Investigators Deny Report of Missile Hitting TWA Jet

Both the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday labeled as inaccurate and “not supported by the evidence to date” a newspaper report pointing to a missile as the cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800 last July.

The unusual joint statement by the investigative agencies was prompted by claims published Monday in the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., that a trail of reddish residue embedded in 15 seats contains chemical elements consistent with solid missile fuel.

The paper also reported that radar tapes apparently show a projectile traveling faster than 1,500 miles an hour on a collision course with the flight seconds before the jetliner exploded, killing all 230 people on board.

Investigators said that laboratory analysis appears to identify the red residue to be a component of an adhesive material holding the seats together.

In addition, “analysis of the radar tape showing a missile hitting the plane is just not true,” said James Kallstrom, assistant director of the FBI who heads the agency’s New York field office. “We have gotten every radar expert to look at this.”

Another investigative source said the findings so far show no entry or exit holes in the plane’s fuselage that would support a missile theory.

The plane is being reassembled in a hangar on Long Island. Investigators are still probing three theories: that the jumbo jet was brought down by a bomb, a missile, or mechanical failure.

*

The Press-Enterprise report contains “numerous factual and interpretive errors,” and the “resulting conclusions are not supported by the facts to date,” the NTSB and FBI said in a two-paragraph joint statement.

Mel Opotowsky, managing editor of the Press-Enterprise, said the paper stands behind its story. As for the joint statement from the FBI and NTSB, Opotowsky said, “It is very hard to deal with claims that the facts are wrong when they don’t specify which facts they’re talking about.”

Goldman reported from New York and Malnic from Los Angeles.