>At 02:59 PM 2/16/99 +1100, Tim Bates wrote:
>
>>Ian , what is even your hypothesised point of a conspiring to change the
>>crash timings by a few seconds?
>
>
> IAN: That's a false claim! How have
> I changed the numbers in any way? True,
> they do say "approximate" and that
> should be noted, but they give exact
> altitudes, exactly the same as I gave.
IAN: And the CIA video gives the exact time frame, which is 49 seconds from initial event at 13,800 to splash down to 0, after at 3,800 vertical and upward execution to 17,000 over a 20 second-time frame. Those exact numbers.
Here's the video quoted exactly giving us those numbers:
"Just after the aircraft exploded it pitched up abruptly and climbed several thousand feet from its last reported altitude of about 13,800 feet to a maximum altitude of about 17,000 feet. This is consistent with information provided by NTSB investigators and Boeing engineers, who determined that the front third of the aircraft, including the cockpit, separated from the fuselage within 4 seconds after the aircraft exploded. This significant, sudden loss of mass from the front of the aircraft caused the rapid pitch up and climb.
[ FYI: NTSB Exhibit 22C, page 7 says the lost forward section was about 14% of total weight. ]
"The explosion, although very loud, was not seen by any known eyewitness; however, the subsequent small fire trailing from the aircraft was visible to a few of the closest eyewitnesses on land, sea and in other aircraft. It was repeatedly described as an ascending white light resembling a flair or firework, but it was difficult to see against the relatively light sky. Shortly after Flight 800 reached the peak of its ascent, about 20 seconds after it exploded, a fireball erupted from the aircraft. This was clearly visible to many eyewitnesses. The aircraft then went into a very steep and rapid descent.
"As the aircraft descended, it produced an increasingly visible fire trail. When the jet reached an altitude of roughly one mile, about 42 seconds after it exploded, its left wing separated from the fuselage, releasing unburned fuel. The fuel's subsequent ignition and blaze produced a dramatic cascade of flames, visible to eyewitnesses more the 40 miles away, and detected by an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. satellite. About 7 seconds after the left wing detached, and 49 seconds after the initial explosion, the burning debris hit the water."