Jet 'exploded into pieces' (Witnesses "Saw Explosion On One Side of Plane Before Crash")

BBC & CNN ^ | November 12, 2001 | BBC & CNN News Staffs

[t-shirt]

Jet 'exploded into pieces'

Monday, 12 November, 2001

BBC Residents watched as firefighters battled the blaze

Eyewitnesses have spoken of their horror at seeing an Airbus A300 crash into a residential area of New York. Witnesses reported seeing a fire or explosion on one side of the aircraft as an engine fell off.

The plane then crashed into the Rockaway area of Queens.

I saw the flames and the smoke and I just thought, 'Oh no, not again'

Milena Owens, who lives yards from the crash site, said she was putting up Thanksgiving decorations on her window when she saw the plane fly far too low.

"I heard the explosion and I looked out the window and saw the flames and the smoke and I just thought, 'Oh no, not again'."

"The whole house shook," said Gus Cholakis, who lives 100 yards from the spot where some of the wreckage came to rest.

Resident's prayers

"I looked out the window, the first thing I saw was a huge fireball right outside."

Mr Cholakis, 38, said he had known 13 of those lost when the World Trade Center collapsed.

This neighbourhood has been through enough

Gus Cholakis

He admitted he was praying he had not lost more friends, adding: "This neighbourhood has been through enough."

John Maroney, 47, said the engine plummeted onto a Texaco petrol station near his house, and pieces of plane were only a few hundred yards away.

"That's probably what shook us up from our beds. The whole house jumped.

'Climbing position'

"We were all out there with fire extinguishers and hoses, but we couldn't do much."

Ethan Moses said he had seen the plane climbing in the sky after take-off.

It was travelling to the left slightly and then it just nose dived straight down

Ethan Moses , "It was in a climbing position and when I looked up I saw fire on the left side of the engine," he told CNN.

The wing appeared to separate from the rest of the plane, which veered to the left and then plunged into a nose dive, he said.

"It was travelling to the left slightly and then it just nose dived straight down," Mr Moses said, adding that fire spread on the ground, moving from house to house within seconds.

Phyllis Paul said she heard the plane's engine drone louder as it descended.

Falling metal

"It was very, very loud. Because of what happened on 11 September, it gave me a chill," she told CNN.

"It was getting louder and louder and I looked out the window. I saw a piece of metal falling from the sky."

The wings were going backwards and forwards like it was trying to balance itself
Phyllis Paul

Beverly Browne, from Brooklyn, said she saw white smoke coming from the plane before it crashed.

"The wings were going backwards and forwards like it was trying to balance itself. There was white smoke coming out of it.

"It just couldn't seem to stabilise itself. The next thing I knew it had crashed."

? David Solero was driving over a bridge by Rockaway when he saw fire on the left hand side of the plane.

He told CNN: "We looked up and saw the fire coming from the left hand side - it could have been an explosion."

Plane 'veered'

Other witnesses told reporters that the fire or explosion was on the right hand side of the plane.

Mr Solero added: "It could have been the engine was on fire.

I was scared it was going to veer towards us and hit us - we stopped dead in our tracks

David Solero, "It flew right over us, started to veer to the left then it veered back right.

"I was scared it was going to veer towards us and hit us - we stopped dead in our tracks.

"We saw something fly off the plane."

One woman fled her home, fearing she could be killed.

Concorde-like sound

She told CNN: "It was a huge, loud sound. It seemed so loud that I was like ducking almost.

"I just heard - it sounded like Concorde flying too low and then it just hit.

Eyewitness
-- "It blew up into a huge fireball and I jumped out the second floor of my house." "It hit the house behind me and I think it exploded into pieces."

"I went over the deck in the front of my house because the back was so hot."

"We were just in shock and we had to evacuate two streets away. It was so horrible." "There is a lot of terror here. Everybody is in shock."

"I was very, very lucky."

------------------------------------------------

[anniegetyourgun]

This appears to have been an accident. However, if you want to insist that the government is hiding things from us, I would ask you why President Bush said we are at war on 9/11 when speaking from the FL school? Was he NOT hiding terrorism from us then, but he is now? What would be his motive? Has he a record of lying to the American people?

[Trust but Verify]

And how much yiou want to bet they are laying off a lot of the older, higher-paid, higher-skilled American citizen maintainance, baggage handlers, and security folks, while keeping the lower paid less skilled foriegn nationals--many of whom are Middle Easterners.

