[KQQL]

Air Turbulence May Be Factor in Jetliner Crash, Officials Say

Yea Right, more likley OBL friends are the real factor in this crash.

[samtheman]

Today's analysis of the air traffic control tower's radar data seemed to show that air turbulence could have been a factor

There's air turbulence every day. Why doesn't air turbulence cause crashes like this every day? I have a feeling there are some other factors.

[chainsaw]

Air Turbulence...???

They are really trying to spin it now. Do they really expect us to believe that???

[chadsworth]

I thought the "black boxes " were supposedly beefed up to withstand crashes. AND how does air turbulence remove a rudder section without major damage to the frame?

Boy I smell it from here.

[Nita Nupress]

Do you know if this one (Flight 587) is on a bump list yet?

[justlurking]

That could have been the Japan Airlines flight, which was four miles away, or about 800 feet higher.

This is an obvious red herring. Wake vortices sink and spread outward from the path of the plane that generates them (although wind will affect it).

Both planes were in a climb profile, typically at thousands of feet per minute. If there was only 800 feet difference in altitude at four miles separation, the AA flight would have beeen well above the actual path taken by the JA flight.

However, there is a possibility that the either flight leveled out briefly during climbout. The standard departure from Newark requires that a plane not exceed a certain altitude without further clearance, to avoid conflict with incoming traffic. I don't have access to SIDS for JFK, so I don't know it is the same there.

Perhaps we will see the actual path and altitude, as the information is publicly available from http://www.flightexplorer.com/.

[demsux]

anyone have an idea if, or when, they release transcripts of the VDR?

[Nita Nupress]

Has anyone brought up the subject of terrorism using directional EMP weapons? I don't have time now to do a good search for a refresher on the symptoms of an EMP-attacked plane, but I did have this in my files:

TERRORIST THREATS TO THE UNITED STATES

Excerpt:

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could incapacitate power grids, communications, computer systems, and even electronic infrastructure that makes modern society possible. Terrorists will also build or acquire radio frequency weapons and use them for nonnuclear devices to selectively damage crucial parts of the United States' electronic infrastructure.

For example, a radio frequency weapon detonated on Wall Street could erase electronic business records and cause billions of dollars worth of damage to the U.S. economy, and, in fact, bring it to a halt, or a relatively small radio frequency weapon built from readily available technology could be used by terrorists parked at the end of the airport runway to debilitate airplanes taking off or landing.

[Nogbad]

The crash was caused by turbulence,
the anthrax was sent by a nutty professor, working alone.

Let's forget about these stories now and move on.

[honway]

We believe that in fact it was one minute and 45 seconds."

The NTSB experts certainly know the standard for separation for a heavy jet behind a heavy jet is 4 miles. Either the radar track shows the approriate 4 miles was maintained or it was not. They should say so. Throwing out this 1 minute 45 seconds figure smells of a red herring.