Witnesses Saw AA 587 Explode in Flames
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FLIGHT 587 WITNESSES
BLAST FEDS
By JOHN LEHMANN
January 7, 2002 -- New Yorkers who believe they saw
American Airlines Flight 587 explode in flames before its
tail sheared off have accused crash investigators of ignoring
their eyewitness accounts and prematurely ruling out a
terrorist attack.
Six witnesses, including a recently retired police lieutenant,
an FDNY deputy chief and a former firefighter, have
written to the National Transportation Safety Board,
demanding they be called to testify at a public hearing.
Tom Lynch, 59, a retired firefighter, said he had also
spoken to 18 other people who saw the Airbus A300
flying on fire before it crashed into houses in Belle Harbor,
Queens, on Nov. 12, killing 265 people.
"The NTSB is not publicly acknowledging the many
eyewitness accounts of the in-flight fire or explosion, many
from people who are adamant that the fire occurred before
any tail or engine breakups," he told The Post.
Lynch, who organized the letter, said he was standing on
Rockaway Beach Boulevard when he saw a bright orange
ball of flame streaming from the right side of the plane.
Two or three seconds later, he said, he saw a larger
eruption of flames consuming the entire right side of the
plane's fuselage.
"There were no falling parts until the second explosion of
flames - I'll go to my grave with that," he said.
The witnesses said they were surprised NTSB
Chairwoman Marion Blakey was able to say, only hours
after the crash, that all indications pointed to an accident,
rather than a terrorist attack.
"How could that statement be made while the flight-data
recorder had not been recovered, the crash-investigation
team had not yet showed up and initial eyewitness reports
included many accounts of one or two explosions in flight?"
Lynch said.
Another witness not involved with Lynch's group, Michael
Benjamin, said he saw a huge orange fire engulfing the front
third of the plane's right side wh ile he was driving along
Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn with his wife and two
children.
Benjamin, who works for the Oversight, Analysis and
Investigations Committee of the state Assembly, said he
had attempted to contact the NTSB but had not received a
return call.
Preliminary reports written by the NTSB have not
mentioned in-flight explosions, but have focused on air
turbulence, the composite materials used to build the jet's
vertical tail, and sudden rudder movements.
An NTSB spokesman said more than 200 eyewitness
accounts had been recorded and were being considered as
part of the investigation.
But he said if the NTSB decided to conduct a public
hearing, it would most likely seek opinions from air-safety
and aeronautical-design experts rather than witnesses.
The people who signed the letter, in addition to Lynch, are
retired NYPD Officer James Conrad, FDNY Deputy
Chief Peter Hayden, retired transit cop Richard Kvies,
sales manager John Power and food-services manager Ellie
Scholfield.
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