WI: 9/11 collapse averted?

Dorozhand

Banned
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert in structural engineering nor impact and flight dynamics, so forgive me my errors but don't hesitate to point them out. I am also emphatically NOT a conspiracy theorist and never have been nor will be.

I'm not sure what PoD would be required. Perhaps only a slight deviation in flight path could have resulted in one of the planes missing, or at least causing less damage to, the critical structural core. Ignoring for a moment the how of it, I present the scenario of both planes somehow striking the twin towers of the world trade center, and the buildings somehow not collapsing. The fire is eventually extinguished, debris flushed out, and work begins on figuring out what to do with two catastrophically damaged but still standing skyscrapers that spent two years being the tallest buildings in the world.

How would the authorities have dealt with the buildings? How would the perception and the reality of the disaster and its aftermath be changed? What are some subtle social and political consequences, if any?
 
I think they would keep and repair them. Because it would be almost impossible to tear down those buildings in an urban setting.
 
The best POD is to have United Airlines Flight 175 collide with either of the two aircraft it narrowly avoided hitting that day.
 

Dorozhand

Banned
The best POD is to have United Airlines Flight 175 collide with either of the two aircraft it narrowly avoided hitting that day.
That would have been interesting. I was originally thinking about a scenario in which the buildings somehow don't collapse. Though I've also been mulling over scenarios like an alternate attack on the Sears Tower.

I've been fascinated by the events of 9/11 lately. I think the disaster has finally begun to enter a phase where US society can cope with it and comprehend it as history rather than immediacy.
 
The use of a different fireproofing meterial or not rushing the construction on the towers might have prevented the collapse of the South Tower.The North Towers damage might not have been fatal,but the South Tower collapsing damaged the foundation making collapse a certainty.
 
I'm mentally picturing every available tower crane in the tri-state area, just the tower portions, encircling the damaged skyscrapers;
webs of steel cables running through each gutted floor between them, to shift much weight as possible off the buildings themselves.
No windows left, just plastic sheeting to keep rain and snow outside, and asbestos and PCBs and burnt plastic inside; white floodlights
shining on the ruined towers all night, every night, in case there's the slightest movement.
 

hipper

Banned
I think they would keep and repair them. Because it would be almost impossible to tear down those buildings in an urban setting.

Well from the FEMA report all you would have to do is damage some of the perimeter and internal columns And start a big fire, all about the 100th floor level, however I'm not sure that you could convince anyone there would be a fairly neat vertical collapse with those events prior to it actually happening.
 
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