The people who were stuck in the towers that could not go down, tried to get to the observation deck, but the door was locked. All those people were stuck. If that door could have been unlocked, I think hundreds of people would have been on the observation deck waiting to be rescued.
The smoke would have been unreal up there... Maybe if someone could have gotten up to thee north tower's roof and to the northwest corner on or near the window washing machine... But the doors were either locked or jammed.
@@jacoblott1617 like so unreal that you had to hang out of the window 1300 feet up? I mean, the situation was max level bad already. It really surprises me that in case of some sort of emergency those doors couldnt be opened and it does surprise me that nobody ever thought of SOME (no matter how far fetched or ridiculous) rescue plan.
@@jacoblott1617 yeah very true, and it is all hindsight of course. But when you really go a bit down the rabbithole, with all the information that was out there regarding terrorism, to completely ignore that in regards to safety protocols is odd to me. I have watched so many docs and videos and I have not seen anybody talk about: Hey, this might be far fetched but what if something happens and there is such a fire that people cant get down. Are they just going to burn to death/jump to their death? It's just very bitter to think about when you hear there were signs of terrorist plans to attack American cities.
@@Frankje01 there's no questions about how obvious it is now that blind eye after blind eye was turned to plenty, whether we are talking about how morbidly inadequate emergency egress was in the wtc and how much was just floating around about imminent dangers from terrorism. You probably know all about the guy in FBI that save for specifics had the 911 imminency all but figured out ahead of time... And they fired him for it, only for him to wind up dying in the towers, as fate does.
I believe there was a photo taken during the final stages of the North Tower still standing, titled 'Impending Doom'. I've often wondered why it was called that and whether it was related to the final moments just after Tower 2 had already collapsed. We even saw footage of it actually. The sight of workers on the floors above the impact zones, leaning out of the windows piled up on top of each other.. Good God the situation on those floors must have been absolutely unimaginable. They must have been truly Hellish. May all their souls truly Rest In Peace. Gone but never forgotten. 😔🙏
Not many likely realized exactly what had happened at all, since anyone below the impact site would have been in the stairwells attempting to get down and everyone above the impact site had almost certainly jumped or been taken out by the smoke at that point... Just a terrible day. There is pure evil in this world, never forget that.
I saw a documentary where they actually played audio from the helicopters where they were saying they didn't see anyone on the roof but it sounded like they at least would have tried if they saw anyone up there.
There was too much turbulence. They would not have landed on the roof. Why do you think all the roof top helipads were abandoned fifty years ago? Too turbulent. Might want to lay off the Bruce Willis action-adventure movies.
@@thomasallen6980 why do you think rooftop helipads existed ? Because it's doable. But in the 911 situation idk if it would be possible with the smoke and heat
maybe they could've threw a ladder down. another comment said the doors to the roof were locked or needed another person to open them... so if there was an emergency i guess that wasn't an option
I saw a cop that was in a helicopter address this in one of the many vids i've seen. He said it wasn't possible to rescue anyone cuz of the smoke and heat it just wasn't possible. He said ppl that were stuck were looking at him and he was looking back not able to do anything.
@urbanyouthswith all the smoke, too? I suppose fog asea could be comparable, but sans the heat and noxious agents billowing from the stricken structure(s.)
I'm not sure it's been mentioned but another thing to consider is, even if there was an attempt at a rescue, you gotta think about the sheer panic and desperation the victims would've had. A helicopter can't just take on a bunch of people in mid flight, were they to drop a ladder down. If one person goes up that ladder while in a hover, the pilot has to compensate. And, while some people were incredibly noble in letting others go before them for help and safety, there's gonna be enough panicked people to potentially, likely, compromise the helicopter. Which at that point, if the pilot loses control, the helicopter itself now becomes debris and a risk to any other buildings nearby full of people or other people on the ground. If it can't land safely, it's sadly not worth all the risks involved. Never mind all the smoke as mentioned. It's just a horrific situation, and it's natural to grasp for something like what if's.
Thats a great point. Even if the helicopters could have rescued people, it would have been chaos with people fighting eachother to be the first to get rescued. It wouldve been impossible.
Very interesting point. The hovering helicopter would need some kind of emergency release mechanism for the rope/ladder in case an instability occurred due to overload, dropping the rescuees back on the roof. Better than losing the chopper right there too
@@LeafFan1221 I wonder if the roof would have been the safest place in/on the tower to ride the collapse if you were stuck there. In theory, the bottom floors and mass could "cushion" your fall impact once everything gets compacted near the bottom, but it's impossible to predict such a chaotic physics situation.
People were extremely desperate, many people jumped out rather than burning to death. Knowing desperation would make that chopper lose control and crash.
I am retired FDNY Capt. We had a helicopter rescue plan in effect since 1985. Problem was that none of the mayors would give us the funding to get one. Their answer was ask PD. Ladder 21 in my house was the designated roof team for Hi-rise fires downtown, Lad-15 for uptown. The plan had been updated in summer of 2001. (I still have my tape.) Smoke condition at time of crash was minimal, and if plan had been activated a good chance of success. BUT NONE OF OUR CHIEFS CALLED TO ACTIVATE. No idea why. (If we had our own copter, based at 34 St Heliport, L-21 cold have been on that roof in 7 minutes.) As to the smoke issue, the downdraft from the copters would have displaced a lot of the smoke as the pickups went on. Had they used a hoist like Coast Guard the smoke would be no issue. Another of those what ifs, What if Coast Guard was our copter crew. Put our guys on the roof as planned, and they hoisted civilians up.
Thank you for your comment. It was actually my first thought and question when I learned of the tragedy that day: why no attempt of a helicopter rescue? I heard many excuses about why helicopter rescues were not attempted that day, but I had never heard or read a professional answer on whether that would have been possible or not, so your comment is what I had been looking for. I was certain that helicopter rescue would have been possible, had it been decided by the authorities. The locked doors were certainly not the worst thing to overcome that day, either. I remember hearing in one of the 9/11 documentaries how a group of people trapped above the impact zone did try to escape to the rooftop but found the door locked and had told their loved ones about it over the phone.
@@Bellasie1 The PA locked the roof doors for "safety". Not that locked doors ever stop FDNY from getting through them. What is so tragic, and so nightmarish for me is that Helicopter rescues have been used before. Do you remember the horrific fires in San Paolo in the 70s. Hundreds were saved. A Hi-rise fire in New Orleans around that same time used copters. And the MGM Grand in Vegas saved over a hundred from that inferno. Yet after we saw the need and developed a plan for NYC, Koch who no longer liked or wanted the FDNY, (but wanted us cut apart and taken over by PD!!), refused to give us any funding. Dinkins wanted the same, so NO funding. Thus our plan was locked into using PD copters. The catch was we could not order them to do anything. And we had to wait for it and a PD crew to show up and land first. Not sure why Rudy never stepped up. At the 1993 bombing our guys had to walk up 110 stories to search and save all. That day was our greatest, as the only ones who died were caught in the explosion!! 50,000 were rescued/removed. Yet still NO copters. After 9/11 myself and a few others wrote scathing reports demanding we use Coast Guard as they had the winches too. (To save people at the windows). Still NO FUNDING. If you ever want a detailed look at FDNY see my first book ; MY TURN ON THE FIRELINES. For a look at the Historical Web of 9/11 see my series; FATAL FLAWS 1-3. B&N is the best site. Amazo has knockoffs Stay Well R
Those in the planes never know what hit them....those in the lower floors had a chance, though VERY slim...the poor souls on the upper floors above the crashes, must have known that was IT for them......And the true HEROS one and all, the firemen rushing INTO those buildings trying to save people and losing their OWN lives. I still tear up thinking about them all.....
Actually, from one of the phone calls from Flight 11, they realized what the hijackers were going to do at the last second. Obviously they had to know considering how low they were within the skyline, and I don't think the flight attendants were the only ones who knew this.
I’ll never get over 9/11. I am not even American, was about 12 years old when it happened and living in some remote village in Southern Nigeria. We didn’t have a radio or TV but we had newspapers that people sometimes brought with them from the city, and that’s where I saw what happened and even though I was young and hardly knew anything about America, I was saddened and still am today. I have watched practically every documentary made about the event, as well as the movie starring Nicolas Cage. It just breaks my heart thinking of all those people in the towers and the planes, as it breaks my heart seeing what America, that former shining light on the hill, is becoming today both culturally and politically.
I suppose before the South Tower fell, rescuers would not have been aware that the towers would collapse so maybe they were already planning a helicopter rescue once smoke would reduce and it would be safer to land? I guess they must have been considering that at that point.
No they knew there was the chance they would or could collapse. Now was it even expected I’d guess no, because honestly steel takes thousands of degrees to even give etc , which also probably until it was to late for dozens of Fd inside before structural engineers actually started informing them that these buildings most definitely have a high chance of collapsing in on themselves especially due to the high temperatures jet fuel burns at also informing them that the buildings design was not “ designed “ like many still this day to endure that type of accident/impact vs swaying with the wind bc of their heights , nor the temperature of the fires mainly due to the jet fuel.
I worked on the 95th floor in the South Tower during the first bombing in 93 as well on September 11th. In 93 there were a few pregnant women in the company that were rescued from the roof because they couldn't walk down 95 floors. Total different situation on 9/11 but it has been done
@@keyshawnscott12 in 93, There wasn't a lot of smoke in the Stairwells but it was pitch black. We had to walk down in groups of ten, the first in line with flashlight and the remainder with his/her hand on the person's shoulder in front of them. It took us an hour to get down from 95th floor
Thank you for making videos like this in 2023. Glad to see there's more people interested in this topic. Every once in a while I get obsessed with 9/11 and the twin towers (even though I'm not from US, I'm Lithuanian), trying to figure out ways in which more people could've been saved. I keep thinking about it all probably because I remember these events even though I was only 5 years old when it happened. My parents brought me home from the kindergarten and burning twin towers were on the TV. The first time I ever learned about them was the day they got destroyed. Everything about the world was new to me as a child, I remember being a kid and assuming that this is normal. Only as I grew older, I realized how unprecedented 9/11 attacks were. First time I became seriously interested in this was back in 2007 when I was 11 years old. That's when I became conscious enough to understand the significance of this tragedy. As a 5 year old, I remember looking at the TV, my parents talking about what was unfolding and me building the twin towers I just learned about out of lego bricks while sitting on the floor.
watch the documentary called the new pearl harbor. you will see how 911 really happened and who was really responsible. hint. its not what the news told u
yeah, quite same here. I am polish. Was 8 yo when 9/11 happened. Remember that afternoon, went back from school. Few days before our TV was broken, so we used older one, black and white antenna TV with only 4 programms. Remember i came back to home, and the TV was standing on the windowsill, my parents were watching News, and didn't allow me to swith to cartoons.. that time was so surreal. Had to watch towers collapsing, meanwhile just eat dinner. My home was a better place than NY.. later went out side to play with friends, not really understanding what just happened on manhattan. after years i still cannot understand why americans think it was staged, inside job, controlled demolition, no planes but rockets and other conspiracy theories, people are apes, don't even learn.. then was an Iraq war in 2004, and atomic bomb hoax. Not really believe the USA gonverment, they get what they deserve. My parents later told me, its because of jews and arabs conflict, flexing muscles on each other.. sorry for my bad english.
