payne1000 wrote:
No, the Twin Towers were not made of drinking straws. They were made of high strength steel which is exponentially stronger than drinking straws.
This means the vertical column structure in the towers could support many times the weight they actually held up. This means they could not be crushed to the ground in less than 15 seconds by the same weight they had supported for over a half century.
Big difference between supporting a static load and withstanding the forces of a mass in motion. Of course, the towers were designed and constructed to stand a long while, most things are built to last. However, in the case of the twin towers, a quite unexpected and unplanned for event occurred that compromised the ability of the towers to bear the static load.
It is true that the engineers considered the remote possibility of an aircraft hitting one of the towers, and they considered the largest aircraft in the sky at the time. BUT, they did not purposely reinforce the buildings against such a possibility, they merely felt that the buildings as they were designed would survive such an event. Moreover, the idea that a large commercial jet fully loaded with fuel and flying at cruise speeds would hit the buildings was not even on their minds. Everything they knew about aircraft flying low over Manhattan was taken from FAA regulations regarding such things, and these are very specific.
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 91.119 of the General Operating and Flight Rules, specifically prohibits low flying aircraft.
91.119 Minimum safe altitudes; general
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the
following altitudes:
(a) Anywhere – An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas – Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open-air assembly of persons,
an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.In other words, when the engineers considered an aircraft crashing into the towers, they were considering only an accident, such as an aircraft in trouble, or one that was lost. The engineers never dreamed of suicidal maniacs violating every flight regulation in the books and intentionally flying planes into the buildings.