewitness and from eyewitnesses who were in the air. By using the "fly to" capability of GE, we can go to each eyewitness location and see what their perspective was when they saw a streak of light approaching Flight 800. GE also allows us to draw "bearing lines" from each eyewitness to specific points to see if they were looking in the right direction. The GE information bubble that appears when you double click an object allows us to provide information or a quote from the eyewitness. It also allows us to provide links to other graphic or audio and video clips.

Over the next few weeks or months I will be re-interviewing eyewitnesses and creating links in Google earth to view their perspective. The first of these witnesses was Mike Wire.

http://www.twa800.com/eyewitness/wire/mikewire-eyewitness.htm

World Net Daily did an article on the Wire interview:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49593

Other Eyewitness viewpoints

If you would like to link to the Flight 800 Google Earth Project, follow the instructions below. After you install Google Earth on your computer, these instructions will install a link the the twa800.com database that is continually updated with new information.

Here is the link for Google Earth:

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

After you install Google Earth:

To view the Flight 800 project, do the following:

1. Open Google Earth.

2. On the top menu bar, click on "ADD".

3. Then click on "Network Link".

4. Add a Name in the Name Field. Any Name such as Flight 800. This creates a folder with this name.

5. add the following link in the "Location" box:

http://twa800.com/google-earth/flight-800.kmz

This should open a network link to the Flight 800 data.

Click the triangle beside the link to expand the data.

Double Click any link to "fly" to that location.

Clicking on and off the check boxes will display or hide that information.

This is a working tool that we are using to precisely locate the events according to their radar coordinates, the witness locations and their sightlines of the tragedy.