Dear Mr. Hall,                                                     27 September, 2000 

Now that the official NTSB investigation has come to a close, I would like to request that the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals (ARAP) be allowed access to the Flight 800 wreckage located at Calverton, Long Island.  

As you may be aware, ARAP's members include numerous distinguished aviation professionals including Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Our members would like the opportunity to review the wreckage to better understand how the NTSB arrived at its conclusions in this case and to see if ARAP can provide the NTSB with any further recommendations to help improve flight safety.

It is my understanding that you have preserved the wreckage at Calverton so that it could be used as a teaching tool for air safety professionals to learn how to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.  Since that is ARAPs goal as well, I am sure that our request will not present any difficulty to the NTSB and should be able to be accomplished expeditiously. 

We would like to view the wreckage sometime in the month of November 2000 on a date that is convenient to the NTSB.  I would ask that you propose as many three-day periods as are reasonable during that month and we will then pick the best date and forward it and our members as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Cmdr. William S. Donaldson, USN ret.       
ARAP Investigations