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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: VOA
The heavier the plane is, the harder it has to push on the air to stay aloft. The disturbence intensity is going to be related to the weight of the plane, and how slowly it is going. A large slow plane will tend to have a more powerful wake than a small fast plane.
161 posted on 11/17/2001 1:55:40 PM PST by Born to Conserve
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To: The Duke
If it was a terrorist event then why haven't the perps taken credit? Terrorists will always take credit for their handiwork - otherwise they don't advance their agenda.

Hmm, nobody took credit for 9-11, not for several weeks anyway. In fact they denied it. Finally they sort of admitted it, but only in a video intended for their supporters, and even then somewhat ambiguously. Sometimes the purpose of terror is merely to terrorise, and get a reaction from the victims, the reaction being the desired outcome, to be further exploited.

162 posted on 11/17/2001 1:56:18 PM PST by El Gato
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Comment #163 Removed by Moderator

To: okie01
Your honor, you want to split up this thread like you tried to split up Microsoft? Personally, I like to hear all points of view; one stop shopping.
164 posted on 11/17/2001 2:02:27 PM PST by floriduh voter
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To: El Gato
centripital

Should have been centrifigal force. Centripetal (spelled it wrong too!) force is real, it's what causes the circular motion. The centrifigal "force" is the result of choosing a rotating coordinate system, which I try not to do, since it confuses me. :)

165 posted on 11/17/2001 2:04:17 PM PST by El Gato
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To: terilyn
That's the natural color of the carbon-fiber (graphite) composite material. 'Composite' is a catch-all term to refer to materials similar to fiberglass, which are made with graphite, kevlar, or ceramic fibers which are held together in a matrix of epoxy.

The graphite fiber, though stronger than steel in the finished product, is the same material as pencil lead, hence the color.

166 posted on 11/17/2001 2:06:19 PM PST by Crowcreek
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To: Jimhotep; Born to Conserve
Thanks to both of you for the information and explanations.
Guess my faulty armchair analysis of the situation shows why it's a good thing
I didn't try to become an aeronautical engineer!
167 posted on 11/17/2001 2:09:40 PM PST by VOA
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To: copycat
except that we saw interviews with witnesses right after it happened,and a lot of them talk about a fire and pieces falling off all at the same time.
168 posted on 11/17/2001 2:11:15 PM PST by alithia
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To: terilyn
tell me why it doesn't look like something exploded causing those darkened rounded portions?

That is precisely my question.

169 posted on 11/17/2001 2:11:44 PM PST by EggsAckley
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To: El Gato
Good point... now, not to get back on the TWA 800 'isolated incident' again, but I recall reading something somewhere (I disremember exactly where, though, so I'll have to try and find it) where Iranian (I think) sources claimed that the Islamic Jihad Group (based in Egypt, with ties to Al Qiada) actually took credit for the downing of TWA 800...

Which brings up another complication - I doubt terrorists would be above claiming credit for an accident - I believe it's happened before...

So, here's a question for everyone on this thread - If the gov't continues with the claim that Flight 587 was an accident, and a terrorist group comes out and claims responsibility, who do you believe????

;0)

170 posted on 11/17/2001 2:13:34 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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Comment #171 Removed by Moderator

Comment #172 Removed by Moderator

To: Jimhotep
Left forward attachment point
Vertical stabilizer (tail fin) attachment point

these 2 pics look identical, different names???
anyone else see this?

173 posted on 11/17/2001 2:16:41 PM PST by hoot2
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To: VOA
I'm not an engineer...but wouldn't amount/intensity of wake turbulence be determined by the aerodynamics of a plane...NOT the amount of weight carried within it's hull? In other word, if a 747 is cruising along at 450 mph, wouldn't the wake turbulence from the votices from it's wingtips be just about the same if it was flying empty or loaded to the max?

Nope, weight does matter. Why? Because the vortices are a side effect of generating lift. If the aircraft is heavier, you have to generate more lift. You do this by having a larger angle of attack, the angle between the direction the nose is pointed and the direction the aircraft is moving. A higher angle of attack also means more drag, and thus a larger thrust required from the engines. With a higher angle of attack the air is moving faster as it traverses a larger arc going ovr the wing. Faster air means stronger/bigger vortices, everything else being equal besides aircraft weight.

How big the difference between a heavily loaded and a lightly loaded 747, I couldn't say.

174 posted on 11/17/2001 2:17:54 PM PST by El Gato
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To: MeeknMing
While all the "a bomb did it" crowd goes nuts, I have a simple question that no one has been able to answer:

On the voice recorder, the pilot remarked he heard a rattling noise on the plane. The cockpit voice recorder picked up the noise.

Now the question: Since when do bombs make a rattling noise? They usually just go KA-BOOM!

Well???

175 posted on 11/17/2001 2:19:37 PM PST by usconservative
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To: Jimhotep
Did you ever read "Soft Targets" by Dean Ing? A sub-plot deals with that very issue... ;0)
176 posted on 11/17/2001 2:19:37 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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To: usconservative
Well, it's possible that they took a page from the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan, and made a bomb out of Baby Toys...????
177 posted on 11/17/2001 2:20:49 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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Amazing the number of blithering idiot conspiracy nuts, no matter what investigators do, they get ripped as engaging in some converup. Lets see, they find a videotape, analyze it, then allow reporters to view it. Yeah, that's really trying to cover this up. But not only do they allow reporters to view it, they do so knowing that what appears to be a puff of smoke is visible, bringing more questions than answers. If they were going to cover this up, wouldn't they digitally alter the tape and get rid of the smoke BEFORE they let reporters see it?

But of course one has to employ logic and reason to reach this conclusion, rather than hysterically spinning to somehow support whatever coverup one is contending. Ya know, I hear how there are no differences between Republican and Democrat legislators, but frankly I see alot of similarities between conspiracy nuts and Democrats in their emotional bull-headed refusal to consider anything other than their templates, in this case "the govt is lying to hide xxxx from us".

Sorry for the rant, but some of these goofballs really make me hesitant at times to recommend Free Republic to liberal friends who are just starting to see the light. Sometimes they are more focused means for conversion, but what a shame to have to wait to benefit from all the other rich debate and thought found here on FR.

178 posted on 11/17/2001 2:21:22 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Huh?
I guess you've closed this AA587 site!
179 posted on 11/17/2001 2:25:35 PM PST by KirklandJunction
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To: terilyn
tell me why it doesn't look like something exploded causing those darkened rounded portions?

Your picture looks like something round went through it.

180 posted on 11/17/2001 2:25:59 PM PST by concerned about politics
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