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One thing I never understood as a kid, was why wasn't there better footage of a crash. Many people at the airport knew the plane was coming in, and they had ple

One thing I never understood as a kid, was why wasn't there better footage of a crash. Many people at the airport knew the plane was coming in, and they had plenty of time. Yes this wasn't 2019 where everyone has a camera in their pocket, but nonetheless I always thought the could have done better than the crazy shot through the chain-link fence.

steelframe 7y ago
It seems to me the reason is simply that it wasn't anyone's job to make sure there was really great footage of the crash. Everyone was too busy preparing to respond to an imminent disaster in which nearly 300 lives were, in all probability, about to be lost. "Hey Bob, you have that VHS recorder stowed away somewhere in the locker room, don't you? This guy on something called a website 30 years in the future is going to really wish that we got great footage of a horrible crash in which dozens of people die. Why don't you run out a little closer to the airstrip where a nearly completely out-of-control airplane flying at an insane speed is about to slam into the ground? Future spectators will really appreciate it."
- matt-attack 7y ago
  I'd image it would have provided more than just lulz. It'd think a video like that would be of enormous engineering value in crash-dynamics.
  - dev_tty01 7y ago
    They may have felt it would be too disrespectful to film the death of so many people.
bdash 7y ago
From the talk by Captain Al Haynes (http://clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html http://clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html): > We only gave them two minutes to line up for runway 22. They were all set up for runway 31. And when I told Kevin we saw this runway ahead of us, and that's where we were going to land, he had two minutes to get the equipment off the runway. They were actually positioned on that runway, and we could see them moving off that runway. That's the reason the video is no better than it was. With all the notice we had, everyone was set up for runway 31. The two hangars that are built right off to the left of runway 22 were built after the airport was closed, and you can't see the runway from the tower. And that's where the operator was. So he went clearing down the steps, and if you've ever tried to get down tower steps in a hurry, it's a long way down, and that's as far as he could get, before we got there.

steelframe 7y ago

It seems to me the reason is simply that it wasn't anyone's job to make sure there was really great footage of the crash. Everyone was too busy preparing to respond to an imminent disaster in which nearly 300 lives were, in all probability, about to be lost. "Hey Bob, you have that VHS recorder stowed away somewhere in the locker room, don't you? This guy on something called a website 30 years in the future is going to really wish that we got great footage of a horrible crash in which dozens of people die. Why don't you run out a little closer to the airstrip where a nearly completely out-of-control airplane flying at an insane speed is about to slam into the ground? Future spectators will really appreciate it."

matt-attack 7y ago
I'd image it would have provided more than just lulz. It'd think a video like that would be of enormous engineering value in crash-dynamics.
- dev_tty01 7y ago
  They may have felt it would be too disrespectful to film the death of so many people.

bdash 7y ago

From the talk by Captain Al Haynes (http://clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html http://clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html): > We only gave them two minutes to line up for runway 22. They were all set up for runway 31. And when I told Kevin we saw this runway ahead of us, and that's where we were going to land, he had two minutes to get the equipment off the runway. They were actually positioned on that runway, and we could see them moving off that runway. That's the reason the video is no better than it was. With all the notice we had, everyone was set up for runway 31. The two hangars that are built right off to the left of runway 22 were built after the airport was closed, and you can't see the runway from the tower. And that's where the operator was. So he went clearing down the steps, and if you've ever tried to get down tower steps in a hurry, it's a long way down, and that's as far as he could get, before we got there.