NEWS: NTSB: Unknown object downed Cessna in swamp near Mobile

well how come it never talks about the thing that it hit? according to logic, if two things collide in midair, two things fall.

in regard to this last post, yes both things will fall apart unless one is signifigantly stronger/more durable than the other. in this case, the mystery object was most likely much stronger than the plane, which would explain why the engine block split in half (somebody said that right?). anyway, my take is that the plane was rammed very hard from the underside towards the front; i.e. the object was traveling in the opposite direction and climbing when it hit the plane. i'm guessing the reddish substance is some kind of radar absorbing material that coated the mystery object. does anyone know if they did a chemical analysis on the "aluminum"? that would be helpful in determining if the substance is man made or "alien" (or something the military hasn't released yet).

on a different note, somebody ought to put somewhere in the registration process that you must have cookies enabled to login (yes i'm a newb).

well how come it never talks about the thing that it hit? according to logic, if two things collide in midair, two things fall.

Maybe the military was testing a prototype or a mock up and it just disintigrated.

Not a pilot or aeronautical engineer though.

in this case, the mystery object was most likely much stronger than the plane, which would explain why the engine block split in half (somebody said that right?). anyway, my take is that the plane was rammed very hard from the underside towards the front; i.e. the object was traveling in the opposite direction and climbing when it hit the plane. i'm guessing the reddish substance is some kind of radar absorbing material that coated the mystery object. does anyone know if they did a chemical analysis on the "aluminum"? that would be helpful in determining if the substance is man made or "alien" (or something the military hasn't released yet).

I believe they did test it (a lot of info so check the link again and the cut and paste text on page one of post to verify).

But the way I read the report was they determined that the mysterious alluminium piece was part of a UAV.

It's possible the UAV hit the plane and due to the stress and damage of impact (split engine) then disintigrated shortly there after.

IMHO

SPiderj

so does UAV stand for unidentified ariel vehicle or unmanned ariel vehicle? about the disentigration... it would have had to break into very, very small pieces in order for the wreakage not to be noticed. like dust sized.

quote:
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But the way I read the report was they determined that the mysterious alluminium piece was part of a UAV.
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so the aluminum wasn't from something a lttle more paranormal than a military prototype....

so does UAV stand for unidentified ariel vehicle or unmanned ariel vehicle? about the disentigration... it would have had to break into very, very small pieces in order for the wreakage not to be noticed. like dust sized.

UAV would stand for unmanned ariel vehicle in this case.

As for the disentigration I do know. What if the alluminium was used as the frame and nose and there was something else more fragile used for the body. Maybe it's designed to leave as little evidence behind as possible.

It's a real stumper.

The alluminium was definitely not from anything paranormal though, I'm pretty sure of that.

Spiderj

As for the disentigration I do know

that should have been I don't know.

Sorry

Spiderj

Always preview your post I guess huh?

so where did the UAV come from? my guess is the military like you said was testing something--perhaps the guidance system malfunctioned on the UAV. but to hit a plane hard enough to crack the engine block? might have been going supersonic--like a next generation drone. so, are there any military bases near there? if there aren't, they might have been testing it away from any base to avoid people who like to sit outside bases and watch the skies (not downing anybody on this site, this is not an insult).

but yeah, if it was going supersonic, why would only a scrap of aluminum survive and the rest be gone? or, as somebody else said (i think), the drone could have been part of a target practice exercise/test of a new weapon and hit the plane instead.... but the plane was in one piece.....this is all rampant speculation so there is no factual basis for any of this...

Update:

Federal investigators have decided to take another look at the plane due to intense interest in how this plane was brought down. The theories continue to range from collision with a drug runners plane to a drone aircraft to a terrorist fired missle.

Instead, prompted by the factual report and by the interest it is generating, they have taken the unusual step this month of reclaiming the aircraft wreckage from the insurance company and shipped it to the Washington area for a closer inspection.

CNN has the entire story here. www.cnn.com...

Originally posted by Bleys
Update:

Federal investigators have decided to take another look at the plane due to intense interest in how this plane was brought down.....

Thank you

for the update, I am curious as to the outcome of this investigation.

Originally posted by Bleys
The theories continue to range from collision with a drug runners plane to a drone aircraft to a terrorist fired missle.

Even these theories don't seem to go far enough to explain the damage. This will be an interesting one to follow.

Wow, that is a strange story. I too will be very interested in the results. I also wonder if web discussions like this one are the real reason it is being looked at again.

