The White Jet
CLAIM: At least six eyewitnesses say they saw a small white jet flying low over the crash area almost immediately after Flight 93 went down. BlogD.com theorizes that the aircraft was downed by "either a missile fired from an Air Force jet, or via an electronic assault made by a U.S. Customs airplane reported to have been seen near the site minutes after Flight 93 crashed." WorldNetDaily.com weighs in: "Witnesses to this low-flying jet ... told their story to journalists. Shortly thereafter, the FBI began to attack the witnesses with perhaps the most inane disinformation ever--alleging the witnesses actually observed a private jet at 34,000 ft. The FBI says the jet was asked to come down to 5000 ft. and try to find the crash site. This would require about 20 minutes to descend."
FACT: There was such a jet in the vicinity--a Dassault Falcon 20 business jet owned by the VF Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., an apparel company that markets Wrangler jeans and other brands. The VF plane was flying into Johnstown-Cambria airport, 20 miles north of Shanksville. According to David Newell, VF's director of aviation and travel, the FAA's Cleveland Center contacted copilot Yates Gladwell when the Falcon was at an altitude "in the neighborhood of 3000 to 4000 ft."--not 34,000 ft. "They were in a descent already going into Johnstown," Newell adds. "The FAA asked them to investigate and they did. They got down within 1500 ft. of the ground when they circled. They saw a hole in the ground with smoke coming out of it. They pinpointed the location and then continued on." Reached by PM, Gladwell confirmed this account but, concerned about ongoing harassment by conspiracy theorists, asked not to be quoted directly.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=7
Here's a picture of a Dassault Falcon 20:
Two rear engines- check.
A big fin in the back like a spoiler on a car- check (it's called a horizontal stabilizer, dear)
All white- as I've learned from spending quite a bit of time at Balboa Lake Park watching the waterfowl and the planes arriving and leaving Van Nuys Airport a couple of blocks away, white is a
very popular color scheme for private jets- check.
The fences on the upper surfaces of the wings could correspond to the "two upright fins" in the description.
As for size and height, if you can't tell how far away an object is there's no sane way to estimate its absolute size, and if something is flying over you, away from any references on the ground that could help to estimate distance, you can't tell how high it is unless you either:
happen to be carrying an optical rangefinder and have the presence of mind to make immediate use of it, or
make a reasonably accurate estimate of its
angular dimensions (this can be done using, for example, the width of your fingers held at arms length, in which case the subtended angle can be worked out with a tape measure and elementary trigonometry)
and know what its linear dimensions are, in which case the distance can be worked out with a bit more elementary trigonometry.
So, the plane which the "official story" states examined the crash site corresponds reasonably well with the witness' description, well enough for a description given by a clearly inexpert witness who doesn't know enough not to draw conclusions about size, distance and speed which can't be justified by eyeball observation.
Okay, troofers- now show us either an air-to-air missile which fits that description, or a military plane which fits the description
and is equipped to intercept planes and fire air-to-air missiles at them.
Or tell us which plane she picked out from the California guy's mugshots, and we'll see if it fits the description better than a Dassault Falcon.
