Posted on 11/16/2001 1:24:12 PM PST by callisto
A videotape that could show exactly what happened to American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed three minutes after taking off from New York's JFK airport on Monday, is in the hands of the FBI -- but the bureau has thus far declined to release it.
New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tom Kelly confirmed to the Daily News Friday that the agency has given surveillance videotapes from Cross Bay Blvd. and Marine Parkway bridges to the FBI.
"One tape captures the plane taking off from JFK," the News said.
Cross Bay Blvd. and Marine Parkway traverse Jamaica Bay, where the plane's vertical stabilizer was discovered intact after the crash.
Dozens of eyewitnesses have told media outlets they saw an explosion and/or a fire at the juncture of Flt. 587's wing and fusilage moments before it began to break up, losing its tail first, then both its engines.
Catastrophic engine failure, which was first suspected to have caused the explosion, was ruled out Tuesday after NTSB investigators examined the engines and found no evidence of mechanical failure.
Since discovering the engines were working properly, NTSB spokeswoman Marion Blakely -- along with most media outlets -- have quietly dropped references to witness accounts of a midair explosion.
The NTSB now says that wind turbulence from another plane is the most likely cause of the crash. One former jumbo jet veteran pilot was highly skeptical of the turbulence theory.
"If wind turbulence caused that accident, I'll never fly again," Barry Schiff, who flew 747's for TWA, told the New York Post.
But a videotape showing the exact sequence of Flt. 587's break-up could clear up any mystery, showing whether or not the break-up was caused by an explosion or by turbulence.
It's not clear why the FBI has not yet released the MTA video -- or even commented on what it shows. It's also not clear why the Flt. 587 video was not turned over to the NTSB instead of the FBI, which had reportedly adopted a secondary role in the wake of NTSB claims that the crash was an accident.
When an Air France Concorde jetliner crashed after catching fire on takeoff from a rural French airport last year, an amatuer video of the accident was released within 48 hours.
Calls to the FBI's New York office and to MTA spokesman Kelly were not returned by presstime.
Economy saved!
I remain in awe of your powers of reasoning.
Yankee, you're just awesome when it comes to railroads, but you tend not to give other people credit for intelligence when their opinions differ from yours. The line of reasoning you attack is apparently that of many people in the Bush Administration---read Bob Novak's November 13 column. If this crash was due to "mechanical error," it's just one plane, and even if it's a design flaw, the Airbus fleet can be grounded for inspections while the rest of the fleet goes on flying. But a terrorist attack? That means we haven't contained yet a focused, deliberate, systemwide, ongoing threat to our airline industry. And yes, my new-found friend, that IS scarier than "mechanical failure" scenarios.
No one is reporting that right now. It was probably just another "lying witness".
PS: Did I log F-111 and America? You bet! Got PIC to sign off each in logbook!
Also have about .5 TRYING to learn how to hover in rotorcraft.
No work for airline, but am Platinum Frequent FLyer on business.
I remember hearing that people heard explosions. But I also read yesterday that one guy, who was in his house when the plane hit it, heard nothing prior to the impact.
Could these explosions have been the sound of the impacts and the resultant collapsing of the houses?
One reported hear a "popping sound", and the rest saw the plane on fire. One pilot saw the smoke as the plane was nosediving.
But we've been told the tail just fell off.
Present.
Hey, don't you just miss Michael at a time like this? He would have had it solved by now. Heck, he would have had it solved before the plane hit the ground.
Try this calming approach: there is no evidence of terrorism. None. There might be before it's over, but right now -- none. Not a little, not maybe, none, nothing.
Of course, that will get philosophical real quick and you'll have break out Venn diagrams and other colored graphical aids and define the concept "critical thinking" using only monosyllables, but it might help them understand. Go ahead, you try it.
Good question. Answer: When Time ran the film in the magazine, they "inadvertently" got the frames out of order. For some strange reason, that reversal showed that JFK got shot from the rear.
Even flew upfront with Aeroflot crew Moscow to Kiev. Was prearrenged as media trip, in the VC-10ovich "Aeroplop "flew. They were among best crew I ever watrched work.
ILS to minimums in Kiev. They did a MA on first approach, and didn't cheat all all. Minimums, no runway enviornment in view, Go Ground now! Held for about 30 minutes and shot approach again. A/C was like on rails. Great crew-team to watch.
Surely, the biggies don't think it better to reassure the flying public than to save 200-300 random lives.
That would be worse than Watergate, Monicagate, Iran-Contra, you name it.
Some unofficial video will turn up. President Kennedy's assasins were pretty embarrassed by the home movies of that, which clearly indicated two shooters. The distrust of our government stems largely from that incident, the lies about Viet Nam, and Watergate. Innocence took a head shot the same day Kennedy did.
Walt
I'm really confused about all of the people who dismiss speculation of terrorist involvement as "tin foil" kooks. Since 9/11, the FBI has seen fit to broadcast national "TERRORISM ALERTS" telling us that "major attacks or events" are a real threat in the very short term. All of a sudden, an airplane mysteriously falls from the sky within miles of ground zero, and the FBI and gaggles of uneducated skeptics are saying "Terrorists? What terrorists?"
And obviously you missed my point. My point was that there weren't plane crashes before 9-11??? Were they all terrorist attacks? My point was that the thinking these days amongst some here and in the country at large, is that everything that happens is a terrorist attack. A 50 car pileup on the LA freeway would probably now be labeled by some (those with the tin foil hats) as a terrorist attack.
My additional point was that a simple mechanical failure is not a sufficient reason for a airplane to crash... for some. Its not spectacular enough for some here. And therefore the government is hiding something.
With that said, I must say I have loved the discussions here at Free Republic for years. And while common sense is sometimes in short supply here when it comes to events like Flight 587, paranoia and suspicion flow like rivers rushing to the ocean.
By the way..how long you been posting here?
With your attendtion to detail, we will appoint you First Commisar of FRTSB, a new agency to review all NTSB matters.
What a crock of sh*t. The wing tip vortexes coming off a 747 flying at 200 miles per hour are two horizontal tornados. If a plane flies through it side ways and the first vortex hits the top of the tail, it can rip it off like pulling a Keenex from a box. If the other vortex hits an engine it comes off too.
That is why pilots are ordered to lift off before the point where the plane in front lifted off and to climb faster. They are also supposed to wait 2 minutes between take offs. So the vortexes of the first plane sink below the path of the second plane. We know the two minute rule was not followed.
Anyone who has done a turn around a point in a tiny piper cub and is good enough to hit his own wake turbulance knows how much force a Cub vortex makes. A 747's wing tip turbulance is 1000 times stronger. It has the force of a real tornado. It has enough force to rip apart any plane including another 747.
Any so called pilot who does not understand the force of a tip vortex , including Barry Schiff, should not be allowed to fly a kite let alone a real plane.
You're welcome, and you have aroused mine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.