Glad to see some interest in this thread after over a month of nothing.

Personally I still hold to it collided with a very solid unmanned vehicle of either alien or advanced military origin going just under the speed of sound coated in a radar-absorbing material. Somewhere on this thread there was a mention of the engine block being cracked, which would not happen if the plane ran head-on into a slab of concrete. So something must have been traveling in the opposite direction very fast.

I'm more of the opinion of an impact with an asteroid. An asteroid would have been traveling at a such a speed that it would be virtually impossible for the pilot to avoid it. Either that or a military black project.

Really interesting story... Looking foward to more information from the investigation.

I must say I share Jonna's opinion. Thoses damns aliens shouldn't drink and fly.

I'm more of the opinion of an impact with an asteroid. An asteroid would have been traveling at a such a speed that it would be virtually impossible for the pilot to avoid it. Either that or a military black project.

Two problems with this: one is an asteroid big enough to survive reentry would have to be a pretty good size and so would be tracked as it entered the atmosphere. The other problem is, yes, an asteroid would have been going fast enouhg to split the engine in half but also fast enough to cause a shock wave which would have been heard. Interesting theory though...

Military black project is more likely IMO...

To help visualize the situation



and BTW, it has a turbine engine, so the concept of an "engine block" is not realy acurate.

One thing that nags at me is that over a year after 9-11 you have an area that has not had Radar coverage for several months. Good place to fly things you don't want tracked.

and BTW, it has a turbine engine, so the concept of an "engine block" is not realy acurate.

Really I thought it had a piston engine just like the 2/4 seater Cessnas I have flown.... So how is a turbine engine different?

AlterEgo: I'm more of the opinion of an impact with an asteroid. An asteroid would have been traveling at a such a speed that it would be virtually impossible for the pilot to avoid it.

Doesn't make sense. He had enough time to say "I needed to deviate" almost four times before impact. Very strange he couldn't avoid whatever it was given that amount of time. And if it came from below him it's kind of surprising he was even able to see it unless it was quite a ways away so he could see it but moving so quickly that he couldn't avoid it.

NothingMakesSense: Military black project is more likely IMO...

That makes more sense than a meteor, but still has some problems. I doubt the military would be testing a black project over non-military airspace over Alabama. That's the kind of thing they do miles from nowhere in California and Nevada. Also, apparently a piece of aluminum from something other than the accident aircraft was found embedded in the accident aircraft--that suggests that something from the other object was sufficiently broken so that part of it could embed in the accident aircraft. If that was the case then it is doubtful the other object was undamaged and if it was a military black project I would suspect it would have suffered enough damage to be taken down as well.

Basically, if a military aircraft hit it then I can't imagine that the military aircraft survived nor that no pieces of it were found on the ground. It doesn't seem that it could have been a missile, either, since the damage to the plane seems inconsistent with a missile hit. Missiles tend to destroy the target, not leave little red marks all over it.

Duke_Nukem: One thing that nags at me is that over a year after 9-11 you have an area that has not had Radar coverage for several months. Good place to fly things you don't want tracked.

Especially since it's apparently a hotbed for drug smugglers.

Also, to answer some questions asked elsewhere in this thread, no parts of a UAV were found on-site. They simply thought it could have been a UAV since they were at a loss for any other explanation. It turns out the AFB that operates UAV states it couldn't have been theirs since they didn't fly any that night and it would have been out of their range anyway. So the NTSB had a sample of some other UAV at that AFB sent to compare it just to verify. The results indicate they were not the same.

Also, any semi-major pieces of whatever hit it should have been found, too. The swamp there is not deep, ranging from 4 inches to 3 feet in depth. It must be concluded that whatever hit the accident plane was not destroyed.

Basically, this is a great mystery. Something hit the Cessna, pretty much mangled the front-end in-flight, left red marks over many pieces and left a piece of alumimum embedded in the accident aircraft. The other object didn't appear on radar and doesn't seem consistent with anything military simply because no other relevant pieces were found.

Got me. Very interesting.

Most likely thing IMO: Military UAV going just under speed of sound rams cessna head-on while climbing, possibly loses a stabilizer (aluminum scrap). The controller of the UAV panics, orders it to self-destruct in midair before it hits the ground. I think they would test it in Alabama or wherever to see if people noticed it but that's just a thought....

I made the point earlier that they wouldn't test something like this in their customary area(s) becuase people know to watch those places now.