Why Elmer...(Note to "newbys": A$$modeus is also known as Elmer [Fudd] Barr, a known disinfo artiste, currently Pi$$ed off because of being "barred" from spreading his tripe on the twa800.com list)
Your Missile Witness Myth document rests heavily on Faret and Wendell's personally prepared witness statements. Richard Hirsch has questioned Faret on his testimony because of apparent discrepancies.
Q: What was your altitude when you were flying over to the burning debris field?
A: 8100 feet (+/-) down to 7700 (+/-) directly toward it.
Q: Did you actually fly over the burning debris field?
A: I'd have to say yes. If it wasn't directly over it was a little to the NW, a good viewing angle. As soon as we saw the explosion we didn't take our eyes off of it. I was watching the flames descending through the air waiting for them to contact the water. As the flames spread out on the water surface I could see more "stuff" fall into the flames that had lit up the water. The water was black so our only indication of where the surface was, was when the flames hit it. ...the rest is in the report.
Q: I believe you said you saw the smoke cloud drifting slowly to the NNW. Do you mean that's the direction of travel of the smoke cloud?
The reason I ask is the NTSB meteorlogical data gives the direction of wind at 123 degrees true. The average speed of the wind was 24 ft/sec or about 15 mph.
A: I suggest that the winds below the haze were moving the plume in a SE direction. What were the winds reported at 6,9,12000' Feet? Nothing is straight forward or simple. We reported what we saw. (2 of us saw the same thing, some credibility must lie there)
Q: You were about 17 NM from the point where FLT800 exploded. Your aircraft was flying at 95 knots. It would have taken your aircraft almost 12 minutes to get to the smoke cloud (a little more if the cloud was moving SSE). Could you have simply under estimated your flight time to the cloud?
A: I travel at 152 kts at that altitude. It took 5-6 minutes. We never took our eyes off of it. The direction of travel was apparent from the stretching "tornado type" plume leaving the cloud and going to the fire. What's also interesting here is that you could clearly see where the plume transitioned from clear sky into the haze layer. 6000' that night. Our viewing perspective was perfect. I have to stand by our report 100%.
Q: I assume that 152 knots is your airspeed. What would be your ground speed?
A: Close to the same, that evening.
Q: What was the approximate climb rate of your aircraft as you approached Riverhead at 00:31:12?
A: 500-700 FPM
Comments by Richard Hirsch
I checked Sven Faret's aircraft position from two radar sources. First his position at 00:31:12 was found on a MegaData plot which shows the positions of all the aircraft in the area of FLT800 at that time. Sven's aircraft was right where he said it was in his report. Next I found a radar target flying at an altitude of 7600 feet which was on a direct course from Riverhead, LI to the crash site.
The speed of the radar target was about the same as Sven Faret's aircraft. The time of the position for that radar fix was 00:37:10. At that time Sven Faret's aircraft was still a little over 6 NM from the burning debris area. Flying at 152 knots Sven faret's aircraft would have been over the burning debris of FLT800 at approximately 00:40:00. It took Sven Faret about 8 minutes to get to the debris field after seeing the accident occur.
I'm using the time of 00:31:47 as the time that Sven Faret and his passenger saw FLT800 explode That time is verified by radio reports from other commercial aircraft crews who were in the area at the time of the accident.
Sven's altitude was shown as 8100 feet on the MegaData radar plot at 00:31:12. Sven said he was at 8500 feet when he saw FLT800 explode. The answer for the difference in altitude is that Sven saw the explosion at 00:31:47 so his aircraft had another 35 seconds to climb to 8500 feet before Sven saw the explosion.
....
Did Faret and Wendell actually make it over to the cloud ? Faret seems to be hedging a bit in his answer to Hirsch. Also, Faret and Wendell have the direction of the cloud moving against the winds, how is this possible ? What time did Faret and Wendell get to the cloud ? Hirsch estimates about 8:40PM. If Faret and Wendell got over to the cloud 9 minutes after the massive fireball formed and fell to the ocean, why is there still even a cloud left at any altitude if the winds were at least 15 mph? Have you ever seen a firework explosion cloud stay together for 9 minutes and not dissipate or lose altitude (smoke is heavier than air as it cools).
These questions and possible inaccuracies ( if they got the wind direction of the cloud wrong - how can you believe anything else they say) cast doubt on Faret & Wendell's witness statement, thereby also casting "doubt" in the accuracy of your Witness Myth BS...