Posted on 11/12/2001 7:40:57 PM PST by Freedom of Speech Wins
Monday Nov. 12, 2001; 11:34 p.m. EST
Former NTSB Official Doubts Accident Caused Flt. 587 Crash
Aviation expert and former National Transportation & Safety Board official Vernon Grose said late Monday that he's increasingly skeptical that the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 was purely accidental.
"I am backing away from the ready idea that this is simply an accident," Grose told Fox News Channel's John Scott.
The veteran air crash prober said that he questions the sequence in which the plane broke up over Jamaica Bay before slamming into a residential area in Rockaway, Queens.
"Photographs you've already shown tonigt (indicate) the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft with the American Airlines insignia right on it (fell into) Jamaica Bay long before the engine falls off in Queens," he told Scott.
Grose said that if the vertical stabilizer detached from Flt. 587 over Jamaica Bay, which the plane traversed before plummeting to the ground in Rockaway, it suggested that catastrophic engine failure alone may not have caused the crash.
"No, I don't think that's the situation at all," he told FNC.
"The engine that came free, which apparently was the number 1 left engine, and crashed on land - that was well after the vertical stabilizer was detached from the aircraft and that tells me that somehow..... that the airplane was progressively disintegrating, not just losing an engine and then diving into the ground."
"Earlier today I thought it was simply the loss of an engine that caused this," Grose told FNC. "But I'm not convinced now.... I am becoming more skeptical."
If this is true then why was the blast "out" from the plane and not "Into' the plane?
I knew the moment I heard about this that it was terrorism. There is absolutely NO doubt in my mind. The only thing we need to learn from the investigation is how it was done.
The reason I know this is terrorism is simple. Bin Laden said in his tape that there would be more planes lost. I'm not a statistician, but I know the odds that an AMERICAN Airlines airliner flying out of New York on Veterans Day would be the one plane to have a fatal "accident" out of all the planes to fly in the world today are absolutely astronomical.(Not to mention it was a flight with enough fuel for some 1500 miles). We just need to know how it was done and who to arrest-- and which terrorist-abetting regime to go after next.
Some earlier posts and eyewitnesses talked about the wings "fluttering." Also talk about the plane looking to be in distress prior to pieces startin to fly off.
However, the main argument would be sabotage and terrorism, based on present scenario, instead of present story that there was no hint of terrorism. Officials bending over backwards to explain why this is no terrorism makes me think it is almost certainly a terrorist act.
I would envision a (hypothetical) runway sniper using a van soundproofed on the inside with cheap foam mattresses. The exact shooting position would be determined in advance so that a shooting chair and rifle rest could be set up inside the van in advance. The shot could be taken through a removed small rear door window.
The shooter would drive to his pre-determined road side parking place, get in the chair, and use his 12 or 20 power off-the-shelf scope to observe the jets as they turned into the take off position. Seeing the big twin engine jet with the American Airlines logo, he would have plenty of time to settle in for his one and only shot. He would pick a twin engine, to maximize the chance of causing a crash after shooting one engine.
As the jet races down the runway straight towards him, he holds his crosshairs just above the center of the 12 foot diameter engine. As the wheels come off the tarmac, he fires. Even a .30 caliber slug through the engine turbines could cause the massive failure he seeks, a .50 caliber would ensure it.
If the jet lands right on him, he screams "Allah Akbar" with a big grin on his face, and goes to collect his 72 virgins right away.
If the jet crashes beyond him or not at all, he gets back into his driver's seat, and checks his map for the route to Logan, Dulles, O'hare or Miami International.
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So why do I go to the trouble of pitching this hypothesis? Because even if there was no sniper at the end of the runway at JFK today, there might be next week. The national guardsmen standing around looking scary in the terminals doing nothing but providing pseudo-security PR, should instead be patrolling the airport runway approaches with their M-16A2s, looking for my hypothetical but entirely possible (even likely) snipers.
What are they doing in the terminals anyway? Looking for hidden boxcutters with their X-ray eyes?
I am a professional investigator with 15 plus years under my belt, but in no way am I an expert in matters of aviation or terrorism. I do, however, recognize the problems associated with eyewitnesses accounts but will not dwell on that here. I also recognize the importance of forensic findings but am not so naïve to believe that all of the forensic evidence will be presented to the public in a pristine fashion. My point is that regardless of the official “cause” of the crash, there will be negative ramifications to the airline and travel industry that is already on the critical list post 09/11. I believe that any official disclosure of the cause will be made in a fashion designed to have the least impact on the future of those industries. Professionally and morally, I am bothered by any agenda driven conclusion and do not agree with it, but I (almost) understand it.
Having laid that foundation, I think that it would be great to see a collective effort made by members of this forum to use their (our) abilities to insure a level of accountability by the applicable investigative agencies to get to the truth of the matter so the cause is not a matter of speculation years from now (e.g. TWA Fight 800). Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, and perhaps it might not be possible to reconstruct the events of this ill-fated flight. But after reading the countless informative posts made by engineers, other former and current investigators, members with personal reliable sources, etc. on this group, if any ONE single group has the ability to be a watch dog of sorts, I believe FR is it. We have had the ability to collect information from virtually the minute the incident occurred, and continue to collect information from various sources. Maybe I am an idealist, but I believe that this forum has created this opportunity for us all. I am willing to assist to the extent that I can, and welcome any suggestions for the implementation of such a course of action.
To all who have read and considered my post and understand its positive intent, thank you.
National Transportation Safety Board ended the most exhaustive investigation in aviation history by declaring that a short-circuit was "most likely" the cause.
Yea Right :
They were under pressure from Billy Bob Bubba to lie.
Maybe AA crash was due to a mechanical problem, but then again it could easily be a terrorist act too.
TWA, Swiss Air and now AA blow up in the sky after taking off from JFK.
I would check the mechanics, to see if any have OBL connection.
Something smells fishey about this crash today, after all, this plane crashed in NYC 2 months from 9/11/2001.
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