What ready happen to the Pentagon on 9/11?

Question

What hit the Pentagon on 9/11/

Answer 1

It's questionable. It seems it was hit with some sort of missile. The story is supposedly that an airplane hit it, but the resulting hole is too small and there is no evidence of plane. The government says the explosion was so hot it burned the evidence, but how come the bodies and other things around weren't burned? It's one of the many questionable topics of 9/11 (like how the twin towers free-fell to the earth??) that are explored in the video below.

Answer 2

It was an airplane. It struck a section of the Pentagon that had just been reinforced to prevent attacks similar to Oklahoma City or Khobar towers. The strengthening was not sufficient to repel an airliner traveling at over 500 MPH but it did significantly limit the damage.

The windows adjacent to the point of impact did not shatter because they are 2 inches thick. The walls surrounding the central point of impact were not penetrated by the wings (as were the walls of the Twin Towers) because the mass of the wings was not sufficient to breach the hardened materials that had just been installed.

The dead giveaway that it was NOT a missile was the amount of fire from the fuel on the aircraft. While a missile strike would have caused some fire, the actual volume and intensity of the fire was FAR in excess of what would have been triggered by any missile.

The reason that there were no large aircraft parts found is again due to the hardening of the building. The impact caused the entire aircraft to shatter almost completely upon impact. The mass of the central fuselage was great enough to puncture through the outer wall. The inner walls were breached because they were not reinforced to the same degree that the outer walls were; there was no perceived need to reinforce them to that specification. It was NOT designed to withstand the impact of a fully fueled airliner traveling at over 500 MPH.

Most aircraft crashes happen at MUCH lower speeds and are spread over a wide area. Even the ground is a semi-moveable object when impacted by an airliner. The Pentagon (where it was inpacted in the reinforced section) was largely immoveable and largely accounts for the unusually complete destruction of the airliner upon impact. Had the impact occurred in one of the un-reinforced sections (the project was not complete on 9/11) the pattern of destruction would have been much different from what we observed.

Had it been a missile as some have theorized, it would have left clear evidence of such in its wake. Note the new stories where missile components are shown as proof that the US attacked civilian targets. Also, if it were a missile, the penetration would have been no where as deep into the Pentagon as the airliner. This is simple physics -- a missile has nowhere near the mass of a large airliner. Conventional (i.e. non-nuclear) missiles don't carry anywhere near the explosive charge to do that much damage to a hardened target. Again, simple physics debunks the conspiracy theories.

The reason that there are no good videos of the attack is the speed of the airliner. The shadows seen are consistent with an airliner traveling at 500 or so MPH. A missile would have been traveling at about 1800 MPH and would have left NO video evidence at all. The video surveillance equipment was NOT high-speed capable. High-speed video equipment probably would have given a better picture of the attack. It's pretty likely that there are at least a few high-speed video cameras aimed at the Pentagon today.

FAA radars do not primarily track aircraft using normal radar returns. They communicate with a transponder installed on all instrument-capable aircraft. There is minimal radar return information available, but the transponder is what identifies the actual flight. The radar return PLUS the transponder signal are combined by computer systems to provide the display that the FAA controllers see. If the transponder is turned off it is entirely possible -- likely actually -- that FAA radars will NOT show any return from the aircraft. If anything, it will be shown as an unidentified return. For this reason, FAA rules are being implemented that prevent transponders from being turned off from the cockpit. Any attempt to turn a transponder off will automatically send a special distress signal to FAA radars.

Further, if the aircraft dips below a certain altitude, radar cannot track it at all. Most FAA enroute radars are tuned to ignore anything below about 2000 feet above the terrain. Lower aircraft are tracked with approach and departure control radars as well as terminal radars. These are tuned to ignore signals from altitudes and regions outside of their service areas. This is to keep the displays for the controllers relatively clean and free of extraneous information for safety reasons.

It's probable that defensive military radars WERE tracking the aircraft, especially after the authorities figured out what was going on. However, these systems are classified so we won't be privy to any of the information gleaned from these systems for many years.

So much for the B/S from the conspiracy theorists. There WAS a conspiracy -- by a group on the lunatic fringe of Islam -- NOT from the US government.

There are many good arguments that the US government could and should have done a far better job at preventing the attacks of 9/11, but there is NO evidence that it was complicit in the attacks. Anyone who thinks so is sadly mis-informed.

