[lx3459683]

> I can imagine a thousand horrifically different ways this could have turned out

Like what? It's a small prop plane with a tiny amount of fuel and mass. Stealing a truck is considerably easier and can be used to do considerably more damage.

This 'hurr so scary we need to act' line of reasoning is why people have traded all their freedoms away in exchange for illusionary protection. The attack surface from a malicious actor is near infinite. Worry about the fact that your country's healthcare system kills hundreds of thousands of people every year by denying treatment, not about what a guy in a light aircraft could have done.

[yborg]

The Bombardier Q400 can seat 80 people and weighs 40,000 lbs empty.

[lx3459683]

Which is about half of the weight of a loaded 18 wheeler.

[tzs]

If the 18 wheeler has a path to a target that lets it hit the target at top speed, it would only be delivering about 20% of the kinetic energy the plane would assuming an empty plane operating at maximum safe low altitude speed.

That's with a high performance truck. A more average truck, or a truck with its speed limited by a governor (common in many commercial fleets) would have about 10% of the kinetic energy of the plane.

And remember, this is assuming the truck can get to its target at top speed. In reality a lot of targets are not reachable by a path that would allow a truck at speed. If the truck can only get to 50 mph (80 kph), it would only deliver about 6% of the plane's kinetic energy.

The plane has a much much larger set of targets that it can deliver full kinetic energy to.

The above is assuming the pilot decides to fly into the target on a fairly level flight path and obeying the manufacturer's safety limits. If the pilot is willing to fly unsafely before the crash, he could probably got 2x to 4x the kinetic energy.

In short, a stolen fully loaded truck is a much smaller threat than a stolen empty Q400, unless what the truck is loaded with is also a threat.

[yborg]

Which has a maximum speed about one quarter the Bombardier Q400 and one sixth the fuel capacity. It's not a "small prop plane" is the point here.

[anoncoward111]

Said 18 wheeler isn't traveling 130mph :)

[state_less]

kinetic energy of 20,000 kg at 600 mph = 1/2 (20,000 kg) * 268 m/s ^ 2 = 718,240,000 joules

11,000 gallons of gas in a tanker truck = 33 kwh * 11,000 gallons = 1,306,800,000,000 joules

FWIW, I'd be up for reviewing the systems, but let's not over react.

P.S. Feel free to correct my math if I was off the mark.

[afterburner]

Uh, yeah, but a "small prop plane" is 1/50th of a loaded 18 wheeler then. Big difference between the plane here and a "small prop plane".

[geggam]

Gravity has less of an impact on something already on the ground

[nsomaru]

Technically gravity has more of an impact on something already on the ground, r being smaller

[ReverseCold]

I think he just means the object in the air has higher potential energy due to gravity.

[refurb]

It’s kind of hard to drive an 18 wheeler into the middle of a building at 600 mph.

KE = m * v

[momentoustime]

P = mv KE = 1/2 m v^2

[madengr]

A bus isn’t much smaller.

[beamatronic]

I keep thinking about how many poor folks died from salad this year.