WI: Pentagon Destroyed in 9/11, but Twin Towers Remain Standing?

What if a reverse of the real 9/11 scenario occurred, where instead of the twin towers being destroyed and the Pentagon was only partially damaged, what if the two flights headed for the WTC were brought down by the passengers, but the flights headed for the Pentagon successfully crashed into it and destroyed it beyond repair? How might reactions differ from both D.C and the public?
 
Very implausible. The Pentagon is too low slung to collapse totally and the building also has excellent fire suppression systems. Also as I understand it, the flight that was brought down by the passengers was actually heading for the Capitol or even the White House, not the Pentagon.

teg
 

Iron Sun

Banned
First, you'd have to change the order in which the planes get hijacked-IOTL, the passengers of UA93 only fought back after they learned about the other flights. Still, the odds of both plane's occupants rebelling are rather small-you're more likely to see one plane brought down while the other reaches its target.
 
What if a reverse of the real 9/11 scenario occurred, where instead of the twin towers being destroyed and the Pentagon was only partially damaged, what if the two flights headed for the WTC were brought down by the passengers, but the flights headed for the Pentagon successfully crashed into it and destroyed it beyond repair? How might reactions differ from both D.C and the public?
The Pentagon was successfully hit, the problem is that the Pentagon is low and wide, rather than high and tall, it had almost as much floor space as the towers combined, but only 7 floors high. Admittedly Flight 77 hit the part of the Pentagon that had been just reinforced after Okhlahoma City, but still you are going to need more than just 2 planes, I would guess at least 5
 
So Flight 93 also heads for the Pentagon and crashes into it? It's high possibility since it's hard to see other Washington landmarks from the air beside the Pentagon, I guess we assume the terrorists get sick of trying to find something/end up pushed into landing by the passengers and hit the most obvious target. But even that wouldn't destroy the Pentagon I think. It's a huge building, and the amount of people killed in the attack would make sure that it was patched up/restored--I don't think you can destroy the Pentagon without carpet bombing the place.

We're looking at a 9/11 that kills maybe 1/5 of OTL 9/11 deaths, but a few hundred dead and the DoD headquarters wrecked is still pretty big. But since both attacks would be on the same building, and one which is a military target, I don't think it would have the same emotional impact on the American public that 9/11 did. Afghanistan is still getting invaded though.
 
The Pentagon was successfully hit, the problem is that the Pentagon is low and wide, rather than high and tall, it had almost as much floor space as the towers combined, but only 7 floors high. Admittedly Flight 77 hit the part of the Pentagon that had been just reinforced after Okhlahoma City, but still you are going to need more than just 2 planes, I would guess at least 5
This basically. There's no doubt to me that the Air Force would shoot down the second and further planes.
 
Yeah, let's roll with the idea that the only building that gets damaged is the Pentagon and only partially. Let's say 506 people are dead total from TTL's version of 9/11. What do you feel the public response would be?
 

Iron Sun

Banned
So Flight 93 also heads for the Pentagon and crashes into it? It's high possibility since it's hard to see other Washington landmarks from the air beside the Pentagon, I guess we assume the terrorists get sick of trying to find something/end up pushed into landing by the passengers and hit the most obvious target. But even that wouldn't destroy the Pentagon I think. It's a huge building, and the amount of people killed in the attack would make sure that it was patched up/restored--I don't think you can destroy the Pentagon without carpet bombing the place.
I remember hearing somewhere that one of the hijacked 757s was meant to hit the White House while the other hit the Capitol, but the AA77 hijackers got lost and decided to settle for the Pentagon.
 
Not sure about the public response, but as someone who was in the Pentagon on 9/11 I'd tell you that it'd take more than two hits to really take the building out...the building was pretty much evacuated within 20 min of the hit. So unless you could synchronize the hits enough the casualty count would remain about the same...
 
Yeah, let's roll with the idea that the only building that gets damaged is the Pentagon and only partially. Let's say 506 people are dead total from TTL's version of 9/11. What do you feel the public response would be?

America is very, very pissed. But what tempers things is that only one building is hit, and it isn't as utterly shocking as two of the tallest buildings in the world both being hit and collapsing (in addition to the Pentagon), with huge collateral damage, and thousands dead. Would there be images as iconic as the second plane hitting the South Tower, people jumping to their inevitable deaths, scenes of firefighters rushing into the disaster, the collapse of those huge skyscrapers in general and the resulting cloud of dust?

Now, it's an event which will resonate in the American public for years, but I don't think it will have as big of a shock as OTL 9/11. But unfortunately for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and anyone who looked at America funny like Saddam Hussein, the Pentagon is a Department of Defense building, and the military and people like Donald Rumsfeld will be especially angry.
 
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