The information gap on this crash is wider than the Grand Canyon, and bodes
ill for a full disclosure at any time. First the F16 pilots say they saw the
pilot absent and the FO slumped over the controls - then they say they saw
someone else attempting to fly the plane - now there are reports one of the
black boxes has been "lost" by authorities, after being recovered.

I am not one given to conspiracy theories - I ridicule those who say 9/11
was staged and I feel there is no strong evidence to contradict the official
story on TWA800 (please let's not start a new thread on this) - but in this
case it is starting to appear that the authorities are not coming forward
with the information. I believe it's possible that the plane suffered a
decompression accident, then, with no one left to fly the plane, the
authorities made the "unthinkable" choice while the plane was in an
uninhabited zone, rather than face the inevitable in less controlled
circumstances.

I'm not saying this is what I think happened - only that it is a possible
theory, about as close as any of the others we have to fitting with the
sparse evidence available. I am not optimistic that full and reliable
details will ever be made available - the "lost" flight recorder being the
last link in the chain of credibility.

To those who claim the plane ran out of fuel - I ask, what evidence supports
this?

G Faris