Strange Case Of The Black Box And The Indestructible Passport

by Sam Yousef
September 21, 2001

The Black Box and the Indestructible Passport

All four Black Boxes were supposedly destroyed and rendered unusable in spite of the fact that they are designed specifically for plane crashes which result in insurmountable conditions...yet one of the hijackers passports supposedly survives fire and heat of over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and is found in perfect shape in the rubble around the WTC towers? What kind of idiots does the FBI take us for?

How indestructible are the so-called "Black Boxes"?

Each airplane is equipped with a Flight Data Recorder and a Cockpit Voice Recorder. The term "Black Box" is used for these pieces of equipment. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) web site gives valuable information regarding these devices.

Regarding the Cockpit Voice Recorder it says:

"The CVR records the flight crew's voices, as well as other sounds inside the cockpit. The recorder's "cockpit area microphone" is usually located on the overhead instrument panel between the two pilots. Sounds of interest to an investigator could be engine noise, stall warnings, landing gear extension and retraction, and other clicks and pops. From these sounds, parameters such as engine rpm, system failures, speed, and the time at which certain events occur can often be determined. Communications with Air Traffic Control, automated radio weather briefings, and conversation between the pilots and ground or cabin crew are also recorded."

Regarding the Flight Data Recorder it says:

"The FDR onboard the aircraft records many different operating conditions of the flight. By regulation, newly manufactured aircraft must monitor at least twenty eight important parameters such as time, altitude, airspeed, heading, and aircraft attitude. In addition, some FDRs can record the status of more than 300 other in-flight characteristics that can aid in the investigation. The items monitored can be anything from flap position to auto-pilot mode or even smoke alarms."

Thus as we see each plane is equipped with two separate "Black Box" devices which relay different yet complimentary information. It goes on to say:

"Both the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder have proven to be valuable tools in the accident investigation process. They can provide information THAT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN BY OTHER MEANS." [NTSB web site http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/CVR_FDR.htm]

They are meant to be the hardy and sure way to get information regarding the last minutes before the plane went down. Here are the specifications of these devices including what they can withstand:

FLIGHT DATA RECORDER

Time recorded: 25 hour continuous
Number of parameters: 5 - 300+
Impact tolerance: 3400Gs /6.5ms
Fire resistance: 1100 degC/30 min
Water pressure resistance: submerged 20,000 ft
Underwater locator beacon: 37.5 KHz
Battery: 6yr shelf life
30 day operation

COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER

Time recorded: 30 min continuous, 2 hours for solid state digital units
Number of channels: 4
Impact tolerance: 3400 Gs /6.5ms
Fire resistance: 1100 deg C /30 min
Water pressure resistance: submerged 20,000 ft
Underwater locator beacon: 37.5 KHz
Battery: 6yr shelf life
30 day operation

These specifications indicate equipment which can survive just about any conditions and any crash. Indeed, Black Boxes have been recovered from crashes in swamps, mountains, and oceans.

ABC News reports:

"Although investigators look for an entire black box, sometimes the only parts of the device that survive are the recorder's crash-survivable memory units (CSMU). THE CSMU IS ALMOST INDESTRUCTIBLE. It is housed within a stainless-steel shell that contains titanium or aluminum and a high-temperature insulation of dry silica material."

"It is designed to withstand HEAT OF UP TO 2,000 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT FOR ONE HOUR, salt water for at least 30 days, immersion in a variety of liquids such as jet fuel and lubricants, AND AN IMPACT OF 3,400 G's. By comparison, astronauts are typically exposed to up to six Gs during a shuttle takeoff." [ABCNews - http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_blackboxes010917.html]

So the Black Box is designed to withstand an impact of 3,400 G's. So what about the Pennsylvania crash site?

"THE VOICE RECORDER WAS SAID TO BE HEAVILY DAMAGED, and the manufacturer was being asked to help with further analysis. The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was reported to have hit the ground in excess of 500 MILES PER HOUR." [ABCNews - http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/wtc_main010915.html]

The plane hit the ground at 500 mph. Taking the weight of the plane, its speed of descent, the G's end up much, much lower than 3,400.

Since each plane has two separate Black Boxes which are designed to be indestructible in the event of a tragedy, that makes a total of EIGHT BLACK BOXES. If we are to believe that all the Black Boxes were damaged beyond use, then that is to say EIGHT BLACK BOXES in total were destroyed, while a measly paper passport survived.

Then the final paragraph of the same article says: 

"Investigators are less confident they will recover the black boxes buried underneath the rubble of the World Trade Center." 

So there is no hope of recovering the virtually indestructible Black Box from the rubble, but a paper passport survives in such a perfect state that it is "a significant piece of evidence"?

CNN reports one of the hijackers passports was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center vicinity:

"The searchers found several clues, he said, but would not elaborate. Last week, a passport belonging to one of the hijackers was found in the vicinity of Vesey Street, near the World Trade Center. 'It was a significant piece of evidence for us,' Mawn said." [CNN http://asia.cnn.com/2001/US/09/17/inv.investigation.terrorism/index.html]

Also CNN reports:

"In New York, several blocks from the ruins of the World Trade Center, a passport authorities said belonged to one of the hijackers was discovered a few days ago, according to city Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik." [CNN http://asia.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/gen.america.under.attack/index.html]

Aside from the idiocy of any suggestion that a passport would survive a plane crash that is allegedly so severe it destroys the virtually indestructible Black Box, we are also led to believe that the passport "flew away", out of the hijackers pocket, down a few blocks from the WTC grounds. Why a few blocks away? Could it be because it was a place out of everyone's sight?

