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Newsday
Fax Gives Glimpse of Crash Investigation
By W. Michael Pitcher

Official documents faxed mistakenly to a Riverhead resident recently show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation two months ago was investigating whether pieces of debris found among the wreckage of TWA Fight 800 were the remnants of an aerial target drone used by the U.S. Navy and other armed services training exercises. The FBI apparently has since determined that the wreckage was not from the aerial target.

The information came to light after a fax meant for the FBI’s facility in Calverton was sent to Riverhead resident Dede Muma, who forwarded a copy of the fax to this newspaper.

The Calverton FBI facility was established to investigate the July 17, 1996 crash of the Boeing 747 off Moriches Inlet that killed all 230 people on board.

The fax was meant to be sent from an employee at Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical to his superior, who was on assignment at the Calverton FBI facility. The fax shows a diagram of what appears to be a missile, along with a breakdown of its tail section and a parts list. The fax was sent by Teledyne employee Erich Hittinger to Walt Hamilton of Teledyne, via FBI agent Ken Maxwell. Teledyne is based in San Diego and, among other things, manufactures armaments.

The object shown in the fax was identified this week by Jane’s Information Services in Alexandria, Virginia as a Teledyne Ryan BQM-34 Firebee I, an air or surface-launched recoverable aerial target. The Firebee has a wing span of 13 feet, and is approximately 23 feet long. It can travel at speeds up to 635 knots with a maximum range of just
under 700 miles.

The targets are used all over the world, including within the military “warning areas” that come as close as about 10 nautical miles off Moriches Inlet in the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy practices shooting down drones within the warning areas.

Theories that a missile downed TWA Flight 800 began immediately after the crash when many witnesses reported seeing a streak of light arcing up toward the plane before it exploded. One theory, popular on the Internet, is that U.S. Navy forces were conducting exercises south of Long Island the night of the crash and sent one or more targets—like the Firebee—aloft. The theory proposes that a missile fired at that target from either a plane or submarine instead locked on to the TWA 747 and brought plane down.

The FBI has publicly dismissed Mr. Salinger’s theory, but says it continues to investigate all possibilities and has not singled out any cause—missile, bomb or mechanical failure—as the cause of the crash.

FBI spokesman Joseph Valiquette refused to comment on the recent Teledyne Fax and any other aspect of the agency’s investigation when contacted on Wednesday.

Former press secretary to President John F. Kennedy Pierre Salanger created an uproar this year when he announced that he had proof Flight 800 was downed by an errant missile that came from inside one of the warning areas.

Mr. Hittinger said this week that the FBI had contacted Teledyne Ryan because FBI investigators suspected that orange pieces of debris found among the TWA Flight 800 wreckage might be parts of a Firebee. The Firebee is “95 percent” international orange in color, he said.

Mr. Hittinger said Mr. Hamilton flew to the Calverton FBI facility and examined the debris. Mr. Hittinger sent the fax to Mr. Hamilton to aid him in his examination of the debris.

“He (Mr. Hamilton) said it wasn’t from our Firebee,” said Mr. Hittinger . “It was all put to bed some time ago.” Mr. Hamilton was on vacation until July 28 and was unavailable for comment.

Ms. Muma received the fax from the FBI on May 13. She received another fax meant for the FBI’s Calverton office July 10. That fax was apparently a background check on a potential federal appointee.

The problem is a simple matter of numbers—Ms. Muma’s fax number is 369-4310 and the FBI’s fax number is 369-4301.

Ms. Muma said she called the FBI when she received the first fax. She said the agency’s initial reaction was “Oh, s-—.”

After the initial shock wore off, Ms. Muma was told to “send it along to them, and destroy the original.” She said she asked what would happen if she didn’t do so, and was told “we’ll have to investigate you.”

Unfazed by the threat of investigation, “I told them its D-E-E M-U-M-A , Roanoke Avenue, Riverhead, the farm with the buffalo,” said Ms. Muma.
She is married to Riverhead farmer and real estate entrepreneur Ed Tuccio, who has about 15 buffalo at his Roanoke Avenue farm.

Ms. Muma was surprised to receive the missile information over her fax, but she said she just figured the FBI was covering all the bases in its investigation of the TWA Flight 800 crash. She said it was probably just
“due diligence” in checking out every possibility that prompted the FBI to get the information from Teledyne-Ryan.

When the second fax arrived, Ms. Muma called the FBI again. This time, she said, the reaction was a pained groan. The error on the first fax was made by someone at Teledyne-Ryan, but the error on the second was made by the FBI—the second fax was sent from Special Agent (S.A.) Matt Womble to SA Paul Raimondi.

The second fax is designated “confidential” and is apparently a background check on a potential appointee. The “appointee” is never named, but he is reputed to have an unimpeachable reputation and be well qualified “for a position of trust and confidence with the U.S.
government.”

Among other things, the memo says that the appointee “can maintain confidences and secrets and exert appropriate discretion.”

“Unlike the FBI,” opined Ms. Muma. The opinions on the unnamed appointee came from one Walter Lewis of
Dillon Reid and Company on Madison Avenue in New York City, an investment banking firm. Mr. Lewis’s secretary said he would have no comment on the matter.

Before sending the second fax to the FBI’s real fax number, Ms. Muma scribbled “From your branch office in Riverhead” across the top of it.

Ms. Muma said she felt free to talk about the misdirected fax because “its not a matter of national security.” If it was, she said, “I’d die with that.”

Ms. Muma waits expectantly for her next fax message from the FBI. “I’ve started the J. Edgar Hover Memorial Library,” Ms. Muma joked.

C 1997 Southampton Press Publishing Co., Inc.