Study Suggests Design Flaws Didn't Doom Towers WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - After the most sophisticated building analysis in United States history, federal investigators have arrived at the clearest picture yet of the sequence of events that led to the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, largely ruling out a design flaw in the buildings as a central factor in the catastrophe.

Well no shit Sherlock!

I think THIS was the "central factor" that brought down the WTC!!!


It was the fucking TERRORISTS RAMMING A BOEING 767 FILLED WITH JET FUEL INTO THEM AT 500mph!!!

Since the twin towers fell, questions have reverberated among families of victims and some fire-safety experts about whether insufficient fireproofing or an unusual weakness in the innovative, lightweight floors played a critical role in the collapse. Instead, the investigators tentatively conclude in nearly 500 pages of documents released Tuesday, the twin towers failed because the structural columns at the buildings' core, damaged by the impact of the airliners, buckled and shortened as the fires burned, gradually shifting more load to the tower's trademark exterior pinstripe columns. The exterior columns ultimately suffered such extraordinary stress and heat that they gave way. The investigation - based on an analysis of thousands of photographs and videos, an examination of nearly every element used to construct the towers and meticulous computer-enhanced modeling of the plane impacts and spreading fires - is not yet complete. A final report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology is not scheduled to be issued until December or perhaps January. In interviews Tuesday, the lead investigator, as well as other engineers who have studied the collapse, said the evidence increasingly suggested that the giant structures - given the extreme conditions, including temperatures that reached more than 1,000 degrees - performed relatively well on Sept. 11, 2001. Elements of the design and construction of the towers, investigators said, certainly played a part in how long the buildings stood. Buildings designed differently - with more robustly protected and spread-out emergency stairwells, for example - engineers said yesterday, might still have resulted in fewer deaths. But the most severe shortcomings identified at the World Trade Center in the institute's comprehensive review do not pertain to how the buildings were conceived or built. Instead, the failings on Sept. 11 were chiefly found in the response by the New York City Fire and Police Departments, which was hampered by inadequate command, unreliable communications equipment and an overwhelmed dispatching system. For Leslie E. Robertson, the structural engineer who helped design the twin towers as a young man back in the early 1960's, the latest findings buttress his longstanding assertion that the towers were fundamentally sound. His wife, Saw-Teen See, who is a managing partner at Mr. Robertson's New York design firm, said the report "validates the way we thought the structure would have performed." But Sally Regenhard, who founded a group called the Skyscraper Safety Campaign in honor of her son, Christian Regenhard, a probationary firefighter who was one of 2,749 victims, said she was not ready to concede that the towers' design were not fundamentally at fault. "It is far, far too premature to come to any conclusions that it wasn't the fault of the building, or nothing was wrong with the building," she said after listening to a daylong presentation in Gaithersburg, Md., about the latest findings.

OMMFG! She's actually blaming the building for collapsing.

GOT to be a Democrat.

How many buildings over a few floors are supposed to stand up to plane hits

C'mon, dude. This shit started while the fires were still burning!

I knew we were in trouble when, less than 48 hours after the attacks, some scumbag puke POS lawyer announced he was suing the WTC, the airlines, the FDNY, NYPD, and God Himself for the attacks.

This news was followed shortly afterwards by the ASSHOLE firefighters in Miami-Dade who refused to fly the American flag from their trucks because it was "a symbol of oppression".

This shit doesn't surprise me in the slightest. It rolls my stomach to no end that so many of the relatives of the victims have decided to use the deaths of the victims as springboards for their own fame and fortune.

Quoted: How many buildings over a few floors are supposed to stand up to plane hits

They should have thought of that. They should have built them somewhere else. The should have built them with the ability to dodge planes. They should have designed them with AA batteries on the roof. It is a conspiracy of negligence and denial of responsibility, and they should PAY!


See? I'm qualified to be a trial liar. I don't need no stinking bar!

They had this figured out a year after the attack.  Remember the History Channel specials on the Towers?  Exactly the way that it was pointed out then.

While I'm sure that there are far more details in this final report I dare anyone to claim that they can build *practical* highrise that can take a FULLY LOADED 767 IMPACT AND SURVIVE.  Anyone that claims that is a fool.

While I'm sure that's *possible* to design such a structure, it would cost a fortune and not be a very nice place to work (think bunker).

