Plane Used In Bomb-Sniffing Tests

A month before the crash of TWA Flight 800, the airliner was used to train bomb-sniffing dogs, and the explosives in those exercises could explain the traces of chemical residue found on the plane, a government official said Friday.

Investigators have been stymied for weeks in determining exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean July 17, killing all 230 people on board.

Traces of chemicals often used in bomb-making have been found. But investigators say they have not gathered enough evidence to conclude that the plane was brought down by a terrorist act.

A federal official familiar with the investigation said on Friday that in June, as part of a routine training exercise, the TWA plane was used as a testing ground for bomb-sniffing dogs.

“It was this plane, and the test bombs contained explosive material,” said the official.

While real explosives were used in the tests, it was not immediately clear whether the materials match the chemical residue found on the floor in the plane’s midsection and on a curtain from the rear cargo hold.

“We still don’t know whether we have a match” between the explosive residue and the bombs used in the training exercise, the official said.