but now 17 years later, a new documentary claims to have proof to support a not-so-new conspiracy theory about twa flight 800. what we do in the documentary is we show solid proof there was an external detonation. the primary conclusion is the explosive forces came from outside the airplane, not the center fuel tank. would that statement have been in your analysis? if i got the right one. reporter: according to its press release, the film, due to be released in july, is a stunning expos detailing how the official investigation was derailed. the agenda was, if this is an accident, make it so. reporter: all put forth by a
Transcripts for CNN Anderson Cooper Special Report 20130622 02:29:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
the minute the plane went down, this is where you were? yes. right over here. reporter: donald knows the exact place he was standing in the raspberry patch when the center fuel tank exploded. his daughter was seated several rows in front of the blast. i see this, and i say, i can t believe it. reporter: why have you let it go? because of the memories and not being able to come out here and pick berries when our daughter that was lost was the last one to pick them. it s too difficult. reporter: instead of berries, we now find an overgrown field that is sewn with doubt and bitterness by a father, who from the very beginning, refused to believe official explanations of his daughter s death. i reached the conclusion that
the explosion was here, in the center fuel tank. i m really struck by the size. you really could park a couple of cars in here. the fuel tank is the size of about a two-car garage. reporter: the center tank just below the passenger area is rarely used. how much fuel was in here at the time of the flight? the fuel tank was basically empty. 50 gallons was the residual amount. reporter: only a thin layer of fuel on the bottom. but the fumes were more than enough to bring down a plane. jim wildy shows us where the blast blew out the tank wall. it fractured across the top. reporter: this just takes place in a matter of a second. less than a portion of a second. reporter: when the tank exploded, brenna and krisha were in coach, right up here close to these windows.
1996. it was still light out. the weather forecast for the flight to paris called for smooth sailing and for 12 minutes it was. we just saw an explosion out here. two other pilots were in the air and saw the explosion. just blew up in the air and then we saw two fire balls go down to the water. reporter: other eyewitnesses were on long island. it looked like a mile in the sky of flame coming down, you know, straight down. i thought it was coming from the ground up because the flame looked like it was shooting from the ground up if you know what i mean. reporter: 230 men, women, and children were aboard flight 800. everyone died. people thought terrorism immediately and an alert went out to the fbi. the navy sent state-of-the-art salvage ships. investigators ended up recovering 97.5% of the plane. in a giant hangar they actually put twa flight 800 back together and reconstructed the plane s last seconds. early on they determined the center fuel tank blew up, causing the nose