9/11 - what happened to the planes?

[myyve]

Thinking on from that awful day after the anniversary yesterday, one thought has come to mind.

What happened to the planes and those onboard, once they were flown into the twin towers? I know this probably does sound silly and I'm so sorry if it comes across as ignorant, but I truly do not know, and the internet doesn't mention anything, either..

Did they come to a crash landing afterwards? Or did they continue flying? What actually happened to the plane and those poor souls on board?

Of course it doesn't mean you're in the wrong field.

Fuck the vipers, keep learning, keep asking questions, and carve out a great career for yourself.

I see others have already mentioned it, but came here to post that everyone should watch "102 minutes that changed America"

No, it just confirms that people like that poster are deeply nasty individuals. You mustn't let people like that push you off track you really mustn't.

'Troll hunting'?

Academia? For all we know OP is doing an entry level course. There are no stupid questions.

@Frequency read the OP. She literally says it there in the OP that she thinks her question is an ignorant one. She already knew it was a stupid question.

Some of the most important discoveries in science, such as the debunking of the phlogiston theory and the proof that there is no such thing as aether, came about because someone questioned the "common sense" aka received wisdom of the day.

At day six, not knowing that aircraft aren't built with the crumple zones that cars have is a legitimate thing not to know.

@PenLidsOnTheFloor “did the planes fly off after they hit the twin towers” is most definitely a stupid question, and it’s disingenuous of you to pretend otherwise. It’s not doing the OP any favours to pretend it’s a. Not daft and b. Not something she could have found out in one google.

OP, I had a degree'd engineer ask me if my designed part would withstand Jet fuel passing through it at 600 degrees C for more than an hour. I didn't think him daft, I explained that as the flash point was 300 C that we would all have a much greater problem then length of time the part would survive with fuel at that temperature! The whole system would have exploded.

The Daily Fail will be all over this post soon.

You're coming across as worse than the village idiot to be fair.

She's 6 days in and on her first assignment. This says nothing about how she will progress in academia. People learn from their mistakes while in college. I'd imagine most people would look back at their first assignments and laugh once they learn the ropes of what is expected.

I think because you could have just googled it?

@myyve Stop apologising for a start. I think just completely ignore the more unkind replies and just engage with those who are acting in good faith? Amongst snark there's actually some interesting posts.

Honestly OP if you misjudged anything it was the level of nastiness from bored people with nothing better to do. Don't give up your course. I am an engineer and many of the comments you've had are quite misguided about how a technical subject is taught.

ElizabethBest · Today 16:35

@PenLidsOnTheFloor “did the planes fly off after they hit the twin towers” is most definitely a stupid question, and it’s disingenuous of you to pretend otherwise. It’s not doing the OP any favours to pretend it’s a. Not daft and b. Not something she could have found out in one google.

See I took it differently as in did the planes fly off after they hit the tower and fall into the street like - I threw my book on the table and it flew off the end.

@myyve

I can totally see why you've asked. It was unimaginable before, but those of us who were old enough to remember, through all the post 9/11 analysis, might have forgotten just how terrifying, and utterly confusing it was.

I remember it well. I was in my first year as a junior doctor, working some really tiring shifts, as it evolved on the news on a tv in the doctors mess.

It was surreal, tiredness made it moreso and I remember wondering if I was watching a trailer for a disaster film. One plane had hit one of the towers, but it still stood, and as the news was reported a second plane came...there was enough time for everything to be reported live on tv. We didnt get the news of the whole event after it unfolded...we watched the event as it unfolded and no one knew how bad it was going to get.

For such a long time it seemed that the towers had withstood the impact and somehow absorbed the planes, creating fireballs within the buildings.

Watching the news, we barely spoke, but you could see everyone in the room was confused...how it could happen, was it even real and I suppose most of us imagined that those above the impact were lost, but perhaps those far enough below might get out. Then of course, the unthinkable just kept getting worse.

