Location Transport

On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.?

On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All 230 passengers were killed in this tragic accident. The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI and evidence did not indicate a criminal act. Although an investigation was conducted by two highly respected agencies, a number of alternative theories have surfaced. Many have proposed that the plane was shot down by a missile and a number of experts have come forward as witnesses. Let's say that one of the witnesses is Sam Coleman, a private pilot. In his testimony, Mr. Coleman reported seeing an "unexplained flash on the ground." He believes that this flash was a missile launch. Mr. Coleman is not alone. Former White House correspondent and ABC reporter, Pierre Salinger believed that the plane was shot down by friendly fire. But since he is a reporter and he is French, we all know that he can't be right. That said, others believe that we should just trust the results from the National Transportation Safety Board. Looking at other theories will result in chaos and we will never find a solution. Your TCO for this week asks you to find identify flaws in logic and explain your reasoning. To start off our discussion, identify the logical fallacies in what people are saying about Flight 800 and explain why you believe it is a fallacy.

Public Comments

1. If TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a missile, then the investigators should have found missile residue on the fuselage of the aircraft. I thought the final conclusion for why the aircraft crashed was a wiring issue and the center fuselage did not have any gasoline so vapors were leaking into that area and when the vapors came into contact with the worn wires, it caused some kind of a spark/explosion which brought the aircraft down. What I do not like about the friendly fire theory is why anyone would be firing a missile into that airspace when they know lots of aircraft are departing from JFK at that time. Also if the missle is not that big, then you would expect the pilot to somehow be able to recover and make an emergency landing back at JFK.