Originally Posted by
Ex Cargo Clown
The wing would have gone through the Legacy's stab.
Does anyone know the kind of forces that would cause a structural failure on a Legacy winglet ?
There is something very fishy about all of this, the 737 would have had an awful lot more momentum than the bizjet and as anyone who has seen a prang on the apron knows, winglets are pretty frangibile structures. I cannot imagine many parts of a 737 not being able to lop off a winglet with only minor damage.
The winglet is about a feet wide. Now imagine that such a winglet hits in its strongest direction a fuselage which is itself not very strong. A fuselage is build to withstand the pressure difference and the flight loads, but not intended to have high area pressure.
It's like a a sharp knife cutting through the metal. Think of apron damage.