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?

@REP22
that said after reading your post i can understand its a very sensitive topic and my apologies from me,

@Hawkins0009 while it may include links to legitimate news sources, the website author(s)’ own narrative and framing of information and links is deeply problematic.

ill be honest ive not studied any of it in detail, all i knew is it lists links to official news outlets for all there stories based around different topics,
i just put the link as then its the same when people read the bbc, read x persons books, watch x tv program, that its upto the individuals to do critical analysis on the sources they study,

same with mumsnet, you wouldent just automatically believe everything you read on here etc

I tried clicking on three of the links. None of them linked to anything. All I got was a "page not found" error.

The planes crashes into the twin towers at over 500 mph. No way any one would have survived that on board or who was hit.

Sadly I don’t think any remains could have ever been recovered from the people on the flights, not only did they die instantly when they crashed into the building, but the fire and the collapse of the towers too.

Some peoples remains were identified and those victims were able to return home for a funeral. I think these were mainly the people who died from the collapsed buildings.

Quite a few British people were killed then , one guy is now buried in Kent- he worked at the WTC at the time.

Thanks Paul

GRAPHIC WARNING

@Paul2023 a lot of remains and personal effects were recovered from the four planes. In the case of the two planes that crashed into the WTC, the explosions were so big that the blast forced some of the contents of the planes (contents of the impact zone) out. At least one plane seat with a passenger still strapped in was in the plaza and first responders found the plaza, roof of the Marriott hotel and nearby highways covered in human remains. Obviously the buildings collapse would have subsequently affected some of this.

Luggage and personal effects like wallets, passports and watches were found and returned to families. There was also documents relating to the hijackers retrieved.

typically when there is a disaster involving multiple people, the authorities will make a decision on the size of human remains which need identifying and repatriating. To the next of my knowledge, after 7/7 it was decided that anything the size of a distal metacarpal (the last finger knuckle) upwards would be identified. Anything smaller would be buried in a communal grave, including unidentified clothing fragments for example.

I think (this is dim and distant CPD being recalled), they don’t have a minimum size for victims of 9/11. This may be why they are still identifying remains now.

Out of interest, the Dutch military have a unit dedicated to identifying soldiers from the Great War when they are uncovered by farmers in Europe

The youngest was two, but there were other children too. A four year old and a three year old. The twin tower planes.

Also, a plane with some school students on a national geographic education visit. That plane crashed into the Pentagon I think

One little girl was up late the night before and her mother said maybe she should get some sleep. She replied to her mother, it’s ok I’ll just sleep on the flight😢.

Ive watched some heartbreaking documentaries, especially when it involves children on those planes.

I think(this is dim and distant CPD being recalled), they don’t have a minimum size for victims of 9/11. This may be why they are still identifying remains now.

I believe there are remains in storage, as tech has improved, in particular DNA testing then they can be identified.

There was one British man, his parents buried some of his remains in the UK, his girlfriend buried some in the US.

When the Deutsche Bank Building was being dismantled (it had been damaged in the attack) they found human remains, quite a lot of it on the roof, this was in 2005/6 so more remains were able to be returned to families.

I had no idea that they were still identifying victims today. I suppose lots of the victim’s families will have died by the time they get the remains as time goes go.

So sad

@Paul2023 They have identified remains as recently as just a few weeks ago, but still of the almost 3,000 victims, they have only been able to positively identify remains of 1,649 people. As time goes on and science progresses they hope to identify more.

One of the things that choked me up when visiting the 9/11 Memorial 10 years ago was that the names of the pregnant women who died that day are listed around the reflection pools as “X and her unborn child”. I was in the midst of a horrendous infertility journey at that point and those names in particular just really hit me.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/911-remains-2-people-killed-world-trade-center-identified-dna/

Cavemum- yes that really sad isn’t , the pregnant women. I know of one story where a man’s pregnant was on either flight 93 or 77? He lost everything that day. Lauren was her name.

Im sure I also heard a story of a woman who worked in one of the twin towers, who also perished. Maybe there were more pregnant women we don’t know about??

Todd Beamer on flight 93 was expecting his third child with his wife .Many other fathers died that day with pregnant wives/ partners , obviously they never met their children.

I don’t know why but this year it’s really hit home how awful that event was. I think it’s because I’ve recently watched lots of documentaries and seen who some of the victims were.They were all loved by someone.

Amy King was a flight attendant on flight 175. She and her partner weren’t scheduled to work that day, but she changed her shift to make a family commitment. He changed his shift too to be with her. His name was Michael Tarrou, he had a young daughter from a previous relationship.

Its just so unbelievable that office workers went to work on a beautiful Septembers morning and never made it home. It’s so unbelievable even after 22 years.

