If a plane was to fall from the sky how big a hole would it make on the surface of the earth?

Question

You know what i mean.

Answer 1

That depends on how big the plane is! And it wouldn't be exactly a hole!

Answer 2

It would cause destruction over a wide area as it would probably break into pieces whilst falling from the sky.  Rarely do they come down in one piece.

Answer 3

I dont know, but i reckon the lead singer of the Editors does.

Answer 4

How big is the plane? What shape is the airplane? What's the plane made of? How fast is the plane traveling? How high is it when it falls? What kind of ground did the plane fall on? What angle did the plane fall at, and what direction was it facing when it hit the ground? There are even more variables here than I listed, and you have to know all of them to get an answer.

However, in general, the answer is none at all. Airplanes tend to break up when they crash, so there would mostly be small chunks of debris scattered everywhere, and maybe a slight crater.

Answer 5

Twilight Princess, your last para to your question is not strictly true, Most air crashess result in the aircraft breaking up impact unless an explosive decompression or an IED is detonated on-board. So an aircraft subject to the later would still have a serious impact on hitting the ground.

If you recall the Lockerbie aircrash, in this instance the aircraft broke up at cruising altitude due to an IED and a a large protion of the fusalage and wing section hit the ground causing a crater some 4m in depth and 50m in length.

The crater size would also depend on the specific garvity (Density) of what the aircraft crashed in to on impact, also the angle at which the aircraft hit the ground would determine the size of crater.

Bon Voyage.