What happened to the wreckage??

[SeniorOfficerPotnky]

The light poles are designed to 'pop" out of the ground, as you put it.

Quoted from Pentagonresearch.com:

1) The poles were breakaway style on a 18 inch transformer style base. This means that at 23 inches off the ground the pole would be broken by a Volkswagen Rabbit traveling 20 mph.
2) The poles themselves were 27.66 feet high with a weight of approximately 175 pounds.
3) The truss style mast arms were 8 foot long with a rise that brought the pole height up to 30 feet. The mast arm weighs between 15-20 pounds.
4) The lamp head weighs approximately 70 pounds.
5) The aluminum on the poles was .188 of an inch thick. The pole was 8 inches in diameter at the base and 4.5 inches in diameter at the top.

This limited damage factor is why the FAA requires these type of poles in the "safety zones" around airports and helipads. They recognize that this type of pole minimizes damage to aircraft, "FAA regulation requires any structure located within 250 feet of runway centerline has to be frangible, which means the structure needs to break away when hit by an aircraft to minimize damages to the aircraft and its pilot."

These poles are designed to break away because of the helipad at the Pentagon.

 

[han]

Here's one slight problem with the breakaway lightpoles; if they broke away by a plane flying at hundreds of miles an hour, wouldn't that be obvious a little bit more?

Quote from Center for an Informed America:

Does anyone see anything wrong with these photos? Because, all things considered, I really don't see how anyone could objectively review the evidence and reach any conclusion other than that this infamous taxi scene was staged. Recall that what we are supposed to believe is that the light pole in the picture was uprooted by the impact of a 100+ ton aircraft traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. Such an impact would likely have sent the steel pole cartwheeling off at an extremely high rate of speed. That rapidly moving pole was then purportedly struck a second time, by a moving taxi.

And yet, remarkably enough, the twice-impacted pole appears to be largely undamaged, the airplane that allegedly hit the pole was presumably undamaged, the surface of the highway appears to be undamaged, and the taxi escaped with no visible damage other than a broken windshield. Nothing unusual about any of that, I suppose.
[Source]

If it is clear that one of these uprooted light poles was staged, can we not safely assume that all of these light poles were somehow staged? Also, you haven't said anything on the high improbability that two pieces of light pole neatly stacked on each other, crosswise, could be caused by a flying airplane...

 

[noise]

I see obvious lack of damage from the pole on the vehicles body (think:metal), none, notta, nor debree as seen on the street. How many tonnes does the plane way and how much lift could it cause on vehicles as it goes by at such speeds in the hundreds of miles per hour? Would it possibly flip a car if touching down was only a 100 yards'ish away and it being so low as to hit light poles? I believe loose change shows a vehicle flip, then again it might have been following directly in the wake or stream of the engine, not to clear remembering for certain.

It is interesting that the pole did not go flying and stick into the side of the pentagon (or something similar), with its meager 200+ lbs. with the parts attached. It appears to me to have simply fallen off its little perch a foot away.

Just a further observation which could be played in any direction; I myself would move my car unless it can't function with a broken windshield, at least to give other patrons the ability to move forward. He doesn't look so bad off that he can't function in terms of being courteous (unharmed). This goes back to how did whatever struck his windshield get back out of it? If the guy did it, maybe he'd also have taken the time to move the car and free up a lane.

Of course even with the photo at hand that would be impossible I imagine some would say :o ?

 

[han]

Let's try some physics excersizes..

The plane weighed about 12 tons, I think, and it caused no "lift" on cars.

The pole would not stick into the pentagon, it's too far away, and the plane didn't carry it there. :P

(Side note: SeniorOfficerPotnky has deleted his post in the meantime..)

According to Wikipedia, a Boeing 737-200 has an empty weight of 128,730 lb or 58,390 kg. The maximum weight is 255,000 lb or 115,680 kg.
According to this conversion table the Boeing would then weigh between 64.365 and 112.5 US tons, or between 57.47 and 113.86 tons (give or take). Either way, your estimation is off the mark by a factor 6 or more.

Or did you, perhaps, mean another plane?

According to Wikipedia again, the maximum loaded weight of a Global Hawk lies around 10,400 kg, or 11.46 US tons. That's about 12 US tons, isn't it?
Well, let me make one thing clear before going further: if the plane you meant WAS a Global Hawk or similair aircraft, the event was STAGED.

It isn't clearly staged at all.

"Largely undamaged" is not the description I would give that lightpole, the aircraft's wings are strong enough to withstand that inmpact. the highway is undamaged because nothing hit it, and a light pole does not cause huge damage to a taxi cab, what were you expecting, a big hole in it?

The two pieces of lightpole were "stacked" as you put it, due to the aircraft's speed. At approximately 530 mph it sliced through the top of the light pole, so the top part simply fell back down onto the bottom part.

I'll try and find you the exact quote that I heard this information from.

(Side note: As of late, SeniorOfficerPotnky also deleted this post.. :()

In the witness account, Dan says the Boeing 757 may or may not have clipped the antenna on the car behind him. Can you handle this picture??? Try to imagine an airplane, the size of a house, flying over your car that close... Well, you would say, the antenna obviously must have been big. Have you seen any car, ever, with a dish the size of Arecibo on it's roof?? (Joking aside.. the antenna should have been pretty big to have been clipped by a Boeing 757, without taking the car in it's wake.. To understand this, have you ever stood near a train which rides right past you at high speed? Well, a flying Boeing 757 would be a pretty big train in comparison.) I ask myself, how could such a car drive through a simple tunnel?

