Calum Douglas on the Flt.77 Flight Data Recorder Info

I tried to find a link to this presentation by Calum Douglas of Pilots for 911 Truth, in threads discussing Flight 77. Didn't turn up anything but since this is a heavily discussed topic I could well have missed it.

It is a very interesting presentation on the flight data recorder information associated with Flight 77 and might be useful to people who aren't familiar with a lot of the technical discussions on this topic. The info on how the data was obtained and decoded was new to me.

If the video has already been embedded I apologize.

Google Video Link

Oh boy if I don't have too many things to say about this. I've been in contact w/Calum since I'd raised some questions about the animation's authenticity. as I enter this discussion again you'll hear about my 'allegations' so please refer to this link for my reasons.

first, intro - US authorities have NOT 'explained away' this info, not that that would help the questions go away. Rather, as the intro also says, they say 'no comment." They explain nothing relevant about the data. like why it's off. They've left us on our own, and how we're faring is a contentious issue.

all data from the government... sounds very reasonable and responsible... 1:40 - 'three different trajectories at the same time?" new to me...

7:20 - "the only mistake in the animation which..." the NTSB admits is the time stamp. Dunno why - it's 4 hours off is all, easy to correct. "they mentioned no other flaws." Yep. He's correct there. but of course there are things off in the FDR data, like final frame altitude, pitch, bank/roll, heading slightly, slightly off, and the location is wrong, 1.3 miles away give or take for INS errors, which can be 1/2 mile or more I hear.

So how is it the Pentagon is right there in the animation? Good question.

9:00 - flight path questions - flight path doesn't match the poles - "the angle of this aircraft is approximately 15-20 degrees incorrect from the path one would have to fly to knock the poles over..." and, oddly enough, from what the FDR actually says. And what the heading dial says.

Okay, Im too tired to finish this tonight. Calum says he explains all this in the video - I'm one of the people that 'suggested' they 'forgot about magnetic declination.' and app. missed hs explanation the 1st time around, so I'll need to re-watch this closer. I hadn't revisited this presentation since I finished my explanation for why that heading is off (it explain a heading difference of 17 degrees and can be read here or here.) rotation is it, a ground grid oriented to mag north (10 deg ccw) and a map rotated 7 deg ccw from that. also video:

I'll report back tomorrow.

10-4. I just got off the midnight shift myself and I'm heading to bed. I'm certainly not knowledgeable about flight 77 at least not the way the guys are who have been slugging it out over various issues for months.

I found the story of how the data was obtained very interesting and how it was decoded and just his general points that the information obtained from official sources, whether the FDR data or radar data seem to be inconsistent with one another, begging numbers of unanswered questions.


[edit on 27-4-2008 by ipsedixit]

I had been obsessed with the north-path issue and saw him saying this that support that and didn't really watch the rest before. Saw some last night that's interesting. I'll get into details later... I did like a few of his explanations - he's a smart guy and shares what he can, but too many signs of no-757 fraudsterism to say he's being honest all thru Oops, Brooks and Lagasse at 24:15- not good sign. Bouncing around now. And at the end, talking about all the 'proof' that no plane hit there... luckily did not bias his analysis of the data.


How the data was obtained IS interesting. The animation DVD was slipped into his letter unrequested and unannounced. Oddly it IS NTSB, but at FIRST there was no paper trail, back when PFFT used it for PBB, they were going on faith. Later they fessed up to it but explained nothing but timestamp.

Also the decode story is interesting. It mmostly matches the previously known FDR data (csv file, animation, specialists report, etc.) but a few differences - it turned up radio/radar alt, which is otherwise listed as inopertive! Cover-up revealed? Or insider adding data in some weird way? Mmmm, I've called it the real alt, but w/reservations...

The radar ground map part is interesting, (about 33:00) indicating a closer end of data. I thought of trying that once, subtracting pressure from radio altimeter to get the rough topography, but Calum knows how to and did. I understand what he means and wi'll look at his presumptions and method if possible. Could still be some valuable additions in there for sure, but a lot I disagree with.

ETA - clarity and typos

[edit on 27-4-2008 by Caustic Logic]