CNN Breaking News: Cessna 152 can carry 2,000lbs of explosives? Huh?

[Ready4Change]

With no gas, people or cargo, a Cessna 152 weighs about 1,200lbs. It's maximum takeoff weight is 1700lbs. That's 500lbs, not 2,000.

But wait! There's More!

It has fuel tanks that can carry about 150lbs of gas. To take off in PA and reach the Capital, those tanks needed to be full. So now CNN is claiming 350lbs=2,000.

Not done yet.

Plane still needs a pilot. An average pilot is about 150lbs. CNN is now wrong by a factor of 10, ie: 200 vs 2,000lbs.

ONE MORE THING!

When intercepted, the fighter pilots would have gotten a look at the plane and it's occupants. The 152 is not a big plane, and this one had 2 men in it. Subtract ANOTHER 150lbs.

So, CNN claims 50lbs=2,000.

BTW, I heard the 2,000 lbs comment made by the supposed security expert being interviewed by Wolf Blitzter. The actual comment was something like "The 152 isn't a big plane. Packed it can carry 1,000, maybe 2,000lbs of explosives..."

Most trusted news source my butt.

[Lex]

1. I realized last year during the primaries . . .

CNN just makes shit up.

[Snotcicles]

7. Hey CNN my weasel holds a quart. n/t

[AlGore-08.com]

61. I hope you're young... CNN has been making sh*t up for decades

They were actually a news organization in the 1980s...

[Hobarticus]

2. You Googled more info in five seconds than they did all day

Journalism is such a sham, anymore.

[DrDebug]

3. There's a link somewhere of a Cessna hitting a building

The glass was shattered and that was all the damage. I believe CNN reported it as well...

[htuttle]

6. It was a kid in Tampa in 2002

The plane stuck in the side of the building like a dart into a dartboard.

[spooked911]

28. Thanks for the picture!

[XemaSab]

38. Based on that photo

someone's senatorial office could have gotten trashed!

paperwork everywhere!

great loss to the nation!

[napi21]

4. I realize it's a lost casue, but did you send your info to CNN?

I'd do it just to be able to say NA NA NA NA NA NAAA!

They need to know there are people out here who check up on their statements and they really can't be this stupid!

[RobertSeattle]

5. Or 2000 pounds of twinkies

What maroons.

[aeolian]

25. No. Only explosives. 2000 pounds of explosives weighs less than

2000 lbs of other stuff. That's why the cessna can carry explosives, but not fuel, people, or twinkies.

:freak:

[spooked911]

26. LOL! You got it!

[wakeme2008]

8. lol

I took my pilot training in a 150.... This report by CNN is sooooo bad...

[Ready4Change]

10. I know what you mean.

I AVOIDED learning in a 152. Not because it was so small, but because the instructor operating that plane had HORRIBLE breath and I couldn't stand being squeezed into that small a space with him.

Closer than shoulder to shoulder, for those who don't know. If two full sized guys are in there they need to agree about who's should goes front, and who's goes back. It's tight.

[karlrschneider]

15. I learned in a C140, even smaller! And a taildragger.

:D
But my instructor was an old friend so it wasn't so bad.

A few years later I signed HIM off for a checkride in a Lockheed 18,
another (very large) taildragger. :evilgrin:

[Ready4Change]

21. My feet are still "dead."

Haven't learned to fly a taildragger. (Yet.) As I love aerobatics, learning to handle a tail wheel is definitely on my "too do" list.

[karlrschneider]

27. There're two kinds of taildragger pilots:

those who have done a groundloop,
and those who will. :D

So far, after 8900 hours, I'm still in the latter group. ;-)

Came close one day in my PT22 with a nasty x-wind though.

[Ready4Change]

36. Ooo. Love the Ryan STA. PT22's pretty cool too.

Need an envy smilie. :)

[bill]

55. according to AVWeb..

The plane was a C150 - a taildragger

[Ready4Change]

60. Nope. 152. Video from the landing at Frederick showed nose gear.

Also had a back window, which I think Cessna introduced at the same time they adopted the use of nose instead of tail gear.

