Timeline for How can investigators tell the difference between impact damage and explosion damage when investigating debris from a crash?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
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| Oct 16, 2017 at 23:58 | comment | added | Kxy | @voretaq7 why so much emphasis on the control surfaces? Typically an aircraft that suffered a bombing would have the bomb placed either in the cargo hold or the cabin, would investigators not be more focused on the fuselage skin itself as opposed to the control surfaces? | |
| Aug 6, 2015 at 13:07 | vote | accept | Jae Carr | ||
| Jul 31, 2015 at 21:17 | comment | added | voretaq7 | @reirab Yes, but in the case of an explosion you'd (probably) have shrapnel damage or other telltale signs (burns) on nearby control surfaces, while impact with the ground will leave other telltale marks depending on exactly how the fragment in question impacted the surface (and what it landed on: Water and rocks obviously have different impact signatures). Post-impact fires further complicate matters, but those too usually leave evidence (the scorched ground around them) - that kind of context is critical in an investigation. | |
| Jul 31, 2015 at 21:11 | comment | added | reirab | One minor quibble: in the case of a control surface, unless the explosion were actually inside the control surface, it wouldn't necessarily be blown outward. Even if the fuselage were blown up (a la Pan Am 103,) the wing wouldn't necessarily explode mid-air, but might instead crash into the ground mostly in-tact (at which point it might then explode, due to the impact energy being absorbed by literally several tons of kerosene.) Either a crash into the ground or an explosion exterior to the control surface could cause crumple damage to the control surface, though with different patterns. | |
| Jul 31, 2015 at 20:18 | history | edited | Jae Carr | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| Jul 31, 2015 at 19:53 | history | edited | voretaq7 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Expand on how labs distinguish explosions from e.g. ground impact with only part of the plane
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| Jul 31, 2015 at 18:57 | history | answered | voretaq7 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |