Good analysis, as expected.

I wonder about the path of the vertical stabilizer once it separated from the rest of the plane. The engines, I believe, would tend to follow a ballistic trajectory - they'd continue to move in the direction they were headed and gravity would take over. It would seem to me that the vertical stabilizer, by contrast, would not just keep going, but would float, flutter and tumble while falling to earth, and would probably not travel as far since it would present greater wind resistance than the engines.

Imagine holding, say, a ball bearing and poker chip in your hand and throwing both with the same motion. In almost every case, I suspect, the ball bearing would travel farther.

I understand the potential problems with eyewitness accounts, but there were reports of an explosion at the wing root before the plane started falling apart, and several people stated that it was the sound of a boom or explosion which first attracted their attention to the crippled plane.

In a worst-case scenario, I wonder if an engine separating could take off a wing, and the wing in its turn might cut thru the vertical stabilizer like a knife. I know this is a stretch, but I'm really straining to come up with some scenario which might account for the plane coming apart in mid-air without introducing sinister explanations for what we've seen.

Incidently, NewsMax is the only source I could find which is exploring a darker side to this tragedy. Check Ruddy's column from a couple of days ago, and follow the links to the Flt 800 section. Once there, you'll find a couple of angles on this event which haven't gotten any ink at all that I'm aware of beyond this news site, including reports that there are traffic surveillance videos which show the entire event, albeit not clearly.

sp