Corsair 115
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2007
- Messages
- 14,519
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Anyone who thinks TWA 800 was brought down by an errant U.S. missile should first read the chapter entitled "Beyond the Black Box" in the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.
That chapter deals with what can be learned from human remains in aircraft accidents, specifically TWA 800. The man who conducted the examination of the human remains from that flight recounts what he found and what it indicates.
Some of the somewhat gruesome facts mentioned: the way a human body comes apart after hitting the water from a great height is different from how it comes apart as a result of the spray of sharpnel from an explosion. Examining the remains can thus tell you whether or not there were any explosives.
If shrapnel wounds were found on the bodies, one can tell by examining the wounds which are entry wounds and which are exit wounds. Once the body is identified, one can then use the flight manifest to determine where those people were sitting. Combine this with the nature of the entry and exit shrapnel wounds and one can deduce where any explosion would have occurred.
One can also test the remains to detect if there was any burning of the bodies from the exhaust of a rocket, as well as determining what kind of smoke may have been inhaled before the person died. Different kinds of combustion produce different kinds of chemical traces.
Put the above, plus other areas mentioned in the chapter, all together and the human remains from the flight unequivocally tell the story that no missile hit TWA 800.
I highly recommend checking out the book; it has many other chapters covering other areas involving what examining human remains can reveal. It is a very interesting, if somewhat macabre, look at an area of science not often talked about.
Anyone who thinks TWA 800 was brought down by an errant U.S. missile should first read the chapter entitled "Beyond the Black Box" in the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.
That chapter deals with what can be learned from human remains in aircraft accidents, specifically TWA 800. The man who conducted the examination of the human remains from that flight recounts what he found and what it indicates.
Some of the somewhat gruesome facts mentioned: the way a human body comes apart after hitting the water from a great height is different from how it comes apart as a result of the spray of sharpnel from an explosion. Examining the remains can thus tell you whether or not there were any explosives.
If shrapnel wounds were found on the bodies, one can tell by examining the wounds which are entry wounds and which are exit wounds. Once the body is identified, one can then use the flight manifest to determine where those people were sitting. Combine this with the nature of the entry and exit shrapnel wounds and one can deduce where any explosion would have occurred.
One can also test the remains to detect if there was any burning of the bodies from the exhaust of a rocket, as well as determining what kind of smoke may have been inhaled before the person died. Different kinds of combustion produce different kinds of chemical traces.
Put the above, plus other areas mentioned in the chapter, all together and the human remains from the flight unequivocally tell the story that no missile hit TWA 800.
I highly recommend checking out the book; it has many other chapters covering other areas involving what examining human remains can reveal. It is a very interesting, if somewhat macabre, look at an area of science not often talked about.
