Thanks very much for your reply. Only one minor quibble:
But the CAB DID assert that it slid tail first.
You misquote me - I stated that no one asserted it slid
inverted. Everyone seems in agreement it at least
began its slide tail first and right side up, but something happened near the end of the slide or breakup sequence to leave the tail inverted.
So, I'm going to go ahead and ask the totally dumb non-pilot question (
pilots and aviation experts, feel free to laugh):
Why do you keep saying the wings inverted too? Looking at the photos, it appears only a piece of the tail section is broken away and inverted. Why couldn't that piece alone have flipped?
After all, John Wurbia, one of the two Illinois state troopers who witnessed the crash from a nearby road intersection, and who headed for the wreckage immediately, is quoted as follows:
"I went out into the field and I saw about six bodies but there was no sign of life. Then I headed for a piece of tail section which was about 60 feet long. When I got within about 100 yards of it, it blew up and pieces of wreckage flew around me."
Wurbia said bodies near the point of first impact were not badly mutilated or burned. Bodies near the tail section were badly mutilated and charred
I apologize for including the grim stuff, but I wanted to be complete. Also, I'd note when Wurbia refers to "point of first impact" he probably means the point of second impact, where the aircraft began its slide.
Anyway, my question is: could the post-crash explosion Wurbia saw have flipped the tail section? It was severe enough to send pieces of wreckage flying about the length of a football field according to his statement. And the piece that's inverted doesn't appear still to be 60 feet long (looking at the photo with the ladder for scale). Nor does the flipped bit seem to be any longer connected to wings or anything else.
Would an explosion of that magnitude have been enough to break away and/or flip the piece that is inverted?
Perfectly OK with being corrected or mocked if that's a ridiculous question.