I'm thinking the same thing. After following this event all morning, and following this thread,
these are the observations I have made.
1. The wing was broken off and fuel in the wing dumped into the water.
2. To call it "mechanical failure" merits a great big DUH!
OBVIOUSLY THE MECHANICS ON THAT PLANE FAILED, the question is "why."
3. There was not enough time in the four minutes that the plane was airborne for the pilot to detect
mechanical failure AND dump fuel.
4. I don't believe a terrorist was on the plane, or if there was one, I don't believe he went to the cockpit.
NTSB stated that the checked baggage had been "passenger matched," which they naively believed, in the past, that NO ONE would put a bomb in their luggage and THEN board the plane,
knowing they would die. NOW we know that they would.
5. Just because the 9/11 terrorists used the planes as missiles does not mean they would
use the same MO on another "hit." More likely they would change their MO for every event,
just to keep us guessing.
6. There is no doubt that many in the ground crew/mechanics/baggage handlers/plane cleaners
etc. are likely to be middle eastern, and have excellent opportunities to
sabotage any plane they like.
7. The LAST thing that American AND Pataki would want us to know is that
the ground crews are so poorly screened. They have been doing their
big dog and pony show for the last 2 months, trying to convince us that we are safe,
at this point, they don't want us to undo their newly created safety myths by having us suspect the ground crew.