A discussion got started on the Picks of the Quarter contest thread about the proposed cultural center on Park Place in New York City. Someone said that the landing gear of one of the planes that struck one of the towers had gone "through" the building that stands on that site now.
Sr. K responded with the following questions to me, which I thought it would be more appropriate to answer here.
I said "I'm not sure I believe that about the landing gear."
Sr. K's response to me is quoted below.
>>How can you not be sure?
I don't believe it, and I'm sure I don't believe it, until I see something that is evidence from September, October, November, or December 2001. I didn't see any reports of any landing gear found on the ground at Ground Zero, or even at the Pentagon.
PM me if anyone knows what direction the proposed site for the center is from Ground Zero and how far apart it is from the plane entry side of each of the Twin Towers; if the gear were identified as from a particular one of the two planes (so I can cross-check the flight paths); where I can see photos of the gear; and who currently has possession of it/them?<<
OK, I should have been more forceful. I don't believe it, either, for a number of reasons. The site in question can be seen on this map:
maps.google.com
As you can see, the site is two blocks uptown from Vesey Street, where the North Tower stood. Now, since the first plane hit that tower from the north, it's clear that no landing gear from that plane could have possibly gone "through" any building two blocks north.
The second plane hit the other tower from the south. But that tower was on the lower left corner of the complex, on Liberty Street. I can't see how a landing gear goes through the entire tower, then flies an additional 1,500 feet or so to hit a building that is four blocks away. Remember that the buildings down there are all crammed together. The streets are like canyons. So it's not like throwing something at a building on the other side of a clear field. It would be more like trying to hit one bowling pin in the back row by throwing a baseball over the top of the other pins.
Now, I suppose it is within the realm of possibility that such a thing could happen, however unlikely it seems. But so far, I haven't seen any evidence that such is the case.
I know that neighborhood very well, having worked there for the better part of two decades in various places.
So no, I'm not going to buy the landing gear story based on one guy's say so, especially when that guy is trying to make the landing gear into a justification for un-American religious intolerance. |