[SmokingJacket]

9. That is sooooo funny!

Or it would be, if people didn't believe CNN's shit.

[PKG]

11. To be fair,

it's possible that when intercepted the pilots *didn't* get a good look in the plane.



Now, the minimum speed in stable flight of an F-16 is around the maximum speed of a Cessna, so it's unlikely that the pilots were able to sidle up next to it and get a good long look.

Next, this isn't CNN being stupid, it's some idiotic expert saying that it might be able to carry five times as much as it can.

[Straight Shooter]

13. G-BWNB ... interesting acronym ... george bush with no brains

:7

[Ready4Change]

19. Max-Min speed, true.

As a pilot, I've mentally fantasized, while flying close to a military flight zone, of being asked to act as a test interception target. Further, of being asked to be an uncooperative target. What would I do?

First thing, I'd slow up. Most small planes cna fly pretty well at about 60-70. Military jets stall about 120? (I'm unsure, as they usually only talk of stall AOA, not speed.)

Still, next time you are on the highway, look at an exit sign as you pass it at around 70. Each letter is about the size of a persons head. Any problem seeing that?

Interceptor pilots regularly report the number of people they can see on intercepted aircraft.

[Ready4Change]

12. More News! No doubt about it. MAGIC Cessna 152.

Same guy interviewed by Lou Dobbs. Named Richard Falkenrath.

What's the latest info on this amazing, mystical Cessna 152?

He claims it flys at 150mph.

Anyone who's flown will tell you that this is DAMN fast for a 152.

[karlrschneider]

14. I used to instruct in C150s & C152s, it is very easy to go over legal

gross weight with 2 occupants and NO cargo/luggage. I had a student who weighed 320 pounds...we could not "legally" take off with more than 4 gallons of gas (we of course did it anyway)...but here's something they can't seem to grasp: it could easily carry 5 or 10 lb. of anthrax or other chem/bio agent, to which all the emergency evacuated people would be at MUCH higher risk of! So many morons, so few .......

:grr: :eyes:

[Disturbed]

18. Every DUer should boycott the Corp, News except..

a couple of volunteers each week to report their inane crap. We should put out a Press Release of the Boycott.

[karlrschneider]

23. I've weaned myself from the "news" broadcasts about 90%...

I will watch KO now and again, Ron Reagan's 'connected' program and occasionally one of the network news broadcasts just to see how awful
the SCLM really is. :eyes:

[Richard D]

20. Well, maybe it had a really dangerous cargo . . .

. . . like a couple cases of pretzels.

[karlrschneider]

24. LOL! Now -that- is conceivable!

:D

[libertypirate]

16. It's not news

It's infotainment 2000 lbs sounds like it would do something. Yeah like keep that plane from taking off...

Just a little question doesn't it seem much more obvious these little mistakes or our there just more of us pointing them out?

[TrogL]

17. Where are you supposed to put it?

Even in a 172 there's enough room in the back seat for a small suitcase - maybe. A 152's even smaller.

[spanone]

22. Hey, lighten up, It's ShowBiz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we're fucked~:smoke:

[DearAbby]

29. Also Ask CNN ...why are they reporting POSSIBLE Scenarios and not NEWS

CNN Breaking News: Cessna 152 can carry 2,000lbs of explosives? Is this news or a debate? Did the plane have explosives on board if not why report what could have happened...Hey CNN report WHAT HAS HAPPENED for a change!

This is so obvious, TERRA TACTICS...to boost the Chimp's ratings, to say hey lookie here at Possible explosions, not at the Leaked British Memo....::whistle:: Look over here!!



Hey CNN....pffffffft You are worse than whores...you're a fucking joke! Noooooze award

[berni_mccoy]

30. This is so F***ING SAD

That CNN is making Fox look smart.

All Fox has to do is keep it's trap shut.

CNN - the once trusted news source.

