Wave action
"Boomtown
Quote:
With regards to the twisted and crushed metal we are seeing - early reports cited gale force winds and waves up to 5 meters high. Is anyone able to comment what those sort of storm conditions would do to a (temporarily) floating airframe?
Are those loads capable of tearing apart what is an otherwise largely intact airframe?
The short answer is no. Most damage is done when waves push an object against rocks or grind it against a rocky seabed. A loose collection of objects floating offshore can also be ground against one another by wave action causing damage primarily around the edges, but not tearing and compression damage of the sort seen in the pictures currently circulating. All the indications are that the damage was done by a high velocity impact with the sea surface."
I would concur with the no. Having been aboard a 50' boat in such conditions in water equally shallow, for stupid reasons I'm not going to get into, the impacts were severe, but not enough to break bones, bend seats, break glass, of anyone and anything secured. If you take a look at the fuselage of US 1549, it skidded across the Hudson and was bumped and hit by numerous rescue ships with metal hills and banged against the concrete wall at Battery Park, yet does not display the massive accordion crumple that we have seen in the instant incident.