<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Plato90s:
The Stinger, OTOH, is a heat-seeker. It won't go for the fuel tanks, it'll hit the engine.</font>
Not necessarily. The surface of the plane isn't that large and it could easily miss an engine and hit the fuel tank instead.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Plato90s:
Shrapnel from the explosion can indeed puncture the fuel tank, but the aircraft is in motion. The fireball from the detonation of the SAM warhead would already be left behind by the time you get the fuel-air mix into the open.</font>
Why do you persist in this notion that the fireball would be behind the aircraft? It's complete nonsense when you realize that Stinger-type missiles have warheads that penetrate their targets before detonation. The fireball would occur
inside the fuel tank.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Plato90s:
BTW, care to revisit TWA 800's fuel tank status? </font>
I think
LarryJ covered that pretty nicely. If he is correct in saying that the tank of TW 800 was dry and "a combustable mixture would not have occured" it completely discredits your hypothesis.
[This message has been edited by ender83 (edited 12-10-2002).]