ten or so miles at least. in the case of twa 800, the same thing. the debris field was very, very wide. and then there is this scenario. the hijacking of an ethiopian airlines during 1996, in that case, the pilots ran out of fuel and were forced to make an intentional landing in the indian ocean, even in that scenario, there would be debris above the water. you hit it hard enough, it just destroys the airplane s integrity. you will have things open up, compartments, sections of the airplane that have items that will float. reporter: indeed, the sentiment is widely agreed upon by experts. here in southern california s aviation safety program, the director says crashes on the water will almost certainly leave floating debris. to listen gering question, the lingering question, how far