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Unread 10-07-2002, 08:53 PM   #14
bigben2k
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas, U.S.A.
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LOL!

Ok, well if there are no trails on the grass (and I'm sure there would be), I guess that throws the idea of it sliding a bit sideways into the building. On the other hand, no-trail might be a possibility: these planes today are fairly smooth, for aerodynamic purposes (I've seen many, close up, when I worked for an airline). There's usually a couple of probes that stick out, and those would leave a trail, but they're only 1/2 inch wide, and 1 foot long. With the landing gear doors closed, it's as slick as anything else.

I think some of the discrepancies might be best explained, if one takes into account the angle of entry, and the angle throughout the entire time frame that the plane entered the building, while remembering what the integrity of the structure was like. We're talking about yaw, pitch and roll angles.

BTW, stall speed is around 140 knots, but that doesn't mean that the plane was going at least that fast. I think it's clear though that at least one of the engines detached, as it did in tower 2.

The WTC was in just about the most public place on earth, so I don't see why the lack of witnesses of the Pentagon incident is relevant. Since the Pentagon is a military center of operation, it's not unreasonable to expect the authorities to keep everyone at a fair distance. Who knows what papers might be flying around.

As for the aircraft parts, depending on the speed of impact, they probably disintegrated. Whatever was left probably melted, just like the WTC structural steel did. A plane incidentally, is mostly made of tin and aluminium. Steel is extremely rarely used.

The pentagon was fixed in a record amount of time. Considering the work involved in clearing the debris alone, it's quite a formidable accomplishment. They did work 24hr per day though (don't see that too often nowadays!).
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