Posted on 05/21/2009 6:05:16 AM PDT by justlurking
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) -- Most of us hear stories of Airmen saving lives in combat, but an Airman who saves the lives of more than 300 passengers is definitely a story worth hearing.
A fuel leak on a civilian aircraft caught the attention of Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda, 909th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, during a flight from Chicago to Narita airport, Japan. After alerting the pilots and aircrew, the ranking pilot made the decision to divert the flight to San Francisco.
(Excerpt) Read more at af.mil ...
I’m convinced it was something like this that brought down Flight 800 in 1996. That atomized fuel could easily have ignited and caused the explosion in the center fuel tank, and what’s more, could have caused the flare-like effect that so many people reported seeing.
I’m not an aviation expert by a longshot, but wouldn’t 6,000 lbs. of fuel loss per hour have been noticed by the pilot/co-pilot through instrumentation/gauges?
Outstanding
“That atomized fuel could easily have ignited”
Airplane fuel doesn’t ignite easy, especially at such low temperatures. It’s not gas. The main danger is running out of fuel.
Read Jack Cashill’s First Strike.
This particular article doesn't say it, but another one I read on the incident reports that "The captain came into the cabin to check out the leak and said the cockpit crew had been aware that fuel seemed to be burning too quickly."
the crew was already on it. they were in the process of figuring out if it was a gauge issue or an actual leak.
With a leak that big, that aircraft is not going to make it all the way to Narita. But Petroplavsk is so beautiful this time of year!
No it doesn't, under normal circumstances. But look at the accompanying photo. The fuel is being essentially atomized as it exits the breech. Its surface area is being expanded immensely, and under those conditions, it's possible it could explode. If you read the cockpit voice recorder from Flight 800, you'll notice that just before the explosion one of the crew remarked "look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number 4." Compare that with the situation here. While the sargeant was visually noticing the leak from his passenger's seat, the crew had already been given warning by their instruments and were busy determining what steps they should take.
Yours is one of the more reasonable speculations.
You mean the effect that was video taped from the deck of a restaurant, shown on all the major networks and then buried...never happened.
I believe jack nailed it
Yes, that one. I've no doubt that it happened; what I doubt is that it was caused by a missile.
There was a story on this a short while back. It seems the crew had noticed the loss, but were unable to determine where it was leaking from.
I'm certain the crew would not have gone oceanic knowing the fuel was disappearing at that rate.
I'm not too big on conspiracy theories, even those involving the Clinton administration. A couple of things convinced me this was an accident. First, a 747 mechanic posting on one of the USENET disaster boards noticed a series of small holes in the wreckage of the wing on the side of the explosion. He speculated, based on his experience, that those holes were caused by rivets in an engine cowling that had been improperly secured; and that the cowling blew back onto the wing, punching holes in the tank.
On the same forum, a number of individuals with military experience in missiles opined (among other things) that any missile launch, even of a portable missile (which wouldn't have had the range to hit the aircraft, and even if they did, wouldn't have continued their burn all the way to the point of impact) would have lit up the evening sky--something that no one observed either in the air or from the shoreline.
Your theory couldn’t be more wrong. Others have pointed out that the fuel wont burn, let alone explode in those conditions of fuel leaking out of the wing and please as Others have suggested, read Dr. Jack Cashill’s Excellent book on TWA Flt 800 entitled “FIST STRIKE” and explore Mr. Donaldson’s website www.twa800.com . You appear to require much reading of previous investigations and analyses on the subject of TWA 800:-)
Cooking flour will explode if it's dispersed in the air.
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