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Why the ‘TWA Flight 800’ Documentary Is Wrong

Screenshot from the documentary "TWA Flight 800"
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Key Takeaways:

  • The article critically reviews the "TWA Flight 800" documentary, which claims new evidence proves the plane was downed by one to three missiles based on eyewitness accounts and radar data.
  • The author refutes the documentary's "smoking gun" evidence, noting its brief presentation, the lack of recovered missile fragments or direct aircraft damage, and the NTSB's rebuttal of the radar analysis.
  • The author concludes that believing the missile theory requires accepting a vast conspiracy of suppressed evidence and government cover-ups, suggesting the NTSB's official report provides the actual explanation.
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I’ve watched “TWA Flight 800” — the much-hyped Epix original documentary that purports to present “new” evidence proving that a missile attack brought down the Paris-bound Boeing 747 over the Atlantic 17 years ago this month. Yesterday I interviewed Hank Hughes, a former NTSB investigator who was involved in the TWA 800 investigation. Here is why the film and Hughes are wrong.

I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but suffice it to say there’s really nothing new in the film — although the filmmakers go to great lengths to make it seem that way. The biggest surprise in the documentary is the claim that not one but as many as three missiles may have downed TWA Flight 800. According to the theory, two missiles rose from the ocean while a third object was seen over Long Island’s Patchogue Bay.

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