Posted on 02/23/2002 10:06:14 AM PST by sixmil
NEW YORK (AP) - Researchers believe the second hijacked plane to hit the World Trade Center tower was traveling about 100 mph faster than the first, according to a published report.
Investigators are focusing on the speed of the two planes as they seek to explain what caused the south tower to collapse first, even though it was hit later, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Researchers have closely studied videos, sound recordings and radar to estimate how fast the two jetliners were moving. Studies show that both planes were traveling well over the federal limits for altitudes below 10,000 feet, The Times said.
The second plane was flying so fast that it was in danger of breaking up in the air as it approached the south tower, Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier told the Times.
``These guys exceeded even the emergency dive speed,'' Verdier said. ``It's off the chart.''
Two studies have analyzed the speed of the planes, one by the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) in consultation with the National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) and the other by Eduardo Kausel, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites).
Both found that United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower at 9:02 a.m., was traveling significantly faster than American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the north tower at approximately 8:46 a.m.
The government's calculations put the speed of the first plane at 494 mph, and the second at 586 mph. The MIT analysis determined the first plane was traveling 429 mph, and the second 537 mph, The Times said.
The south tower collapsed 56 minutes after the crash. The north tower stood for 102 minutes.
Structural engineers have not determined to what extent the speed of the planes affected how long the buildings stood. They are studying many factors, including the point at which each tower was hit.
The south tower was hit between the 78th and 84th floors, while the north tower was struck between the 94th and 99th floors, meaning more weight bore down on the damaged floors in the south tower, The Times said.
It is amazing. Even more considering the fuel. 757's carry 30 tons of fuel. As much energy as in 300 tons of TNT.
Are you saying there might have been some sabotage on the sprinkler plumbing too. Hadn't thought of that, but Our new peaceful friends might well have hired on as plumbers and done a number there too.>
Boy, would I have loved to have seen that. Their own psychotic jihad mindset almost got them killed before they achieved their objective. Freaks.
Of course, if it HAD broken up in the air just before hitting the south tower, FR would have been overrun by "the US government did it"/"TWA 800! TWA 800!" conspiracy theories, so maybe it's better that it happened the way it did. (Factoring out the human deaths, of course.)
I would like to see the exact quote she gave and info from Boeing Engineering before I believed this one.
I know that some planes are designed to not break mach even if you point the nose straight down, but I do not know about airliners. I just remember hearing that the plane that Egyptian wacko committed suicide with broke off its wings as it plummeted nose first on full throttle.
I think he cut the engines (shut them down)
The fire ball occured outside the 2nd tower, remember? This whole afair remeinds me of the Murrah building fiasco.
Those receivers of forged Tennessee licenses were charged in an FBI sting operation (they had advance warning from a NY informant) along with a corrupt license examiner in Tennessee. She was freed on bond. The day before the first court hearing, she was burned to death in her car while driving down a highway.
She was alive when the fire started. It did not involve the gas tack of her car. And though there was a collision with a tree off the road, that happened after the fire started, according to witnesses. Looks like murder by arson to silence a witness.
Congressman Billybob
Since so many others have, to the best of their ability (hint: none of the "US government did it!" theories hold up under available evidence) I see no reason to waste any extra time on it myself. But thank you for proving my point.
I worked there for 8 years. The structure was quite strong, but the inner walls were junk.That's how it was designed. The outer walls (and if I remember right the innermost core) bore all the weight. This allowed larger open spaces (or conversely thinner walls) inside the building.
It wouldn't have mattered collapsewise if it had had a more traditional structure, since we're dealing with such high temperatures. Though I wouldn't rule out the idea of it collapsing sideways (and doing more damage to the neighborhood) if it had had such.
-Eric
Changing the subject, I wonder if any of the passengers in the first or second planes noticed the extra speed. This would have been a hint that things were not what they seemed.
In retrospect, stairwells at the corners of the buildings would have saved most of the victims.
Now you don't want them going too slow and falling out of the sky!;-)
Seriously, here around NYC I think they want them in and out as fast as possible. Tommorow afternoon when the winds pick-up and shift from the south to the west, I will be right it the flightline for Newark landings. They have no time to putter along going in and out about every 90 seconds.
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