Moreover, I have trouble handling the picture where a plane slices through a lightpole, like it's a piece of fruit, where both pieces of lightpole fall nicely on top of each other, CROSSWISE. Did you know a Boeing 757 uses its wings to store its fuel? That would obviously mean each wing has to have volume, it is not a knife like the wings on a fighter jet... Here is a picture that demonstrates this fact. But I seriously doubt even a fighter jet could accomplish the same feat. (Joking again, I fear. ;))

Even in fantasy land, where a Boeing 757 would hit and slice a light pole and get away with it, the two pieces should fly APART from each other like there was no correlation between the two before, due to the wing acting as a wedge instead of a knife, and the chaotic turbulence the plane leaves in its wake.

Also, due to the fact that, in a collision, the motion of two objects could be considered relative from each other, you could try shooting a lightpole vertically at a Boeing 757 hanging in the air from a cable or something (due to laziness and the "break-away" nature of the lightpole we might eliminate friction from the picture). What, do you think, would happen when lightpole meets Boeing at a speed of hundreds of miles an hour? Could you make an accurate model for that scenario? Here are some sites to aid you in the process: [Site1] [Site2]

After that, you can think about what a Boeing 757, flying at hundreds of miles an hour, would do to a light pole... and how the light pole would return the favor.

 

[han]

Here are some interesting aircraft accidents I found on the web:

2003:
DATE/SITE: 24 Apr 1018 Punta Gorda Fla.
AIRCRAFT & REGISTRATION: Challenger 60 Reg: N698RS
CIRCUMSTANCES: A/c left wingtip hit light pole while taxiing.
DEATHS & INJURIES: Nil
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS2: Minor damage.
[Source]

2004:
An Air China 737-800 plane hit a light pole in Guiyang Airport after diversion from Chongqing due to weather problem.
The flight was operating Guangzhou to Chongqing as CA4350 on 12DEC.
The left wing of the 738 hit a light pole at the side of the runway, no injuries reported.
When the 738 landed, it hits a light pole during taxiing. Not only the light pole was smashed severely, there was a hole on the wings. 132 pax and crews were on board.
[Source]


On November 22, 2004, about 0615 central standard time,[1] a Gulfstream G‑1159A (G-III), N85VT, operated by Business Jet Services Ltd., struck a light pole and crashed about 3 miles southwest of William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), Houston, Texas, while on an instrument landing system (ILS)[2] approach to runway 4. The two pilots and the flight attendant were killed, an individual in a vehicle near the airport received minor injuries, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The airplane was being operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident.
[Source]

Read also http://analysis.batcave.net/pentagon.html:

Plane That Crashed In Houston Reportedly Was To Pick Up Elder Bush [..]

In looking at the Pentagon investigation, this article hit me as a bit strange. A plane hit ONE light pole, and the wing RIPPED OFF, leaving debris for 100 yards and scattering fuel all over.

The Pentagon plane hit FIVE poles, hundereds of yards away, yet the wings supposedly stayed intact until it hit the building and created the "90ft?" hole on only the bottom floor.

(A weird coincidence don't you think? "When you have found something of truth you will receive demonstrations which locks in your faith.")

2005:
On July 19, 2005, TransAsia Airways Flight GE028, an ATR72-212A aircraft, registration B-22805, landed at Taipei/Sungshan airport. As the aircraft taxied on Taxiway CC after landing, it made an early right turn onto a service road. At Taipei local time1915 (UTC+8), the aircraft's right wing hit the flood light pole and stopped.
Two pilots, 2 cabin attendants and 24 passengers were on board. One cabin crew encountered minor injury. The front spar of the right wing of the aircraft was damaged.
The reported weather at the time of Taipei/Sungshan airport was wind calm, visibility 6,000 meters, light shower rain.
The Aviation Safety Council (Taiwan) is conducting the investigation. The representatives from Taiwan CAA and TransAsia Airways were invited to participate the investigation.
[Source]

Apart from the business jet at Houston, these aircraft were just taxying on the runway when they hit a light pole and sustained damage. These light poles are situated at airports. Note the years, one would think that all these airports would have all the normal safety requirements, including "break-away" light poles, after 2001? Well, here we have at least three examples where aircraft sustained damage by driving against an airport light pole. And we have a deadly example of an aircraft flying against a light pole, which leaves the aircraft totally destroyed.

Well, you might say, this light pole obviously wasn't "break-away." Well, maybe it was? I think you are trying to apply lots of magic properties to a "break-away" lightpole, such as able to be sliced through with a Boeing 757, able to withstand any turbulence, or maybe even gravity, or any law of physics. Able to withstand an impact into something solid (also magically solid, I should say) with a speed of maybe even half a thousand miles per hour, bouncing of, and, against all kinds of conservation laws, landing quite softly into a cab, not even damaging the chair it has chosen to land on. And so on...

 

[blindpsychic]

Video of some cars being flipped by an 747 engine: http@://youtube.com/watch?v=5LjXlUpHnso
To give some idea, I couldn't find the old footage of another plane doing this to a taxi that was on the runway for whatever reason.