I can never remember the names attached to these videos (best way to look em up), but ive seen a few mentions of folks climbing down the outside of the towers. There's video of one fellow on the South tower, looked like he was lowering himself down with a rope or somee curtains tied together. Hemade it down like 3 floors and tried kicking a window, then lost his grip and fell. Eerie seeing such a close shot of him with the plaza muzak playing in the background. He managed to lower down from the impact hole to the window just above the 78th floor sky lobby, on the east face about five to ten columns away from the southeast corner. There was actually another fellow that climbed down the outside of north tower, on the west face (towards the Hudson) that made it something like twenty floors down. He was somewhere above the north tower's 78th floor sky lobby when he started down, and from what accounts and video I've seen of him he lost his grip and fell when the South tower was hit. I am still trying to process this event, started really watching 911 stuff again this year after 20 years of not thinking about it very much. When it happened, 11 year old me spent the following year or two watching whatever footage I could find on kazaa or limewire and the internet in general. Some how or another I just stopped looking at it one day, like a switch turned off. Two decades plus later, it is surreal to look back it all. All the changes it brought about. How much of our current situations as a country and world were directly influenced by this event (and everything that led up to it). Just how deep the horror a person is capable of inflicting on others... How much suffering these poor folks went through, and so many thousands continue to go through as they get sick/have gotten sick over the years from exposures. The depth of heroism people are capable of is one of the things that outshines the horrors. Hundreds of heroes laid it all down that day, but just focusing in on each account and story, you realize that so many of them were responsible for hundreds of people making it out, a few that we know of maybe a couple thousand people. These people stayed and or went back in multiple times and are a huge reason the count was a shake over 2800, and not more like 15000 or 20000. Some of these legends lived through it (and should forever be championed and cherished for it), so many did not. This event is slipping into the 'way back then' perspective rear view, but we really do need to continue to revisit this thing. It really rocked millions of people in ways that just shouldn't have happened, really the whole world if you consider the wide angle.. if it wasn't 911 it probably would've been something else or a more gradual descent into bedlam like we are seeing, but this event really just was a kick in the soul of everything good vibe, and I can't even begin to fathom what it would've been like to lose someone close in this, much less what those folks went through above the impact sites or anywhere inside when they collapsed. Sorry to ramble, I guess I had some thoughts about this today. I've learned to just let em out, as it's all a part of processing it. I hope you all are well today.
You literally just described my thoughts and experience with this event, to a T. I was just starting high school when it happened… I feel like I was just stunned by it, didn’t really process, and got right into the whole unity, patriotism and let’s go kick butt mentality. Then it faded I graduated and goofed off in my early 20’s and started my life. Had my own heartbreaks and losses, too much else to think about. Fast forward to having my two little boys the last 2 years, and of course the 20th anniversary, and I’m now finally going back and looking at it with different perspectives, finally stating to process. 1) I consider it (and I’ve heard it called this) “the day the 90’s died”. I’ve realized that 9/11, smartphones and social media has essentially murdered the world I came from. My boys will never know what it was like before all of this. They call us the “bridge generation” because we spent half of our childhood before the change, and half after. We are proficient with our current tech, but remember dial up internet and spiral corded rotary phones. So, unlike old timers who get written off for being overly nostalgic thinking their times were better… my generation actually is qualified to say which world was better because we lived in both. And I’m sorry, but pre-9/11 was better. I think 9/11 desensitized us, and smartphones and social media finished us off. Everyone is just downright cold and nasty now. 2) 9/11 to me when it happened, and in the many years after, was a sad, horrible thing that happened. But now, as an adult who went down the rabbit hole looking at things he shouldn’t have online, it’s become to me the most disgusting event that ever happened in human history. There’s been no shortage of horror and barbarism in wars… but 9/11 was unique in that these people didn’t even know they were in a battle, and untold numbers had to end their own lives in a manner that involved unspeakable suffering. The jumpers have traumatized me. The suffering they endured on the way down, thinking of their little children… having time to realize their lives were over and they were going to splatter like watermelons at the bottom. The aftermath photos, the videos… the story I read in a comment section right here on RUclips about a guy whose neighbor ran out and got sprayed with a person as they hit the ground… replaying that in his head for 20 years before putting a bullet through it to make it stop. The story of the woman who was nothing but chest-up and yelling that she was still alive. The stories of the guys who tried to climb down. The people on the second plane seeing the towers as they got close. The cancer deaths rising today. It’s all just… too much. I want to believe in god, but this has shaken my faith. 3) The state of our country and how that unity went away. And how we had the world on our side after this… but threw it all away and wound up looking like the bad guys because of Iraq. And how we’re now collapsing because we allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of dividing, accepting not being leaders anymore, handing China (a nation that killed more than the Nazis and Soviets COMBINED) the world on a silver platter. It’s just shocking to me that the country I knew before and just after 9/11, is now completely gone. In closing, you mirrored a lot of my thoughts. Now that I’ve started processing this, I actually feel worse. Im saddened more than I ever have been about it. I think this was the day we began losing ourselves. I fear for my boys.
@@30AndHatingIt This is why we still talk about 9/11, even those of us who saw the 2nd plane crash live on TV are still having PTSD over this, and we all remember the climbers/jumpers down to our hearts (edit: even today new pics get shown such as burning feet holy crap so terrible). Thank you for detailing such memories, the whole world was watching and I remember Canada doing their part helping ground all north american airspace. Never forget. You so nailed this, the days we could get in cockpits as kids & just casually walk across the U.S. border for shopping. All gone.
Hey there @jacoblott1617 I can empathise with your perspective. I recall vividly the news reports on that morning being broadcast across the world. I was miles away in Australia but still felt the shock, the disbelief and the horror. Whilst I’ve always been drawn to documentaries on this topic, only this year am I absolutely delving deeply down those rabbit holes, reviewing the newly available videos and enhanced vision- which has only made more explicit the horrors on that day, the desperation of those trapped, my ongoing inability to grasp that those planes actually flew right into those buildings. I always felt they cleaned up the scene really fast- but then I found a video on the salvage, the process of examining each piece of debris and the care and respect given to personal belongings and human remains. I agree that life post 9/11 across the world changed and these changes have been accelerated by social media, internet and the increase of intolerance across the world. It’s hard to remain positive for our kids and grandkids futures. Maybe humans are just a scourge in the earth. Maybe we have run our race. Hopefully not, but how to regain the good parts of humanity? How do we combat hatred, so many nationalist right wing ideas and suspicions between people and understand we are all the same, with the same fears and desires for a happy life. Have a great day ! ☺️
if building shakes you get out, if you get sense of being unsafe you get out, if somone tell you to go back to desk then get out, if alarm goes off you get out no matter what others tell you. always trust your senses and safety as could save your life.
There's alot of intriguing ideas here. Keep in mind, you've had 22 years to think about it. They really only had minutes to come up with a plan, gather the equipment and try to execute it all while having trouble comprehending what they were seeing. Everyone there was in a state of shock, go back and look at the facial expressions of the firemen.
Yeah, but this is the type of thing that should be planned for future events. This same type of event can happen and everyone would be doing the same thing, twiddling their thumbs. New safety protocol should be set in place, should this ever happen again. And practiced. But it's not. So if this does ever happen again. Nobody will be prepared.
I agree with you... no one is prepared for a terrible disaster like this.. just like the Tsunami that hit Aceh Indonesia in 2004.. no one knows and is ready for what will happen.. especially in 2001 there were no smartphones and technology wasn't as advanced as it is now.. But anyway yeah, we can learn from mistakes and incidents that have happened..so in the future if something like 9/11 happens... everyone is ready and not surprised by what is happening in front of them..@@bL3dbL4k
Another big thing too is that IIRC manual access to the roofs of either tower had to be allowed by a button in Port Authority office in one of the towers. In the 93 bombing, a bunch of South Tower workers fled to the observation assuming a helicopter evac, and they were later told that this was the improper thing to do in that situation - which makes sense because if there is a office fire and a path down is accessible, you should take it rather than going up, unless absolutely necessary. And in 1993, pretty much every worker who fled to the roof ultimately had to make the long trek down the stairs, except for I think a pregnant woman. So that would all add to why we didn't see people on either roofs.
Oddly I was going through some boxes in my storage today and came across pictures of the last time I was atop the WTC. Being from New York I went up there relatively often but I was last up on the observation deck of the South Tower in May, 2OO1. Sad. As far as your question about the Heliport… I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think there was one on top. My pictures also aren’t showing any. I miss those towers! 🙏🇺🇸
I think you might be right. I just watched some clips from Home Alone 2. The shot of Kevin on top of the South Tower back in 92 didn't show a helipad either. I got to see the Towers for the last time in June 2001 before I moved back to Florida. I was suppose to eat at the Windows on the World but didn't get a chance too. I was planning on going in the summer of 02. You never know what you have until it's gone.
@@itzamia Oh wow you went 1 month after I last went. Something about those towers was mesmerizing. My dad took our family to Windows on the World when I was younger and I’ll never forget how beautiful it was at night. A family friend (Roko Camaj) was the WTC Window Washer. He passed away 9/11. He was above the crash on the North Tower and couldn’t make it out. Was a great guy a very sad story 🇺🇸
Just subbed. I remember this day. Graduated in 2001. And saw this happen on TV with my dad. My girlfriend at the time was a junior in high school she called my house freaking out. Then the second plane hit right after me and my dad clicked on the news. I told my dad why not use helicopters to rescue from the roof. My dad said if they were able to escape to the roof and ALOT of people rush up there....the mass AMOUNT of PANICK among the people to survive would cause danger to helicopter and people would be FIGHTING to get off the building. Nice vids gonna watch another one! Keep.up the good work.
On a recent Nat Geo doco one of the guys in the helicopter that day said had anyone been up there they would've tried, he mentioned the one clearing where it would have been potentially possible etc. "there was nobody up there" he repeated emotionally.
Helicopter rescues don't involve the helicopter landing, they drop baskets. That said, nah, there wasn't a chance of that considering the smoke and air disruptions
That was what I was thinking too. Buckets or modified or enlarged ones where multiple people could just walk onto them as it hover by the people hanging out by the windows.
