November 15, 2000  

What really happened to TWA Flight 800? 

(WTNH, Nov. 14, 2000 11:20 PM) - A Connecticut woman is leading the 
fight to re-open the investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800.

Last summer, the government closed the book on the case, blaming 
mechanical error for the tragedy.

But one victim's sister Marge Gross and many others still insist a 
missile launched from a boat on the water brought down the plane.

Watch the story with News Channel 8's Andrea Stassou >>> 

According to the FBI, 98 percent of the plane was uncovered from the 
ocean, put under the microscope time after time and still there was 
no evidence of a missile.

But, Gross believes the FBI is lying to cover-up the real reason the 
plane crashed off the coast of Long Island just eleven minutes after take-off. 

"I sat at his casket before he was buried and promised him that no 
matter what it took, I would find out who did this to him," says Gross.

More than four years later, Marge Gross is still trying to fulfill 
that promise to her brother.

She's launched her own investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800 
that killed Andy Krukar and 229 others.

"I remember looking at it and thinking, even in the dark, my God, how 
could this be," says Gross.

Investigations by the FBI and the National Transportation Safety 
Board concluded that faulty wiring probably caused an explosion in 
the jet's center fuel tank.

Gross doesn't believe that.

"The longer this goes on, my whole being says this is a cover-up," 
says Gross.

The former TWA flight attendant has recruited a team of volunteer 
experts, including physicist Tom Stalcup.

"Not only is it a puzzle, but it's a mysterious puzzle," says Dr. Tom Stalcup.

Doctor Stalcup first became interested in the missile theory after 
reviewing this picture taken by an amateur photographer. The FBI 
still has the negative.

There's also the compelling testimony of 700 witnesses who watched 
the tragedy unfold before their eyes. More than 100 of them describe 
what appeared to be a streak of light or flare moving up from the 
surface into a huge fireball over the Atlantic Ocean. Now, four years 
after the crash, many say, the government's account of what happened 
that night isn't at all what they remember.

"Had I never seen what I saw that night, I wouldn't doubt the FBI and 
the NTSB," says Paul Angelides.

From the porch of his beach house on Long Island, Paul Angelides saw 
a streak of light heading up over the water. He says the flare 
appeared to come from a boat.

"Then my impression became that I was watching some sort of military 
exercise," says Angelides.

Stalcup says that based on his calculations the boat Angelides saw 
was somewhere in an area marked on a recently released radar data.

It's one of the few ships the FBI never identified.

"The closest ship to the crash, not being able to identify that ship, 
but all the other ships they can identify, seems strange to me," says 
Stalcup.

James Kallstrom led the FBI's investigation into the crash. He says 
what Angelides saw was the plane already on fire, propelled upward, 
once the plane's nose fell off.

"The plane climbed 3,000 feet or so, it was spewing flames," says Angelides. 

"I don't buy it. That air-craft was way out there, way out there. 
what I saw was way over - close to the beach, high up here," says 
Angelides.

Kallstrom calls the witness testimony "circumstantial evidence" and 
claims some witnesses have changed their stories.

"I have no idea why these people say what they say. They should take 
a hard look in the mirror and look at themselves and ask themselves 
what they're saying," says Kallstrom.

"This whole thing that the government has done is preposterous," says 
Major Fred Meyer.

For the first time, Major Fred Meyer agreed to sit down for an in-
depth interview on camera.

He was in a helicopter the night of the crash on a training mission 
for the National Guard.

"Right there, to my left-front, I saw a streak of light, red-orange 
in color, crossing the sky," says Meyers.

Based on his experiences as a pilot in Vietnam, Meyer says that what 
he saw was a military explosive. 

"When you've seen missiles fly across the sky, and I've seen a lot of 
them, you know what a missile looks like flying across the sky," says 
Kallstrom.

"It's nonsense, it's stupid. It has no basis in fact at all," says Kallstrom.

"It may be 100 years before the people know the truth about this. But 
they're going to have to kill every one of us to keep us quiet," says 
Meyers. 

"There's no way I would lie- to cover up, what? To cover up the death 
of 230 people?" says Kallstrom.

Doctor Stalcup thinks he knows friendly fire.

He points to radar data showing Navy ships moving away from the crash 
site, not toward it to help.

He visits Long Island regularly to talk with witnesses and search for 
new clues.

"What else can you do? You cannot get all these people back," says 
Dr. Stalcup.

People like Andy Krukar.

"He said 'If I die tomorrow, I'm a happy man. I have the love of my 
life'," says Gross.

Those were Krukar's parting words to his sister as he boarded the 
plane, an engagement ring in his pocket and the perfect proposal in mind.

For his sister, it's a heartbreaking question that must be answered.

Why were Krukar's hopes and dreams snatched away during the happiest 
of times?

"I won't stop until I find out," says Gross.

Gross has sent the clothes her brother wore that day to a laboratory 
to determine if there are any traces of an explosive.

She's also talking with attorneys and she plans to file a wrongful 
death lawsuit against the government.

The family of the pilot of Flight 800 has told her they want to join 
the suit, as well.
   
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