Asunto: Re: World Trade crash...

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Wed Sep 12 13:53:24 2001

On Wed, 12 Sep 2001, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Sep 2001, Terry Collins wrote:
> >
> > both planes were turning a circle into the towers (one wing higher
> > than other) and I would consider that much harder than follow the
> > straight line.
>
> They were most likely flying the planes by hand. A perfectly straight
> line can indeed be quite difficult to fly; corrections need to be made.
> In the second WTC crash, for instance, you see the plane banking left at
> the last minute and notice later that, while it dealt a most damaging
> blow, it was a little right of center. The pilot was trying to make a
> correction.
>
> > How hard would hitting the side of the Pentagon be? (45 degree descent
> > apparently).
>
> Harder than you think, even assuming a total lack of target defense
> capabilities. Airplanes can't or won't always go exactly where you point
> them. In a single-engine prop plane, for instance, gyroscopic precession
> of the prop gives the plane an affinity for turning left. Other kinds of

I think it is more a matter of the aircraft wanting to roll left
(counterclockwise) in response to the propeller pushing air in a
clockwise direction.
                                                 - don

> planes have other issues. Vertical movement has complications resulting
> from changing airspeed. If you put the nose of a plane into even a slight
> dive, airspeed will increase *quickly*. You've got to arrange some way of
> decreasing airspeed (throttling down the engines, extending the flaps,
> etc.), or else the plane will soon begin to break apart. A 45-degree
> angle seems horribly steep.
>
> --
> Jeffrey S. Sharp
> jss_at_subatomix.com
>
>
Received on Wed Sep 12 2001 - 13:53:24 BST