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Debris Field Details, This is very important

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Parmenides

Posted: Sep 29 2006, 06:36 PM

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Local officials stated that crash debris was spread over a wide area. According to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, state police Major Lyle Szupinka "confirmed that debris from the plane had turned up in relatively far-flung sites, including the residential area of Indian Lake." 1 The residential areas of Indian Lake range from three to six miles from the crash site. As noted on the pages describing Flight 93 and its crash site, there were a number of debris fields. Small debris descended over Indian Lake and New Baltimore, about three and eight miles from the primary crash site, and an engine core was separated from the main impact crater by about 2000 feet.
Some officials have suggested that wind scattered the debris once on the ground, but wind certainly couldn't have blown a one-ton engine a half-mile, nor could the 9-mile-per-hour wind have blown debris for eight miles.

Some officials have suggested that wind scattered the debris once on the ground, but wind certainly couldn't have blown a one-ton engine a half-mile, nor could the 9-mile-per-hour wind have blown debris for eight miles.

An article in Popular Mechanics attempts to explain the far-flung debris by suggesting that the engine "tumbl[ed] across the ground" and that the light debris was "blasted skyward by the heat of the explosion from the crash." Such scenarios are impossible given the nature of the crash, wherein the plane dove into the soft ground from a nearly vertical trajectory. This is evident in the deep impact crater whose shape mimics the cross-section of the aircraft, and by the agreement among eyewitness that the plane dropped from the sky in a vertical fashion.

I want to know what kind of debris was found miles away from the crash site. In particular, was any of it significantly denser than air, with a surface to volume ratio that would preclude its wafting over several miles? What tangible reports are there of such debris being discovered?

Parmenides	Posted: Oct 10 2006, 09:42 PM
Soli Invicto Comiti Group: Members Posts: 188 Member No.: 4,632 Joined: 3-September 06	I recently went to Shanksville and asked some questions at the temporary memorial. One of the questions I asked was what kind of debris was found miles away from the site. The person giving the presentation said it was "all kinds of plane parts". He said the debris was scattered over a 12 mile distance. The following calculation shows that if air resistance is neglected, and a projectile is launched with the speed of the plane at impact it could travel a maximum of 4.263 miles. g = 9.8 m/(s^2) (acceleration of gravity) v = 259.283 m/s (magnitude of velocity) a (angle) d (horizontal distance) t (time deccelerate from v to 0) vx=v cos(a) vy=v sin(a) g t = vy (acceleration * time = vertical velocity component) t = vy/g d = 2 vx t = 2 vx vy/g = 2 v^2/g cos(a) sin(a) d'=v^2/g cos^2(a) - sin^2(a) = 0 (requires a = pi/4, or cos(a) = sin(a) = sqrt(1/2)) dmax = v^2/g = 6859.98 m = 4.263 miles But even for a ballistic projectile with a streamline design air resistance is significant. In addition, it is unlikely that angle of bounce would be exactly 45 degrees. It is possible some fragments could be launched at speeds above the speed of impact. Nonetheless, due to the fact that air resistance goes as the square of velocity, it is highly unlikely a projectile could fly much further, or even as far as the maximum shown above for an ideal elastic impact. Since mass is a function of volume whereas air resistance is a function of surface area smaller projectiles will be more susceptible to air resistance. Since larger projectiles would require more energy to accelerate them they are less likely to have been thrown at a speed comparable or above the speed of impact. This analysis is sufficient to show that debris could not have scattered from the point of impact to a distance of 12 miles as a direct result of the impact. Even if we assumed the debris field were centered at the point of impact, the dibris would not have traveled the 6 miles that would entail. All the evidence I've seen indicates virtually all the debris was found in the direction of New Baltimore.

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