[ariellyn]

31. The bigger question is WHY. Why are they even reporting this shit? n/t

[katinmn]

53. They're just following Rove's orchestrated PR plan

[tavalon]

32. Okay, I've been offline for a few days

and I don't watch TV. Did a plane go down?

[walldude]

37. Nope, a Cessna flew over restricted air space in D.C.

Fighters were scrambled and the White House was evacuated. There are a few links over in LBN

[Ready4Change]

40. In short:

Today, in Washington DC, a small plane busted the airspace surrounding the Capital. It was a plane that posed very little risk, and that it was successfully intercepted and diverted to a safe landing at a nearby airport. Despite that, the Capital building was evacuated in a very panicky fashion, and cable news stations are falling all over themselves to describe the whole thing in the most dire and frightful language possible.

And with nary a mention of the fact that, in reality, there was very little at risk, in national security terms.

[Initech]

33. Go to CNN's website.

There's a link to information about the Cessna 150. It looks more accurate than what they said on TV. I'd link to it, but it's a weird link.

[ContraBass Black]

34. "An average pilot is about 150lbs."

The average petite-medium female pilot, maybe.

[Ready4Change]

41. Yah, that's an FAA spec.

I have very few friends who meet that figure. The guys I know probably average around 200.

[WLKjr]

35. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE THIS?!?!?!?!?!

You fucking idiots over at CNN.......how bout you just tell Osama how to nuke everything, kill everyone easier, poision us......come on you morons!

[JHB]

48. Because if Osama tries it...

...all he gets is some bad news at the end of the runway.

(The plane can't actually lift that much).

[Bouncy Ball]

57. WLKjr

It doesn't matter, it's not true anyway. It's so far off from true, it can't even see the light put off from true.

[WLKjr]

64. but still, why would you put that kind of info out there

It's all meant to scare I guess. But things like that probably would have gotten people in jail back in the 30's and 40's.

[VOX]

39. Now *that's* FUZZY math. "But be **VERY* afraid. Terra! Terra! Terra!"

"And stay afraid, and keep your remote locked into CNN and not that other cable station that we're trying to imitate!" :grr:

[dave123williams]

42. If you tried to load 2000lbs in a Cessna 152, you'd crash on takeoff.

Period.

[hootinholler]

43. No, You'd crash into the chain link fence at the end of the runway.

I doubt you'd ever rotate.

-Hoot

[Skittles]

44. back in 1978 in San Dego a Cessna did this

killed 144 people:

[JHB]

49. See? Cessnas are a threat to Air Force 1...

...so obviously * was quite right to bunny-hop across the country on 9/11, and to do so next time.

[baldguy]

45. So, the plane could carry a bomb big enough to blow up

a plane.

[JHB]

50. Not "a" plane. "The" plane...

...the one that it's in.

[DS1]

46. Tell it to Aliyah

:eyes:

[lectrobyte]

47. CNN, too bad they spent all their fact-checking budget on hair gel

or something...

Remember this one:

[Moosepoop]

52. At least they got the term "speed of light" right

on that one. A number of months back, the crawler at the bottom of CNN's screen had some news bite about a plane of some sort, and actually referred to it going at the "light of speed". I nearly fell off the couch laughing.

[fryguy]

51. can also carry 1000, maybe 2000 lbs of potatoes

or flour, or bean and cheese burritos . . .

[oneighty]

54. The plane could

easy carry a small nuclear weapon for example the (W-54 nuclear device weighs fifty pounds = to 250 tons of TNT in explosive power).

Now that would be dangerous.

It would make far more sense to bring such a weapon into DC in a car or on a bicycle than on an easily detectable airplane.

Why are the real dangers never mentioned by the experts?

Because it is not dramatic enough? Too hard to believe?

180

[Bouncy Ball]

56. Ok between this and Jon Stewart showing how they now READ BLOGS

on cable news, count me as one who is VERY VERY happy she never spends a single moment of her life watching cable news.

Every time I think it can't get suckier, it does, apparently.