Remember, the WTC was designed for the aircraft of the day, 707's, which it could have in all probablity stood up to.  It was NEVER envisioned to survive an impact of an aircraft carrying as much fuel as a 767 (moving at those speeds) as they didn't exist when the towers were designed.

Reminds me of the lawsuit that was brought against Piper.  Family member sued them over the fact that a Cub involved in a fatal crash didn't have shoulder harnesses.  The fact that the aircraft was built DECADES before they were required didn't seem to make any difference as Piper lost the case.

Quoted: But Sally Regenhard, who founded a group called the Skyscraper Safety Campaign in honor of her son, Christian Regenhard, a probationary firefighter who was one of 2,749 victims, said she was not ready to concede that the towers' design were not fundamentally at fault. "It is far, far too premature to come to any conclusions that it wasn't the fault of the building, or nothing was wrong with the building," she said after listening to a daylong presentation in Gaithersburg, Md., about the latest findings. OMMFG! She's actually blaming the building for collapsing. GOT to be a Democrat.

Okay, so she's not TOTALLY out of touch with reality:

To The Editor: As the parent of a young, innocent victim of the deadly mistakes which allowed 9/11 to happen to our country, City and FDNY, I strongly reject all the proposed memorial designs, including the one which was selected. . . . As a member organization of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, I want to see this memorial area become a National Historic Landmark. I want the site to be preserved as a tribute to the nearly 3,000 who needlessly lost their lives at the WTC. I want a stirring and respectful memorial that will not allow history to forget that on 9/11/01, a group of demonic, cave dwelling barbarians inflicted on our beloved country and city, the greatest loss of life on American soil since the Civil War. I want a memorial that is historic, accurate, cautionary, educational, and one that will be an homage to the beautiful, innocent souls who were plucked from life and whose spirits will forever reside on this hallowed ground. Like it or not, this will forever be the burial ground for over 1,000 victims, including my beautiful son, whose remains have never been found. Their memory must be honored by the truth, not fiction. . . . Sally Regenhard Skyscraper Safety Campaign

My dad (hes in construction) told us that what was going to happen before the building fell.

Quoted: Remember, the WTC was designed for the aircraft of the day, 707's, which it could have in all probablity stood up to.  It was NEVER envisioned to survive an impact of an aircraft carrying as much fuel as a 767 (moving at those speeds) as they didn't exist when the towers were designed.

Yep. The towers were designed to withstand an impact by a half-empty 707 wandering slowly through fog. They were hit by fully-fueled aircraft much havier than a 707, and MOVING FAST.

It's a testament to the engineers who designed those building that they stayed up as long as they did. THEY became heroes of that day DECADES before the attack.

Remember, the towers stood long enough after the impacts to allow over 35,000 people to escape certain death.

I watched a show on the Towers, and according to one of the designers, the building was designed to withstand a impact from a airplane, BUT they did not factor in the heat from the explosion, it was the heat, that added to the death blow for the buildings, the heat added to the stress on the structure, softing the steel.

Now no flames please, I watched the show on the history channel, or the discoery channel, it has been on several times.

In one of the interviews, the buildings designer said that when they designed the buildings, the line of thought was a lost plane, in dense fog, and impact with one of the buildings.


No matter if the buildings could have stood, or not, the fact that they stood as long as they did, I believe added to the list of people who survived the area. For that I am very gratefull.

I also think it is damn shitty for someone to sue the desiners of the Towers, why the hell dont they sue the damn terrorist who commited the act?

... Makes one wonder just who these assholes would blame if Democrats were in office for more than a dozen years running

Quoted: My dad (hes in construction) told us that what was going to happen before the building fell.

They interviewed the designer of the towers a similar question, and he said the same thing. When he saw the fires, he knew what was going to happen.

I was moving to fast that morning and away from TV's, so it never really dawned on me. When I got to my car and heard Peter Jennings announce "Both towers have collapsed", I almost drove off the road. I simply could not conceive of it, and never imagined the TOTALITY of the collapse until I saw it on TV about 20 minutes later.

...and to think we're still having to convince people that HEY, MAYBE WE SHOULD HUNT THESE FUCKERS DOWN AND KILL THEM!

If I see Howard Dean running his mouth off one more time, I think I'll be in danger of losing my rights to own a gun or even walk down the street.