Feds Downplay Flt. 587 Explosion Reports

NewsMax ^ | Thursday Nov. 15, 2001

[Map Kernow]

Why the Flight 587 investigation hasn't passed the "smell test" yet for me.

[Joe Boucher]

The company line is that we can't afford another air line case of sabatoge just now so the approved story is wake turbulance. Understand all you feds now? Same as flight 800, The company line is. Well the people aren't getting back on planes in droves and the airline industry is in the crapper. And I don't trust the government to tell the truth about what day it is.

[Blueflag]

I agree. I have spent a lot of time on threads discussing whether or not 587 could have encountered wake turbulence, and whether it could have knocked off the vertical stabilizer.

But none of probably 250 posts can plausibly explain why an A300 managed to dissemble itself in the air, and why so many people reported fire from the right wing root.

I want it to be tragic, mechanical, structural failure. I fear it is clever terrorism.

[justlurking]

Not only are they blaming the anthrax on right wingers, they now claim even the eyewitnesses are involved!

I want to laugh. I really do. But, I can't.

[Dirk McQuickly]

The NTSB has ruled out mechanical failure by virtue of examining the engines. By doing this, the numerous reports of "explosion" and "fire" betray something that had to have taken place in either the wing section or the baggage compartment(s). If one can blame turbulence and shearing for the tailfin becoming so cleanly detached, that does nothing to explain the "fire" near the engines which suffered no mechanical failure? I'm assuming mechanical "failure" would include incidental engine fires.

This is going to be a battle among Airbus, GE, and American Airlines. AA wants the public to think it's an Airbus issue. Airbus wants everyone to think it's a security issue. GE just wants everyone to think it's either security or the tailfin.

[MarkWar]

>Why the Flight 587 investigation hasn't passed the "smell test" yet for me.

And now the flight data recorder has been sent away for "repair." (I believe it's back already.)

It will be interesting to see if the "data" on the "repaired" FDR provide really strong support for one theory or another.

Mark W.

[DoughtyOne]

I would believe the bomb theory much easier if the tail hadn't fallen off in the bay. Not only that but the tail looks so pristine that it almost seems they could install it on another airliner without need of repair.

Even if wings detach from planes, I don't think engines necessarily detatch from the wing. I could be wrong on this one. But it seems real strange to me that both engines and the tail detatched and fell separately.

I too find it very difficult to buy the turbulence theory. Over hundreds of thousands of flights, surely many other identical (similar) aircraft have taken of under similiar circumstances. None of them disintigrated. This was one of the same arguements I had regarding TWA 800. Look at the planes that sit on the ground in Saudi Arabia or other places in the Middle East. The idea that the center tank got too hot, or the wiring was a known defect just doesn't cut it. Otherwise in the normal course of action, we'd have other craft suffering the same fates.

I'm still waiting for a good solid explanation for this crash. As of yet I'm not making any determination regarding the government's handling of it.

[Map Kernow]

I would believe the bomb theory much easier if the tail hadn't fallen off in the bay. Not only that but the tail looks so pristine that it almost seems they could install it on another airliner without need of repair.

On that issue, the latest theory the NTSB investigators are playing with is that the Airbus frame is structurally weaker than other manufactures because it's made of a "composite." That's how they're struggling to explain that weirdly clean shear-off of the tail. No word on the composition of this "composite"---chewing gum and boogers?

[DoughtyOne]

I understand they're looking at dried snot too. Heh heh heh. Sure you needed that picture. Interesting case. Nothing comes easy these days.

[MizSterious]

If you haven't seen it already, this article has some interesting data in it--Japan Airlines 747 and American Airlines A300 Flew Parallel Trajectories, 1 Minute 30 Seconds apart.

[Map Kernow]

Thanks for the link. After reading the posted article and the comments, it sounds more than ever like the "wake turbulence" theory is what we in the legal profession call a "stretch" or a "reach." We still haven't got an evaluation of the FDR data though.

[eno_]

It's good to hear that John Nance thinks his own credibility is worth more than "being a team player."

[Beenliedto]

It will be interesting to see if the "data" on the "repaired" FDR provide really strong support for one theory or another.

It is VERY interesting to note (as pointed out by an earlier Freeper) that the Flight VOICE Recorder was found in the wreckage.... while the Flight DATA recorder was recovered by a diver.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but don't those babies live together in the tail? And if so, the seperation seems strange.

[Map Kernow]

Well, if this WAS an act of terror, shouldn't the Office of Homeland Security be involved in the investigation, and if so, what are they doing to help prevent it from happening again?

One of the things that really bugged me the very first day of the investigation was the announcement that the FBI would not lead the investigation. They meant to send a very clear signal to everyone, despite all the pious claims that they're "looking into all possibilities," that they were discounting the possibility that the crash was due to terrorism or sabotage. If I can make this comparison without being too invidious, it had troubling similarities to the Vince Foster "suicide" investigation, where the Park Police, rather than the FBI, was given responsibility for investigating the violent death of a top White House official.

[Map Kernow]

while the Flight DATA recorder was recovered by a diver

Where did you learn this? I heard on Fox News yesterday a report that the FDR had been found "right on someone's front lawn."

[timestax]

Well, at least they learned their lesson about calling all the witnesses drunks,and kooks, ala ole Fibber Magee KALSTROM !!!

[timestax]

Well, at least they learned their lesson about calling all the witnesses drunks,and kooks, ala ole Fibber Magee KALSTROM !!! And Mr. Hall was/is just as bad!

[MarkWar]

>Where did you learn this? I heard on Fox News yesterday a report that the FDR had been found "right on someone's front lawn."

I believe both recorders were found on land.

AP sez so: Flight Data Recorder Found Apparently the FDR was found "...on the same street where four homes were destroyed."

Mark W.