My God. 2000 pounds of explosives. That shouldn't have even SOUNDED right to them. What fucking idiots.

[Jose Diablo]

58. Hmmm, 2000 pounds?

How did they take-off, with rocket assist bottles?

Book I'm looking in shows 1109 pounds Standard Empty Weight and Maximum Usefull Load 566 pounds.

These guys are a trip.

[AlGore-08.com]

59. What a surprise! Wolf Blitzer was the idiot who was "interviewing"

Thank God CNN is giving Wolfie a THREE HOUR LONG SHOW.

[Ready4Change]

62. Sad thing is...

He was the only news host I heard ask the question of how much threat did this plane actually pose.

Of course, that's the question that triggered their so-called expert to say that a 150 can carry 1,000-2,000 pounds of explosives.

Ah well. :eyes:

[October]

63. They can't do simple math

Seriously...did they "forget" to subtract the weight of the aircraft?
Maroooons.


http://www.cessna150-152.com/faqs/performance.htm

Q:
2. How much weight can a Cessna 150-152 carry?

A:
The Short Answer: Between 400 and 500 pounds.

The Longer Answer: The FAA specifies a legal maximum weight limit for all airplanes, known as "gross weight". For most Cessna 150's the gross weight is 1,600 pounds. (1,670 for Cessna 152's) For 150's prior to 1964, the gross weight was 1,500 pounds. Though the maximum weight is the same for each model, each individual airplane has a different minimum weight, depending on everything from what kind of radios are installed, to how the airplane is painted and what kind of upholstery it has. This minimum weight is known as the "empty weight" and doesn't include the weight of fuel. Each airplane is weighed when it leaves the factory and it's empty weight is recorded. After that, each time something is added or removed from the airplane, regulations require that the empty weight be revised to show the new empty weight of the airplane.

The typical empty weight of a Cessna 150-152 is about 1,100 pounds. (depending somewhat on model, earlier airplanes are usually lighter, later models usually heavier, which pretty much negates any perceived advantage of higher gross weight in the later models.)

Figuring out how much an individual airplane can carry is a simple math problem: Take the gross weight, subtract the empty weight, and you have a good starting number, called "useful load". For example, if our gross weight is 1,600 lbs and our empty weight is 1,100 lbs, we have a neat 500 lbs of useful load. We'll need fuel of course, and let's assume for this example that we want to fill up the tanks. We will have to subtract the weight of the fuel in order to find out how much weight is available for people and baggage. The standard tanks on a Cessna 150 hold 26 gallons. Fuel weighs 6 lbs per gallon, times 26 gallons equals a total of 156 lbs. Subtract that from the useful load, and now we have 344 lbs available as "payload". The FAA considers that the average person weighs 170lbs, so that leaves room for exactly two average persons.

Of course in the modern world, many of us weigh more than 170lbs. For a solo pilot, this won't be a problem unless he or she weighs more than 344 lbs. If that's the case, he or she likely won't be able to fit in the airplane in the first place, so we can stop worrying about that. The baggage area on most 150-152's can hold up to 120 lbs, which turns out to be really a lot of stuff. The baggage area is quite large on these airplanes ( big enough to hold an extra seat with a child weighing up to 110 lbs! ) For regular baggage ( clothes, snacks, etc) there is both enough room and weight capacity for a solo pilot unless you happen to be traveling with your bowling ball collection.

The problem arises when we add a passenger. Let's assume that we have a typical couple, a female pilot weighing 130 lbs, and her male passenger weighing 190 lbs. Since their combined weight is 320 lbs, each would be able to bring along a suitcase weighing up to 11 lbs. If the people weigh more than that, or they need to carry more baggage, the only option is to carry less fuel. With full fuel the airplane can safely fly for about 3 hours*. Each gallon removed reduces the available flight time by about 10 minutes. If the anticipated flight is only 2 hours long instead of three, the pilot could elect to put 20 gallons of fuel in the tanks instead of 26. In that case there would be room for 36 additional pounds of people or baggage.