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Hangar becomes a 'home' for TWA crash investigators
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That's where Flight 800 is being reassembled
From CNN Correspondent Susan Candiotti
CALVERTON, New York (CNN) -- As an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, Frank Hilldrup is no stranger to intrigue.
This year alone, he has been assigned the task of helping to determine the causes of the May 11 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades and a chartered plane that nose-dived in February into the Atlantic near the Dominican Republic. There were no survivors in either incident.
But for a man who's paid to unravel mysteries, Hilldrup is now embroiled in what could turn out to be the case of a lifetime: the July 17 crash of TWA Flight 800. The cause is unknown: officials are considering mechanical failure, a bomb or a missile as possible reasons for the explosion.
As divers pull pieces of wreckage from the Atlantic Ocean, NTSB investigators help reassemble them in a giant hangar on Long Island. It's a tedious, time-consuming process, and the investigators have made the hangar virtually their home for the past few weeks.
"The eyes of the country and, really, of the world are on us," Hilldrup said. "And there's a certain amount of pressure there. But we really don't need that pressure to do our job."
Bob Benzon, co-investigator in charge of the case along with Hilldrup, observed: "It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, but we don't have the boxtop to look at. The answer to the accident is either in the hangar over there or on the bottom of the sea and we'll find it."
About 30 NTSB investigators are in the hangar compared to hundreds of FBI agents on the case. The work can be overwhelming and frustrating, even for seasoned investigators who regularly travel around the country and the world taking on the role of detective.
Between them, Benzon and Hilldrup have 20 years experience with plane crashes, but few have been more haunting and encompassing than the TWA case.
"I think where kids are involved, that's the toughest part," Hilldrup said.
As a father of two, seeing TWA's aftermath hit home. "Burning debris at night on the water and then the next day, seeing bodies recovered from the water -- that's a terrible sight."
Even more unthinkable is failing to crack the case. At the safety board, that's rare. But two tragedies remain unsolved -- an airline crash in Pittsburgh two years ago and one in Colorado Springs in 1991.
Hilldrup worked on both, and Benzon and TWA lead investigator Al Dickinson supervised Colorado.
TWA, they insist, will be different.
If it turns out sabotage was the cause, Benzon will have an edge. He investigated the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The crash killed 270 people.
"You get to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat once in a while," Benzon said.
The investigators will need to muster all of their deductive powers to crack the TWA case, but Benzon remains confident. "Eventually, we'll figure this one out," he said.
Related stories:
- Gore announces proposals to fight air terrorism - September 5, 1996
- Officials leaning toward sabotage as cause of TWA crash - September 4, 1996
- Flight 800: Seven weeks later, no answers - September 4, 1996
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