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Second WTC Plane Travelling Faster
AP ^ | Saturday February 23 9:13 AM ET

Posted on 02/23/2002 10:06:14 AM PST by sixmil

Second WTC Plane Travelling Faster

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.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
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To: El Gato
Since the energy involved in the collision is proportional to the square of the speed, and also to the mass/weight of the aircraft, one would think these strikes exceeded the design standard by a factor of 5 to 10, maybe more. The wonder is not that the buildings fell, but rather that they stood long enough for tens of thousands of people to get out before they fell.

It is amazing. Even more considering the fuel. 757's carry 30 tons of fuel. As much energy as in 300 tons of TNT.

21 posted on 02/23/2002 11:34:42 AM PST by LarryLied
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: Tymesup
"There was a thread within the last month (probably week) about a couple of individuals who had been doing some plumbing/sprinkler work in the WTC the week before 9/11."

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.>

23 posted on 02/23/2002 1:23:49 PM PST by holyscroller
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To: sixmil
The second plane was flying so fast that it was in danger of breaking up in the air as it approached the south tower.

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.)

24 posted on 02/23/2002 1:40:57 PM PST by Timesink
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To: sixmil
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

I would like to see the exact quote she gave and info from Boeing Engineering before I believed this one.

25 posted on 02/23/2002 1:47:29 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: Timesink
Seriously, these guys are a bunch of animals, nothing more. Time to get out the nukes and end it so we can get back to doing something more productive than 'bringing them to justice.'
26 posted on 02/23/2002 1:52:01 PM PST by sixmil
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
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.

27 posted on 02/23/2002 1:56:33 PM PST by sixmil
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To: sixmil
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)

28 posted on 02/23/2002 2:02:19 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: Straight Vermonter
When the second plane hit and the sprinkler system came on there was too little water in either tower to make any difference.

The fire ball occured outside the 2nd tower, remember? This whole afair remeinds me of the Murrah building fiasco.

30 posted on 02/23/2002 3:55:35 PM PST by rightofrush
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To: holyscroller
Connecting story to story: One of the seven (as I recall) "Middle Eastern" men from New York who went to Memphis to get phony drivers' licenses had a "plumbing permit" to work on the WTC, issued before 9/11. WTC did its own plumbing work on building systems, so that would have been issued (or forged) regarding one of the tenant companies.

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

Billybob & Phil in the mornings.

Billybob on the Net, new columns on Mondays.

31 posted on 02/23/2002 4:16:37 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
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To: El Gato
I worked there for 8 years. The structure was quite strong, but the inner walls were junk.
32 posted on 02/23/2002 4:28:32 PM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: Glasser
And would you care to explain why TWA800 went down?

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.

33 posted on 02/23/2002 4:33:11 PM PST by Timesink
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: sheik yerbouty
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

35 posted on 02/25/2002 3:48:23 AM PST by E Rocc
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To: Glasser
I don't know who did TWA 800, either. It's a striking coincidence that the US Navy was in the immediate vicinity and denied this, initially.

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.

36 posted on 02/25/2002 7:16:47 AM PST by Tymesup
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To: El Gato
I saw the TLC show on how the buildings collapsed. I don't think any engineer needs to feel guilty about the results of a military operation.

In retrospect, stairwells at the corners of the buildings would have saved most of the victims.

37 posted on 02/25/2002 7:21:09 AM PST by js1138
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To: E Rocc
I believe the intent of the architect was for it to go straight down in the event of a mishap.
38 posted on 02/25/2002 8:38:35 AM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: n.y.muggs
I'm sure the speed limit is even lower in the city..

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.

39 posted on 02/25/2002 8:49:50 AM PST by StriperSniper
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