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Posted on 11/12/2001 1:40:55 PM PST by copycat
The latest from government bureaucrats like Pataki, and their willing accomplices here at FR is that "Since the pilot dumped his fuel, it must have been an accident."
Unfortunately for those who would argue this theory, we have already learned that there were NO distress calls or unusual communications of any kind.
Pilots wwould dump fuel if they had a mechanical failure and planned to return to the airport. What are the odds that a pilot would dump his fuel and NOT decide to inform the tower of his decision? (Corollary question...How easy is it to radio the tower of trouble?)
In addition, eyewitness accounts clearly state that the right wing of the plane was seen to explode and take out the tail. An accident? I think not...
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Far more likely than bomb/terrorist at this point.
I BELIEVE you.
I don't believe a Gatling gun brought down this plane. (Although you've got to admit that when you see and engine here, an engine there, a tail section over there it kind of looks as if the plane had been chopped up by a modern such gun...)
I brought up the possibility just for the sake of considering every imaginable kind of scenario. Other people had considered missles and bombs and .50 calibre things... I just wanted to be complete.
(But, for the record, although you may have fired a real life Gatling gun and although you may have seen fuel dumps so that _you_ can itemize obvious differences, in a case like this we _may_ be talking about people who've never seen such things and are just making their best guesses about what they saw. Many people may not even know that such guns exist so if they saw something they would have to try to just do their best at guessing at what they saw...)
At the last press conference I saw, Gov Pataki is saying that the reports of "fuel dumps" are not conclusive and may be false anyway, and they may have to wait for the flight data recorder to determine if fuel really was dumped.
At this point, I don't think anyone can say for sure what anyone saw. (Eye witnesses were correct about the tail falling into the water -- some of these reports had been initially dismissed because other people reported seeing the complete plane crash on land. And I believe at least two people reported seeing a helicopter very near to the plane just before it crashed, but I haven't seen any follow-ups on this.)
I'm just frustrated at the thought that this will turn into another TWA-800 where the official line makes almost no sense, and 9 billion conspiracy theories circulate forever...
Mark W.
And you know this unequivocally because???
I disagree.
Engines – Pratt & Whitney PW4000 Turbofans (2)
Max Thrust – 61,500 lbs each
Max Fuel Capacity – 16,380 U.S. gal (62,000 L)
Max Takeoff Weight – 363,800 lb
Max Range – 4,050 statute miles
Service Ceiling – 39,000 feet
Max Cruise Speed – Mach 0.82
Cruise Speed – Mach 0.74 to 0.80
Cruise Altitude - 30,000 to 37,000 feet
Runway Length Takeoff – 8,333 feet
Runway Length Landing – 5,040 feet
Clean Stall – 160 kts
Dirty Stall (flaps & gear) – 100 kts
V1 speed – 141
Vr speed – 149
V2 speed – 151
Vref – 143
Vmo - Mach 0.84
(Please note that V speeds vary with the weight of you’re A/C. These V speeds were based on 360,000 lbs takeoff weight)
PRE-TAXI:
Cabin Check list
Push Back
Start Engines
PRE-TAKE-OFF:
Minimum Take-off Runway length - 8,333 ft.
Taxi to Assigned Runway
Flaps 10 degrees
Auto Pilot on (Do not engage functions until airborne).
Set Airspeed-250 Knots
Set Runway Heading
Set Altitude to level cleared
Taxi into position
TAKE-OFF:
Max Thrust
V1-138 Knots
V2-142 Knots (Rotate)
Initial Climb Body Angle=15 degrees
Positive Rate of Climb-Gear Up
Retract Flaps
Flaps Fully Retracted at 205 kias
POST TAKE-OFF:
Check Gear up
Check Flaps up
Engage Auto-Throttle
Engage Heading Hold
Engage Altitude hold
CLIMB:
Climb Rate-1800 ft/min. up to 16,000 ft.
Climb/Cruise Rate-1200ft/min. up to cruise altitude
Airspeed -Below 250 kias, below 10,000 ft.
Take-off thrust should not exceed 5 minutes total time.
Airspeed Mach .45 to .47 above 10,000ft.
Airspeed Mach .74 to .79 above 16,000ft.
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The wreckage should easily show if this is the case or not.
Whaddya mean, "today"?
Ever see what happens when a jet engine decides, while in operation, that its fatigue life just ended RIGHT NOW?
Hoo boy!
I was present in the control booth of a test cell when a GE F404 (same manufacturer as the CF-6 used on this Airbus--gee, just a coincidence :o) suffered a compressor rotor failure. Just before it let go, the test cell technician said "OH (BLEEP)" and dove for the floor. I assumed he knew something I didn't, and likewise hit the deck...just ahead of the engine going BANG! and spreading pieces of itself throughout the test cell, the control booth, and a bunch of places outside the test cell housing. You'd think Achmed the Awful had driven a truck bomb full of scrap metal shrapnel into the test cell and set it off!
It wouldn't surprise anyone. What we object to is the profoundly unAmerican defeatist spirit that these conspiracy theory types spout. They've already concluded it IS a terrorist act and ANY evidence or suggestion to the contrary is therefore the work of a vast conspiracy.
I'll wait for the facts.
I know this 'unequivocally' because a pilot at my flight school, with 40 years experience, mentioned it to me this afternoon. Take it for what its worth.
I hope this doesn't go the way of Flight 800...
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