Not Friendly, Not an Accident

 

1. Accident?  That’s a pile of Pelosi!

   I’ve handled and used grenades.  They do not go off unless one removes the safety pin, allowing the ‘spoon’ to come off, or over heat - like open flame.  Grenades, like firearms, do not just get weird and ‘go off’.  By the way, pulling that safety pin cannot normally be done with the teeth.  It takes a substantial yank to get them out.  They’re made that way on purpose.

   That grenade was either set off intentionally, or was gimmicked to blow up at some one else’s command. 

   Or, I suppose the officer with the grenade could have been a super combination of dopey and unlucky.  But I’m not betting on that alternative.

   Posted by Archie       02/19/2009  at  11:23 PM  



2. Funny you should say that Archie. I found this story in Tasmania, but it’s all over the world. India, China, Finland. And nobody believes either flight mishap was an accident.

   Sometimes the other side gets it’s licks in too.

   Posted by Drew458       02/19/2009  at  11:35 PM  



3. One question - I know grenades are a nasty little handful, but could one single grenade blow the whole center out of that airplane?  You’ve got a 15 or 20 ft section that’s pretty much gone.  Could the grenade have had some help?

   Posted by Dr. Jeff       02/20/2009  at  04:20 AM  



4. Indeed, I’m throwing the “bullshit flag” on this being an “accident”. Jeff, I’d bet with your guess.

   Posted by cmblake6       02/20/2009  at  06:20 AM  



5. Dr. Jeff, modern fragmentation grenades are essentially one pound of high explosive wrapped with some shrapnel wire.  They are very ‘explosive’, and in a confined space, like an airplane fuselage, tends to compress and focus.

   Also consider aircraft are fairly lightly constructed.  They are not armored and reinforced with concrete or anything.  More like aluminum sheet metal and minor struts.  So that damage is not unbelievable to me.  I’m amazed there are no reports of fatalities, but I’m sure that is coming. 

   From all reports, being inside a confined space when a grenade goes off is a markedly bell ringing experience.

   Posted by Archie       02/20/2009  at  10:54 AM  



6. Sigh, the plane is the casualty.  Retrofitted DC-3/C-47 turboprops have a special place in my heart.

   Posted by Prakk       02/20/2009  at  04:51 PM  

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