Fires and Planes Attack Skyscrapers

IMPACT OF FIRES AND PLANES ON TALL BUILDINGS

Keeping in mind the following facts about the Twin Towers, what impact do fires and planes really have on tall buildings?

WTC1 North Tower Hit (1st) at 8:46am >> Floors 93rd - 99th << / Collapsed (2nd) at 10:28am / 102 minutes later.

WTC2 South Tower Hit (2nd) at 9:02am >> Floors 78th - 84th << / Collapsed (1st) at 09:59am / 57 minutes later.

NB Differences: Floor levels hit in each Tower. Aircraft fuel fireball Outside South Tower and Inside North Tower. People only jumped from the North Tower. The South Tower was the last to be Hit but the First to Fall.

ALSO READ POST 9/11 WTC Demolition, Insurance & Redevelopment

SKYSCRAPER FIRES

No severe fire has ever caused a steel framed tall building to collapse. The following examples are being used by people to challenge the government's official account of the collapse of the Twin Towers.

THE WINDSOR BUILDING FIRE - Madrid, Spain

The most recent example of a severe high-rise fire is the Windsor Building in Madrid, Spain on February 12, 2005. The fire started on the 21st Floor of the 32 story building, spreading to all floors above the 2nd Floor. The Fire lasted for 18 to 20 hours. Unlike all of the other identified buildings the Windsor Building was framed in steel-reinforced concrete rather than steel.




CARACAS TOWER FIRE - Caracas, Venezuela
The tallest skyscraper in Caracas experienced a severe fire on October 17, 2004. The blaze began before midnight on the 34th floor and spread to more than 26 floors. The fire burned for more than 17 hours. Lax enforcement of fire codes in Venezuela was blamed for the malfunctioning of water pumps and a lack of fire extinguishers inside of the building. The building was empty when the fire broke out and no civilians were killed or injured.

ONE MERIDIAN PLAZA FIRE - Philadelphia, PA, US
This 38-floor skyscraper experienced a severe fire on February 23, 1991. The fire started on the 22nd floor and raged for 18 hours, gutting eight floors. The fire caused window breakage, cracking of granite, and failures of spandrel panel connections.

FIRST INTERSTATE BANK FIRE - Los Angeles, CA, US

The 62-story skyscraper suffered the worst high-rise fire in the city's history. From the late evening of May 4, 1988 through to the early morning of the next day, 64 fire companies battled the blaze, which lasted for 3 1/2 hours. Firefighting efforts resulted in massive water damage to floors below the fire, and the fire gutted offices from the 12th to the 16th floor, and caused extensive smoke damage to floors above. There was no damage to the main structure and only minor damage to one secondary beam and a small number of floor pans.

1 NEW YORK PLAZA FIRE - New York
A 50-story office tower, within a mile of the World Trade Center site. Experienced a severe fire and explosion on August 5, 1970. The fire started around 6pm and burned for more than 6 hours.

The following websites provide more detailed information about the damage caused by fires to tall buildings.

Skyscraper Fires http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/analysis/compare/fires.html#ref7
One Stop Shop in Structural Fire Engineering by the University of Manchester http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/project/research/structures/strucfire/CaseStudy/HistoricFires/BuildingFires/

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED........

Fri 19 October 2007 - Richmond, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

A twin-engine Piper Seneca plane crashed into the ninth floor of a 15 story suburban apartment building, Rosario Gardens, just East of Vancouver International Airport, killing the pilot and injuring at least two people in the building. Airport officials said the Piper Seneca had been en route to suburban Pitt Meadows several miles to the east. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303738,00.html

New York City Plane Crash
A Cirrus SR20 fixed-wing, single-engine light aircraft piloted by Cory Lidle and Tyler Stanger hit the 30th-floor apartment numbered 40ABG, owned by Dr. Parviz Benhuri and his wife Ilana, of a 50-story condominium Belaire building, with 183 apartments at 524 East 72nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at about 2:42 p.m. The crash caused a fire in several apartments but was extinguished within two hours. Twenty-one people were injured including 11 firefighters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_New_York_City_plane_crash

Tue 6 December 2005 - Tehran, Iran
At 14:10 local time an Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashed into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran. The plane bound for Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, was carrying 10 crew and 84 passengers, of whom sixty-eight were reportedly journalists en route to watch a series of military exercises off the country's southern coast. The pilot reported engine trouble shortly after takeoff. The plane came down in a populated area of Towhid, crashing into an apartment building where many Iranian Air Force personnel resided. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20051206-0

Thu 18 April 2002 - Pirelli Tower, Milan, Italy
A single propeller Rockwell Commander A112 piloted by a 68-year-old Swiss man hit the 26th floor of the 32 story Pirelli Tower (415ft/127m high) tower in an apparent accident at 5:48 pm, 18 minutes after take off. The crash killed the pilot and at least three other people. Sixty more people sustained injuries in the building and on the ground. The tower, located near Milan's central train station, is one of the world's tallest concrete buildings. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/18/italy.milan/

Sat 5 January 2002 - Bank of America Tower, Tampa, Florida
A Cessna 172 crashed into the 23rd and 24th floors of the 42-story Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida. At 5 p.m. EST, the 15-year-old pilot, Bishop reportedly stole the small aircraft. The impact killed the teenager and damaged an office room. There were no other injuries. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/05/tampa.crash/

Sun 4 October 1992 - Apartments, Amsterdam, Netherlands
El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-258F, registration 4X-AXG cargo plane crashed into flats in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. A total of 47 people were killed, consisting of the plane's crew of three and a non-revenue passenger in a jumpseat, plus 43 persons on the ground. Many more were injured. The plane was traveling from New York to Tel Aviv and made a stopover at Schiphol. During the flight from New York to Schiphol, three flight issues were noted: fluctuations in the autopilot speed regulation, problems with the shortwave radio, and fluctuations in the voltage of engine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al_Flight_1862



Sat 28 July 1945 - Empire State Building, New York, USA
At 9:40 am, a twin engine B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith, Jr., who was flying in thick fog, accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building (102 floors) between the 79th and 80th floors, where the offices of the Catholic War Relief Office were located. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and another plummeted down an elevator shaft. The fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people were killed in the incident. http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0112/News/News8-0112.html