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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Brazil, BIZ JET SUVIVORS FROM MID AIR |
| 2006-10-03 |
| It had been an uneventful, comfortable flight. With the window shade drawn, I was relaxing in my leather seat aboard a $25 million corporate jet that was flying 37,000 feet above the vast Amazon rain forest. The 7 of us on board the 13-passenger jet were keeping to ourselves. Without warning, I felt a terrific jolt and heard a loud bang, followed by an eerie silence, save for the hum of the engines And then the three words I will never forget. “We’ve been hit,” said Henry Yandle, a fellow passenger standing in the aisle near the cockpit of the Embraer Legacy 600 jet. “Hit? By what?” I wondered. I lifted the shade. The sky was clear; the sun low in the sky. The rainforest went on forever. But there, at the end of the wing, was a jagged ridge, perhaps a foot high, where the five-foot-tall winglet was supposed to be. |
| Posted by:RD |
| #9 End of story?? WTF. Inverted flat spin? No doubt the 737 was in trouble, inverted when it hit the small jet, not a chance. Parts would be flying off that aircraft and the small plane would be peppered with damage. Landing gear gets set down in a number of in flight emergencies as part of the emergency procedures. That aircraft was hit by a piece of the 737 that came off it. The small aircraft was no where near the 737 or it would be destroyed by the turbulance alone. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-10-03 23:51 |
| #8 Notice the picture of the 737 wing root with main gear extended. Really good catch, Hupese Thrineck9416, this possibly indicates some sort of air-braking maneuver, like during a pancake spiral. For sure they weren't deploying landing gear to touch down in deep dark jungle. I read debris was spread over 20 kilometers. The 737 must have disintegrated at altitude. Hard see how a fairly minor collision caused this. Got a link on this, phil_b? That would certainly indicate some other sort of air frame failure (explosion?) than what a minor mid-air collision might have caused. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-03 23:12 |
| #7 I read debris was spread over 20 kilometers. The 737 must have disintegrated at altitude. Hard see how a fairly minor collision caused this. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-10-03 22:37 |
| #6 This just does not make sense. There is no way they could have hit and have an outcome like this. Sure it could, and obviously it did. 737 pilots take dramatic evasive action, depart controlled flight and enter a flat spin, possibly inverted. End of story. Pictures of the 737 wreckage tend to support this theory. Notice the picture of the 737 wing root with main gear extended. |
| Posted by: Hupese Thrineck9416 2006-10-03 20:42 |
| #5 This just does not make sense. There is no way they could have hit and have an outcome like this. When two aircraft touch in flight more than just a wingtip would hit the other airframe. The 600 probably hit a piece of falling debris. As far fetched as this sounds it makes more sense. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-10-03 20:18 |
| #4 We can now add Brazilian air traffic controllers to the list of hazards you may encounter if you ever travel to Brazil. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-10-03 20:12 |
| #3 winglet punctured 737? cockpit? |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-10-03 19:54 |
| #2 Did an engine of the Boeing craft ingest the Embraer's winglet? Was an engine from the Boeing shorn off by the collision? How in the hell did such a minor collision bring down a huge passenger jet liner nearly three times the smaller craft's maximum weight? On top of all of this, both craft had advanced anti-collision instrumentation. This goes beyond screwy. I'm going to bet that both engines aren't found at the impact site. Embraer Legacy 600 Craft Specifications Length: 26.33 m (86 ft 5 in) Wingspan: 21.17 m (68 ft 11 in) Height: 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) Empty: 16,000 kg (35,274 lb) Maximum takeoff: 22,500 kg (49,604 lb) Boeing 737-400 Craft Specifications Length : 36.5 m or 119' 6" Span : 28.9 m or 94' 8" Height: 11.1 m or 36' 5" Weight empty: 33,200 kg or 73,040 lbs. Maximum take-off weight: 68,050 kg or 149,710 lbs. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-03 19:22 |
| #1 holy cow! that guy just used up 10 of his 9 lives. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-10-03 16:00 |