William S. Donaldson

Cmdr. William S. Donaldson (1945? - August 22, 2001) was a United States Navy pilot with more than 24 years of experience in virtually all phases of naval aviation. He became famous as a critic of the government's TWA flight 800 investigation.

Donaldson graduated from the Navy's Postgraduate Aviation Safety School in Monterey, California, where he completed the long course in aviation safety and crash investigation. He served as a safety officer and crash investigator at both the Squadron and Air Wing levels, and was qualified as a maintenance check pilot in six models of prop and jet aircraft. Also, he was a qualified air traffic controller and served for two years as a Carrier Controlled Approach Officer.

After his retirement, he conducted an independent investigation of TWA flight 800, concluding it was shot down by a missile, probably shoulder fired.

William Donaldson died of a brain tumor at the age of 56.