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There's hardly any point trying to explain aerodynamics to a committed tin-hatter who can't even spell "government."

But I'm going to try anyway.

When an airplane is in level flight, the forces working on it are in a certain equilibrium. The lift (which comes mostly from the wings) is equal to the weight. The thrust (which comes from the powerplant[s]) is equal to the drag (which comes from several different sources).

In conventional monoplanes (which includes everything from a Cessna 172 to the 747-400 and beyond) the wing provides a center of lift which is slightly aft of the center of gravity. This ensures that the center of pressure is aft of the center of gravity (necessary for stability). What that means, is that if these planes did not have a horizontal tail, they would nose down in normal flight.

Well, we know that planes don't always nose down uncontrollably in normal flight. Why not? The horizontal tail, either because of its position, its inverted airfoil (vis-a-vis a wing), or its negative incidence, or some combination of these design features, provides a nose-up push -- what we who grasp these things call a "pitching moment" -- that counteracts the wing's tendency to pitch the plane nose-down around the center of gravity.

What happens, if as happened to 800, when a catastrophic event, an explosion, causes a lot of the structure to shear off of the nose of the plane? These things:

The aerodynamics change as the streamlined nose is disrupted. This creates a lot of drag acting on the end of the plane. IF the parts are shorn away clear, this force doesn't move the plane itself in any particular axis, but it decelerates it (thrust and drag aren't in equilibrium any more, are they?) and also by applying a lot of force to the now-blunt cut-off end of the plane, can amplify any other pitch or yaw moment that comes from another source.
The source of the pitch moment is easy to find. Remember that the stability of the plane traces to the center of lift, the center of gravity, and the offsetting nose-up moment imparted by the horizontal tail. But with a lot of structure gone, all from the nose area, and forward of the center of gravity, the center of gravity moves abrubtly to the rear. If the center of lift is forward of the CG now, that would impart a strong pitch-up. If it is still aft of the CG, the pitch-up coming from the tail is no longer "just enough" to offset the wing's pitch-down moment, it is now "too much," and you have a milder pitch-up.

So what carries the crippled, decelerating wreck 3000 feet higher? All it takes is a mild nose-up pitch amd inertia. A lot of inertia in a half million pound airplane. A mild nose up pitch is inevitable in a plane that has just lost its nose. Hey, that's exactly what the radar showed, too.

Nothing here is beyond middle school science. Unfortunately science makes few inroads on minds that are slaves to irrational belief systems. A conspiracy theory is attractive to such minds, because it ties up all the loose ends (if the evidence doesn't fit the theory, you selectively discard and manufacture evidence to fit -- the 800-missile crew perfectly illustrates this).

Then again, 800 wasn't straight and level in the first place. It was climbing anyway, so its energy vector was above the horizontal to begin with.

You apparently think that pieces of an airplane demolished by an explosion, a midair, or a weather encounter, instantly shed all the energy they contain and fall straight down. Nope. That is a child's understanding of objects in motion, and a rather dim child at that.

Sigh. I don't know what I hope to achieve. We live in a nation where most people believe that the Air Force has aliens in the freezer and nuclear reactors are the same thing as nuclear weapons. If there is a reason to hate the government, it's the crappy education that leaves people vulnerable to such eruptions of folly.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F (Time to check the temp on E.T.)...

PS you can test this yourself on one of those styrofoam 747s they sell in toy stores -- you know, the big glider. Trim it so it flies straight when you throw it. OK, now take a knife and cut it off bluntly in front of the wing. Without altering the trim, throw it. It tries to loop up and stalls.... a real 747 would be stressed enough to continue breaking up. -C18F

Wow. That's amazing. You've managed to belittle me, dance around celebrating like a child over the fact that two Captains I refered to were Air National Guard not Coast Guard (you said Air Force officers yourself), you claim a great factual victory over the "fact" that space junk or a meteorite have been ruled out. Wow. Good point! Only it wasn't an ACTUAL meteorite the Captains were refering to but an object that resembled one: YOU REMEMBER, THE MISSILE WE'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT?! You refuse to see why these witnesses account of the aircraft plunging into the sea immediately after the explosions has any bearing on the credibility of the so-called 4,000 foot climb. You admit you haven't seen the photograph (the authenticity of which has never been in doubt) taken at a fundraiser on the Long Island shore which shows CLEARLY a missile. And you discredit James Sanders, who has done yeoman's work to pry loose the truth of this terrible accident as a "felon". Do you know WHY he's a felon? Probably not. He stole swaths of material from recovered seats which had been near the point of impact in order to test them (a felony, yes). Know what labs tests on the material found? No, I'm sure you don't. They showed missile fuel residue all over the things.

You pat yourself on the back all you want over inconsequential details that might not even get you points in a High School debating society. You haven't refuted any of the substance of my position. You haven't seen much of the most compelling evidence, and you ignore or belittle all that you have seen that contradicts you (34 "credible witnesses" are more than enough to convince any jury in the world of anything). But they can't even put a dent in your made-up mind. Believe the government if you must. I do not. Neither do a majority of Americans.