Only just heard on CNN. Looks like a 'regular' accident, but nothing conclusive at this point. Hope this isn't the beginning of something bigger...
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Heard about it on Howard Stern. I don't know if it's terrorist or not. Planes have crashed before afterall.
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
Airbus A300, 246 + 9 crew
An engine fell of just after takeoff.
Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
Blew off, that's what I heard.
Looks like severe mechanical failure.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Happened in Chicago a few years back. Engine fell off, ruined a flap, and the plane flipped over and crashed in a trailer park.
It's an Airbus A-300, two engines, good safety record. FAA didn't know anything about trouble until they got calls from witnesses...
Posted by MIB (Member # 426) on :
Don't tell me that plane mechanics around the country are going psycho now too....
[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: MIB ]
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
Ok, we won't tell you
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
I just heard there was an explosion reported before the crash, also the wing was said to be an fire while the plane was in the air.
So a blown off engine is indeed more accurate.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
Yeah, the engine probably ripped through the wing and cut up the fuel tanks.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Cut the comedy Mike. This is kinda serious.
From what I've heard, it apparently went down in a residential area of Queens. Four buildings were hit.
Again...all early reparts so I'm not sure how accurate. I'm at work and have only gotten sporadic details.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Gee, I was in stitches over Mike's statement, too.
quote:NEW YORK (CNN) -- For residents near the beaches of New York's borough of Queens, a quiet Veterans Day holiday brought a fresh taste of catastrophe Monday.
Numerous residents, many with children home for the day, saw American Airlines Flight 587 catch fire and plunge to earth Monday morning. Black smoke billowed over the neighborhood from the crash scene and from at least three other sites, where flaming debris caused other fires.
More than 40 fire trucks and 200-plus firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
The neighborhood is home to numerous New York firefighters, who took heavy losses in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
"The Rockaway community was hit hard between the firefighters and civilians who were lost at the World Trade Center," said Chief Jimmy Trudden of the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department. "For this to happen in this neighborhood, it's tragic. I can't put it into words."
Witnesses said they saw an explosion on one side of the plane before the crash, but different accounts placed the explosion on different sides of the aircraft. Ethan Moses said he saw the aircraft burning from its left side, then the aircraft's left engine fell off.
"It tilted to the left slightly and it made a nosedive, straight down," Moses said.
Firefighters said one of the Airbus A300's two engines fell off, crashing into a house and setting it on fire.
Another woman described the neighborhood around the crash site as a scene of "complete and utter terror. Everybody is so distraught and upset and in shock," she said.
When the plane approached, "I thought it was like the Concorde and it was flying too low," she said. "Then it hit. It was like a bomb exploded."
The crash occurred about 5 miles from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the jet had just taken off for the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. warplanes have patrolled the airspace around New York. Susan Locke, who lives about five blocks away, said she thought the noise at first was a fighter jet.
"I looked out the window and saw a plane nose-dive, straight down," she said.
Phyllis Paul, who lives near the crash site, said a "big, silvery piece of metal" fell behind her house before the plane went down. Paul, who was eating breakfast when she heard the plane, got her 10-year-old son and got out of the house.
"I was sitting having breakfast and I heard the engines very loud," she said. "They were loud and low, and because of what happened September 11, it gave me a chill."
[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: Malnurtured Snay ]
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Well, given the wisespread damage I'm not too hopeful about any survivors from the plane. I thought it was good that (White House spokesman) Fliescher isn't commiting to anything yet. So far all we have is coincidence: Veteran's Day, New York, Queens (traditionally an area where members of the NY emergency services live). . . I thought Airbuses had a quite good safety record although I could be mistaken there. . ?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Of any group of people who don't deserve this, it's the NY Firefighters ... (where many of them apparently live)
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
The BBC reported that the engine fell onto a petrol station (didn't cause a fire thankfully). Is that true?
