To me the radar plot is VERY revealing. (1) the VS landed less than one mile from impact. The engines are very close to impact. Total radius of all parts looks to be 1/2 to 1/4 mile. This incident, at its end happened very quickly. Why did that plane fall apart so rapidly? Blows me away. Would like now to see the voice transmissions plotted along the radar track. When did the pilots report the shaking, ask for max power, report wake turbulence., etc., etc.
This just got way more perplexing for me.
BTW, go here for more info good thread
Definitely, this gets more perplexing with each answer not less. Crowley did once say that one of the things that made life interesting was that every "soldier" (exclamation mark) was followed by a "hunchback" (question mark"), but not every hunchback has a soldier (ie, not all questions have answers, but every answer makes more questions). This is definitely one of those cases.
To: John JamiesonI'm with you. Plane hit one side of vortex, then the other. (up then down, and/or right then left) Resulting torque forces jar stabiliser loose. (musta been weak already) Pilots apply power to gain altitude (as plane noses over) Plane departs controlled flight. Plane begins flat spin as differntial lift (swept wings) aggravated by yaw forces kicks in. Extreme cross wind stalls compressor on upwind engine, accounting for reported 'pop pop pop'. Rotational forces later sling motors off mounts. Wing shears at root, fuel catches fire. Debris scatters. Plane hits ground. All this in the space of about 15 - 30 seconds near the end.
It could have happened. But to believe this, I think the airframe had to be near death to begin with.
31 posted on 11/15/01 2:53 PM Pacific by Blueflag