Ahem

[Alcuin]

In honour of the fact that today is the first anniversary of my first visiting AH.com, I thought, just this once, I'd start a thread.

This was inspired by reading Lionel Shriver's "We Need To Talk About Kevin" in which she mentions (or has Kevin Katchadurian mention) that the Columbine students had initially planned to hijack a plane and fly it into the World Trade Centre. I don't know if this is true, but let's imagine that on 17 April 1999, two walking human turds named Klebold and Harris, instead of shooting up their school, cut school, flew to Boston and boarded a plane, which the two hijacked, Harris shooting the Pilot while Klebold flew the plane into one of the towers with a similar effect to that in OTL?

What happens next? How do we cope? (I have to state a personal involvement here, my cousin survived because she lost her job in August 2001. In April 1999, she was still working there and so there would be a 50/50 chance she'd be in the tower that got hit.)

Do we believe it was two disaffected high-school students? Do we think it was arabs? North Koreans? Somebody else? And what do we do next? What does President Clinton do? Does it affect the 2000 election? Is there still a war on terror? A second gulf war?

And how about the all-to-understandable rage? I know I'd be burning for a target, looking to point the finger. Who could I pick on?

 

[Max Sinister]

Stupid question:

Did the two know how to fly?

Ironically, this stupid action might even save lives - because now, the security would become harsher before 9/11 instead after as IOTL! Not that people would know it, but the world might be a better place (except for the poor people who might die instead.)

 

[Berra]

Is it to late blaming the Serbs?

 

[Alcuin]

Stupid question:

Did the two know how to fly?

I have no idea but let's assume one of them does. I think you're right, it probably saves lives... well those at Columbine and maybe some of those who died on 9/11.... but who would get the blame?

I suppose it would be to late to blame the Serbs or Kosovars. How about Chechens?

 

[DaleCoz]

Not just any plane

Not just any plane could do what the two involved historically did. The size of the planes and the nearly full load of jet fuel they were carrying played a major role in the amount of destruction they caused. On the other hand, a less damaging crash might still have helped beef up security.

 

[Torqumada]

In honour of the fact that today is the first anniversary of my first visiting AH.com, I thought, just this once, I'd start a thread.

This was inspired by reading Lionel Shriver's "We Need To Talk About Kevin" in which she mentions (or has Kevin Katchadurian mention) that the Columbine students had initially planned to hijack a plane and fly it into the World Trade Centre. I don't know if this is true, but let's imagine that on 17 April 1999, two walking human turds named Klebold and Harris, instead of shooting up their school, cut school, flew to Boston and boarded a plane, which the two hijacked, Harris shooting the Pilot while Klebold flew the plane into one of the towers with a similar effect to that in OTL?

What happens next? How do we cope? (I have to state a personal involvement here, my cousin survived because she lost her job in August 2001. In April 1999, she was still working there and so there would be a 50/50 chance she'd be in the tower that got hit.)

Do we believe it was two disaffected high-school students? Do we think it was arabs? North Koreans? Somebody else? And what do we do next? What does President Clinton do? Does it affect the 2000 election? Is there still a war on terror? A second gulf war?

And how about the all-to-understandable rage? I know I'd be burning for a target, looking to point the finger. Who could I pick on?

Where does the gun come from? How do two minors smuggle a gun from Colorado to Boston by plane and then get it on another plane? The laws regarding gun ownership are probably a bit more lax in Colorado than MA. So where do they get the gun and how to they get it through multiple safety checks? The 9/11 hijackers took over their planes with mace, pepper spray and utility knives that were less than the max length that the FAA allowed on their planes. They didn't use firearms and they succeeded.

Torqumada

 

[MarkA]

Bush would be elected on a promise of cleansing America from terrorists and thereby imprison without trial any citizens who were a threat to conservative values and shoot anyone who disagreed with him.

 

[Alcuin]

Where does the gun come from? How do two minors smuggle a gun from Colorado to Boston by plane and then get it on another plane? The laws regarding gun ownership are probably a bit more lax in Colorado than MA. So where do they get the gun and how to they get it through multiple safety checks? The 9/11 hijackers took over their planes with mace, pepper spray and utility knives that were less than the max length that the FAA allowed on their planes. They didn't use firearms and they succeeded.

Torqumada

I actually got on a plane at Logan Airport carrying several Japanese throwing knives back in 1995. They found them when they searched me, asked what they were and I said, "Japanese Throwing Knives, they're quite valuable and I'd rather not leave them in the hold". "Okay", they said, and handed them back to me.

That was actually the ONLY safety check I went through. Even though I flew from Logan to BWI and from there to London I didn't have to go through any checks at BWI. Were there multiple safety checks on internal flights in 1999?

I have no idea how the two morons did it. If necessary Alien Space Bats helped them. Alternatively, they read a John Brunner novel in which a terrorist made guns out of plastic with plastic bullets and lighter fuel as a propellent.

 

[Alcuin]

Bush would be elected on a promise of cleansing America from terrorists and thereby imprison without trial any citizens who were a threat to conservative values and shoot anyone who disagreed with him.

I'm not sure I believe that. If nothing else, because I don't believe Bush would have been the Republican Party's first choice if there was a perceived terrorist threat BEFORE the 2000 election. I'd've thought someone like Dole or McCain would have a better chance.

 

[Tom Veil]

Not just any plane could do what the two involved historically did. The size of the planes and the nearly full load of jet fuel they were carrying played a major role in the amount of destruction they caused. On the other hand, a less damaging crash might still have helped beef up security.

Very good point. Let's assume that, since they are high school students, they can't just sneak away whenever they want and have to settle for a less-than-ideal plane. In fact, if they want to survive security, they almost certainly would book a connecting flight, since otherwise they would have to clear security twice. (Assume TSA stops 80% of gun-toting teens; they would stop 96% of gun-toting teens who tried to get a gun through two different airport screens). So the Twin Towers are not destroyed, but instead so structurally damaged that they have to be pulled down. This means a lot more people survive.