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Flight 587 Video Shows 'Puff of Smoke' in Sky
Newsmax ^ | November 17, 2001 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 11/17/2001 10:58:21 AM PST by MeekOneGOP

Saturday, Nov. 17, 2001 11:39 a.m. EST

Flight 587 Video Shows 'Puff of Smoke' in Sky

A second-by-second videotape of the final moments of doomed American Airlines Flight 587 shows a puff of smoke in the sky seconds after it crashed outside New York's JFK Airport Monday, lending credence to eyewitnesses who say the jetliner exploded before slamming into a Rockaway, N.Y., neighborhood.

Though Flight 587 probers have not released the key videotape, shot from a Metropolitan Transportation Authority highway surveillance camera, reporters from New York's Daily News were allowed to view it Friday.

"The tape ... shows a white outline of the jetliner against a clear sky in fairly steep decline," the News reported in Saturday editions. "Seconds later, the outline disappears and the video shows a blurry, white, undefined patch as the plane apparently breaks apart."

Visible in one of the final frames of the sequential videotape is "a puff of white smoke in the sky."

The images of Flight 587's final moments are said to be "very unclear." FBI and NTSB investigators hope to learn more through video enhancement techniques.

On Friday, MTA spokesman Tom Kelly told NewsMax.com that the FBI had turned the videotape over to the NTSB, but apparently both agencies now have copies and continue to analyze them.

Enhancement of the Flight 587 video could confirm the accounts of eyewitnesses like Jackie Powers, who, minutes after the crash, told both ABC News and WABC Radio in New York that she saw "an enormous flash" near the wing on the A-300 Airbus before it dropped from the sky.

"I don't know if it was fire or an explosion," she said. "It appeared that debris fell from the left side [of the plane]. It just plummeted. It had no momentum whatsoever. It just plummeted."

Dozens of other witnesses told various media outlets they saw the jet either explode or catch fire before it crashed.

An explosion would be a problem for NTSB officials, who spent the better part of the last few days trying to sell the idea that the plane's vertical stabilizer snapped off, causing the in-flight breakup, because of "wake turbulence" from a Japan Airlines 747 that had taken off from JFK two minutes earlier.

Independent aviation experts have generally scoffed at the NTSB theory.

"[747 wake turbulence] is not strong enough to be able to break off a tail or to compromise any sort of a normal airplane," said ABC News aviation analyst John Nance on Friday.

"They could turn a little airplane upside down. But especially an A-300, which is a jumbo jet - no way in the world should that ever have any potentially disastrous impact on the aircraft or the tail," he explained.

On Wednesday, an unnamed aviation expert quoted in New York's Newsday said one likely explanation for Flight 587's breakup was a bomb exploding on board. (See: Aviation Expert: Bomb One Likely Cause of Flight 587 Crash.)

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
TWA 800
War on Terrorism


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: flight587
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To: El Gato
I should have been more specific. I meant photos of the movable control surface portion of the rudder, including the trim tab. The photo appears to show the lower portion of the VS, labeled "rudder" that attached to the empennage/fuselage. Thanks for the link.
121 posted on 11/17/2001 1:00:55 PM PST by Blueflag
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To: anniegetyourgun
And often times for good reason :) ..
122 posted on 11/17/2001 1:01:35 PM PST by Ben Bolt
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Comment #123 Removed by Moderator

To: Rokke
For what it's worth, here is a link to the NTSB Eyewitness Reports and FBI Witness Summaries that was released as a CD by the NTSB...

I havn't completely combed through the entire database, so I don't know what EVERY witness said, but it's a good place to go to see as much of the data as is available - I want to get the actual CD one of these days, but for now this should do.

;0)

124 posted on 11/17/2001 1:03:27 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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To: a4drvr; RaceBannon; Avi8tor
What a great find. All the conspiracy types should read this. You should bump this.
125 posted on 11/17/2001 1:04:04 PM PST by Blueflag
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To: Jimhotep
Any number of FDR channels can't compare to photographic evidence.

This is one of the less reasonable things I've read on this thread so far. Photographic evidence, still photos that is, can tell you what happened, but not when. It can't tell you what failed first, only what failed. You use each piece of the puzzle for what it can tell you.