So basically, the only way this could've worked is if the helicopter didn't actually land but hovered in place just above the roof and threw a rope down. However, like you said, the doors were locked. Here's an interesting proposition though: what if a rescuer had landed down said rope (just one individual with protection gear against smoke inhalation) and with tools to break the locked door from the roof (perhaps even some way to cut through the locks). Then he went into the stairway filled with smoke and tried to get as many people he could find to the roof, then used the rope that is still hanging from the hovering chopper to send them up, one by one. I think that would've been the best case scenario, but still a very difficult feat. However, there just wasn't enough time to be able to mount that kind of rescue because there were many unknowns. Were there more planes headed to the towers? Was the roof compromised for that individual/rescuer? I still think it would have been the best response, rather than just circling the towers with a chopper.
you could go even further, what if you dropped firemen through the roof and using fire extinguishers (100s of them put out the fires from the top of the building which would be easier to reach) and prevented the building from collapsing completely and saving almost everyone
@@try2smile4me22 Fire extinguishers? You can't battle such global and large fire with fireextinguishers. It's impossible even with water connection. Such fires are left to burn out on their own, that's it. Firefighters can only battle small local fires while trying to access people.
If a helicopter rescue were possible, they would have attempted it. There were almost 1.5k people trapped above the impact zone in the north tower. All of which would have been in a state of shock, panic, and they would have been desperate to survive. Imagine a scenario where they send a chopper with a rope ladder. Let's say access to the roof was available, or someone from the chopper unlocked this. Things could have easily gotten out of control, people would fight to get on that chopper, the ladder would end up with multiple people attempting to climb up it at the same time, or worse still, the chopper itself become overwhelmed/overcrowded with people. Those helicopters have weight restrictions. Then there's the fact the pilot could become distracted in the panic, or someone else panics and tries to take control of the helicopter to get away from the area, not to mention the impaired visibility due to the sheer amount of smoke coming from the towers. You then have another potential aircraft crash added to the already catastrophic situation. The only other option would've been to have a large, military helicopter attempt such a rescue mission, but the above could still happen. They also likely did not have the time to assemble such aircrafts, followed by the fact they were trying to keep the sky's as clear as possible incase any other planes were attempting to hit other targets in the area. Unfortunately, it would likely have been more of a risk than a benefit. The amount of people they could have rescued would have been just a small fraction of the people trapped on those upper floors.
I was once in burning building. It was relatively small fire not even close to the WTC fire. We were moving thru black smoked corridor for about 10 seconds and I tell you it was extremely difficult. The smoke was from burning plastic, cloth, furniture... One single breath of it is enough to start you suffocating. People began to cough and they were unable to continue. Unable to make 4-5 steps to safety without help. I can't imagine going up several floors and carrying out an activity in these conditions without a gasmask and protection. I think everybody in the inner parts of the building where dead in minutes after crash..... The next thing is airflow and thermals. Can the helicopter withstand the flow of hot air from the fires? I dont know, but It is possible that it would crash - due to loss of buoyancy or due turbulence...
Given that the observation deck was closed when the attack happen, one positive note is there were no visitors or tourists on the roof or the observation deck at the time. Most visitors were not allowed on the roof of the North Tower but once in a while a visitor got up there. I even saw a youtube video of a guy who was up on the North Tower and shot a video of its roof and the view from it which was only a few months before the attack. He had help from a friend who sadly died in the North Tower's collapse. His friend's body was found in rubble in December of 2001.
This subject has fascinated me as well so I hope to add Couple things that might be helpful: -in the 1993 Basement bombing, 28 people were saved by helicopter from the North Tower, after Sgt. Timothy Farrell repealed down and broke into the locked door. -procedures had been in place to tighten security and prevent public stunts. At 9:30am a 'lock release' order-which would unlock all areas in the complex controlled by the buildings' computerized security system on the 22nd floor of the North Tower. However, damage to the software controlling the system as well as the building at that level being evacuated prevented this - There is an account from the book "Fall and Rise" about individuals around the impact zone actually making it to the top of one of the buildings. However, the doors were locked due to the procedures in place as stated above -Steven Jacobson was a radio transmitter and worked on the 110th floor in the North Tower. contact was made with him twice after the planes hit, however his words being "It's too hot to leave the room. Get me out of here. Send help." sheds light on truly how tough it would have been to navigate the interior even being so close to the top
Well whoever designed that access control software sucks. It should have failed safe and unlocked when it didn't get a heartbeat or upon power loss. We're not talking about fort knox or weapons bunkers here.
Total hopelessness for those poor people... Oh dear😢 one guy even tried to go down between the columns outside the building, can you imagine this... So desperate
The best book on 911 was written by Peter Lance. " 1,000 Years for Revenge" If you're also really interested in how this could have happened. The are some excellent dvds as well. The National Geographic series, and On Native Soil, is a major eye opener.
There were reports of people in the south tower upper floors (where there was 1 remaining stairwell through the impact zone) going up instead of down because they saw the flames downstairs and thought their best chance of survival was to reach the top of the tower and wait for a helicopter rescue. That choice cost their lives.
You also have to take into account no one thought the towers were going to collapse. The firemen truly believed they would just go in kill the fire and then figure out how to get the people out. If data had any idea that the buildings were going to collapse especially that quickly the whole thing would have been handled totally differently.
Loved the observation deck i was fortunate enough to visit there during an elementary school "field trip" due to a classmate having a Dad in the port authority... sad day 911...sad world we live in..tbh 😺
Even if the helicopter couldn’t land they still could’ve dropped off the BASE jumping parachutes that people have used to jumps off the twin towers with before. Sure some people probably couldn’t had figured out how to use it but I think people would’ve helped eachother out. At least they would’ve had a chance. They were so desperate they were trying to make parachutes out of table clothes and umbrellas.
@@rodonis88would you rather be given a parachute not knowing how to use it and have the chance of being able to save yourself or just be guaranteed to die? Any person with a will to live would have taken the chance with a parachute
The top of the North Tower had more antennas all over the roof for Cellular and police comms and other 2-way radio services. The huge mast in the center was for broadcast AM-FM-TV stations that were on the top floors.
The video of the roof of the north tower showed fires all over the roof and it clearly was a hell on Earth... What I always wondered was if water buckets used in forest fire fighting could have helped douse the fires from the roof on down with constant seawater dousing of the roof to fight the fires that way in the north tower. The south tower was a lost cause due to the lower hit by the plane.
The water would have spread the jet fuel even further down those elevator shafts and stairways not too mention the outside of the buildings. They would have needed a type of flame retardant that's used in fighting forest fires.
@@LucyKosaki - The answer would be to test this idea scientifically and prove that it works or not. It would be a good experiment for a combustion lab to try out to see if such a technology would work for high rise fires.
I remember this being my biggest question at the time. I was screaming at the tv for those helicopters to get people on the top.😔 I'm glad to see this video.
Hello, thank you for posting this. When this happened I was at a store and at 1st I thought it was a movie, it was on a small tv behind the counter. Then the clerk told me this was real. I went home and was glued to the tv. I really believe some people made it to the roof of the north tower because there was a helicopter filming the tops of the towers and in about a 4 second shot I very clearly seen bodies on the ground. The cameraman moved the camera really quick to a diffrent angle. This is something thats been bothering and haunting me since I saw it. I think they were already dead from the smoke and heat. It broke my heart seeing it. But im 100% positive people made it to the roof. As for a helicopter rescue that is totally possible. However they were against time. The army has those dual rotor choppers there called chinook. Ive seen those carry a full platoon indide and a half track under it. If they had the time they could have had a huge cargo net with a couple of men inside. The net could have been on a long cord and the chopper could have hoverd at least over the south tower, not sure about the north due to that antenna. But the men could have got the doors open and found survivors if any and they could have escaped by the net. But again, time. we were not prepared. Maybe the smaller choppers could have grabbed some? Im not too sure on that. This stuff really bothers me and I dont know anyone personally who was there. Im still very upset about it. God bless all who was affected by this, especially the fallen.
People are actually questioning whether or not the towers actually had Helicopter Pads? As a person who used to listen to a lot of Limp Bizkit in 2000/2001, I was shaking my head when I heard you talking about people were actually asking that question. I can tell you that part of Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ Music Video was shot on the Helicopter Pad of the South Tower. The sad part of the story is that the World Trade Centre sent the band a letter of Gratitude thanking them for featuring their towers in their music video. The date the the band received the letter, September 10 2001. There is only one helicopter pad on the top of each tower so mobilizing dozens of helicopters to pick up hundreds of people would’ve taken a really really long time. Time they didn’t have. Of course, at the time, nobody knew that the whole building was going to collapse.
It's a nice though but there are a few potential problems: 1. There are many things to crash into and zero visibility for landing due to the smoke. 2. Helicopter engines need air to operate. What happens when the engine takes in that much of that kind of smoke? Would it choke the engine? 3. As soon as you open the door to let people in, the helicopter cabin would fill with smoke. Now the pilot would be choking. 4. I imagine it's already windy that high up, that close to the ocean, on a good day. What effect would the fires have on the wind up there? Would the heat cause more turbulence?
Also, I imagine so many panicked people would have swarmed the chopper, and made it incredibly hard to even take off. They’d probably be hanging on the runners if they thought that was their only chance of escape.
It should always be known in advance about possible fire hazards and rescue methods. Surely there are strong equipped military helicopters that could lower rope ladders, even rescue people from broken windows, and throw them respirator masks.
If there had been a somewhat large group of victims on the roof, I imagine there would have been panic. Most likely extreme panic. So there would have been pushing and no one would have been able to hear commands.
There’s a documentary about what it was like in the towers on that day and someone rescued someone from the 90th floor and went down to floor 3 before he collapsed and passed away. He stayed with him the entire time and the other guy died in the collapse of the north tower.
Imo parachutes should have been stored somewhere in that building in case of a serious serious emergency and incase the stairwell was compromised. We all know elevators aren't an option during a fire so that would've been a decent alternative. Those were tall buildings so they knew it would take fire fighters a lil while to get to those in need plus with a fire, time is crucial. In their case they really aint have time to being setting up command posts they needed to be heading up as soon as they got in. Those poor souls had no clue the towers would fall.
its wishful shinking ya its better than jumping to your death or burning alive but you jump out with a parachute gotta open it almost immediately and chance could fly right into another building and die that way. i know guy did it i believe but was no fires and he did it from the observation deck not out of a window
Never would have worked the wind forces into the buildings would have made in impossible. A better options are the long inflatable slides they have developed in China for tall buildings, but even those have limits.
This would have been a terrible alternative. Most people wouldn't know how to use them, and plus, as the video points out, there were thick plumes of smoke at the top of the building, which is a problem in itself. Not to mention the towers held 50 thousand people in them at any given time. It just wouldn't have been practical.
Another thing. The minute people starting jumping could a the biggest bouncy castles in new York have been put on top of each other, like 10 storeys worth, giving the jumpers a chance?
It was raining debris, however some very big nets could had surely helped, the logistics of getting that setup though within an hour were simply impossible, literal raining chaos all over.
@@spikester whether nets or bouncy castles, the emergency services would have had to have already expected jumpers, which we know they didn't. For next time, hoping there isn't, they might be better prepared. I'm surprised I have not seen these proposals in any of the post event investigations.
