United Airlines Flight 93 Theories

[MadRat]

United Airlines Flight 93 was the lone failure by the terrorists, which authorities believe crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers took on the hijackers. I have some theories about what happened.

1. The pilot, knowing his plane was in trouble turned on the microphone.
2. The pilot, fearing his plane would be hijacked dumped his fuel load.
3. The hijackers had a bomb, but it was crudely made bomb in a metal box.
4. The men over took the man with the bomb (he was in the back of the plane)
5. The bomb became activated in the struggle, but rather than explode it created alot of blinding smoke.
6. The men opened a door on the plane and tossed out the smoking box.
7. The smoke disoriented the pilot and/or men who were in the cockpit.
8. The disoriented pilot stalled the plane and then accidentily flew into the ground.
9. Debri miles away from the crash came from the open door.
10. The lack of an explosion holds true if the pilot dumped the fuel.

Anyone else have any theories?

p.s. Notice no USAF shoot-down conspiracy?

 

[KennyTheGreat]

Well, I read this in the Toronto Star Newspaper, umm can't find the link online(sory)

the passengers were split up into 2, one at the front of the plane, one at the back.


the passengers at the back, 2 which were former NHL hockey players, played for L.A Kings ( Forgot names, i think they were like Asst. GM's now or something) and 1 guy, a bad ass Judo master, was believed to have took out the hijackers, and then after doin that, they didn't know how to fly the plane and eventually crashed.

 

[thedarkwolf]

My bet is the passengers started attacking the terrorists and the terorists knowing they were not going to be able to keep controll of the plane crashed it rather than let the passengers take over.

 

[Rudee]

<< My bet is the passengers started attacking the terrorists and the terorists knowing they were not going to be able to keep controll of the plane crashed it rather than let the passengers take over. >>



That sounds like the most believable scenario. I'm not convinced from some reports that passengers "sacraficed" their lives by intentionally crashing the plane, because there is no evidence that the pilots of the plane were dead - which in my opinion would be the only reason to crash the plane. If the pilots were still alive, It wouldn't make any sense to intentionally crash the aircraft.

 

[MadRat]

That is why I think that the smoke played a role.

 

[Oalex]

They have the Black-box for days now, why has it not been relised. Its not the kind of classified information that would ruin the investigation.

I say two possibilities:

a) Terrorist crashed the plan as passengers attacked (they'd die any way)

b) Shot down by USAF.

 

[rudder]

That plane can actually land itself. Had the passengers been able to take oer the plane, surely they could figure out how to don a pair of headsets and hit the push to talk switch on the yoke. I believe the plane was crashed by the hijackers when they realized they were in deep sh!t. It does not take to much to put the plane in a position that would make it easy to recover and get it flying straight again.

I would hold off all speculation until the blackbox and cockpit voice recorder are recovered. The blackbox will show exactly what the plane was doing right up until impact. The cockpit voice recorder should wield some good clues as well although with minimal training its easy to learn how to disable the recorder.

 

[Oalex]

<< I would hold off all speculation until the blackbox and cockpit voice recorder are recovered. The blackbox will show exactly what the plane was doing right up until impact. The cockpit voice recorder should wield some good clues as well although with minimal training its easy to learn how to disable the recorder. >>



Watch the news, they have been recoverd (I think 2 days ago!)

 

[HansXP]

They've been recovered. The voice box was too badly damaged to be useful

 

[iamwiz82]

<< They've been recovered. The voice box was too badly damaged to be useful >>



now that is a lie. The govt. is covering that up. Have you ever heard of a black box being destroyed in a plane crash?


From here



<< Crash impact - Researchers shoot the CSMU down an air cannon to create an impact of 3,400 Gs (1 G is the force of Earth's gravity, which determines how much something weighs). At 3,400 Gs, the CSMU hits an aluminum, honeycomb target at a force equal to 3,400 times its weight. This impact force is equal to or in excess of what a recorder might experience in an actual crash.

Pin drop - To test the unit's penetration resistance, researchers drop a 500-pound (227-kg) weight with a 0.25-inch steel pin protruding from the bottom onto the CSMU from a height of 10 feet (3 m). This pin, with 500-pounds behind it, impacts the CSMU cylinder's most vulnerable axis.

Static crush - For five minutes, researchers apply 5,000 pounds per square-inch (psi) of crush force to each of the unit's six major axis points.

Fire test - Researchers place the unit into a propane-source fireball, cooking it using three burners. The unit sits inside the fire at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 C) for one hour. The FAA requires that all solid-state recorders be able to survive at least one hour at this temperature.

Deep-sea submersion - The CSMU is placed into a pressurized tank of salt water for 24 hours.

Salt-water submersion - The CSMU must survive in a salt water tank for 30 days.

Fluid immersion - Various CSMU components are placed into a variety of aviation fluids, including jet fuel, lubricants and fire-extinguisher chemicals.
>>



They dont break.

 

[Oalex]

<< They've been recovered. The voice box was too badly damaged to be useful >>



Yeh, but I think the flight data recorder would show if 1) the rudder was push all the way forwards (indicating that someone crashed the plan on purpose) or 2) the engine suddenly stopped or a bridge haul (indicating a heat seeking missile just hit the target)

 

[NakaNaka]

that stinks .... i have had an idea ... why isnt the information from the black box transmitted live to a satellite or something during the flight instead of having to recover that stupid box.

 

[daveman]

<< p.s. Notice no USAF shoot-down conspiracy? >>



I still don't rule that theory out.

 

[PG]

I agree with KennyTheGreat. Go to the thread I just started and read about Jeremy Glick:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=569971

 

[MadRat]

Auto-pilot may have been disabled. These planes are made to not crash and to not allow over-pitching/yawing of themselves. They are also made to transmit their location, but we know that didn't necessarily happen. If the terrorists knew how to shut off the transponder then they knew how to shut off the auto-pilot.

 

[Amused]

<< My bet is the passengers started attacking the terrorists and the terorists knowing they were not going to be able to keep controll of the plane crashed it rather than let the passengers take over. >>



Well, more than one passanger who made phone calls out of that plane had commented that the PILOTS were herded into the back of the plane with the passengers.