At 01:59 PM 2/16/99 -0800, Hal wrote:
>For a plane to fall 17,000 feet in 29 seconds, an average downwards
>velocity of 400 MPH, if it were not activelly accelerating downward
>with its engines (which seems questionable after a fuel tank explosion),
>and if it fell without air resistance, it would need an initial downward
>velocity of 82 MPH, accelerating to an impact speed of 700 MPH.
IAN: But at the apex of the climb, it was at rest, not traveling straight down 82 mph. Watch the video as they show the scenario close up on the jet, it peaks exactly as a baseball you throw up would peak, when it starts down, it starts from 0 mph. It fell when all it's kinetic energy was spent, shot, zip, zero. The 82-MPH-straight-down jet doesn't exist.
>I'm not sure where the timing data from explosion to ocean-impact
>comes from.
IAN: There is a time-stamped witnesses account of a commercial pilot on FAA tape, he says at exactly 49 seconds after the initial event "we just saw an explosion... it just went down - in the water."
http://www.newsday.com/jet/year/twatape.htm
While 5 pilots saw the "rocket" or "flare," that pilot, at approx 25 miles away, didn't. But his account gives a time stamp, and notice that the exploding area (which is no the nose) had to have hit the water not only after the heavy debris, but a few seconds before he said it. Thus, the fall time must be even shorter!!
Hal, thanks for your well-conceived post!
5 PILOTS 5 WITNESSES --> http://www.erols.com/igoddard/1year.htm