And how much do you want to bet these are union employees who must be laid off in reverse seniority order, blowing a devastating hole in your little theory?

[t-shirt]

"Why would they cover it up? A terrorist attack would be nothing but great propaganda for the U.S."
Junior

Duh, Junior, mommy named you well. LOL

The government would look just great allowing another act of terrorism to occur after the last three they allowed to happen, wouldn't they? What's in the Cool-Aid your drinking today?

Can you say anything more ridiculous??? I doubt it!

[Trust but Verify]

Nobody is saying the neighborhood peopel are lying! They're saying people misperceive what they have seen. This has been PROVEN, time and time again. Tell me, what PROOF do YOU have to offer in this instance?

I thought so.

[Tennessee_Bob]

it was more like a pop and then like a whishing sound and then part of the wing came off.

Popping sound would be a compressor stall or more likely the turbines coming apart....the turbines shelling out would cut/shatter the wing spars and the wing would come apart.

Turbines coming apart are rare, but nothing new. One of the engines was due a major overhaul in a few more hours of operating time.

[DugwayDuke]

"Unless, of course, the Bilderbergers finally struck that deal with the Swiss banking establishment ..."

Boy, are you out of date. Dick Chenney nixed that deal two weeks ago when the documents we captured in Afghanistan showed the Swiss were too deep in reverse hedged Bolivian tin futures. That's why we had to put the 10th Mountain Division in Turkmenistan, to give the Swiss time to unwind before the Russians flooded the market with cheap tin from Central Asia. (I've heard the Rothchilds were heavy into that one. That'll teach 'em to mess with Texas.) And the Queen is out of the drug business. More profit in smuggling Korean GinSing (hint: Charles is a HEAVY user.)

[Junior]

Think, O Cottony One. The president has said this is going to be a long, bloody war; the people of this country have been pretty much lulled by two months of inactivity on the part of the terrorists and folks are already beginning to bitch and moan. A terrorist act now would regalvanize public opinion in support of the war effort.

FYI, my mother never called me Junior. The Navy bestowed the name upon me to differentiate between me and a senior.

[Junior]

So the Canadians have pretty much been left on the sidelines...

[freefly]

Thanks for the bump.
Lot of conflicting info about this so far...

[t-shirt]

What theory does it blow a hole in? LOL

I never made any theory on this thread. Whose thread were you reading?

The fact remain that there are a high percentage of non-citizen Middle Eastern/Arabs working in our airports in sensitive areas where they could engage in terrorism: baggage handling, security, maintainance and even some among the pilots. (The fact remains whether people were laid off or not.)

It's funny I merely suggested a possibility and you suggested one (without any facts), and somehow you feel your guess somehow blows out of the water an imaginary "theory" which I never offered in the first place.

LOL!

[katnip]

I was listening to Sean Hannity. He had a guy on the radio who said he was in his car in Starret City (Brooklyn) He said he saw the Stabalizer fall off(?) and an explosion.

Lots of Long Islanders saw what looked like a missile hit TWA flight 800, including pilots.

I agree with you. We are in for more lying on this one.

I cannot fathom the reasons.

[verity]

"Verity, Duh, why not listen to the eyewitnesses?"

Extremely conflicting stories as to what they observed - except, of course, that the plane did crash.[unless Rivero tells us differently].

[michigander]

Please forgive any errors..I transcribed this off TV.

Well done!!!!
Link to Fox 5 NY. Don't see a video link there though.

[Asmodeus]

" . . .don't even trust the actual video footage taken of a TWA being shot down with a missile".

What evidence do you have that any such video ever existed?

[freeperfromnj]

Why would they cover it up? A terrorist attack would be nothing but great propaganda for the U.S. -- and an excuse to really go to town on some foreign country (Iraq?). In other words, think through your proposition; there is no reason to cover up a terrorist attack at all and every reason to trumpet it to the world.

Because they've been telling us it's safe to fly and get back to "normal"

[Trust but Verify]

You really are wound tight! My post was in response to your post #38 in this thread. And I even copy and pasted your statement. Are you stoopid?

[t-shirt]

Who would you believe first,

Eyewitnesses or the government?

[Terrorista Nada]

F.O.D. kills

[hove]

"Um, speak for yourself. Conspiracist nitwits think 800 was brought down by a missle.

There were hundreds of eye witness's who saw what looked like a missile rise from the earth...hit TWA-800...then TWA-800 exploded and crashed. Are you calling these folks "Conspiracist nitwits"? You are either deluded....or your agenda is crystal clear....