I am so reminded of a C130a that lost a wing in california in June of 2002. It was captured on video too.. Also the RAAF has a special "patch" made out of boron fibre for their C130's.
kudos to the in depth data on the fuel system...do you mean to say that there is no crossfeeding? most 2 engine planes have a method of feeding the right engine from the left tanks and vice versa.
In 1974 I think chalks was hijacked to CUBA. AFter that time they claim not to carry enough fuel to get to cuba ( semi hard to believe)
IF the fuel ignited first causing seperation we might have something like TWA800 on our hands.
I listened to the CNN reporting quite closely. No one indicated that landing would be rough IF THE WING HAD COME OFF. Early reports showed a possible engine failure and a post crash flip over.
PS! CNN just reports metal fatigue cracks noted according to NTSB.
jon