Fact of the matter is, the doors were locked and you know damn well people must’ve been tugging on them, screaming and cursing those responsible for it. Yes the smoke rose, but they could’ve stood in the few areas where there wasn’t. Helos flew right over the roofs.
nowadays where i live doors that are locked like that always have an emergency door release behind a sheet of glass you have to break to activate the door release. every safety improvement or rule is written with death
Does anyone realize that heat rises? Its not just smoke you see. The temperature must have been incredible as the building vented just like a chimney. What effect would such intense heat have on a helicopter engine, its rotors, its frame? Could the copter have maintained its hover in the flue-like conditions? It doesn't work to just say such-and-such should have been done. There were way too many conditions that needed to be considered that day, about things that had never happened before.
Here's a video that possibly shows the escalator leading to the observation deck in the south tower falling at the moment flight 175 struck: ruclips.net/video/vTkgnR223Ks/видео.html You can even see the building sway A LOT when the plane hit: ruclips.net/video/Qk5NQgU-9G4/видео.html My hypothesis: the sudden and violent swaying of the buildings at the moment the planes hit may have compromised or destroyed escalators/stairways/passages/doors leading to the roof, rendering an airlift from the roof impossible.
there were anti-helicopter obstacles installed on the roof after the bombing of the towers in 1993, they were installed there to prevent terrorists landing on the roof via helicopter.
So first of all the helicopter was a bell 412. Who knows if they had enough hover power, also hovering around a super heated oven loss tail rotor eff. LTE also the helicopter may have immediately settled from the drastic temp changes. - VRS , LTE , and many more issues with a small helo like a 412. Now had it been a s61/s64/ch-47d you can getaway with a lot more. I’ve also heard people mention parachutes and that’s just crazy talk. We are talking about Manhattan not Tucson. I don’t think people realize how fast this entire event was. It was 8:46-10:28am between strike #1 and both buildings down. Like people don’t appreciate how fast time goes by in any emergency. Much less a mass casualty.
When I remember it correctly from watching everything live that day, a massive problem for the helicopters was besides the smoke the enormous heat emergening from the towers going up. It is much more difficult for a helicopter to navigate in hot air so they could not land on the towers even if they wanted to
After the 1993 bombing there were Helicopter rescues from the roof. On 9/11 FDNY/NYPD command ordered that Helicopters not attempt rescues do to the risk associated.
I always though that ,with enough force the roof door could of been opened,enabling a helicopter rescue,albeit slow,no rope, but a cage on a wire,but this highlighted the fact that the smoke would of stopped any attempt,just overwhelming everyone.
Regarding dropping a rope and the issue if there would've been 20-30 people on top: I believe this could've been done by using one of those bucket shaped gondolas they use for rescue. They could've picked up 4-5 people at a time, fly over to a nearby skyscraper, let the people out on that roof, and repeat. Probably couldve made a trip every 8-10 minutes or so - depending on when such a helicopter arrives at the towers, might or might not be enough time to rescure all of those hypothetical 20-30 people on the north tower roof. For people hanging at the side of a building though, unless they have an unrealisticly long rope, such as 100 meters or so, there's no way to help with a helicopter. I mean, they couldn't even get anyone out of the granfell tower fire and that was only 70 meters.
@urbanyouthsalso, the machine was quite slow as well, so even if it did work I’ve seen something where they said it would only be able to make a few trips before the towers collapsed.
If there’s a electricity and they have access to the roof they can break the glass on the below impact zone so they can escape through stair and collect again a couple of people on above impact zone
Maybe this could have worked on one of the un-impacted faces. Imagine being lowered right in front of the impact hole... the heat and fire would have likely snapped the cables.
The short answer is NO. Because the entry to the rooftop was blocket and New York Police Department stopped doing Helicopter rescues on rooftops since 1993.
Again i want to say that Firefighters could have used the helicopters and ropes to carry down to the world trade center roofs that will allow them to get to the impact zone faster in a north tower. Remember, firefighters have gasmasks and other breathing equipment. So the firemen could have arrived at the north tower impact zone ahead of time. Keep in mind that authorities did reach the impact zone of the south trade center. But by that time it was too late.
Can you please do a video if and how would Edna Cintron could have been saved if that was apossibility. And or maybe do a video of how she was still alive after the pland hit, she was very lucky but could not be saved.
I could cry watching this because this is what I thought would happen when I watched this happened 9/11 happening. It’s really devastating. I was so young but I thought helicopters would help everyone at the top
Its not the darkness of the smoke, nor the density of it, although those properties create problems. The biggest issue with smoke is toxicity, period. Just a few inhalations of it will disable a person completely.
Could only imagine the backlash on if that happened. think of the youtube comments on that one: " How do we know they would have hit the buildings!? US GOV MURDERED INNOCENT CIVILIANS!" "There's no way untrained pilots would be able to maneuver those jets into buildings!" etc etc
Yes definitely, cause you got 1 hour 48 mins until the towers collapsed. But, they could have rescued the upper lever of where the planes have done catastrophic damage to the building, I means, stairs, elevators, exit fire stairs. But, the aviation authority shut down the airspace all over USA. Each minute is vital in this kind of situations.
A related question I would like to be considered is would it have helped to fly aircraft over and drop water on the towers like you would on a forest fire?
This was a good video. Hardly anyone at that chaotic moment thought the buildings were going to collapse. Some people who knew the details of what had happened and how over the top it was considering the design would know, but they were rare, and who would blame them for not saying anything? Some office workers assumed it would be possible. One of the survivors did mention being told "hey you know what, this building might collapse", but it was probably not even an educated guess at the moment. Many helicopters circled the area and were approaching the roof, but saw no one. I'm sure an attempt would be made if there was anyone waving. After the south tower collapsed, nobody would dare to land on the north one and that's where any ideas of roof rescue stop.
The problem with using a helicopter rope is that even if they did use a rope a person would not hold on for very long that high in the air. The helicopter would try to find a open sale to dr of the people. Dropping them off on another skyscraper would not be a good idea cause of the chaos. Plus nobody knew how many planes was hijacked. As for using a ladder on the side of the building that would not be possible as well. People would be pushing and shoving people and stepping on others to get down. It would cause more problems than helping to save them.
I heard the helicopter person say there was too much smoke and the copter would spread the smoke and make it worse. And he said the cables made it a risks.
Would a parachute even be viable at that height? Say you survive initial impact, grab your chute.. could I just hop out and accept the injuries from the landing or is that not enough height for it to deploy etc?
Greetings from Scotland! i'm no expert but i think getting onto the roof of either building was an option providing the heat was not overwhelming. lowering a rope to the people on the roof has the issue of static discharge which means that people could have been knocked out by the electrical shock. Down draft from the helicopters as well as wind direction would mitigate some of the smoke issues for the helicopters. the best option as i see it would have been a dedicated heli-bourne rescue team, which would have had to been similar it style to airforce PJ's. the winchman would have been trained how to deal with people panicking and some of the equipment they carried such as small demolition charges, det cord/cordex could have been used for opening the locked doors and removing obstacles on the roof in such a manner to cause them not to fall on the people at street level. This would have expanded the size of the LZ and would have allowed larger heavy lift helicopters to be employed. I am not sure where the nearest military base would be in that area that would have had these helicopters but US Marines used boeing vertol sea knights that could carry 30+ fully equipped marines, so if you discard the military equipment, guns ammo etc that could have been 40+ per helicopter multiply by twelve for a full squadron. You could probably say 40-50 if CH-47 Chinooks were were available. this is all dependant on people in authority making quick decisions and that can only happen with accurate information at the time and with a lot of the communication channels being overloaded, realistically i don't think it would have happened in time to save people on the south tower or the north tower. i just hope and pray that there is now a new evacuation plan in place should this ever happen again but i suspect that penny pinching bureaucrats will say it's to expensive to maintain based on a "what if" scenario.
I'm wondering if someone ever thought of storing a parachute in their office in case something like that ever happened..but how could they have known I guess. I've also wondered how hard it would've been to scale down those concrete pillars
I know this might sound a bit fantastical, but I sometimes imagine a person who took a parachute into work that day and might have planned to do a jump off the roof, but instead used it to escape the collapsing towers. I think it would have been quite possible to base jump off the top or even out of a window and then open the chute. The problem then, is making sure you drift far enough away from the towers to land somewhere safely. Imagine being in flight while the towers were collapsing. You would have to glide to the top of another building or somewhere away from the debris cloud.
@@GoMArkkrAM Yes I think so. I haven't seen anyone else mention the possibility of parachutes as a means of escaping the towers. All those jumpers could have potentially jumped with a chute on, had there been one available. It's all history now, but it bares thinking about.
They weren't expecting the towers to collapse. Once the first one did, it was about 1/2 an hour to plan, gather and execute a rescue attempt, before the second one collapsed.
4:20 ABSOLUTE BS. Nypd chopper was up assesing damage with in MINUTES. There's video and audio of them counting bodies falling out of the windows. You can't lie when there's actual video and audio available AND real people were on the scene. You're an "armchair" youtube analyzer.
Was dropping water from helicopters ever considered? There’s some pretty crazy water crane type choppers they use to fight fires in really remote areas, or even remote style fire fighters 🤷🏼♂️
I would also guess (a pure guess) that the heat from the fires would have created some rough upward thermals making it difficult to control the helicopter.
Thanks for making this easy to understand. I too have wonder about a helicopter rescue for years after, that said thanks for digging and getting answer for the ones like me are always curious. what about fire helicopters to put out the fire? That's my new question.
The people who were stuck in the towers that could not go down, tried to get to the observation deck, but the door was locked. All those people were stuck. If that door could have been unlocked, I think hundreds of people would have been on the observation deck waiting to be rescued.
The smoke would have been unreal up there... Maybe if someone could have gotten up to thee north tower's roof and to the northwest corner on or near the window washing machine... But the doors were either locked or jammed.
@@jacoblott1617 like so unreal that you had to hang out of the window 1300 feet up? I mean, the situation was max level bad already. It really surprises me that in case of some sort of emergency those doors couldnt be opened and it does surprise me that nobody ever thought of SOME (no matter how far fetched or ridiculous) rescue plan.
@@Frankje01 maybe with a little more time, but it was only a shake over an hour from the first plane to the first collapse... That's really fast.
@@jacoblott1617 yeah very true, and it is all hindsight of course.
But when you really go a bit down the rabbithole, with all the information that was out there regarding terrorism, to completely ignore that in regards to safety protocols is odd to me.
I have watched so many docs and videos and I have not seen anybody talk about: Hey, this might be far fetched but what if something happens and there is such a fire that people cant get down. Are they just going to burn to death/jump to their death?
It's just very bitter to think about when you hear there were signs of terrorist plans to attack American cities.
