Right wing sliced 2d House at low angle
On Mon, Feb 16, the NY Times published an aerial still photo of the scene, that was about 6x6 and much sharper than the TV videos. It shows that the right wing sliced through the adjacent house to the immediate south. It hit the back corner of the main 1-sty house (a rear ell addition is to the far side). It entered the sloping roof a bit above the gutter line, putting a down-pressure on the back wall. This left a door frame skewed to the right. The wing then came out the gable end side wall of the main house, its tip exiting a bit below the inside ceiling line, maybe cuts of ten feet each way more or less; not necessarily the same length.
There is not comparable damage to trees and outbuildings on the left side of the path, so the right wing was somewhat low. It may have been rolling lower, or it may have be rolling the other way. So the slope of the cut by the right wing-tip may not match the slope of the fuselage path. The tilt of the wings in flight may not match the tilt of the vert stabilizer as that came to rest.
It is hard to tell exactly the slope of the trajectory of the wing, due to the photo looking down, but I'd say it's about 1 in 8-- rather flat, more or less. Definitely between twice and half that. The plane did not come straight down by any means, nor at 45, nor even at 30 degrees.
The 2d story the Buffalo News will publish this morning is that this damaged house (it did not burn) hit by the wing will be demolished at some point after the family has removed their possessions. I hope the family receives enough to get another house or rebuild. Too often people are told that existing value is less than replacement cost.
OE
Last edited by Old Engineer; 19th Feb 2009 at 13:00.
Reason: Sp correction at key word: "above" the gutter...