0031:50 BBE507 we just saw an explosion out here stinger bee five oh seven
That's approximately 39 seconds after the initiating event at 13,800 feet at 0031:12 and raises the obvious questions of whether McClaine was so startled by the explosion that he delayed getting on his radio for that 39 SECONDS or that the huge explosion he saw took place LONG AFTER the initiating event took place at 0031:12 and FAR LOWER in the sky than 13,800 feet.
You state that you and McClaine "spoke on three occasions always face to face, and one of the three conversations lasted for over an hour". Assuming that your questioning of McClaine was competent and appropriately documented, please include a copy of those "face to face" interviews with your reply.
In his witness statement he says "I immediately called BOS ATC and reported an inflight explosion out over the water, I stated this twice but didn’t get an immediate reply." Three years later during his interview with the NTSB he says 10 seconds. That actually corresponds pretty well with the investigation timeline for when the wings separated and created a giant fireball. He also states he saw no explosion after that one. That would indicate he only saw the final explosion which I believe happened within 10 seconds of his radio call to Boston. It certainly doesn't make sense if what he was reporting was the initial event.
Conversation with TWA 800 WitnessML/NJOn Tuesday evening, Dec 30 I had an opportunity to speak with TWA 800 witness, David McClaine, for about an hour. McClaine is a captain with a small airline - Eastwind - that flies in and out of Trenton, NJ's Mercer County Airport. My own, private pilot, experience with Mercer County Airport was such that I never gave a thought to its having commercial traffic. Last summer I was surprised to see an airline crew check into the hotel that I stay at in the course of my regular business near Trenton, and wondering why such a crew would be staying so far from Newark or Philadelphia, I inquired. That was the first time I had ever heard of Eastwind Airlines.
The next time I encountered the name was on Shoemaker's web page reading about witness David McClaine. Sometime later I encountered an Eastwind crewmember in the hotel lobby, and asked if he knew McClaine. Not only did he know him, but he said McClaine was part of the crew, and they were all going to be meeting a half hour later in the lobby. He said he would introduce me. McClaine was friendly and suggested that we talk another time when he didn't have to rush off to the airport. After one postponement, that time came on Tuesday evening.
On July 17, 1996, McClaine was pilot-in-command of an Eastwind flight that was IFR from Boston to Trenton. He was level at 17000, after leaving 19000, east of the accident site. He would be descending again soon and was looking for a more direct route to Trenton. ATC told him that he couldn't get that more direct routing because of traffic out of JFK. The night was clear and he could see that traffic climbing out from JFK. (I'm estimating 80 - 100 miles distant, which seems like a lot.) It had an oddly bright yellowish landing light on as it climbed. This was TWA 800. McClaine followed it up past 10000 feet when he flashed his own landing light as a signal to the other plane that they may have forgotten to turn off their landing light. Shortly afterwards, he saw the plane burst into two sections of flame, and fall to the ocean. (I asked him later whether he had spoken to any other witnesses, and he said, "only my co-pilot. But he only saw the fireball." Apparently, while McClaine's attention was focused upon the "unusual" landing light, his co-pilot's gaze was downward toward paperwork associated with landing - e.g. checklists, approach plates. From this I have inferred that whatever was unusual about that landing light, was not so unusual as to have McClaine say to his co-pilot, "Hey, look at that.") There was no significant talk on the frequency he was monitoring (Boston Center. TWA 800 was on the same frequency.) until after the explosion.
McClaine's attention was focused upon that light which turned into a fireball for "a couple of minutes." THIS IS SIGNIFICANT. Remember that the Eastwind plane was level at 17000, and TWA 800's last reported altitude was 13700. The FBI/CIA cartoon has the fireball gaining approximately 4000 feet which WOULD HAVE PUT IT ABOVE THE EASTWIND PLANE. I believe that Capt. McClaine is almost certainly the person best placed to report whether TWA 800 climbed after it was on fire, so I asked him if he saw the fireball climb AT ALL. He responded with a quiet, emphatic, "Noooohw!" He reported, "It went straight down."
McClaine was interviewed the next day (or very soon after the accident) by the FBI. The FBI pressed =him= about a missile! Did he see anything rise to the plane, etc? (Except for this) He has not been pressed by anyone to remember things he did not see, nor has he been asked not to speak about what he saw. He is convinced that the light he saw was "on the plane." He did not see any vapor trails or anything else that made him suspect a missile was involved. He seems to think that structural failure or some Fuel Tank catastrophe is the most likely explanation. He expressed doubt that a missile firing accident could be covered up. But he is clearly uncomfortable with the "investigation." No one from the NTSB ever contacted him; and of course, the CIA's "animators" never consulted with him either. (Regarding the unlikelihood of a successful cover-up, I first mentioned the Gulf Of Tonkin incident with only slight effect, but when I mentioned the Liberty incident he definitely started to rethink. Apparently McClaine knows someone who was on the Liberty.)
McClaine did not see cockpit separate or fall. He says that it was sufficiently dark that the only visual contact he had with TWA 800 was with light it generated. Unlike some others, he said the visibility was excellent, and did not preclude him from seeing low, distant, opposite direction traffic, nor did it preclude him from seeing the flaming wreckage fall to the ocean. I asked him about the haze layer some others have mentioned, and he said his visibility was essentially unrestricted. As I mentioned above, he saw two separate fireballs fall and even, though he didn't see the physical wings, he assumed that these fireballs were the wings having separated from the fuselage. He flew by the wreckage just after it hit the ocean.
I had a copy of the page from the NTSB report with the final seconds' FDR data that I showed to McClaine. I was particularly interested in his opinion about the Engine Pressure Ratio asymmetry. He said that the 2.4 readings were "very high" for the engines he had experience with but that he knew nothing about 747's. He was not impressed by last iteration of NTSB data. He thinks that it is most likely evidence of the sensors going south.
McClaine said that he hasn't followed the crash aftermath very closely. He has been contacted by a few reporters, and that's it.