MILITARY PULSES CAUSE AIR CRASHES

Air crashes blamed on military pulses

Robin McKie, Science Editor
Sunday September 10, 2000

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/0,6903,366576,00.html

Electromagnetic pulses from military craft may have been responsible
for several civilian airline disasters in the past four years. If the
theory is proved correct, it suggests navy ships and air force planes
pose a lethal threat to passenger flights.
Crash investigators have been startled by similarities between

several tragedies. In particular, they have uncovered common features
in two crashes: Swissair 111, on 2 September 1998, and TWA 800, on 17
July 1996. Both planes took off from the same airport, New York's
JFK, on the same day, a Wednesday, at the same minute, 8.19pm. Both
followed the same route over Long Island. Both reported trouble in
the same region of airspace, and both suffered catastrophic
electrical malfunctions. And on both occasions the planes were flying
at a time when extensive military exercises - involving submarines
and US Navy P3 fighter planes - were being conducted.

These factors - outlined by Elaine Scarry in the forthcoming issue of
the New York Review of Books - suggest to many investigators that a
routine weekly event, probably involving the generation of strong
electromagnetic pulses by military personnel, may have triggered
short-circuits in the two planes.

In the case of the TWA 800 flight, this could have caused a spark to
set off a fire in its fuel tanks. Alternatively, a pulse could have
knocked out instruments, causing the Boeing 747 to spin out of
control, making metal parts tear and produce sparks.

In the case of the Swissair 111, a fire was reported in the cabin and
the plane plunged into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia.