posted on Jun, 29 2006 @ 10:10 PM
The MAXIMUM GROSS TAKE-OFF WEIGHT of a 757 is 220,000 pounds. That's 110 tons. I STRONGLY suggest you learn what you're talking about before you
start spouting.
MAXIMUM GROSS TAKE-OFF WEIGHT is for a FULLY LOADED 757. That means 100% passenger/crew load, 100% fuel load, 100% baggage/cargo load. Flight 77 had
a less than 50% passenger load, and didn't need anywhere NEAR a full load of fuel. A 757 at MGTW with Rolls Royce engines (like Flight 77 had) has a
range of 3719 nautical miles. The distance between New York (Flight 77 came from Dulles in Washington DC, close enough) is 2443.79 miles, that's
2123.5 nautical miles. They'd need at MOST about 25-26,000 pounds of fuel. That's only 4000 gallons. There is NO WAY they would fly that flight
with a max fuel load, and max cargo load if they were flying with a less than 50% passenger load.
The empty weight of a 757 is 127,500 pounds. Figure 25,000 pounds of fuel, you're up to 152,000 pounds. Flight 77 had 64 people on board. Let's
figure 150 pounds per person, with 100 pounds of bags per person. That's 9600 pounds for passengers, 6400 pounds for bags. So allowing for cargo,
you're looking at the 170-180,000 pound range for Flight 77 AT TAKE OFF. That weight is going to drop significantly as it's flying because they're
going to burn fuel. Obviously as they burn fuel, they're going to get lighter. They flew for over an hour, and probably burned off around 3-4000
pounds per hour. So drop at least 4000 pounds from the weight, so the MAXIMUM they would be would be around 176,000 pounds or 88 tons.
As far as the hole, the fuselage of a 757 is roughly 14 feet around. Believe it or not you're NOT going to see a big hole from the wings. The wings
carry a lot of weight, but structurally they're the most fragile portion of the airplane.
[edit on 6/29/2006 by Zaphod58]
[edit on 6/29/2006 by Zaphod58]