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Old 12th Apr 2011, 07:21
  #3338 (permalink)  
deSitter
 
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That's easy, we have an example with AA587, whose fin was torn off by aero-forces and fluttered into Jamaica Bay. The rudder was lost, but otherwise the fin looks as good as new (from the attach points upward).

Indeed, the question arises in my physicist's muddled head, what is the maximum possible impact speed that will leave a fin in shiny new condition? And surely this speed will be gentler on the rest of the airframe than the evidence suggests.
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