Posted on 05/15/2015 4:20:44 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey
PHILADELPHIA — An assistant conductor on the Amtrak train that derailed on Tuesday believes she heard the engineer tell another regional train operator in a radio transmission that the train had been struck by something just before the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
At a news conference on Friday, Robert L. Sumwalt, the safety board official who is leading the investigation, said the F.B.I. had been asked to examine what he described as a fist-size impact area found on the lower left side of the train’s windshield. Officials said that the F.B.I. had been called in because it has the forensics expertise needed for the investigation, but that it had not yet begun its analysis.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If not, then it would seem like the engineer calmly accelerated with intent to do harm, not unlike how that French co-pilot calmly descended that Germanwings Airbus into the Alps a few months back.
Also, the morning following the derailment, Fox and Friends interviewed a surviving passenger on the Amtrak derailment, NJ Police Officer identified as Michael Keene. Keene was lauded by other survivors as a passenger turned heroic rescuer on that derailed Amtrak train.
Not discussed further but worthy of mentioning again, this officer specifically stated he was returning home from DC having attended certain events related to honoring our nation's law enforcement officers as described online:
National Officer Safety And Wellness Awards To Be Presented At Chairman's Dinner Event During National Police Week Washington, May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Late last year, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and BJA's VALOR officer safety initiative, launched the Destination Zero Project to highlight agency-level achievements in the area of officer safety and wellness. The primary objective of the program is to drive down causal factors that kill and injure law enforcement officers, and to help officers live safer, happier, healthier lives. The result of this project will culminate with presentation of the inaugural National Officer Safety and Wellness Awards at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's annual Chairman's Dinner on Tuesday, May 12, 2015.
Begs the question...given the current politically charged 'anti-police' climate...were these 'police related' events and the timing of attending officers departure via Amtrak, merely coincidence - given multiple reports of 'projectiles' reaching trains travelling in that same location ?
Partial transcript from Fox & Friends video clip mentioned above:
Fox&Friends: 'It's My Job' Heroic Police Officer Reacts After Helping Train Crash Victims
- 2:57 Steve Ducie:
I understand you had just gotten on the train at Philadelphia's 30th street station. Why were you in Wa....why were you down there?- 3:05 Michael Keane:
I was actually ..I was coming home, I got on the train at Washington DC. I was in Washington over the weekend. I took part in the Police Unity Tour [link].We arrived at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial[link] yesterday morning and I was on my way home from there.
I so hope that there’s no connection between the “passenger list” ..and the train derailment or the projectiles said to have hit the three trains.
Given todays social climate...anything is possible
Anyway to find out how many law enforcement were on all 3 trains?
that could be a challenge. but I’d bet if one were to contact the train operator...amtrak they might cooperate if they were aware of the passensgers connections to law enforcement.
This happened in a populated area. The foreign projectile was likely a rock thrown by kids - pranksters. We all know what a decent-sized rock can do to an automobile windshield. The big question for me is, is that an incidental red herring or did it play an integral role in the accident?
A VERY little bit if you consider the weight ratio of a small projectile to a train.
Yes, that’s my theory as well. Largeish rock, fast train... Question is, did it have any material effect on the derailment? I suspect it’s a red herring.
seems like a derailed train is going to be pretty dented up in general. I wonder why one dent seems so unlike all of the others.
I suspect that we may never get all of the story
I think it’s much more revealing (no pun intended) that the engineer apparently had a fetish with his own dork. no telling what that twisted bastard was doing with the hand that wasn’t on the throttle.
yep Very Distracted Driving..
We did, too. Something to to at church family camp other than twiddle our thumbs.
Ha!
Good article in WSJ about Amtrak. Gubmint subsidizes NE corridor a few bucks a ticket, while subsidizing a Chicago -San Francisco ticket >$150 per ticket.
Next time a liberal says Amtrak is underfunded ask them why it puts so much of its $$ toward leisure routes.
Sometimes a paragraph is just a paragraph...
There are folks that would make bawdy humor of the bible.
The camera is by the center divider of the windshield in the lower right corner of the left windshield panel (white object) just behind the wiper blade and above the center grab-bar.
It is visible in the same location in the photo of loco 601 in post #36.
Due to union gripes, er, 'concerns' there is no camera on the interior 'watching' the engineer or even just the control desk. If there were it would add a load of useful info in this case.
Im thinking that there may well end up being rear facing cameras In the car very soon
Thanks.
The NTSB recommendation(s) in the aftermath of the 2008 Mertolink collision in Chatsworth, CA was to install both a forward facing camera and an inward facing camera. Of that recommendation only the forward facing camera was included in the regulations. As mentioned the inward facing camera was met with massive resistance from certain employee representatives...
I would suspicion that as an outcome of this accident, that second camera will now make it into the regs...
...although I will not hold my breath waiting for it since the regulatory system is slower than a (cooked) escargot. Which is slower than an uncooked one. If only slightly..
(Sorry I’m late with info today - had a lot of ‘stuff’ to do.. ;-)
The NTSB recommendation(s) in the aftermath of the 2008 Mertolink collision in Chatsworth, CA was to install both a forward facing camera and an inward facing camera. Of that recommendation only the forward facing camera was included in the regulations. As mentioned the inward facing camera was met with massive resistance from certain employee representatives...
I would suspicion that as an outcome of this accident, that second camera will now make it into the regs...
...although I will not hold my breath waiting for it since the regulatory system is slower than a (cooked) escargot. Which is slower than an uncooked one. If only slightly..
(Sorry I’m late with info today - had a lot of ‘stuff’ to do.. ;-)
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