Talk Aboard Doomed Jet Normal Last Moments Of Flight 800 Before Blast Played At Hearing

In the final moments before TWA Flight 800 blew up, pilots chatted about restless passengers, a wildly fluctuating fuel gauge and how the jet was climbing faster than normal, like a “homesick angel.”

At the end, there is an abrupt, tenth-of-a-second noise that trails off into silence, possibly the sound of the center fuel tank exploding.

The 54-page transcript released Monday during the opening of federal hearings into the July 17, 1996, disaster was described by investigators as routine conversation, revealing nothing unusual leading up to the blast aboard the Paris-bound flight that killed all 230 people aboard.

Having ruled out a bomb or missile, investigators are searching for a mechanical explanation for the explosion in the Boeing 747’s center fuel tank.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall warned victims’ relatives attending the hearings that they might want to leave the room before another exhibit - a videotape simulation of the disaster second by second, picking up where the cockpit voice recorder left off.

It shows the explosion, the nose of the plane shearing off, while the fuselage continues to rise. Suddenly, the plane slows and begins dropping, diving for a long time before bursting into flames and crashing into the Atlantic Ocean off New York’s Long Island.

On the transcript, a comment from TWA Capt. Steven Snyder, six minutes before the explosion, appeared intriguing and a little eerie.

“Seems like a homesick angel here,” Snyder said, using pilot lingo to say the plane was climbing faster than normal.

“It’s bleeding off airspeed,” Capt. Ralph Kevorkian responded, implying that the minor increase in speed was not a problem.

“Yeah,” Kevorkian said, ending that discussion.

Investigators have said the flight data recorder showed nothing unusual.

Then, two minutes before the explosion, Snyder said: “Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on No. 4. See that.”

Alfred Dickinson, the NTSB chief investigator, testified that it is not unusual for the indicator to fluctuate. Dickinson said the pilot communications seemed routine.

At 8:30:15 p.m., Boston Air Traffic Control told Flight 800 that it could climb from 13,000 to 15,000 feet.

“Climb thrust,” Snyder said before quickly adding, “Climb to one five thousand.”

“Power’s set,” said flight engineer Richard Campbell, indicating he had adjusted the power to allow the plane to go higher. It was 8:30:35 p.m. Those were the last words from the plane. Thirty-seven seconds later, it blew up.