Shoulder-fired missile launcher found near a Kenyan runway (11/02).

Two missiles launched at an Israeli charter flight in Kenya rekindle suspicions from 1996 and TWA Flight 800. Witness reports from both incidents are similar.

Ali Saidi (Kenya, 2002): "...watched a missile streak straight toward the tail of the plane, and then another, before both veered off before exploding."[1]

Eyewitness 73 (New York, 1996): "While keeping her eyes on the aircraft, she observed a 'red streak' moving up from the ground toward the aircraft at an approximately a 45 degree angle."[2]

Witness 73 didn’t see the streak veer off. She saw it hit Flight 800, as did witness 88 and others.

Eyewitness 88 (New York, 1996): "the bright red object ran into the airplane and upon doing so both the plane and the object turned a real bright red then exploded."[2]

Similarities between eyewitness accounts of the two incidents raise questions about whether evidence unfamiliar to airline crash investigators was overlooked in the 1996 crash.

Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization (FIRO) published a brief history on the handling of Flight 800 eyewitness evidence by federal investigators. It may be viewed here: http://www.flight800.org/eye.html

FIRO also published a detailed eyewitness study, and have petitioned the NTSB to reconsider their official findings. Radar and physical evidence that support the eyewitness accounts are also presented in the petition.

Given the increased threat to commercial aircrafts to surface-to-air missiles, investigators should reconsider the findings of the Flight 800 investigation—an investigation closed without investigators ever conclusively determining the cause of the crash.

[1] http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3468284.html

[2] Names redacted by FBI http://www.ntsb.gov/events/TWA800/exhibits/Ex_4A_appB.pdf