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.
It's likely a TV camera. That's what we have here watching various points on the freeway system. They even broadcast it, switching periodically between cameras. You're probably correct about not being able to see much. It should be time stamped though, so if you can see anything, you should be able to relate it to other events in time sequence.
As I understand it this is not a security camera, but rather a traffic monitoring camera. As such you would expect it to be mounted either above or above and beside the roadway, looking one direction down the roadway. In this case a bridge/causeway. I doubt that it has a very wide angle lens. Still you'd have it set up to resolve cars maybe a few hundred to a thousand feet away. An airplane a mile or two away might not look like much, but it likely would look like an airplane. Frame rate should be satifactory for caputuring the breakup, but only barely. Does anyone know if the video was available to the public, such as broadcast, as it is here, a special cable channel, or even on the web?
Better log off, I'm getting punchy.. 'course that should be "copies" not "a copies" and "speaking" rather than "speeking. Sorry 'bout that.
I understand your point. I understood it the first time you wrote it.
I’m stating that your reasoning about why they might try to cover up a terrorist attack is flawed. You stated that their motivation would be to save the airline industry. I’m pointing out that there is nothing they could say that would devastate the airline industry more than “wind makes planes break and fall from the sky.”
If it is however, a terrorist attack, that would cause a lot more fear of flying in consumers wouldn't you agree?
No, I would certainly not agree. That is my point.
How many El Al airplanes have been blown from the sky? None.
Why? Because of their incredibly stringent security measures. We could stop bombs from being planted on our airplanes by following their security procedures or creating our own stronger ones. Therefore, if it was a bomb, we know the solution (search every bag by hand, no foreign nationals working in anywhere in airports, federal marshals overseeing maintenance areas, bomb sniffing dogs run through every cargo bay prior to takeoff, etc.) Implementation of this plan would take a month or so.
If wind can blow apart our planes, what is the solution? It is grounding our planes and reengineering them and building new ones. Implementation of this plan would take about a decade or so.
If the government was trying to lie to us to save the airline industry, the lie would be going the other way.
That is my point.
No, the tapes from the Cross Bay Bridge and the Marine Parkway Bridge are not available to the public.
MTA monitors the toll booths and the employee parking lots. These are minor bridges, not of much interest to the public...the only time they get heavy traffic is during the summer when the DFD's come to the beach.
"DFD" is a term used by the locals to indentify day-trippers who come "Down For the Day".
http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000011
The FDR is not located in the tail fin, just in the tail area somewhere. The veritical fin (stabilizer) fell off, not the entire tail, which would include the horizontal stab as well as the aft end of the fuselodge.
Maybe some terrorist loosened some nuts and bolts. Maybe the plane was supposed to crash on Sunday flying from Miami, but the nuts & bolts weren't loose enough.
IMHO ......sabotage.
Angry donaters got the Red Cross to do a 180, we got advertisers to quit advertising on Politically Incorrect......
I am so frustrated. I live on Long Island and went thru the whole TWA 800 debacle, in fact I live only a couple of miles from the Rockaways.
I lost my firefighter nephew on 9/11 and am sick and tired of the FBI pulling the wool over our eyes. Isn't there anything we can do? I am so angry I could spit.
Wisdom from my father: Never argue with a crazy person or a drunk.... and don't waste time trying to figure out into which category they fall!
Good advice! My Dad use to say something similar. I think we should add paranoids in there somewhere. Like I have said in other posts, I been reading Free Republic for over 3 years and enjoy the heck out of it. In circumstances like Flight 587 though, common sense and logic often seem to be in short supply, while paranoia flows like a raging river to the sea. Even after a definitive cause is determined for the crash(mechanical failure, turbulence, pilot stupidity, whatever), there will still be those here hollering government coverup. I never fail to be amazed by it ....
I am so frustrated. I live on Long Island and went thru the whole TWA 800 debacle, in fact I live only a couple of miles from the Rockaways.
I lost my firefighter nephew on 9/11 and am sick and tired of the FBI pulling the wool over our eyes. Isn't there anything we can do? I am so angry I could spit.
Because, as is already known from previous posts and news reports, the FBI doesn't have tape
FBI picked up tape from TBTA because in cases like this, they are the messengers boys. NTSB does not have cadre of people to go running around doing things like that. NTSB is tech anal., etc.
NTSB then sent tape to ITEK or other phooto enhancement company. Why? because ITEK has facilities to do this kind of stuff. Aircraft appears as minute spec, a tiny dot on VHS tape. VHS is restricted only about 330 lines of resolution, so seeing something valuable on tape, from that distance, with such a wide angle lens, is nil to none, but they will try.
What would a bunch of guys in Massapequa do with it? Take it to Carmine's and run it on his big screen TV?
Finally, sorry you lost friend on 9/11. Most lost friends/friends of friends, but anger is best way I know to ensure an illogical thought process, and you are smarter than that.
Lots of angry people here need to think, not react from anger.... and as a New Yorker you know, there is so much BS floating around here it makes the Gowanas Canal look like spring water.
Give yourself a break..... and Be well.
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