Also, people here are saying it's a terrorist attack. I agree with you people in thinking (not to mention hoping) that it was a mechanical failure and just happened to happen two months and one day after the September 11th incident by conincidence, especially in light of the fact that it only had two engines and was probably pretty badly damaged when the engine blew/snapped off.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I wonder if the airlines or the Feds checked who the mechanics are working on the airplanes ...
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Well, I'm sure they've come under quite a bit of scrutiny. But the Sept. 11th terrorists had been settling in for years. . .
As regards the engine, yup. It appears to have landed almost directly between the pumps and the kiosk; apparently the attendants were pretty quick off the mark extinguishing what flames there were.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
I wasnt trying to make light of whats happened.. I just wouldnt tell MIB that someone did this on purpose because i think thats complete bullshit. Planes crashed before 9-11 too, you know.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Oh, I agree with you Cap'n Mike ... I think this is probably just a crazy coinkidink ... but the first thoughts through my mind when I learned about this heading into my Brit-Lit class was much more uninformed ("Hey, a plane just crashed into Queens ...")
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
Apparently the Airbus 300 has a very good track record, only 8 fatal incidents before today. 4 were hijackings, 3 were pilots hitting the ground early while landing and I forget the last one but no real mechanical failures. I just heard this on a report on the way home. The guy being interviewed said that they can tell if the engine came off before the crash by if it lands before the plane does. I'm not sure if this was the case but eye witnesses say it did. Gotta really feel sorry for people in NY. Going to be hard for them to sleep tonight. Paul
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Four hijacks? I wonder what the records like on other airlines. "Yeah, we lost eight planes ... but only 4 were our fault."
Scary shit, this.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
As a related note, this is now really going to fuck up the airline industry. Just when people were starting to get over it too.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well, I'm just glad I prefer my Jeep for long trips instead of flying ... (although now I'll have a lot more company on the road)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Yes, because you can drive your jeep to other countries (or non-America as some people call it.)
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
There are countries outside of America?!
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I don't really have the budget to go flying to other countries. Drove to Canada once, though. Driven to New York, Boston, Connecticut on a few occasions.
Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
That area where the plane hit lost roughly 100 residents who either worked as firemen or in the World Trade Center towers. No one in New York will be sleeping with ease tonight. And I think that after loosing 3 planes in a month due to crashes, American Airlines will be the hardest hit among all the airline companies.
Posted by Jernau Morat Gurgeh (Member # 318) on :
The fact that the airline industry is being hit by the Sept. 11th hijackings could mean that they don't have the budget to properly carry out the stringent maintenance required for planes. Maybe this will lead to an increase in the number of mechanical faults not being detected by standard inspections.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
That's an interesting thought. And you're right...this adds (or at least stirs up) a new level of fear to the idea of flying.
I can't remember who it was, but some official associated with the airline industry said on the news yesterday, "If it was a mechanical problem...it's bad. If it was terrorism...it's catastrophic."
He was speaking about the effect this will have on the airline industry.
Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
quote:Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay: I don't really have the budget to go flying to other countries. Drove to Canada once, though. Driven to New York, Boston, Connecticut on a few occasions.
I was wondering about the outbreak of dead deer in Ontario Roads.......
Seriously, this is gonna hurt us alot. Already, Canada's second largest airline (Canada 3000) has bit the dust. And now, these events are hurting the tourism industry in Ontario, Toronto being its chief recipient.
[ November 13, 2001: Message edited by: Tahna Los ]
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Thank goodness I teleport.
*BAMF!*
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
First of Two is brought to you today by Chris Claremont.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Shouldn't he have then said:
"Thank goodness I teleport. But do I dare? I'm not sure how others feel about me teleporting near them. And my feelings for Malnurtured Snay are sure to affect my abilities. Although I am sure I can overcome this. I just have to teleport, using my amazing teleportating powers, and I will succeed."
And with a strong smell of Brimstone, First of Two demonstrates the amazing power giving to him by his beneficial mutation, the ability to teleport from place to place!
