What do you believe caused the crash of TWA 800?

Question

Most of the American public seems to accept the government's official ruling that it was caused by "catastrophic mechanical failure" brought about by chafing of metal wires, which caused a spark that ignited the fuel.

But most commercial pilots and airline mechanics support the theory put forth by the late Pierre Salinger, that it was brought down by an unarmed warhead fired from the USS Wyoming during a military exercise.

The government has ruled out terrorism or an onboard bomb as causes, so those are the only two possible explanations for what happened on July 17, 1996.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Spark.  Wreckage showed no sign of penetration from outside.

Answer 2

I have this  feeling Pierre Salinger might be right (only a gut feeling). If it was the wiring, then why only that aircraft out of all the ones that flew before and during that time? A cover up is not that far fetched especially after recent history that has proven this to be possible and very so!

Answer 3

The insulation on some wires were wearing off, and this allowed a short ciruit inside the fuel tanks, which then ignited the fuel and blew the airplane up.

Answer 4

the fuselage clearly shows that the initial explosion happened inside the center tank, and also, there is no evidence whatsoever of some outside object striking the aircraft.

conspiracy theories are fun and all, but when there is abundant evidence, just drop the theories.

Answer 5

Kapton wiring in the fuel system, that form of wiring was very fragile and has since been removed from aircraft.

The shielding cracked, flexing caused a spark, the empty tank was full of fuel vapour, and the fuel tank exploded.

I am an instructor in Human Factors in Military Aviation and this crash was one of our lessons. The report and investigation was definitive. I don't know anyone in the aviation field who has qustioned this.