[Blueflag]

As I understand them, ground to air missiles do not use 'pellets' to kill an aircraft, as 'pellets' would do little damage to a modern military aircraft (designer's original target). AA missiles generally detonate with a cone shaped burst of hard nuggets or fragments. They are very distinctive.

I would suggest that if pellets were found, of some uniformity, then the culprit is more likely an on-board bomb.

I do not know or surmise what brought down TWA 800, but I know from firefighting experience that the atmosphere inside a warm, sealed jet fuel tank is not an explosive mixture. The explosive mixture is too rich. A ruptured fuel tank, leaking fuel will spew fuel that atomizes, vaporizes and burns, perhaps explosively... but fuel tanks do not explode unless there is another charge detonated nearby or inside the tank.

[Wil H]

I do not know or surmise what brought down TWA 800, but I know from firefighting experience that the atmosphere inside a warm, sealed jet fuel tank is not an explosive mixture.

Furthermore, the baggage containers stowed immediately in front of the the fuel tank were virtually undamaged yet those in front of them were destroyed....explain that...

[Sloth]

but I know from firefighting experience that the atmosphere inside a warm, sealed jet fuel tank is not an explosive mixture. The explosive mixture is too rich. A ruptured fuel tank, leaking fuel will spew fuel that atomizes, vaporizes and burns, perhaps explosively...

Good point. It's plain old thermodynamics. The same is true of gasoline, but there have been so many TV shows and movies where merely shooting a car's fuel tank causes an massive instantaneous explosion, that people believe that's what really happens.