Patali: Pilot of AA flight dumped fuel prior to crash, in (likely) response to mechanical failures

Gov. Pataki | 11/12/01 | WABC Radio

[Steven W.]

Gov. Pataki is reporting that the pilot of the ill-fated American Airlines flight dumped most of the airplane's fuel over Jamaica Bay, anticipating a crash landing and most likely indicating a trained response to onboard mechanical failures.

[Dengar01]

The fuel left floating on the surface of the bay

Oh no where is Green Peace and the rest of the environmental wackos? I'm sure they will be devastated over all the possible dead fish and seaguls in Jamaica Bay. Then PETA would get involved.

Just a little comical relief.

[Moonman62]

The fuel left floating on the surface of the bay

Which could be caused by the disintegration of the wing. Pataki is jumping to conclusions.

[jlogajan]

Contaminated fuel?

Unlikely to have an explosive effect. More likely to just starve the engine.

[Dog Gone]

It's right up there with the moose and cheese posts, ain't it?

[sinkspur]

He had just taken off, hardly enough time. Pitaki doesn't know.

Pataki may not know. But a "veteran captain," Ben Tillman, was just on MSNBC and said that fuel can be dumped at any time, and that fuel spewing out of the plane could have been a compromised fuel line which could result from a catastrophic engine failure, or could, indeed, have been the pilot dumping fuel.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've used to write ATA-100 Flight Manuals for a living. They didn't have time to dump fuel on purpose. However, if a wing, or part of a wing broke over the water, fuel would have been spilled out.

/john

[Howlin]

.... I'm surprised that I havent heard anything from Gore? Has anyone else? Am I just missing something

You won't be hearing from Mr. Gore today; all the newspapers that endorsed him have said that Mr. Bush won fair and square. Gore is today pondering what to do next with his life -- because he will NOT be a nominee again.

[Clovis_Skeptic]

When was Gov. Pataki appointed to the NTSB? What is his source for this?

none other than California Gov. Gray-out Davis.

Amazing how these gov's know everything.

[Smogger]

People are saying mechanical failure this and mechanical failure that. Of course it was a mechanical failure. Even if a bomb goes off on the plane the result would be a mechanical failure.

The question isn't whether or not the plane crash was the result of a mechanical failure. It obviously was. The question is was the mechanical failure the result of improper maintenance, an act of God, or deliberate sabotage.

I suspect it will take quite a while to learn the truth about this (if ever.) In the meantime I think that the safest assumption is that it was a deliberate act of sabotage.

[r9etb]

It's right up there with the moose and cheese posts, ain't it?

Move along. No cheese here. Nothing to see. Ignore that moose, which did not bite a hole in the engine."

I think it adds to the effect, don't you?

[Labyrinthos]

I'm surprised that I havent heard anything from Gore?

I'm not. Hard for Gore to talk with a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder with Cheese stuffed in his mouth, not to mention the box of jumbo fries and two slices of pepperoni pizza left over from breakfast.

[nicmarlo]

Has she found out a way to blame it on the Bush tax cut yet?

I was actually looking for that a couple of hours ago. It's surprising she hasn't yet done so. It would be so consistent with her "clap trap."

[June2]

I think we should all look at this suspiciously. The hits on the WTC showed that these guys did their homework. They knew where to hit the building to weaken its structure. Is it such a stretch to think that they may have sabotaged airplanes to fail at some later point in time(by extensive studying of the planes) by compromising a critical part of an airplane.

They did find mechanic ID's on some of them didn't they?

[Palladin]

Exactly! Pataki is making a fool of himself, grandstanding and talking through his hat.

[concerned about politics]

Just one possiblity. Obviously, the reports coming in from official sources are continuing to conflict with one another.

Worth repeating.

Bump

[jlogajan]

This wouldn't make sense since the pilot did not call back to the tower

Possibly, but if he decided to dump fuel, he may not have thought the problem was an emergency just yet, but he may have decided to return to the airport, hence the earliest possible fuel dumping action. In this speculation, he didn't get around to the radio call before the engine blew.

[EggsAckley]

Wasn't the flight only a few minutes old at the time of the crash?

NTSB reported that the plane took off at 9:13 and crashed at 9:17.
Four minutes is an awfully short time to develop "mechanical troubles" AND dump fuel. JMHO.

[is_is]

The fuel left floating on the surface of the bay

Would that be the same fuel that was spilling out of the wing as it fell into the bay???