@@Frankje01 there's no questions about how obvious it is now that blind eye after blind eye was turned to plenty, whether we are talking about how morbidly inadequate emergency egress was in the wtc and how much was just floating around about imminent dangers from terrorism. You probably know all about the guy in FBI that save for specifics had the 911 imminency all but figured out ahead of time... And they fired him for it, only for him to wind up dying in the towers, as fate does.
Imagine those who were trapped in Tower 1 who saw Tower 2 collapse
I believe there was a photo taken during the final stages of the North Tower still standing, titled 'Impending Doom'. I've often wondered why it was called that and whether it was related to the final moments just after Tower 2 had already collapsed. We even saw footage of it actually. The sight of workers on the floors above the impact zones, leaning out of the windows piled up on top of each other..
Good God the situation on those floors must have been absolutely unimaginable. They must have been truly Hellish.
May all their souls truly Rest In Peace.
Gone but never forgotten. 😔🙏
Thought about that too.
Not many likely realized exactly what had happened at all, since anyone below the impact site would have been in the stairwells attempting to get down and everyone above the impact site had almost certainly jumped or been taken out by the smoke at that point... Just a terrible day. There is pure evil in this world, never forget that.
@@kilibecherHe’s talking about the people above impact
@@pankowangelclub brother in christ read the 2nd part of his message
I saw a documentary where they actually played audio from the helicopters where they were saying they didn't see anyone on the roof but it sounded like they at least would have tried if they saw anyone up there.
There was too much turbulence. They would not have landed on the roof. Why do you think all the roof top helipads were abandoned fifty years ago? Too turbulent. Might want to lay off the Bruce Willis action-adventure movies.
@@thomasallen6980 why do you think rooftop helipads existed ? Because it's doable. But in the 911 situation idk if it would be possible with the smoke and heat
maybe they could've threw a ladder down. another comment said the doors to the roof were locked or needed another person to open them... so if there was an emergency i guess that wasn't an option
The smoke and dust debris would ground the helicopter
You'd have thought architects would have learnt from the film ' Towering Inferno' & that's a very old film
I saw a cop that was in a helicopter address this in one of the many vids i've seen. He said it wasn't possible to rescue anyone cuz of the smoke and heat it just wasn't possible. He said ppl that were stuck were looking at him and he was looking back not able to do anything.
'He said ppl that were stuck were looking at him and he was looking back not able to do anything.'
😪🙏
What a hopeless feeling when you want to help and they are looking at you and you can't do anything.😢
@urbanyouthswith all the smoke, too? I suppose fog asea could be comparable, but sans the heat and noxious agents billowing from the stricken structure(s.)
@@PistolP33 In regards to the smoke i think its more about the heat and lack of oxygen required for the jet engines on the heli to run.
Absolutely terrible...@@DavidSilva-fq7nt
The helicopter pad still existed in late 2000. Limp Bizkit recorded their music video for Rollin’ on top of the pad.
You beat me to it
late 1999*
@@aintthatright616 point taken it was probably shot in 1999
@@adamtrogdon959 It was actually filmed very shotly before I saw one someone say it was maybe the day before.
@@REDARROW_A_Personalon September 10,2001 they were sent a thank you letter from the towers for taking them in the video when they won the award
I'm not sure it's been mentioned but another thing to consider is, even if there was an attempt at a rescue, you gotta think about the sheer panic and desperation the victims would've had. A helicopter can't just take on a bunch of people in mid flight, were they to drop a ladder down. If one person goes up that ladder while in a hover, the pilot has to compensate. And, while some people were incredibly noble in letting others go before them for help and safety, there's gonna be enough panicked people to potentially, likely, compromise the helicopter. Which at that point, if the pilot loses control, the helicopter itself now becomes debris and a risk to any other buildings nearby full of people or other people on the ground. If it can't land safely, it's sadly not worth all the risks involved. Never mind all the smoke as mentioned. It's just a horrific situation, and it's natural to grasp for something like what if's.
Thats a great point. Even if the helicopters could have rescued people, it would have been chaos with people fighting eachother to be the first to get rescued. It wouldve been impossible.
Imagine grabbing the ladder as the tower starts collapsing. All your colleagues screaming behind you
Very interesting point. The hovering helicopter would need some kind of emergency release mechanism for the rope/ladder in case an instability occurred due to overload, dropping the rescuees back on the roof. Better than losing the chopper right there too
@@LeafFan1221 I wonder if the roof would have been the safest place in/on the tower to ride the collapse if you were stuck there. In theory, the bottom floors and mass could "cushion" your fall impact once everything gets compacted near the bottom, but it's impossible to predict such a chaotic physics situation.
People were extremely desperate, many people jumped out rather than burning to death. Knowing desperation would make that chopper lose control and crash.
I am retired FDNY Capt. We had a helicopter rescue plan in effect since 1985. Problem was that none of the mayors would give us the funding to get one. Their answer was ask PD. Ladder 21 in my house was the designated roof team for Hi-rise fires downtown, Lad-15 for uptown. The plan had been updated in summer of 2001. (I still have my tape.) Smoke condition at time of crash was minimal, and if plan had been activated a good chance of success. BUT NONE OF OUR CHIEFS CALLED TO ACTIVATE. No idea why. (If we had our own copter, based at 34 St Heliport, L-21 cold have been on that roof in 7 minutes.) As to the smoke issue, the downdraft from the copters would have displaced a lot of the smoke as the pickups went on. Had they used a hoist like Coast Guard the smoke would be no issue. Another of those what ifs, What if Coast Guard was our copter crew. Put our guys on the roof as planned, and they hoisted civilians up.
Thank you for your comment. It was actually my first thought and question when I learned of the tragedy that day: why no attempt of a helicopter rescue? I heard many excuses about why helicopter rescues were not attempted that day, but I had never heard or read a professional answer on whether that would have been possible or not, so your comment is what I had been looking for. I was certain that helicopter rescue would have been possible, had it been decided by the authorities. The locked doors were certainly not the worst thing to overcome that day, either. I remember hearing in one of the 9/11 documentaries how a group of people trapped above the impact zone did try to escape to the rooftop but found the door locked and had told their loved ones about it over the phone.
@@Bellasie1 The PA locked the roof doors for "safety". Not that locked doors ever stop FDNY from getting through them. What is so tragic, and so nightmarish for me is that Helicopter rescues have been used before. Do you remember the horrific fires in San Paolo in the 70s. Hundreds were saved. A Hi-rise fire in New Orleans around that same time used copters. And the MGM Grand in Vegas saved over a hundred from that inferno. Yet after we saw the need and developed a plan for NYC, Koch who no longer liked or wanted the FDNY, (but wanted us cut apart and taken over by PD!!), refused to give us any funding. Dinkins wanted the same, so NO funding. Thus our plan was locked into using PD copters. The catch was we could not order them to do anything. And we had to wait for it and a PD crew to show up and land first. Not sure why Rudy never stepped up.
At the 1993 bombing our guys had to walk up 110 stories to search and save all.
That day was our greatest, as the only ones who died were caught in the explosion!! 50,000 were rescued/removed. Yet still NO copters.
After 9/11 myself and a few others wrote scathing reports demanding we use Coast Guard as they had the winches too. (To save people at the windows).
Still NO FUNDING. If you ever want a detailed look at FDNY see my first book ;
MY TURN ON THE FIRELINES. For a look at the Historical Web of 9/11 see my series; FATAL FLAWS 1-3. B&N is the best site. Amazo has knockoffs
Stay Well R
Those in the planes never know what hit them....those in the lower floors had a chance, though VERY slim...the poor souls on the upper floors above the crashes, must have known that was IT for them......And the true HEROS one and all, the firemen rushing INTO those buildings trying to save people and losing their OWN lives. I still tear up thinking about them all.....
Actually, from one of the phone calls from Flight 11, they realized what the hijackers were going to do at the last second. Obviously they had to know considering how low they were within the skyline, and I don't think the flight attendants were the only ones who knew this.
@@DTD110865 yeah because obviously the passengers could just look outside their windows
I’ll never get over 9/11. I am not even American, was about 12 years old when it happened and living in some remote village in Southern Nigeria. We didn’t have a radio or TV but we had newspapers that people sometimes brought with them from the city, and that’s where I saw what happened and even though I was young and hardly knew anything about America, I was saddened and still am today. I have watched practically every documentary made about the event, as well as the movie starring Nicolas Cage. It just breaks my heart thinking of all those people in the towers and the planes, as it breaks my heart seeing what America, that former shining light on the hill, is becoming today both culturally and politically.
We had a rescue plan for Hi-rises since 1985. It was never implemented.
I suppose before the South Tower fell, rescuers would not have been aware that the towers would collapse so maybe they were already planning a helicopter rescue once smoke would reduce and it would be safer to land? I guess they must have been considering that at that point.
No they knew there was the chance they would or could collapse. Now was it even expected I’d guess no, because honestly steel takes thousands of degrees to even give etc , which also probably until it was to late for dozens of Fd inside before structural engineers actually started informing them that these buildings most definitely have a high chance of collapsing in on themselves especially due to the high temperatures jet fuel burns at also informing them that the buildings design was not “ designed “ like many still this day to endure that type of accident/impact vs swaying with the wind bc of their heights , nor the temperature of the fires mainly due to the jet fuel.
Unlikely, it was pure panic that day.
I worked on the 95th floor in the South Tower during the first bombing in 93 as well on September 11th. In 93 there were a few pregnant women in the company that were rescued from the roof because they couldn't walk down 95 floors. Total different situation on 9/11 but it has been done
How did you get out of the building
If he was on the 95th floor after the impact of flight 175, he could've used the northwest stairwell, the only of the 3 left in tact after the impact.
You worked at the WTC in 93? You don't look older than 35.
@@sodiumvapor13 hehe I am actually 58 now. This pic is a few years old
@@keyshawnscott12 in 93, There wasn't a lot of smoke in the Stairwells but it was pitch black. We had to walk down in groups of ten, the first in line with flashlight and the remainder with his/her hand on the person's shoulder in front of them. It took us an hour to get down from 95th floor
Thank you for making videos like this in 2023. Glad to see there's more people interested in this topic. Every once in a while I get obsessed with 9/11 and the twin towers (even though I'm not from US, I'm Lithuanian), trying to figure out ways in which more people could've been saved.
I keep thinking about it all probably because I remember these events even though I was only 5 years old when it happened. My parents brought me home from the kindergarten and burning twin towers were on the TV. The first time I ever learned about them was the day they got destroyed. Everything about the world was new to me as a child, I remember being a kid and assuming that this is normal. Only as I grew older, I realized how unprecedented 9/11 attacks were. First time I became seriously interested in this was back in 2007 when I was 11 years old. That's when I became conscious enough to understand the significance of this tragedy.
As a 5 year old, I remember looking at the TV, my parents talking about what was unfolding and me building the twin towers I just learned about out of lego bricks while sitting on the floor.
watch the documentary called the new pearl harbor. you will see how 911 really happened and who was really responsible. hint. its not what the news told u
Same I get obsessed and then I forget about it
My grandmother was Lithuanian
yeah, quite same here. I am polish. Was 8 yo when 9/11 happened.
