I read with great interest Don Phillip's report about the NTSB recently
                   performing missile tests to help evaluate eyewitness data of the Flight 800
                   accident off Long Island in 1996. 

                   What manner of thorough investigation would do such experiments almost four
                   years after the event?

                   The 755 actual witnesses created such a dilemma for the official
                   investigation that it has been kept under wraps until April this year. (It
                   is still difficult to obtain copies.)   Former FBI Assistant Director
                   Kallstrom testified to a Congressional Aviation Subcommittee hearing in
                   July 1997 that there were "..over 200 witness's;".  Later that year FBI
                   Assistant Director Schiliro submitted written testimony referring to "the
                   244 witnesses".  These grossly misleading statements can be read in
                   official Congressional Hearing  Transcripts.   

                   There were 755 eyewitness accounts in the FBI files!  Yes, when the NTSB
                   finally released the witness transcripts it turned out that both the above
                   sworn testimonies were totally misleading.  And many highly placed
                   government officials had even less fear of accountability or recrimination
                   when making "unsworn" assertions about Flight 800 to the media.

                   Over 100 of the witnesses reported large flarelike objects that "streaked
                   up from the surface".  Despite having no contact with actual witnesses, the
                   CIA came up with the theory that this was a collective optical  illusion.
                   When will a Washington Post reporter do an article on all this dramatic
                   new information and its long delayed release?  

                   Mr. Phillips gave a nod to the "cottage industry" that has been generated
                   by this accident.  But it is actually not the accident, but the remarkably
                   inconsistent, secretive, highly compartmentalized and very expensive
                   official investigation that has spawned this cottage industry.  By stalling
                   for four years, and carefully spinning certain story lines to favorite
                   media contacts, the NTSB has blurred the many awkward facts and anomalies.
                   The "cottages" are full of hard-nosed  skeptics who have been watching very
                   closely for many years.

                   For those who are interested to look at other factual data that the
                   government would prefer to be forgotten, please check the web at
                   http://twa800.webjump.com/    or     Flight 800 Independent Researchers web
                   site at http://flight800.org   or read Jim Sanderson's book "Altered
                   Evidence".

                   Graeme Sephton,  
                   Professional Engineer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 

                   I also attached this letter for your convenience.
                   For your interest, the eyewitness data can be viewed at  http://twa800.com
                   the web site of  ARAP - the Association of Retired Aviation Professionals.
                   It makes remarkable reading.