Physical and mathematical analysis of Pentagon crash
by Gerard HolmgrenPART 5. ENTRY CALCULATIONS - FUSELAGE AT 45 DEGREES
The earlier calculations and analysis were based on the assumption that the fuselage struck the wall at a 90 degree angle. This wasn’t because I necessarily believe that whatever hit the wall did so at this angle. It was because it a) favoured the 757 theory to the maximum, by keeping the entry point as narrow as possible, and b) kept the maths simple as an introductory reference point to the problem. The calculations change for every different angle assumed. It’s impractical to do a separate analysis for every possible angle, but neither is it necessary. It is sufficient to take a snapshot half way through the range of possibilities. By assuming a fuselage angle of 45 degrees, we gain an insight into the trend of how the problem changes by angling the fuselage.
First, the parallel plane scenario. Plotted on graph paper, this shows that at the point that the fuselage strikes the wall, the inner wing tip is only about 18 ft from the wall. If the fuselage continued to drive into the wall at this angle, the wingtip would strike the wall about 65 ft from the near edge of the hole made by the fuselage. If the wing was to slice into the wall, we should see a continuos rip in the wall extending about 65 ft until it joined up with the fuselage hole. Meanwhile, as the fuselage was driving deeper and wider, it would create its own hole moving further away at 45 degrees. If the wall collapsed along the fuselage impact area, then we’d see one long hole made by the fuselage. If it punched through cleanly, we’d see a 45 degree tunnel, and a separate hole starting 65 ft away from the southern edge, (assuming the plane to have been coming from the south west.) From the size and shape of the damage to the wall, we know that this didn’t happen.
Let’s straighten up the angle of the plane to try place the wingtip strike within the 65 ft hole area. The hope here is that then the entry point of the inner wing might come within the area where it was masked by the later collapse. I’m going to try to create a scenario where there might have been one point of entry for the fuselage, and a separate one less than 65 ft away for the wing, creating two holes within a 65 ft area. This would appear to unsupported by early photographic evidence, but we may be able to argue that the thick smoke and the water jets at the time obscured it.
But it doesn’t work. If we straighten the angle to 67 degrees, it only reduces the distance of the wingtip strike from the near edge of the fuselage strike by a few feet. Once we straighten the angle further, it’s almost back to the 90 degree scenario, so there’s no point in pursuing that further. This is before we introduce the impact of the outer wing, which would slice a big hole to the north of the fuselage area. Even if you ignore the previously examined problem of compaction into the 65 ft depth, then connecting all this up into one hole, creates one of about 140 ft wide before the second wing enters the building. So the scenario of the fuselage having come in on an angle with the wings parallel and penetrating the wall is impossible.
Did the wing break off and not damage the wall? If so, we should see big chunks of the wing scattered to the south of the main crash site. No such wreckage exists, so this didn’t happen either. What about an explosion? We have the same problems as with the 90 degree scenario, but worse. Even if the explosion occurred the instant of collision, the centre point would be much closer to the southern stretch of the wall, than in the 90 degree scenario, where we were able to place it 77 ft away. A section of wall more than 100 ft long would be closer to the centre of the blast than the tail. And if debris was flung out, much of it would have been hurled into the wall. There’s no significant damage extending for anything like this length along the wall. So the scenario of an angled approach with parallel wings, whether penetrating, breaking off or exploding is impossible.
Lets look at a 45 degree approach with tilted wings. Nothing changes as far as the explosion scenario goes, because the distance between the exploding fuselage and the wall hasn’t changed. An impact scenario still gives a width way beyond the 65 ft hole. If the plane didn’t explode,and fully impacted from a 45 degree angle with the wings tilted at 45 degrees, the total impact area would be about 125 ft wide, perhaps split into three separate areas - inner wing strike, fuselage, and outer wing strike, or perhaps if the sections of wall between the different strike areas collapsed, it would be one long hole. It makes no difference which wing was tilted up or down, but whichever one was up would have a significant section pass above the building.
Every possible scenario has been examined. Straight approach, angled approach, parallel wings, tilted wings, trying to fit the plane into the building, and trying to construct a credible scenario for an explosion to explain the lack of wreckage. None of them work. So it’s impossible for a plane of that size to have caused the incident.
These results are in spite of the fact that I biased the equations beyond credibility in favour of the 757 theory. Imagine the results had I assumed an impact hole of 40 ft.This really concludes the argument. When a plane hits a building, the wreckage must be accounted for in one way or another - all of it. Either it is inside the building, or it is outside the building, or it is disintegrated to nothing. If none of these three happened, then it was never there.
It is acceptable, indeed predictable, for small fragments to be unaccounted for, but not 99.99% of the plane. The plane weighed about 100 tons, so 1 ton of alleged wreckage would represent 1% of the plane. The fragments claimed by some to be wreckage of the plane (which I will examine later) would be srtuggling to represent 0.01% of the plane.
Nevertheless, I anticipate that some people will still want to argue that 2+2 = 5, and claim the 757 theory to be still alive on other grounds. So I will now suspend the results of the previous analysis,and examine other aspects of the case.
Next Contents The World Trade Center Demolition
and the So-Called War on TerrorismSerendipity Home Page