Shanksville Crater Oddity

(Updated: 12/05/06)

United Airlines Flight 93 supposedly nosedived straight into the ground like this:

(Photo source)

and burrowed itself into the ground according to the official story and left this shallow crater which looks about 10ft deep:

(Source)

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Now put aside for a second that you can't see much of anything in or around the crater that looks like a giant plane had just crashed there (like the lack of a tail section sticking out of the ground) or that the 5,500 gallons of fuel still on the plane didn't scorch the long dry grass growing around right up to the rim of the crater. What else seems odd about this crater is:

Where did all the dirt go???

Flight 93 was a Boeing 757 with a 155ft long fuselage, 124ft wingspan, and should have weighed about 75 tons at least when it supposedly crashed:

► The Boeing 757-200

Operating empty with P&W engines 57,840kg [57.84 tons] (127,520lb) - airliners.net

► "Figure 7 shows fuel flow and fuel remaining for UAL Flight 93, calculated in the same way as just described for AAL Flight 77.

Based on ACARS transmissions to the airplane, the fuel load on takeoff was 48,700 lb. This results in about 37,500 lb. [17.01 tons / 5,500 gal*] of fuel remaining upon impact (the end of the DFDR data)." -NTSB (02/13/02) [*One pound of jet fuel = 6.84 pounds per gallon.]

757 Empty weight = 57.84 tons. Reported remaining fuel weight = 17.01 tons.

57.84 + 17.01 = 74.85 tons

The mounds of dirt seen outside the crater looks like about the same amount that would fit back into the 10 ft deep crater:

(Source)

(Source)

(Source)

So a 155ft long plane weighing 75tons at impact nosedives at 580mph and buries itself underground, leaving a shallow 10ft deep crater, but only ejects out enough dirt to fill back in the 10ft deep crater???

Hmmm.

Something seems to be missing here.

See also:

• Faked Shanksville crater and the burnt forest section