Tail Structure News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Way. and those black boxes that we know so well, what will tell us about what happened early this morning? will that tell us better data than what we're getting right now? >> we may not have the complete picture here, in fact we know it's not. when we get the cockpit voice recorder, we will find all the date too, the air speed, heading, what was the flap speed, what was the configuration of the flaps, engine performance, what was the problem with the engine, did it degrade at all, what about the tail? do we know anything about the performance of the tail structure? and the cockpit voice record...

This? >> reporter: gregg, this is fascinating thing to sigh. we just had a fly-by at dulles airport with the 747 mated to it. it is most unusual sight. the first thing you ask yourself when you see this how can this thing fly? it is a bit of a chore because it changes the center of gravity quite drastically on the 747 not to mention the weight factor and aerodynamic factor involved in that. if you look at the 747 pretty closely it has undergone a number of aerodynamic modifications. tail structure is very different than what you see on an ordinary 747. the shuttle itself weighs even when empty...

Out here and those planes have been bobbing and weaving. i suspect that this huge airplane the 747 with the shuttle atop it will probably not be as buffeted as some of the smaller planes but it could be an interesting landing. on that subject i was speaking to some nasa folks about the modification that has to be made to the 747 to accommodate the shuttle. the shuttle even when it's deprived of all fuel weighs about 200-tons -- excuse me a hundred tons. 200,000 pounds. and this one removed of all gear, it weighs a little bit less than that, about 175,000 pounds. it's a huge weight and it chang...