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."

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[t-shirt]

I'm done with this excercise in futility with you.
Trust but Verify

The futility was of your own making. One again on post 179 you replied to nothing of substance on post 174, you just re-reply to things I already responded to. And you refused to even bother ackowledging that you attributed things to me on post 169 that I never said.

Most importantly you refuse to discuss why you think America citizens (such as those reading this thread)should not believe the actual eye witnesses who saw an explosion or fireball, and instead should believe the lying government who says these didn't really see what they saw.

[gimme1ibertee]

It appears that a lone left wing nut was the culprit.

Hillary??? LOL

[Magician]

This version is corroberated by a retired fireman who was out walking and watched the plane climb out. He describes an orange or yellow explosion (the popping sound) where the wing meets the fuselage. Then the wing fell off and the plane went into the ground.

[Trust but Verify]

Just because there was an explosion doesn't mean it was a bomb or a missile! Soemtimes, engines explode. You know, that aviation fuel is flammable!

And as for witnesses, they often are mistaken in what they see. I have seen eyewitnesses who say it was the left engine and some who say it wa the right. Was it both or could some of these people be mistaken? If so, which ones do we beleive?

[Basilides]

I've now asked this on two other threads without an answer....

but will somebody please explain how an entire vertical stabilizer comes off the jet intact before impact ???

I hope this doesn't go the way of Flight 800...

[Rudder]

The plane was heading south and along the way dropped parts into Jamaica Bay, North of Rockaway. Fox News showed a section (about 6' x 6') of what looked like a broken exterior "panel" with jagged edges, being pulled up from the Bay. If the initial breakup was caused by the same explosion observed by those on Rockaway, these observers must have been looking northward.

Were they?

[ppaul]

Q: I never did get a detailed answer as to what that Islamic calendar pictured for the months of October, November, etc. Someone posted pics (one showed a flag - Iraqi?) but it was unclear as to their text/symbolism. Please elaborate if you can.

A: Click on this link: Islamic Calendar
Then scroll down to replies #3, #140, and #141.

[Fred25]

Me? “Eloquent”?

I must be slippin’.

[t-shirt]

I saw several eyewitnesses on CNN, several on MSNBC and several on FOX all who saw an explosion before the crash.

The only woman I saw who was presented as an eyewitness a government worker from who saw in farther away on 128th street and she seem to repeat verbatim the revised government line that she saw no explosion and that it looked like parts just started falling off. All the rest of the people who said there was no explosion were government experts and did not even witness the crash.

***And Remember the first FBI people on the scene said there was an explosion.

[TERMINATTOR]

They're so busy checking parts and supplies comming in, and searching maintenance workers every time they take a leak, that they don't have time to work on the planes even if the parts had cleared security. While honest people are being disarmed, "peacefull muslim" workers are smugling in weapons, bombs, and sabotaging things. If anyone suspected them of anything it would be "discrimination", "racial profiling" etc, so they have a free pass.

[Trust but Verify]

Would you please go back to my last post and compare what I wrote to your response? Did I say there was no explosion? Did I say there were no witnesses who said there was an explosion? No. I said an explosion does not mean bomb or missile. I also said witnesses statements were in conflict. That fact is, we don't know!

The only explanation you are going to accept is one of sabotage. Even if exhaustive evidence is presented to the contrary, you will claim to know 'the real truth'.

[VOA]

I was just starting to get comfortable with the idea of air travel again...but regardless
of the reason for this crash, I'm wondering if I'll make it back to the
east for the holidays.

You are NOT alone.
I have already canceled on a Turkey Day return to "fly-over" country, partly due to a
class I'm taking.
Now I'm having doubts about XMAS.

I've told my folks (and they are very comfortable with this): Until there's three months
with NO commercial aviation deaths on American carriers...I'm NOT flying unless
absolutely necessary. And if so, I'll take Southwest Airlines, even if I've got to
fly three legs.
(I think the record is zero deaths while Southwest has been in service...if wrong,
I hope lurkers will correct me.)

[Native American Female Vet]

Thanks my HTML hero!

[Native American Female Vet]

Thanks for the info. This guy seems to be right so far.

[Native American Female Vet]

Thanks for the info

[jwalsh07]

Have you seen this? Another GE engine that blew

[Trust but Verify]

Shhh information such as this is going to interfere with the reverie of those who are SURE this is terrorism. As for me, I appreciate the info.

[anniegetyourgun]

Yep....there must be something in the ethernet on FR today. I'm wearing my gas mask so as not to be overcome by the paranoia.

[t-shirt]

U.S. PASSENGER JET EXPLODES IN NEW YORK

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- A passenger jet has exploded and crashed into New York City, prompting the mayor to declare an alert.

Officials said the crash is not being regarded as a terrorist attack. The conclusion was announced by the National Transportation Safety Board. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the crash.

An American Airlines jet took off from Kennedy Airport and crashed about 15 kilometers away in the borough of Queens on Monday. The jet, with 255 passengers, slammed into a residential area and set nearly 20 buildings on fire.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani declared a state of emergency. Airports, bridges, subways and tunnels were closed throughout the city.

U.S. authorities had been on alert for an another attack by Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden amid an opposition Afghan drive toward Kabul. Bin Laden had threatened to retaliate against the United States with nonconventional weapons. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------