There was a lot of analysis about the construction of the Twin Towers. The steel exoskeleton. That, even after impact, experts postulated wouldn't collapse. There are programs, books and articles on this that will also answer your question. In short it seems that the novel steel exoskeleton was initially so strong that the relatively light weight material of the planes was destroyed on impact. The planes were not sufficient to cause the collapse of the towers. However, they did collapse of course; the result of the explosion of fuel and the consequent heat and fire.

It was absolutely horrific. Hence some of the responses you've had here.

It sounds a little like you just haven't known where to get started with this, but with best intent -there is a wealth of information available about the buildings and why events evolved out as they did. There's a very detailed account in one of the fire fighter's biographies (Last Man Down) and some info here, as a starting point:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-structural-engineers-learned-from-9-11/

there have been some really unpleasant people on here, but your posts are really the worst.

Stop trying to put the OP down. She didn’t understand, she asked a question. She has had some good responses as a result.

You’re putting down a young person who is trying to learn. I’m sure that’s made you feel big for the day. I sincerely hope you don’t work in ‘academia’.

I don’t think you’re being sincere. I don’t think you’re listening to or responding to posters. And I don’t think your intention was honest. But you DID get a lot of people all worked up.

MNHQ have nuked it and I and another poster have chided the rude person because it was unnecessary and rude. It reflects on them, not you. That MNHQ have to comment on this thread twice indicates how unpleasant posters are being.

You need to learn how to do research. You are aware that you're at level zero of doing academia so you have the possibility to learn. The rude posters couldn't learn to be polite if they lived to be 100 because they don't have the self-awareness of their own rudeness. One can't learn unless one realises that one needs to learn, and that requires self-awareness.

You're 6 days in, you can't possibly know that. Please please please don't let this thread put you off your studies.

If you can withstand MN, you can withstand anything!

Science and engineering progress has been made over the centuries by people asking "stupid" or "insane" questions.
I was 21 when 9/11 happened, I turned on the TV after the 2nd plane had hit (I was working until the mid afternoon) and I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing, like most people probably. I almost felt like a movie. Even today I still can't really comprehend that it happened and we all sat there and watched it.

OP - please don't take the nasty responses you're getting to heart. And certainly don't let some spiteful bullies on the internet deter you from your career choice.
You're trying to learn and you're doing it by asking questions in (I assume) various places.
We all know the internet is an amazing source of information and knowledge, but there's also a huge amount of absolute shite out there, not least around 9/11 and the conspiracy theories.
I mentioned it earlier in the thread and others have since, but watch 102 Minutes That Changed America - it's a hard watch but it gives you a time line of that awful day through footage from media outlets and members of the public.

I'm not sure whether anyone has told you about it, but Google Scholar is better than regular old Google when researching things for educational purposes so maybe have a look there for engineering specifics around the buildings, the planes and what experts have pieced together through their investigations.

Good Luck

Not everyone thinks she’s an idiot though. That’s just your opinion. She may have phrased her question badly but that’s not a heinous crime.

😂 Thanks, I needed a laugh.

This demonstrates beautifully how easy it is to overlook "the obvious".

Exactly - initially I thought Op was talking about planes flying on rather than the few pieces that were thrown clear of the buildings.

It's something the Structural engineer author spoke of:

We asked ourselves, “How could this possibly happen? How could they collapse?” These are natural questions that express the scope of the loss we felt on that day.

Structural engineers asked these questions, too, but they also asked the contrasting question: How did the World Trade Center towers manage to stand up to the attack at all, even for a short while? The damage was extensive. Commercial aircraft flying at nearly top speed crashed into the buildings, cutting wide swaths through the exterior walls and inflicting extensive interior damage. Shouldn’t that have been enough to cause immediate collapse?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-structural-engineers-learned-from-9-11/

YouTube. You literally see them explode as they enter the building. The second plane hitting was filmed from many angles. How have you not found this online? Surely watching the live recording is the first place you start.