It was Lauren Grandcolas, on Flight 93. She was 3 months pregnant. She left a farewell message for her husband and then passed her phone to the lady sitting next to her so that she could call her loved ones.

Awful, awful day.

The Little Things:
Two weeks after 9-11 I was flying to the UK waiting in the long security line and to pass the time time the guy in front of me asked if I wanted to see something freaky, and I said sure.
He showed me his first class ticket on the first plant to hit the towers and said he carries it as a reminder of the little things little silly kids games.
He had a big meeting to go to in California and got up early to get dressed and get to the airport on time. The kids came down and he had built some contingency time in his planning, so he made them breakfast before leaving. He handed off kid duty to his wife who came down and grabbed his stuff and started for the door when the kids started their "one more hug daddy" game eating up the rest of his extra time. He headed to the airport but when he got on the highway, traffic stopped because someone had a flat tire on the expressway. That ate up all his remaining time so he got to the airport as quickly as possible. Once there he couldn't quickly find a parking space. Now running very late he grabbed his things and ran for the gate. He arrived at the gate just as they were closing the door and yelling for them to wait he had to get on that plane. They apologized but said the jetway door to the aircraft was already closed and he would have to take another flight. Fuming about HIS BAD luck he went to the AA lounge called his wife to say the trip was ruined as he wouldn't make the meeting now and he hoped he wouldn't get fired. He started calling the folks at the office, leaving a message for his boss who was on the flight that he missed the plane etc.
While waiting for his next flight he got a call from his wife to watch the news.

Incredibly detailed conversation to have with a stranger. Did he get a round of applause?

Life is all about fate really isn’t it? We make choices every day, mostly we don’t even realise we do it.

For whatever reason the terrorists picked that day, if it hadn’t been that day it would have been another.

No, just he and I and a long line and an amazing true story.

Not really. It wouldn’t take that long to tell in a queue. He was just probably so hyped up that he survived getting on a plane that was going to be hijacked.

Apologies if this is graphic-

It wasn’t until recently I watched the National Geographic documentary recently that I found out how graphic this event was. It’s a six part series.

As mentioned, when the WTC was hit, the scenes were horrific .Body parts and blood splattered on the plaza floor, people were not expecting this because it would have happened straight after the first plane hit. No one then had any idea of what was happening so didn’t have time to react.
As the minutes went on a second plane hit , and the same thing happened at tower 2. Sheer devastation, again bits of body parts, papers, office equipment. All blew out the building on impact.

I didn’t realise that some some were still discovered from the planes. Bearing in mind the planes hit a building at high speed, blew up, then the bodies fell from a great height.

I did recently learn that a ring was retrieved in perfect condition from one of the victims. I can’t remember if they were in one of the planes or in the towers though. But it was given back to her family.

It’s quite incredible that this was committed by men in their 20s , armed with butter knives. They managed to take control from burly pilots, who were highly experienced and some were ex military.

I always wondered how the hijackers were able to navigate the planes to New York- I’d imagine flying a plane at high altitude would take some skill to then lower the plane and hit a small target at high speed. These terrorists had some training but were novices.

9/11 one of the strangest and omg set of events on that day in modern history,

I always wondered how the hijackers were able to navigate the planes to New York- I’d imagine flying a plane at high altitude would take some skill to then lower the plane and hit a small target at high speed. These terrorists had some training but were novices.

If you can program the autopilot you don't need to do much until you are approaching Ney York.

It's weird the things that do survive, I watched something on YouTube with Tony Robinson and they basically reproduced WWII bombing on a row of terraced houses.

The houses were fitted like WWII homes including a milk bottle on the doorstep, which survived at least the first bombing.

For a slightly lighter thing to watch is the musical, "Come from Away", someone upthread mentioned it and it is good, I don't even like musicals but I liked it, it is more of a 9/12 story. How 12 people and 12 chairs can tell the story of thousands of people is amazing.

It will be on tour in the UK next year.

https://comefromawaylondon.co.uk/tour-dates/

How do you think the passport of one of the hijackers was found pretty much intact on the streets below?
It is the main thing about that day that I can’t wrap my head around.
We are given our passports back in the airport, so it would have been on his person.
He was in the cockpit which therefore took the brunt of the impact and the initial explosion. How did his passport remain intact?! Not actually expecting anyone to answer, that part has just always baffled me.

Paul2023

It’s quite incredible that this was committed by men in their 20s , armed with butter knives

I think you are wrong about the butter knives. As I understand it they had boxcutter knives - more commonly known in UK as Stanley knives. Lethally sharp.

FastAndLast
I can imagine his body being blown to bits on impact and the passport (being so light) blown far out of the building too instantly to catch fire or be buried in the rubble.