126 posted on 11/17/2001 1:04:48 PM PST by El Gato
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To: Jimhotep
Ok... you win... I don't see any missile damage in that photo of TWA 800... thanks!!!!

;0)

127 posted on 11/17/2001 1:06:17 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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To: Blueflag
"Yes, I know there is no such force in physics as decceleration ..."

I don't care what they say, deceleration and centrifugal forces are real. Deceleration is a negative, relative, acceleration, and centrifugal forces oppose centripital forces, which are really just inertial.

No one can teach me.

128 posted on 11/17/2001 1:06:18 PM PST by Born to Conserve
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To: Blueflag
Yes, I know there is no such force in physics as decceleration

Of course there is, it's just negative accelleration. Oh, you mean centripital force, yes that's not "real", but some find the concept useful. It's actually needed if you insist on using a moving referance frame.

129 posted on 11/17/2001 1:08:34 PM PST by El Gato
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Comment #130 Removed by Moderator

To: Rokke
Keep reading. When find a list of hundreds of witnesses to a missile, I'll be impressed.

Like I really care enough whether you are impressed ! Believe it or not. Use your own search engine if it means that much to you. Do your own work!

131 posted on 11/17/2001 1:10:41 PM PST by concerned about politics
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To: dorben
"Conspiracy nuts ? Because something in life happens to be out of you'r realm , we are all branded nuts ?"

Oh relax, you're conspiracy nuts, and we're conspiritors.

That's what makes the world go around (if it does go around . . .).

132 posted on 11/17/2001 1:13:23 PM PST by Born to Conserve
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To: Jimhotep
Please get the opinion of your Marine friend. Show him the photos.

Well tell you what Jimbo, he's a nice guy and all, for a Jarhead, but the institute pays him to do marketing. handle information security and count beans. They pay me to do physics and engineering analysis. Of among other things, aircraft flight dynamics. Not structures, that's outside my area of expertize, but I am the engineer of the group of three that were discussing the event, and an ex USAF officer too.

Now if you see something in those pictures that I haven't seen, then give it up, otherwise shut it up. I'm willing to condsider others thoughts and ideas, but not their snide and content free remarks.

133 posted on 11/17/2001 1:16:53 PM PST by El Gato
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To: Rokke
Bogus? What proof have you?

Why don't you FOIA the FBI? Those hundreds of AMERICANS, bub, gave sworn statements to the FBI.

I'll believe hundreds of Joe Americans before I believe some BS cartoon from the CIA (either cartoon, take your pick). The government is lying to us all, as is their track record.

Some of us think the time is well past to cut the bullshit.

Our very survival is at stake.

134 posted on 11/17/2001 1:17:10 PM PST by Silvertip
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To: Chad Fairbanks
"Personally, I don't think anyone has yet proved anything of any importance,..."

Nobody is saying that there was proof of anything - hence all the speculation. But look at the circumstantial evidence...look what's been ruled out already compared with what the possible causes could be. So far eye witness reports and opinions from avaition professionals have been at odds with what's been pushed (yes, pushed) by the media.

135 posted on 11/17/2001 1:20:29 PM PST by Paulie
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To: Born to Conserve
LOL ! Just having some innocent fun , I can take it .
136 posted on 11/17/2001 1:20:56 PM PST by Ben Bolt
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To: laconas
Before the last piece hit the ground, and before any fire was out the government spokesman said it was an accident. As a famous "investigative reporter " once said--case closed.

That's what has most bothered most people, I believe, about the reporting. Everyone in front of the camera has been pretty insistent from the get go that it was only an accident (no proof) and only an accident.

137 posted on 11/17/2001 1:22:44 PM PST by nicmarlo
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Comment #138 Removed by Moderator

To: Jimhotep
Those pictures are not evidence of a 'mechanical failure' being the cause of the crash, but of where the mechanical failure occured to take the tail off. The question is: What caused the mechaincal failure? That composite material is strong stuff, especially in that thickness. What made it break with no jagged edges that fatigue would show?
139 posted on 11/17/2001 1:28:40 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: Jimhotep
Looks like holes.
140 posted on 11/17/2001 1:30:26 PM PST by concerned about politics
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