What hit the Pentagon on 9/11

A friend just sent me a link to this site which has a well-put together Flash animation detailing some of the evidence that suggests it wasn't a Boeing 757 that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. I've seen a lot of this stuff before, but never put together in this fashion. It's worth a look. And turn your sound up.

I know there are lots of "conspiracy theorist" sites out there about this issue (god I hate that term... anytime someone has an alternative theory it is too easy to dismiss them as a "conspiracy theorist"), but sites like Seattle Weekly are also asking "what happened to the 757?"

(Updated "747" typo to "757". Thanks to James Tauber for pointing out my mistake!)

Comments

[James Tauber]

Don't you mean 757?

[Dylan Greene]

I live not far from the Pentagon. I drive past it all the time. A friend of mine saw the plane hit. It was real. In a matter of seconds she went from a wonderful happy person to somebody with depression, sleep problems, drinking problems, and a distrust for humanity.

[Cameron Reilly]

hey dylan, good to hear from you, sorry to hear about your friend. The flash animation also has quotes from eyewitnesses who claim to have seen or heard everything from a plane to a missile. But even after reading http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pentagon.htm (sent to me on IM by adambomb), I still don't feel convinced. Even if there was a plane involved, there are lots of unanswered questions.

[Dylan Greene]

It's physics... Take a water ballon and throw it at the wall. What is left behind has far less mass and structure than the original balloon filled with water. Replace the water with jet fuel and there would be nothing left.

A plane is a hallow aluminum shell filled with three things: jet fuel, people, and air. If it was any more "solid" it would be too heavy to fly.

[Cameron Reilly]

Dylan, of course I'm no expert, and maybe you're right, but I've seen footage of airplane crashes before, from Lockerbie, etc. You can usually see PLENTY of evidence that a plane was involved. A wing. A tail. Fuselage. Black Box. At the WTC I can understand there being no evidence once the towers collapsed, but why is the Pentagon is a different situation?

[Dylan Greene]

There's a huge difference in crashing into the ground and crashing full speed into the largest office building in the world. When a plane hits the ground it stops. When it hits a building the building absorbs it. You saw the World Trade Center crashes - it looks like the plane effortlessly enters the building. This is further exasperated by the fact that the Pentagon was built when metal was being rationed for World War 2, so the building uses as little metal as possible and used concrete and wood instead.

So, when the plane hit, the building basically engulfed it.

There aren't even stairways in the Pentagon, which would require metal, instead there are long ramps.

[Cameron Reilly]

dylan, that sounds reasonable. And you buy the story that the entry hole doesn't seem wide enough because the wings were forced into the body of the plane? what about the witnesses who claim they saw a vapor trail? does that make sense?

[Fray]

Couple things Im curious about.. for instance.. how does jet fuel (refined kerosene) with a maximum temperature under optimum conditions of 1800 degrees F melt steel with a melting point of 2500 degrees F? Also why didnt the wings break towards the building due to the sudden decelleration instead of folding backwards as is claimed? Also.. how were they able to recover viable DNA samples for all the passengers in a fire that could melt steel? I didnt know DNA held together so well.. oh wait.. it doesnt.. it starts to break down slightly above room temperature and is destroyed completely around 160 degrees F.

[spacemonkey]

I've seen both sides of the story. There was a plane that hit the pentagon. If it wasnt a 757 that hit it, then where did that 757 go? Weight plays a big role. Something that big hitting a very thick wall at high speeds will basically incenerate itself on impact. Anything that is thick enough will ripp off and continue to propell forward. But how come the FBI doesnt release any videos???

[Isaac Berry]

I was a plane mechanic in the Air Force and I think it is absurd to think that with wings that wide and with a tail that tall it all could be folded into a neat little hole with NO damage showing where they hit. Another question, why was the video footage taken from the gas station? You know it just doesn't suprise me that America believes this. Now if you will excuse me I have to see who Flava Flave chooses next... Keep asking Questions people.

[justin tooze]

its just a big joke there was a plane but it was never a big plane.there are other videos of this plane hitting but they dont and will never want anyone to see it.the truth will come out and bush will never beable to show his face again.

[Cameron Reilly]

and now - the video proof! :-)
http://reilly.typepad.com/cameronreilly/2006/05/the_fat_people_.html