Metropolitan Desk | December 6, 1997, Saturday
T.W.A. Pilot Stole a Piece Of Flight 800

By JOSEPH P. FRIED (NYT) 885 words

Late Edition - Final , Section B , Page 1 , Column 5
ABSTRACT - Trans World Airlines pilot Terrell Stacey admits to stealing pieces of seat fabric from the reassembled wreckage of Flight 800 and giving them to author James Sanders and his wife Elizabeth, who is a TWA flight attendant; Sanders, in his book The Downing of TWA Flight 800, concluded that tests on the fabric helped confirm theory that the plane was hit by a missile (M) A high-ranking Trans World Airlines pilot involved in the investigation of the Flight 800 crash has admitted stealing pieces of the reassembled wreckage and giving them to an author who contended that a missile downed the jetliner, the pilot's lawyer said yesterday.

The pilot, Terrell Stacey, is likely to plead guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge, the lawyer said, and is cooperating with a Federal investigation of the author, James Sanders, and his wife, Elizabeth Sanders, who is a flight attendant with T.W.A.