[Howlin]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to watch a piece of ice strike a wing and speculate that it damaged some tiles (if it was ice).

And if it wasn't ice, what would a rocket scientist say?

BTW, can you point me to ANY places in California where they are searching for debris?

[billhilly]

The past really is prologue. In roughly 100 years of aviation, each mode has had catastrophic events. This reminds me of the Hindenburg sixty five yers ago. The following is from google.

Titanic of the Sky - The Hindenburg Disaster

New York / Lakehurst, May 6th 1937, 7 pm: The "Hindenburg" has come all the way from Europe - a luxurious flying hotel, faster than any ship. The pride of the Third Reich prepares to land, and hundreds of onlookers have gathered to watch.

Then, all of a sudden, a burst of flame just forward of the upper fin. In a matter of seconds, the largest airship ever built goes down in a fiery blaze.

35 people died in the flames - and nobody knew why. Sabotage? A bolt of lightning? The mystery surrounding the disaster has never been resolved - until now. In many years of research, a NASA scientist at Cape Canaveral has found proof that neither the hydrogen in the hull nor a bomb was to blame, but the fabric of the Hindenburg's outer skin and a new protective coating. A single spark of static electricity was enough to make it burn like dry leaves. The "infallible" German engineers had designed a flying bomb just waiting to explode.

[#3Fan]

And if it wasn't ice, what would a rocket scientist say?

If it was foam, then we have to see if it has the consistancy to damage these ceramic tiles if it is determined that the tiles failed over California. Until I hear otherwise, I'm guessing it was ice because it was white and it sprayed on impact. Was the foam white?

BTW, can you point me to ANY places in California where they are searching for debris?

If my guess is correct, it was only a few tiles that were lost over California. The odds are low of them being found out in the desert mountains.