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Stolen Boeing 727 Feared In Hands of al-Qaeda
Bush Country ^
| 091103
| Gordon Thomas
Posted on 09/11/2003 7:59:59 PM PDT by ranair34
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To: ranair34
This is an ongoing story from the last several months. This one had me going until this:
"At a closing speed of almost 900 miles, they would have no chance to avoid the flying bomb, said international security expert Ted Gunderson in Washington."
According to GlobalAircraft.org cruising speed is 570 - 605 mph. 900 mph would tear the craft apart.
This story is serious enough. It doesn't need hysterical hype.
81
posted on
09/11/2003 9:29:09 PM PDT
by
DaGman
Comment #82 Removed by Moderator
To: Ronin
"As stated on previous threads, the idea that you could "hide" a 727 in the *dessert* is impossible. Airliners need runways"
Uhm, explain then how a 747 loaded with a shuttle can take off and land at Edwards. Edwards, if you are not aware, is a big, well, desert. The do it all the time. Deserts can be as hard as concrete, yet have some flex that is less wearing on the craft.
Not a dessert. That is defined as "A usually sweet course or dish, as of fruit, ice cream, or pastry, served at the end of a meal." and of course no plane can take off and land on a pastry. Unless that is what you meant.
So I guess you were right then. You could neither hide nor take off an airliner from a bowl of ice cream or a tart... or any other dessert.
83
posted on
09/11/2003 9:36:59 PM PDT
by
JSteff
To: meg70
Now I don't know if I believe the story of this thread, but it is not hard to "hide" a large plane in the desert.
"I share your difficulty in believing that you could hide a plane "
Maybe you never heard of the large bombers from WWII in the Sahara. They were discovered over the years since WWII. They sat in relatively plain view in the desert. NO one saw them for DECADES. B25's B24's B17's.
They were finally found... after decades... but if this story were true we don't have decades.
84
posted on
09/11/2003 9:43:57 PM PDT
by
JSteff
To: JSteff
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/edwards.htm
Edward's has a 24,000 foot runway. We'd know if there was a multi-mile runway in the sahara, i'd wager.
85
posted on
09/11/2003 9:48:32 PM PDT
by
CanisRex
(my .02)
To: July 4th
I just hope the sandmaggots have a lot of very good training, if they hope to hit another airliner with an overloaded tanker.
Hitting a skyscraper is one thing. Hitting a moving target which can take evasive action is another thing entirely.
86
posted on
09/11/2003 9:55:50 PM PDT
by
Publius6961
(californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
To: CanisRex
They have several runways, but they do not need 24000 feet to land a 727. Flaps down, reverse engines, steady braking, cut the power, less than 3000... maybe 2500 or less.
Go ahead, try it in Microsoft Flight simulator.
Fun side note: My brother landed a Gulf Stream on a carrier in Flight Sim. Took probably several hundred tries, but he did it. Carrier at full speed 27 knots into a 40 mph head wind, reverse engines, increasing braking. :-)
87
posted on
09/11/2003 10:00:15 PM PDT
by
JSteff
To: BillF
The extra fuel capacity could give the plane a greater flight range. However, if the bad guys are planning to use the explosive/fire impact of the extra fuel, they would likely attack some target other than a plane in flight. Mecca would be a good target and almost impossible to miss.
88
posted on
09/11/2003 10:00:41 PM PDT
by
Publius6961
(californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
To: DaGman
At a closing speed of almost 900 miles... 900 mph would tear the craft apart. What is so hard to understand about closing speed?
450+450=900. 600+300=900. And so on.
Although I can't see the pilot actually intercepting the opposing plane head-on.
89
posted on
09/11/2003 10:10:08 PM PDT
by
steve86
To: JSteff
Actually, if I am not mistaken, the strips you are talking about at Edwards are located on specially prepared areas of a dry lakebed.
I would imagine that they are cleared, flattened, and otherwise prepared much the same way as the Bonnieville Salt Flats are when they are used for racing. Bonnieville, by the way, is another dried lakebed.
That is a far cry from what I was referring to, as anyone with common sense could have figured out.
I was referring to a once-of landing and takeoff from an improvised strip, and I didn't then and don't now see how a terrorist organization would have the infrastructure pull that kind of an operation off in secret -- even if there were a site that matches that discription available for use.
As for your funny regarding my misspelling of desert, ha ha ha. Very clever.