Remember that afternoon, went back from school. Few days before our TV was broken, so we used older one, black and white antenna TV with only 4 programms. Remember i came back to home, and the TV was standing on the windowsill, my parents were watching News, and didn't allow me to swith to cartoons.. that time was so surreal. Had to watch towers collapsing, meanwhile just eat dinner. My home was a better place than NY.. later went out side to play with friends, not really understanding what just happened on manhattan.
after years i still cannot understand why americans think it was staged, inside job, controlled demolition, no planes but rockets and other conspiracy theories, people are apes, don't even learn.. then was an Iraq war in 2004, and atomic bomb hoax. Not really believe the USA gonverment, they get what they deserve. My parents later told me, its because of jews and arabs conflict, flexing muscles on each other.. sorry for my bad english.
I can never remember the names attached to these videos (best way to look em up), but ive seen a few mentions of folks climbing down the outside of the towers.
There's video of one fellow on the South tower, looked like he was lowering himself down with a rope or somee curtains tied together. Hemade it down like 3 floors and tried kicking a window, then lost his grip and fell. Eerie seeing such a close shot of him with the plaza muzak playing in the background. He managed to lower down from the impact hole to the window just above the 78th floor sky lobby, on the east face about five to ten columns away from the southeast corner.
There was actually another fellow that climbed down the outside of north tower, on the west face (towards the Hudson) that made it something like twenty floors down. He was somewhere above the north tower's 78th floor sky lobby when he started down, and from what accounts and video I've seen of him he lost his grip and fell when the South tower was hit.
I am still trying to process this event, started really watching 911 stuff again this year after 20 years of not thinking about it very much. When it happened, 11 year old me spent the following year or two watching whatever footage I could find on kazaa or limewire and the internet in general. Some how or another I just stopped looking at it one day, like a switch turned off.
Two decades plus later, it is surreal to look back it all. All the changes it brought about. How much of our current situations as a country and world were directly influenced by this event (and everything that led up to it). Just how deep the horror a person is capable of inflicting on others... How much suffering these poor folks went through, and so many thousands continue to go through as they get sick/have gotten sick over the years from exposures. The depth of heroism people are capable of is one of the things that outshines the horrors. Hundreds of heroes laid it all down that day, but just focusing in on each account and story, you realize that so many of them were responsible for hundreds of people making it out, a few that we know of maybe a couple thousand people. These people stayed and or went back in multiple times and are a huge reason the count was a shake over 2800, and not more like 15000 or 20000. Some of these legends lived through it (and should forever be championed and cherished for it), so many did not. This event is slipping into the 'way back then' perspective rear view, but we really do need to continue to revisit this thing. It really rocked millions of people in ways that just shouldn't have happened, really the whole world if you consider the wide angle.. if it wasn't 911 it probably would've been something else or a more gradual descent into bedlam like we are seeing, but this event really just was a kick in the soul of everything good vibe, and I can't even begin to fathom what it would've been like to lose someone close in this, much less what those folks went through above the impact sites or anywhere inside when they collapsed.
Sorry to ramble, I guess I had some thoughts about this today. I've learned to just let em out, as it's all a part of processing it. I hope you all are well today.
You literally just described my thoughts and experience with this event, to a T. I was just starting high school when it happened… I feel like I was just stunned by it, didn’t really process, and got right into the whole unity, patriotism and let’s go kick butt mentality. Then it faded I graduated and goofed off in my early 20’s and started my life. Had my own heartbreaks and losses, too much else to think about.
Fast forward to having my two little boys the last 2 years, and of course the 20th anniversary, and I’m now finally going back and looking at it with different perspectives, finally stating to process.
1) I consider it (and I’ve heard it called this) “the day the 90’s died”. I’ve realized that 9/11, smartphones and social media has essentially murdered the world I came from. My boys will never know what it was like before all of this.
They call us the “bridge generation” because we spent half of our childhood before the change, and half after. We are proficient with our current tech, but remember dial up internet and spiral corded rotary phones. So, unlike old timers who get written off for being overly nostalgic thinking their times were better… my generation actually is qualified to say which world was better because we lived in both. And I’m sorry, but pre-9/11 was better. I think 9/11 desensitized us, and smartphones and social media finished us off. Everyone is just downright cold and nasty now.
2) 9/11 to me when it happened, and in the many years after, was a sad, horrible thing that happened. But now, as an adult who went down the rabbit hole looking at things he shouldn’t have online, it’s become to me the most disgusting event that ever happened in human history. There’s been no shortage of horror and barbarism in wars… but 9/11 was unique in that these people didn’t even know they were in a battle, and untold numbers had to end their own lives in a manner that involved unspeakable suffering. The jumpers have traumatized me. The suffering they endured on the way down, thinking of their little children… having time to realize their lives were over and they were going to splatter like watermelons at the bottom. The aftermath photos, the videos… the story I read in a comment section right here on RUclips about a guy whose neighbor ran out and got sprayed with a person as they hit the ground… replaying that in his head for 20 years before putting a bullet through it to make it stop. The story of the woman who was nothing but chest-up and yelling that she was still alive. The stories of the guys who tried to climb down. The people on the second plane seeing the towers as they got close. The cancer deaths rising today. It’s all just… too much. I want to believe in god, but this has shaken my faith.
3) The state of our country and how that unity went away. And how we had the world on our side after this… but threw it all away and wound up looking like the bad guys because of Iraq. And how we’re now collapsing because we allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of dividing, accepting not being leaders anymore, handing China (a nation that killed more than the Nazis and Soviets COMBINED) the world on a silver platter. It’s just shocking to me that the country I knew before and just after 9/11, is now completely gone.
In closing, you mirrored a lot of my thoughts. Now that I’ve started processing this, I actually feel worse. Im saddened more than I ever have been about it. I think this was the day we began losing ourselves. I fear for my boys.
@@30AndHatingIt This is why we still talk about 9/11, even those of us who saw the 2nd plane crash live on TV are still having PTSD over this, and we all remember the climbers/jumpers down to our hearts (edit: even today new pics get shown such as burning feet holy crap so terrible). Thank you for detailing such memories, the whole world was watching and I remember Canada doing their part helping ground all north american airspace. Never forget. You so nailed this, the days we could get in cockpits as kids & just casually walk across the U.S. border for shopping. All gone.
Hey there @jacoblott1617 I can empathise with your perspective. I recall vividly the news reports on that morning being broadcast across the world. I was miles away in Australia but still felt the shock, the disbelief and the horror. Whilst I’ve always been drawn to documentaries on this topic, only this year am I absolutely delving deeply down those rabbit holes, reviewing the newly available videos and enhanced vision- which has only made more explicit the horrors on that day, the desperation of those trapped, my ongoing inability to grasp that those planes actually flew right into those buildings. I always felt they cleaned up the scene really fast- but then I found a video on the salvage, the process of examining each piece of debris and the care and respect given to personal belongings and human remains.
I agree that life post 9/11 across the world changed and these changes have been accelerated by social media, internet and the increase of intolerance across the world.
It’s hard to remain positive for our kids and grandkids futures.
Maybe humans are just a scourge in the earth.
Maybe we have run our race.
Hopefully not, but how to regain the good parts of humanity?
How do we combat hatred, so many nationalist right wing ideas and suspicions between people and understand we are all the same, with the same fears and desires for a happy life.
Have a great day !
☺️
I think it was when the south tower collapsed that the guy shimmying on the north toward fell
I know what you mean. Some things are just too bad to dwell on.
if building shakes you get out, if you get sense of being unsafe you get out, if somone tell you to go back to desk then get out, if alarm goes off you get out no matter what others tell you. always trust your senses and safety as could save your life.
@jonathanpringle8238: 100% excellent advice !
There's alot of intriguing ideas here. Keep in mind, you've had 22 years to think about it. They really only had minutes to come up with a plan, gather the equipment and try to execute it all while having trouble comprehending what they were seeing. Everyone there was in a state of shock, go back and look at the facial expressions of the firemen.
Yeah, but this is the type of thing that should be planned for future events. This same type of event can happen and everyone would be doing the same thing, twiddling their thumbs. New safety protocol should be set in place, should this ever happen again. And practiced. But it's not. So if this does ever happen again. Nobody will be prepared.
I agree with you... no one is prepared for a terrible disaster like this.. just like the Tsunami that hit Aceh Indonesia in 2004.. no one knows and is ready for what will happen.. especially in 2001 there were no smartphones and technology wasn't as advanced as it is now.. But anyway yeah, we can learn from mistakes and incidents that have happened..so in the future if something like 9/11 happens... everyone is ready and not surprised by what is happening in front of them..@@bL3dbL4k
@@bL3dbL4kwell the solution now is to prevent the need for this eg, better fire protection, better supports, and more evacuation routes
We had a helicopter rescue plan since 1985. It was never implemented.
Another big thing too is that IIRC manual access to the roofs of either tower had to be allowed by a button in Port Authority office in one of the towers. In the 93 bombing, a bunch of South Tower workers fled to the observation assuming a helicopter evac, and they were later told that this was the improper thing to do in that situation - which makes sense because if there is a office fire and a path down is accessible, you should take it rather than going up, unless absolutely necessary. And in 1993, pretty much every worker who fled to the roof ultimately had to make the long trek down the stairs, except for I think a pregnant woman.
So that would all add to why we didn't see people on either roofs.
Another Thing: The connections got destroyed during impact
In an interview a police helicopter pilot said if they saw anyone on the roof(s) they would have tried to get them, regardless of risk.
But how could people approach the place with such excruciating heat. The only reason people jumped that day from such a height was that heat
Oddly I was going through some boxes in my storage today and came across pictures of the last time I was atop the WTC. Being from New York I went up there relatively often but I was last up on the observation deck of the South Tower in May, 2OO1. Sad. As far as your question about the Heliport… I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think there was one on top. My pictures also aren’t showing any. I miss those towers! 🙏🇺🇸
I think you might be right. I just watched some clips from Home Alone 2. The shot of Kevin on top of the South Tower back in 92 didn't show a helipad either. I got to see the Towers for the last time in June 2001 before I moved back to Florida. I was suppose to eat at the Windows on the World but didn't get a chance too. I was planning on going in the summer of 02. You never know what you have until it's gone.
@@itzamia Oh wow you went 1 month after I last went. Something about those towers was mesmerizing. My dad took our family to Windows on the World when I was younger and I’ll never forget how beautiful it was at night. A family friend (Roko Camaj) was the WTC Window Washer. He passed away 9/11. He was above the crash on the North Tower and couldn’t make it out. Was a great guy a very sad story 🇺🇸
@@BigPete44sorry for your lost 🙏😇.
@@pigramgregory2 Thank You Gregory! 🙏
The air was too turbulant for a rooftop landing pad. The one at the Pan Am building was abandoned pretty quick due to turbulence.