Answer 3

I think it is ludicrous that people make up conspiracy theories when they have absolutely no evidence to back themselves up. A plane slammed into the side of the pentagon, and destroyed a good portion of it. There is video of this from multiple cameras, and it shows a plane pretty clearly when seen in slow motion. Remember, it was flying at 600mph when it hit the pentagon. Its going to be pretty hard to see something going that fast on a simple video camera.

Also, the pentagon does not have a 'self defense system' that would stop a plane from crashing into it. They do not have missles that can blow an entire jetliner out of the sky attached to the building. And about the radar; radar only works if an object is flying above a certain altitude. If a plane dips below the radars minimum altitude, it would be impossible for the radar to detect it.

The Twin towers fell due to the fact that the fuel from the plane burns at roughly 1500 degrees F, and at 1000 degrees F structural steel loses 75% of its strength, and could no longer hold up the hundreds of tons of material above it.

I'm not saying believe everything the Gov't tells you, but its pretty obvious what happened.

Answer 4

Not sure. There is practically no evidence that it was flight 77.
The pentagon is the most guarded building on the planet, yet even after 1-2 hours of knowing about hijacked planes hitting buildings, the pentagon disabled it's self-defence system and there are no photos or videos of the plane hitting the pentagon.
What about the hundreds of surveillance cameras around the pentagon? No one even mentions them.

Also, when Flight 77 turned around midway in its flight, the FAA tracking radar system was mysteriously turned off and it "disappeared" for about 20 minutes and then reappeared near washington. Hmmmm.

Just too many coincidences.

Answer 5

No one knows for sure. We are told it was a plane, yet there is no footage available that actually shows a plane hitting the pentagon. Even the recently released video is not clear, though the pentagon should have captured the incident from about 20 different cameras.

Answer 6

Most people include these comments here cannot be blamed if you grow up listening to the right wing and MTV you believe we Americans can do whatever we want or in the latter we can tell you the hit song or fad of the week. Ever since England suppressed the Middle East support for Germany during World War II the Middle East has wanted their freedom. Even today, many of the countries have government set-up and supported by the West. Even prior to World War Two, Western oil barons were extracting great wealth from their oil-rich colonial holdings. They were already well aware that the potential volumes of Middle Eastern oil reserves were conservatively enormous. However, the likelihood of the West remaining as friendly allies was being threatened by Egyptian Nationalists calling for an end to colonial occupation. A mild sense of panic was beginning to overtake the Western elite because there was growing support for the Nationalization of oil interests throughout the Middle East. This move of course would have put an end to the West's exploitation of Arab oil. The elite knew only too well that oil was inevitably going to bring not only great wealth, but immense power to the Middle Eastern countries. In fact, if Middle East supplies outlasted those in the West, the Arabs could have potentially amassed enough wealth and strategic power to rival or ultimately threaten the supremacy of the West!! To keep wars from appearing like contests for wealth and power, the elite go to elaborate lengths to disguise the real motives,usually by camouflaging the war in a flag-draped cloak of patriotism. After all, the elite's economic well-being hinges on their ability to successfully conscript and enlist the working class to die in their service, just as serfs were forced to do in Feudal times. When they finally hit back it is their fault? I don't think so and no I am not agreeing with them. I think they could have gotten better result by either hitting the Statue of Liberty or better threatening to do it. In fact, I think if they had just threatened it many Americans would have seen the issue and been on their side. Remember what your grandmother used to say, "you get more with a teaspoon of sugar then a gallon of vinegar"? God Bless You and the Southern People (another suppressed people)

Answer 7

So many questions. In the Smithsonian in Washington DC there are pictures and pieces of plane debris from Penn and NY City. However there not only are no pieces but there are no pictures or mention of the plane the hit the Pentagon. So many people, some of whom answered this question, take anything this government say as truth. Is it possible it was one of our own missiles? There is no evidence or pictures of a plane in that building. There are many of NY and Penn. You have to wonder did our military make a mistake and cover it up by blaming the terrorists?

Answer 8

A plane crashed into it after being taken over by hijackers. Simple as that. If you don't beleive that it was a plane ask yourself this question: What really happened to the plane if it didn't crash into the Pentagon and where are all the passengers ?

Answer 9

We'll never know - maybe when our great-grandchildren are adults they will find out the truth about 9-11.

Answer 10

The plane penetrated, but the wings shattered? WHAT!!?? That don't make sense to me but if Boston in MO is an aeronautic engineer, I might believe him!