Originally Posted by
G0ULI
Your scenario presents a case where all the witnesses are in error, the physical evidence is treated with suspicion and an unknown mechanism allowed the pilots to level the wings before impact with the embankment.
I very much appreciate the time and thought you have put into this. This has been invaluable.
Working from memory here, I think of the fifty-odd witnesses only four or five said the bank was essentially vertical. Several said the wing pointed right at the ground, which is ambiguous. I'm certainly not faulting all the witnesses.
I'm treating the physical evidence with considerably more respect, and not suspicion. You're conjecturing that someone measured the powerlines, and that measurements taken from those lines would have been diagnostic, and those measurements support your view. That's three big conjectures based on nothing more than the report writer guesstimating the angle when the plane hit the lines.
I don't know how the bank was moderated, I simply see evidence that it was. I'm hoping for more input from Electra pilots.
I've been reading the Chicago Trib story from the archives. It says "After the plane hit the tracks it bounced back into the air, flying another 300 feet to hit with tremendous force in a swampy slough. Then it bounced again for 100 feet before sliding to rest 800 feet west of the tracks."
That is exactly the sequence I've been describing.