90
posted on
09/11/2003 10:31:38 PM PDT
by
Ronin
(Qui tacet consentit!)
To: CanisRex
Lots of dots connected without reputable sources quoted. Color me very skeptical. I've been following this story, but I know of no reliable word the plane was actually found and is now safe and secure. The "hiding in the desert" stuff is pure speculation, but the plane is still out there.
91
posted on
09/11/2003 11:12:52 PM PDT
by
eno_
(Freedom Lite - it's almost worth defending)
To: GRANGER
I dont think they're saying that the plane is hiding someplace under a camo tarp. The 727-200 is a 70's plane and this one probably had 40,000 cycles on it by the time it was retired. These old planes are either cut up, put in the desert or shipped to third world countries. I dont think you'll find a whole lot of 777's or 737-800's at your local Sub-Saharan airline. I would think that these African countries fly a ton of 727's, DC-8's, 707's, even DC-3's - all the old ones. If they paint it in the colors of a local airline, there is the hiding place. What are we going to do, start looking at the serial numbers on the doorjam of each 727??? THAT's where its hiding - if in fact this story is correct. What's that saying about hiding things in plain view? If you want to know what they are looking for, go here:
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N844AA&distinct_entry=true This is 6 pictures of this exact aircraft (N844AA) that have been taken in the last 2 years.
To: TomGuy
If Al-Qaeda has control of the plane, and if they were going to use it as a bomb, they would probably head it for another large building, not another airliner. Or a ship. A large cruise ship in the Med, say.
Or consider the effect upon hitting a large oil refinery or tanker port. Consider also bin-Ladin's connections to Saudis and how much Saudi would benefit from the utter destruction of some other country's oil-exporting ability
93
posted on
09/12/2003 4:14:07 AM PDT
by
SauronOfMordor
(Java/C++/Unix/Web Developer === (Finally employed again! Whoopie))
To: ranair34
With hijackings now almost impossible, I can't believe AQ would waste a plane by flying into another plane. They have plans for this one- plans greater than taking out one British plane.
94
posted on
09/12/2003 4:17:40 AM PDT
by
rintense
(9-11-01: Never Forget.)
To: Ronin
But we would be able to find this thing soon after it got up in the air right?
95
posted on
09/12/2003 4:24:08 AM PDT
by
meg70
To: DaGman
cruising speed is 570 - 605 mph. 900 mph would tear the craft apart. If plane A is going east at 450 mph, and B is going west at 450 mph, they are closing at 900 mph
96
posted on
09/12/2003 4:26:13 AM PDT
by
SauronOfMordor
(Java/C++/Unix/Web Developer === (Finally employed again! Whoopie))
To: JSteff
I was talking mainly about hopping around 2-3 times to different African countries without being detected.
97
posted on
09/12/2003 4:26:30 AM PDT
by
meg70
To: DaGman; shaggy eel; Trapper John; ranair34
<< .... closing speed of almost 900 miles [Per Hour] >>
Closing speed is the sum of both aircraft speeds.
A closing speed far in excess of eleven hundred miles per hour is possible.
And the chance a couple of Teheran-"trained" barbarians in pilot costumes hitting anything at all at that speed, let alone something as small as another aircraft in controlled airspace?
Between no chance and a dog's chance.
Islamofascism's American-resident and Gray-out Davis's California-driver's-licence-bearing third-world savages have a better chance of walking past Norman Mineta's Scandanavian-grandmother-grabbing rent-a-gropers at Boston/Logan and of commandeering a California-bound American or United aircraft than they have pulling off the wild stunt envisaged in this piece!
98
posted on
09/12/2003 5:51:17 AM PDT
by
Brian Allen
( Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God - Thomas Jefferson)
To: ranair34
HUH???
Yo Achmed , hold muh beer whilst I rams that ther Vurgin 747.
Aint no way in hell, thats possable. Not with Tcas
99
posted on
09/12/2003 5:57:11 AM PDT
by
JETDRVR
To: meg70
But we would be able to find this thing soon after it got up in the air right? Only if anyone looking for it knew where to look, in which case they would know where it is before it gets off the ground.
If it is detected in the air, it would be because heightened security in first-world airspace finds a suspicious plane. It could fly around Africa for a while without anyone noticing anything unusual.
100
posted on
09/12/2003 6:11:23 AM PDT
by
eno_
(Freedom Lite - it's almost worth defending)
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