A man working in the towers argued they should have parachutes incase there was a fire below them and the company denied his request
Just subbed. I remember this day. Graduated in 2001. And saw this happen on TV with my dad. My girlfriend at the time was a junior in high school she called my house freaking out. Then the second plane hit right after me and my dad clicked on the news. I told my dad why not use helicopters to rescue from the roof. My dad said if they were able to escape to the roof and ALOT of people rush up there....the mass AMOUNT of PANICK among the people to survive would cause danger to helicopter and people would be FIGHTING to get off the building. Nice vids gonna watch another one! Keep.up the good work.
On a recent Nat Geo doco one of the guys in the helicopter that day said had anyone been up there they would've tried, he mentioned the one clearing where it would have been potentially possible etc. "there was nobody up there" he repeated emotionally.
Great Doco btw
Big hero talk. You cant land a copter on a platform in the middle of a bon fire. Too much turbulance.
@@thomasallen6980 ever heard of a rope ladder? Don't need to land to save anyone who made it to the roof.
Helicopter rescues don't involve the helicopter landing, they drop baskets. That said, nah, there wasn't a chance of that considering the smoke and air disruptions
That was what I was thinking too. Buckets or modified or enlarged ones where multiple people could just walk onto them as it hover by the people hanging out by the windows.
So basically, the only way this could've worked is if the helicopter didn't actually land but hovered in place just above the roof and threw a rope down. However, like you said, the doors were locked. Here's an interesting proposition though: what if a rescuer had landed down said rope (just one individual with protection gear against smoke inhalation) and with tools to break the locked door from the roof (perhaps even some way to cut through the locks). Then he went into the stairway filled with smoke and tried to get as many people he could find to the roof, then used the rope that is still hanging from the hovering chopper to send them up, one by one. I think that would've been the best case scenario, but still a very difficult feat. However, there just wasn't enough time to be able to mount that kind of rescue because there were many unknowns. Were there more planes headed to the towers? Was the roof compromised for that individual/rescuer? I still think it would have been the best response, rather than just circling the towers with a chopper.
you could go even further, what if you dropped firemen through the roof and using fire extinguishers (100s of them put out the fires from the top of the building which would be easier to reach) and prevented the building from collapsing completely and saving almost everyone
@@try2smile4me22 Fire extinguishers? You can't battle such global and large fire with fireextinguishers. It's impossible even with water connection. Such fires are left to burn out on their own, that's it.
Firefighters can only battle small local fires while trying to access people.
@@lajoswinkler that's why i said 100s.... theoretically you could do it if you can put the fire out faster than it spreads
@@lajoswinkler obviously it isn't very practical
If a helicopter rescue were possible, they would have attempted it. There were almost 1.5k people trapped above the impact zone in the north tower. All of which would have been in a state of shock, panic, and they would have been desperate to survive. Imagine a scenario where they send a chopper with a rope ladder. Let's say access to the roof was available, or someone from the chopper unlocked this. Things could have easily gotten out of control, people would fight to get on that chopper, the ladder would end up with multiple people attempting to climb up it at the same time, or worse still, the chopper itself become overwhelmed/overcrowded with people. Those helicopters have weight restrictions. Then there's the fact the pilot could become distracted in the panic, or someone else panics and tries to take control of the helicopter to get away from the area, not to mention the impaired visibility due to the sheer amount of smoke coming from the towers. You then have another potential aircraft crash added to the already catastrophic situation.
The only other option would've been to have a large, military helicopter attempt such a rescue mission, but the above could still happen. They also likely did not have the time to assemble such aircrafts, followed by the fact they were trying to keep the sky's as clear as possible incase any other planes were attempting to hit other targets in the area.
Unfortunately, it would likely have been more of a risk than a benefit. The amount of people they could have rescued would have been just a small fraction of the people trapped on those upper floors.
I was once in burning building. It was relatively small fire not even close to the WTC fire. We were moving thru black smoked corridor for about 10 seconds and I tell you it was extremely difficult. The smoke was from burning plastic, cloth, furniture... One single breath of it is enough to start you suffocating. People began to cough and they were unable to continue. Unable to make 4-5 steps to safety without help. I can't imagine going up several floors and carrying out an activity in these conditions without a gasmask and protection. I think everybody in the inner parts of the building where dead in minutes after crash.....
The next thing is airflow and thermals. Can the helicopter withstand the flow of hot air from the fires? I dont know, but It is possible that it would crash - due to loss of buoyancy or due turbulence...
Given that the observation deck was closed when the attack happen, one positive note is there were no visitors or tourists on the roof or the observation deck at the time. Most visitors were not allowed on the roof of the North Tower but once in a while a visitor got up there. I even saw a youtube video of a guy who was up on the North Tower and shot a video of its roof and the view from it which was only a few months before the attack. He had help from a friend who sadly died in the North Tower's collapse. His friend's body was found in rubble in December of 2001.
This subject has fascinated me as well so I hope to add Couple things that might be helpful:
-in the 1993 Basement bombing, 28 people were saved by helicopter from the North Tower, after Sgt. Timothy Farrell repealed down and broke into the locked door.
-procedures had been in place to tighten security and prevent public stunts. At 9:30am a 'lock release' order-which would unlock all areas in the complex controlled by the buildings' computerized security system on the 22nd floor of the North Tower. However, damage to the software controlling the system as well as the building at that level being evacuated prevented this
- There is an account from the book "Fall and Rise" about individuals around the impact zone actually making it to the top of one of the buildings. However, the doors were locked due to the procedures in place as stated above
-Steven Jacobson was a radio transmitter and worked on the 110th floor in the North Tower. contact was made with him twice after the planes hit, however his words being "It's too hot to leave the room. Get me out of here. Send help." sheds light on truly how tough it would have been to navigate the interior even being so close to the top
Well whoever designed that access control software sucks. It should have failed safe and unlocked when it didn't get a heartbeat or upon power loss. We're not talking about fort knox or weapons bunkers here.
Total hopelessness for those poor people... Oh dear😢 one guy even tried to go down between the columns outside the building, can you imagine this... So desperate
Loving the wtc content. The reason I subscribed
The best book on 911 was written by Peter Lance. " 1,000 Years for Revenge" If you're also really interested in how this could have happened. The are some excellent dvds as well. The National Geographic series, and On Native Soil, is a major eye opener.
There were reports of people in the south tower upper floors (where there was 1 remaining stairwell through the impact zone) going up instead of down because they saw the flames downstairs and thought their best chance of survival was to reach the top of the tower and wait for a helicopter rescue. That choice cost their lives.
Those poor people
You also have to take into account no one thought the towers were going to collapse. The firemen truly believed they would just go in kill the fire and then figure out how to get the people out. If data had any idea that the buildings were going to collapse especially that quickly the whole thing would have been handled totally differently.
Loved the observation deck i was fortunate enough to visit there during an elementary school "field trip" due to a classmate having a Dad in the port authority... sad day 911...sad world we live in..tbh 😺
Even if the helicopter couldn’t land they still could’ve dropped off the BASE jumping parachutes that people have used to jumps off the twin towers with before. Sure some people probably couldn’t had figured out how to use it but I think people would’ve helped eachother out. At least they would’ve had a chance. They were so desperate they were trying to make parachutes out of table clothes and umbrellas.
Lol. You have no idea what your talking about. Nobody is just handed a parachute and told to jump without hundreds of hours of training
@@rodonis88would you rather be given a parachute not knowing how to use it and have the chance of being able to save yourself or just be guaranteed to die? Any person with a will to live would have taken the chance with a parachute
@@repoman2115how exactly would they have been given the parachutes?
Really good point!
@@rodonis88😂😂
Didn’t Limp Bizkit perform on the helipad in the Rollin music video from 2000?
Yes i remember that!
I'm always impressed at how fast you can say 'link to that as always is in the description'.
The depth of your thought process is inspiring
Crazy that a simple locked door ended up allowing hundreds to die unnecessarily
it wouldnt have changed anything in the end but in the moment it must have been devastating to realize there is no way out
It was not locked normal !! It was Pad Locked !!!
Nobody talks about that actually the strong wind produced by the helicopter is enough to clear the smoke in the roof.
Bro i dont think that would of worked
The top of the North Tower had more antennas all over the roof for Cellular and police comms and other 2-way radio services. The huge mast in the center was for broadcast AM-FM-TV stations that were on the top floors.
Yet they landed a helicopter in 1993 WTC Bombing !!! On both towers !!!
The video of the roof of the north tower showed fires all over the roof and it clearly was a hell on Earth... What I always wondered was if water buckets used in forest fire fighting could have helped douse the fires from the roof on down with constant seawater dousing of the roof to fight the fires that way in the north tower. The south tower was a lost cause due to the lower hit by the plane.
I remember hearing a pilot discuss this. Apparently, it would've taken a few hours to even get sikorsky planes with water to even get there.
If they added multiple tons of water, the towers might've collapsed even faster and people would've blamed the people who decided to pour it
The water would have spread the jet fuel even further down those elevator shafts and stairways not too mention the outside of the buildings. They would have needed a type of flame retardant that's used in fighting forest fires.
@@hooper4011 - Agreed - yes on the fuel and the need for chemicals to counteract the fuel...
@@LucyKosaki - The answer would be to test this idea scientifically and prove that it works or not. It would be a good experiment for a combustion lab to try out to see if such a technology would work for high rise fires.
I remember this being my biggest question at the time. I was screaming at the tv for those helicopters to get people on the top.😔 I'm glad to see this video.
Hello, thank you for posting this. When this happened I was at a store and at 1st I thought it was a movie, it was on a small tv behind the counter. Then the clerk told me this was real. I went home and was glued to the tv. I really believe some people made it to the roof of the north tower because there was a helicopter filming the tops of the towers and in about a 4 second shot I very clearly seen bodies on the ground. The cameraman moved the camera really quick to a diffrent angle. This is something thats been bothering and haunting me since I saw it. I think they were already dead from the smoke and heat. It broke my heart seeing it. But im 100% positive people made it to the roof.
As for a helicopter rescue that is totally possible. However they were against time. The army has those dual rotor choppers there called chinook. Ive seen those carry a full platoon indide and a half track under it.
If they had the time they could have had a huge cargo net with a couple of men inside. The net could have been on a long cord and the chopper could have hoverd at least over the south tower, not sure about the north due to that antenna.
But the men could have got the doors open and found survivors if any and they could have escaped by the net.
But again, time. we were not prepared. Maybe the smaller choppers could have grabbed some? Im not too sure on that. This stuff really bothers me and I dont know anyone personally who was there. Im still very upset about it. God bless all who was affected by this, especially the fallen.
People are actually questioning whether or not the towers actually had Helicopter Pads?
As a person who used to listen to a lot of Limp Bizkit in 2000/2001, I was shaking my head when I heard you talking about people were actually asking that question. I can tell you that part of Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ Music Video was shot on the Helicopter Pad of the South Tower. The sad part of the story is that the World Trade Centre sent the band a letter of Gratitude thanking them for featuring their towers in their music video. The date the the band received the letter, September 10 2001.
