On one hand some of those pics beg the question, where's the plane? On the other, numerous eye witness accounts say they saw it go down.

Albeit slightly different stories concerning the flight path, attitude, and noises heard. Those would be consistent given the fact depending on where you were in relation to the flight path it would look different. The noise and debris prior to the crash could have been caused by the over stressing of the aircraft which was likely as the hijackers were fighting with the passengers.

The crater with no plane looks suspect. However, taking into account when those pictures were taken and what witnesses had to say it seems the plane impacted hard into soft dirt. Most of it either buried or burned up. The debree that was reported coming down prior to the crash is consistent with an overstressed aircraft coming apart.

The stories of it being shot down arise from the pre-impact noises heard. Those would have been from the plane coming apart just prior to impact. Its reasonable to assume that as the plane neared the ground the amount of control inputs by the hijackers or passengers trying to gain control would have been elevated. Increasing those control inputs would have caused the erratic flight reported by eye witnesses and the pre-crash debris due to structural failure.

The only question I have concerns the impact point. It appears to be a perpendicular. Several witnesses reported it flying near the ground. Either the peculiarity of the actual flight and subsequent crash confused them or the actual flight path included a climb prior to turning over into a ninety degree descent.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: davdah,