WI: Al Qaeda targets Empire State Building

Hyperion

Banned
I could see the fourth plane being aimed at New York instead of crashing into a field, but by the time it would have made it to NYC, the Air Force would have finally had the two F-15s from Massachusetts at the least providing CAP over New York.

One thing that I've always wondered, Flight 93 OTL flew very near both Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA before plowing into a field. At the expense of hitting a less well known town or target, I'm surprised the hijackers of that flight wasted so much time and didn't just say screw it and hit the first big building they could find in either of those cities.
 
I could see the fourth plane being aimed at New York instead of crashing into a field, but by the time it would have made it to NYC, the Air Force would have finally had the two F-15s from Massachusetts at the least providing CAP over New York.

One thing that I've always wondered, Flight 93 OTL flew very near both Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA before plowing into a field. At the expense of hitting a less well known town or target, I'm surprised the hijackers of that flight wasted so much time and didn't just say screw it and hit the first big building they could find in either of those cities.

Cleveland would be a difficult target due to it's insignificant skyline. The city has only two large buildings, the Key Tower and Terminal Tower.

The reaction would be interesting though.
 

burmafrd

Banned
The Empire State Building is indeed a much stronger design and not dependent on steel trusses. The WTC collapsed because the heat of the jet fuel weakened the steel trusses and they collapsed under the weight of the upper floors.

An airliner hitting the ESB would have had a hard time hitting very low; probably no lower then floor 80 or so. The Stone Exterior was much stronger and the plane would have mostly crumpled upon impact, the fuel spraying down the exterior of the building. What did make it inside the building would not have had the same effect. Now the actual shock of the impact might have caused damage that in the end might have doomed the building, but it would have taken a lot longer for it to fall if it had.
 
The Empire State Building is indeed a much stronger design and not dependent on steel trusses. The WTC collapsed because the heat of the jet fuel weakened the steel trusses and they collapsed under the weight of the upper floors.

An airliner hitting the ESB would have had a hard time hitting very low; probably no lower then floor 80 or so. The Stone Exterior was much stronger and the plane would have mostly crumpled upon impact, the fuel spraying down the exterior of the building. What did make it inside the building would not have had the same effect. Now the actual shock of the impact might have caused damage that in the end might have doomed the building, but it would have taken a lot longer for it to fall if it had.

That's another good point. The Stone Cladding provides less glass area where weaknesses can occur. Given the very iconic nature of the building, unlike the Deutche Bank which was declared to damaged to repair OTL, it seems likely that anything short of half the building collapsing is going to be repaired. A bit of fire damage to a few floors, or even the restaurant falling to the floor, could be repaired.
 
Also, I think the twin towers were a lot more modern and representative of the America of the latter 20th century.

This, plus more casualties in the WTC. Remember, the more planes you attempt to hijack, the higher the chance that someone picks up on your hijackers. Maybe four was the maximum that Al-Queda was willing to risk.
 
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