Thread: Architects & Engineers Discuss WTC No. 7

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

Oy. Ok (you seem to find the most trivial things to latch onto sometimes), I will try to be more careful with my words. The point stands, though: there was no precedent for them to believe that flying the planes into the towers would have completely collapsed the towers. So, no. They had no reason to believe that 'thousands' of people would die, even if they did smash the planes directly into the towers. There was absolutely no precedent for that sort of thing, and the point I was making still stands.

It's no great leap of faith that crashing planes into a skyscraper will kill a lot of people. Firstly it will certainly cause massive fires, which means that people on floors above the impact will have a very difficult time getting out. Jet fuel burns very hot and isn't easily quenched by water. A Boeing 767 is a massive plane, and it's pretty self evident that it will cause structural damage. This, together with the fires, makes it plausible that it could bring down a skyscraper.

edit: Also, keep in mind the plane that crashed into the pentagon, and the plane that the passengers brought down. These four high-jackings and subsequent use as weapons would constitute a large scale attack on the USA without the twin towers collapsing.