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I thought One WTC was going over sideways when it first got hit. It is bizarre to me that on the Naudet video, it looks like the planes slides in like a knife in butter. In reality, people wete knocked to the floor, the building righted itself after shuddering back and forth, but not all the way. It was leaning, and I could tell by the way my feet hit the steps in the stairwell.
Further, the steel inside the walls was groaning one way and not coming back, not the rhythmic back and forth sound it made on a normal day with some wind. And there was banging and clanging, as if things were loose and broken.
What a coincidence; I just happened to watch some videos on youtube about the crucial moments on 9/11, including one of the towers collapsing. And I thought of Mighty Queen hustling herself out of the building.
There was also a video showing the pilot and co-pilot of a commercial jet flying from France to NYC. They notice some unusual activity on their radar; it appears that some planes way ahead of them are turning around and heading back in the opposite direction. The comment is, that the airways are all unidirectional. Nobody ever just turns around 180 degrees and heads back where they came from. This is after they heard on their radio some comments about an incident of a plane running into a skyscraper in NYC. They didn't know it was a big jet; they assumed it was some accidental occurrence involving a small private plane. Then the noticed planes were changing direction, and had to decide what to do.
Lots of small but dramatic moments like that occurred. One video was a collage of footage: the planes striking the buildings, flames erupting, reporters in the street being non-plussed by what they'd just seen, not knowing what to make of it, a brief clip of someone coming into the gradeschool classroom Pres. Bush was in that day, and whispering into his ear what had just occurred. It shows his reaction over several minutes as the news sinks in. Of course he can't say anything or express any alarm.
Many of those moments depicting people finding out something serious just happened, and struggling to get their minds around it, were extremely poignant. It's quite something to watch in hindsight.
Not so much a coincidence, that those vids were on my youtube feed today, I guess... Thanks for starting this thread, OP.
Andy Card later stated he told the President in a manner designed so he could absorb the news, but not react, nor ask questions. Hence, he immediately stepped away from his boss.
Who, when and exactly where do they say what? I can't listen to the whole thing. Makes me nauseous.
Lucky guess. I doubt even bin Laden thought the towers would collapse.
WTC had no interior columns. That was to maximize leasable space at one acre per floor. That meant the corners of each floor had to bear the weight of each full floor.
The Empire State Building has huge columns throughout each floor.
I was preoccupied and so busy at my desk that morning that I didn't know anything was happening. I did not check the news and there were no radios on. This was a small town, and nothing much ever happened and if it did you would probably see it. I didn't know anything until after the first tower collapsed. I was starting to make plans for a trip and went to an online site for plane tickets and they were flashing bulletins that all planes were grounded by the government without any real explanation. I figured it was a mistake or a bad joke by hackers, so I tried other sites, and they all had the same thing There was no real reason given -- I suppose that they figured everyone would know what was going on. I finally got up and roamed around to the break room and there was a TV with the news channels on and people watching. I became a news addict after that for about ten years.
It is interesting that that was an election day in NYC and many people who stopped to vote on their way to work were delayed long enough to still be on the street at 8:14 when the first plane crashed into the buildings. They were saved by voting.
also saved by first day of school.
If it had happened a week later, the loss might have been far worse.
I have seen several documentaries that detailed the mistakes terrorists make from 1993 WTC bombing on. One 93 bomber was caught trying to get deposit back on rented van.
Atta almost missed his Portland flight, and it added an extra layer of security checks for him and his muscle man.
If it had happened a week later, the loss might have been far worse.
I have seen several documentaries that detailed the mistakes terrorists make from 1993 WTC bombing on. One 93 bomber was caught trying to get deposit back on rented van.
Atta almost missed his Portland flight, and it added an extra layer of security checks for him and his muscle man.
That's right! I forgot about that.
Don't know if anyone remembers this, but another would-be terrorist was going to set off bombs in the NYC subway. He ordered the fertilizer to make the bombs online, but because it is known to be used for that purpose, any orders over a certain quantity are flagged. The guy had nine backpacks and nine cellphones in his apartment, ready for assembling and detonating.
WTC had no interior columns. That was to maximize leasable space at one acre per floor. That meant the corners of each floor had to bear the weight of each full floor.
The Empire State Building has huge columns throughout each floor.
Still, it was a lucky guess. I doubt this UK terrorism expert had blueprints.
Still, it was a lucky guess. I doubt this UK terrorism expert had blueprints.
How do you know exactly? He may have studied the 1993 WTC attack, which was famous enough in its own right, and thus have known details about the structure. It's also quite possible that being a terrorism expert he knew of the 1994 plot of Algerian extremists of crashing a hijacked plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris, so had some knowledge of the seriousness of that type of attack.
It appears to me that most people did not fully grasp the importance of the huge amounts of jet fuel that caused massive fires in the building, which ultimately led to the collapse, but someone who had studied terrorism might have a better idea of that possibility.
With regard to the misinformation..I'm primarily thinking of how for a while the 'fake news' spread that AA77 was the 2nd plane that hit the South Tower. This story basically started because someone from Indianapolis Center contacted someone else in the ATC hierarchy- presumably with the FAA - about having lost contact with and sight of AA77. The other guy then says that a 2nd plane just hit the tower and more or less said that this likely would have been AA77. The Indianapolis Center guy just kinda goes "OK" and it goes from there. But the problem was that a simple glance at the facts of the situation showed that it couldn't have been AA77 simply because AA77 couldn't have reached NYC from its last known location in southern Ohio in the time between that last contact and the 2nd tower hitting the plane. And it's not even particularly close - the idea defies basic logic. At a later point some guy even says "I don't know how they could have gotten up there, but..." People in the excitement of the situation just ran with stuff without taking a minute to properly think it through. But these are professionals trained to deal with emergencies and to operate under extreme pressure, so one would expect a bit better.
At that time of the 2nd tower being hit AA77 was actually still in WV flying toward D.C. and the Pentagon. Between the South Tower being hit and the Pentagon hit over 25 minutes passed. Plenty of time to scramble fighters from Andrews. And of course at that point people already knew it was terrorism, too. In that timeframe AA77 somehow 'slipped through the cracks' and got to attack the HQ of the U.S. military in spite of a known terrorist threat via airplanes. We'll never know if it could have been stopped with better communication happening between the players involved.
Still, it was a lucky guess. I doubt this UK terrorism expert had blueprints.
A&E showed documentaries on the design well before 9-11. The acre a floor was used as a tool to attract high end corps. You only had to be in the building once to notice the huge structural gap between the Fortress like Empire State Building and the sleek WTC.
I rewatched "9/11: I Was There" last night and was also rubbed the wrong way by some of the self-shot footage by the younger people. Many of them were smiling, joking, and even laughing, apparently excited by this amazing event and by getting it - and themselves - on camera. I have the same reaction every time I watch this, I guess shocked anew that the narcissistic selfie culture started 22 or more years ago. Where was the empathy for the terrified employees and courageous firemen trapped, suffering, and dying in those towers? And these were young adults in their 20s and 30s; not children. Kind of disturbing, frankly.
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