It is also well known that paper was strewn all over the scene of the plane crash. This was due to the sudden shattering of the windows which would immediately eject all paper materials out of the building before incineration. A passport in someone's pocket who is sitting on a plane that explodes will suffer the same fate as the person whose pocket it is in, and the plane they are sitting in: absolute cremation.

United Airlines flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. There was no explosion and no impact into a building and no 100+ story towers crashed down on top of it. Yet, we are led to believe that both of its Black Boxes were destroyed and/or damaged beyond use as well.

Other airline tragedies also reveal that in each and every case the Black Box is recovered, albeit damaged, but with full usability. Such crashes include Egypt Air flight 990, a 767, and TWA flight 800, a 747. Both crashes resulted in tremendous compromise of the planes physical integrity, but in spite of this the Cockpit Voice Recorders were recovered.

So we have established that the survival of a passport of someone in an exploded plane is lunacy. However, for the sake of argument lets say the passport survived. If the passport did indeed survive then so did the Black Box. If the Black Box did indeed survive as we have proven beyond a shred of doubt, then why the complete and utter lie that it was damaged beyond use? What are they hiding? This will be dealt with irrefutably in the next section of this analysis into the corruption which has seeped into the U.S. government, its foreign policy and its intelligence services.

This analysis has just begun, yet any sound minded person is already forced to question the validity of this entire farce. I intend to dismantle this investigation piece by piece as time allows. If the American people are so concerned with finding justice, why aren't more exposing these inconsistencies, fabrications and outright lies as I have? Do we Americans want JUSTICE SERVED or do we want MORE BLOOD of innocent civilians? Thus far, in the United States of America, due to the anger over the tragedy dubbed "PENTTBOM", there have been at least three homicidal attacks against immigrants. Now an overwhelming 80% of them are supporting an invasion into a remote country that has absolutely nothing to do with this tragedy. Instead of using their heads to get to the bottom of this and prosecute the criminals behind this act, they are killing their neighbors, and laying the heads of good American soldiers and innocent Afghan women and children on the chopping block. I say "them" at this point and not "us", because I distance myself from those who commit hate crimes in the name of "America" whom I have just described. Someone is playing a very sick game upon us all right under our noses, and it will cost us our very lives if we do not STOP them.

ABC News reports: "...And 69 percent say they'd support military action even if it means a long war with substantial U.S. military casualties."

You want "substantial U.S. military casualties"? What the hell is wrong with everyone? The Afghans have never lost a war in 800 years. They not only drove the Russians out of their country but it lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Empire. They have brought empire after empire to their knees. In a CNN interview with Jill Dougherty, Leo Korolkov who trained the Russian Special Forces (equivalent of our Delta Force) said he saw Afghans shot to ribbons and ripped to pieces still charging at them. In his words: "These fighters can bring any country, even a superpower -- be it Russia, the United States or Europe -- to the brink of catastrophe."

Nearly 70 percent of Americans support sacrificing more American lives to invade a country that couldn't be further removed from any responsibility in this tragedy to find ONE MAN before this circus of an investigation has even been completed. Have we learned nothing from the plumes of terror that rose from the ashes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a morose field in Pennsylvania which shook our hearts and souls that fateful Tuesday? I fear that we have not.

Comment

From Dave Luke
9-22-01

Jeff,

I have dealt with the manufacture of military hot section parts for 25+ years. I know the alloys that are used. I know their cost and their worth as scrap metal. I also know that the alloys used in the manufacture of the Black Boxes are of this type material. Very well, you say. But so what? ... there is more to it...

I have seen these black boxes and also their contents. They are incredibly simple - but incredibly ingenious. Picture a pile of newspapers or magazines in the dump, in a fire, only the outer edges are damaged-after years of sitting. They are made of P A P E R. The black boxes are made of extremely strong and resilient materials. More importantly, the material that holds the information is not what the FBI would like you to know about.

This material is made of the most indestructible alloys known to man. They can take temperatures over 2000 Deg. F and never know that they had been hot! They can survive salt water immersion for a lot longer (years) than investigators would let them lay there. (They are usually found within a few days.) But most importantly, they are not simple tapes or cassettes made of plastic, but they are thin strips of this "hot-section" type "super" alloy.

The same type as used in the afterburner sections of the F-15's and F-16's--the parts that get white hot, over, and over, and over and still keeps on working.

But - and here is the beginning of what is truly brilliant, they are marked with a stylus not so much different than that of our old 33 1/3 vinyl albums, but in reverse. The information is scribed into this alloy along with timing "nicks" for time/date reference. Here comes the good part: Now, the marked strip is "rolled" up into a continuous roll of high temperature alloy that by design only allows the EDGES of the roll to be exposed to damage (THE DATA ARE IN THE CENTER OF THE STRIP), while the mass of the continuous strip shields the "whole" from damage. What we have is a nearly indestructible roll of data material inside of a nearly indestructible box that is not unlike the magazines or newspaper that survives years of exposure and can still be read as P A P E R!!!!

So, when the FBI tells us that the boxes were nearly destroyed--you can think perhaps...BUT, during their near destruction (or even total destruction), they did what they were designed to do--to protect the metal roll that by design is nearly indestructible by itself.

---NO DATA?--BALONEY!!!!!!!

Please let the citizens of America know the truth.

David Luke

http://www.rense.com/general13/strangecase.htm

 

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