There is only one helicopter pad on the top of each tower so mobilizing dozens of helicopters to pick up hundreds of people would’ve taken a really really long time. Time they didn’t have. Of course, at the time, nobody knew that the whole building was going to collapse.
It's a nice though but there are a few potential problems:
1. There are many things to crash into and zero visibility for landing due to the smoke.
2. Helicopter engines need air to operate. What happens when the engine takes in that much of that kind of smoke? Would it choke the engine?
3. As soon as you open the door to let people in, the helicopter cabin would fill with smoke. Now the pilot would be choking.
4. I imagine it's already windy that high up, that close to the ocean, on a good day. What effect would the fires have on the wind up there? Would the heat cause more turbulence?
Also, I imagine so many panicked people would have swarmed the chopper, and made it incredibly hard to even take off. They’d probably be hanging on the runners if they thought that was their only chance of escape.
It should always be known in advance about possible fire hazards and rescue methods. Surely there are strong equipped military helicopters that could lower rope ladders, even rescue people from broken windows, and throw them respirator masks.
If there had been a somewhat large group of victims on the roof, I imagine there would have been panic. Most likely extreme panic. So there would have been pushing and no one would have been able to hear commands.
Could the window cleaner baskets be used to get down from the north tower?
it was stuck.
There’s a documentary about what it was like in the towers on that day and someone rescued someone from the 90th floor and went down to floor 3 before he collapsed and passed away. He stayed with him the entire time and the other guy died in the collapse of the north tower.
I second all the comments that thank you on your uploads! They are analytical, thoughtful, and respectful. Thank you D.G!
Imo parachutes should have been stored somewhere in that building in case of a serious serious emergency and incase the stairwell was compromised. We all know elevators aren't an option during a fire so that would've been a decent alternative. Those were tall buildings so they knew it would take fire fighters a lil while to get to those in need plus with a fire, time is crucial. In their case they really aint have time to being setting up command posts they needed to be heading up as soon as they got in. Those poor souls had no clue the towers would fall.
its wishful shinking ya its better than jumping to your death or burning alive but you jump out with a parachute gotta open it almost immediately and chance could fly right into another building and die that way. i know guy did it i believe but was no fires and he did it from the observation deck not out of a window
Never would have worked the wind forces into the buildings would have made in impossible. A better options are the long inflatable slides they have developed in China for tall buildings, but even those have limits.
This would have been a terrible alternative. Most people wouldn't know how to use them, and plus, as the video points out, there were thick plumes of smoke at the top of the building, which is a problem in itself. Not to mention the towers held 50 thousand people in them at any given time. It just wouldn't have been practical.
Another thing. The minute people starting jumping could a the biggest bouncy castles in new York have been put on top of each other, like 10 storeys worth, giving the jumpers a chance?
It was raining debris, however some very big nets could had surely helped, the logistics of getting that setup though within an hour were simply impossible, literal raining chaos all over.
@@spikester whether nets or bouncy castles, the emergency services would have had to have already expected jumpers, which we know they didn't. For next time, hoping there isn't, they might be better prepared. I'm surprised I have not seen these proposals in any of the post event investigations.
Fact of the matter is, the doors were locked and you know damn well people must’ve been tugging on them, screaming and cursing those responsible for it. Yes the smoke rose, but they could’ve stood in the few areas where there wasn’t. Helos flew right over the roofs.
nowadays where i live doors that are locked like that always have an emergency door release behind a sheet of glass you have to break to activate the door release. every safety improvement or rule is written with death
The doors on the Roof were Steel Gates with Pad Locks !!!
Does anyone realize that heat rises? Its not just smoke you see. The temperature must have been incredible as the building vented just like a chimney. What effect would such intense heat have on a helicopter engine, its rotors, its frame? Could the copter have maintained its hover in the flue-like conditions?
It doesn't work to just say such-and-such should have been done. There were way too many conditions that needed to be considered that day, about things that had never happened before.
Here's a video that possibly shows the escalator leading to the observation deck in the south tower falling at the moment flight 175 struck:
ruclips.net/video/vTkgnR223Ks/видео.html
You can even see the building sway A LOT when the plane hit:
ruclips.net/video/Qk5NQgU-9G4/видео.html
My hypothesis: the sudden and violent swaying of the buildings at the moment the planes hit may have compromised or destroyed escalators/stairways/passages/doors leading to the roof, rendering an airlift from the roof impossible.
There were people on the tower thinking there would be a rescue crew but they was not
I always wondered about this since I was a kid, but im sure it would have been incredibly difficult and dangerous to try this.
Same happy someone FINALLY covered the thought in my head.
The smoke and raging heat would prevent landing
there were anti-helicopter obstacles installed on the roof after the bombing of the towers in 1993, they were installed there to prevent terrorists landing on the roof via helicopter.
I think there going to make an exception for roof access considering the conditions of the situation..
So first of all the helicopter was a bell 412. Who knows if they had enough hover power, also hovering around a super heated oven loss tail rotor eff. LTE also the helicopter may have immediately settled from the drastic temp changes. - VRS , LTE , and many more issues with a small helo like a 412. Now had it been a s61/s64/ch-47d you can getaway with a lot more. I’ve also heard people mention parachutes and that’s just crazy talk. We are talking about Manhattan not Tucson. I don’t think people realize how fast this entire event was. It was 8:46-10:28am between strike #1 and both buildings down. Like people don’t appreciate how fast time goes by in any emergency. Much less a mass casualty.
When I remember it correctly from watching everything live that day, a massive problem for the helicopters was besides the smoke the enormous heat emergening from the towers going up. It is much more difficult for a helicopter to navigate in hot air so they could not land on the towers even if they wanted to
After the 1993 bombing there were Helicopter rescues from the roof. On 9/11 FDNY/NYPD command ordered that Helicopters not attempt rescues do to the risk associated.
I always though that ,with enough force the roof door could of been opened,enabling a helicopter rescue,albeit slow,no rope, but a cage on a wire,but this highlighted the fact that the smoke would of stopped any attempt,just overwhelming everyone.
its also interesting that the ones who had keys of top roof.. just run away even without giving the keys to anyone ...
Regarding dropping a rope and the issue if there would've been 20-30 people on top: I believe this could've been done by using one of those bucket shaped gondolas they use for rescue. They could've picked up 4-5 people at a time, fly over to a nearby skyscraper, let the people out on that roof, and repeat. Probably couldve made a trip every 8-10 minutes or so - depending on when such a helicopter arrives at the towers, might or might not be enough time to rescure all of those hypothetical 20-30 people on the north tower roof.
For people hanging at the side of a building though, unless they have an unrealisticly long rope, such as 100 meters or so, there's no way to help with a helicopter. I mean, they couldn't even get anyone out of the granfell tower fire and that was only 70 meters.
One thing every one over looked !! If you could of operated the Window Washing machine ! Sitting on the Roof !! You could of Saved some people !!!
What about using the window washing machine to escape?
Seriously?
@urbanyouthsalso, the machine was quite slow as well, so even if it did work I’ve seen something where they said it would only be able to make a few trips before the towers collapsed.
If there’s a electricity and they have access to the roof they can break the glass on the below impact zone so they can escape through stair and collect again a couple of people on above impact zone
@@texaschainsawmass good point👍
Maybe this could have worked on one of the un-impacted faces. Imagine being lowered right in front of the impact hole... the heat and fire would have likely snapped the cables.
The short answer is NO. Because the entry to the rooftop was blocket and New York Police Department stopped doing Helicopter rescues on rooftops since 1993.
That spot on the soith tower was a stage used for the limp biscuit song keep rollin.
How about if you had a parachute, could you have BASE jumped to safety? What about rappelling gear?
Outside the door being locked... Helicopters pick people off of burning ships. It is possible.
I’ve always felt like there was more that could have been done most people that went to help were volunteers
with all that smoke, there was no visibilty.
Again i want to say that Firefighters could have used the helicopters and ropes to carry down to the world trade center roofs that will allow them to get to the impact zone faster in a north tower. Remember, firefighters have gasmasks and other breathing equipment. So the firemen could have arrived at the north tower impact zone ahead of time. Keep in mind that authorities did reach the impact zone of the south trade center. But by that time it was too late.
Can you please do a video if and how would Edna Cintron could have been saved if that was apossibility. And or maybe do a video of how she was still alive after the pland hit, she was very lucky but could not be saved.
Hi, a video idea i suggest is comparing the twin towers observation deck to the new One world observatory, and maybe their height. Thank you!
Freedom Tower is a Flop !!!!
You don't need to land, use the hoist. Need a lot less place... but you still have to deal with the smoke. Worst, hoist rescue is really slow.
Pretty sure Airwolf could have saved them ! String Fellow Hawk
The Fearless Stringfellow Hawke, He Can Do Anything In Airwolf ! ! !
The smoke would have choked off the helicopter engines
I could cry watching this because this is what I thought would happen when I watched this happened 9/11 happening. It’s really devastating. I was so young but I thought helicopters would help everyone at the top
The movie Towering Inferno (1974) shows how difficult it is to use helicopters
The movie is based on WTC !! In the movie they tried !! On 911 they did not !!!!
Its not the darkness of the smoke, nor the density of it, although those properties create problems. The biggest issue with smoke is toxicity, period. Just a few inhalations of it will disable a person completely.
the climbing machine for the windows cleaners was on the roof.
Can you do a video on if military fighter jets had intercepted the flights before they hit their targets?
Could only imagine the backlash on if that happened. think of the youtube comments on that one: " How do we know they would have hit the buildings!? US GOV MURDERED INNOCENT CIVILIANS!" "There's no way untrained pilots would be able to maneuver those jets into buildings!" etc etc
The updrafts created by the heat would have made it impossible.
Yes definitely, cause you got 1 hour 48 mins until the towers collapsed.
But, they could have rescued the upper lever of where the planes have done catastrophic damage to the building, I means, stairs, elevators, exit fire stairs.
But, the aviation authority shut down the airspace all over USA.
Each minute is vital in this kind of situations.
The Air space was mostly for airplanes ! But before that they ordered helicopters to stay away !!! Only copter allowed was NYPD !!copter !!!
A related question I would like to be considered is would it have helped to fly aircraft over and drop water on the towers like you would on a forest fire?
This was a good video.
Hardly anyone at that chaotic moment thought the buildings were going to collapse. Some people who knew the details of what had happened and how over the top it was considering the design would know, but they were rare, and who would blame them for not saying anything? Some office workers assumed it would be possible. One of the survivors did mention being told "hey you know what, this building might collapse", but it was probably not even an educated guess at the moment.
Many helicopters circled the area and were approaching the roof, but saw no one. I'm sure an attempt would be made if there was anyone waving. After the south tower collapsed, nobody would dare to land on the north one and that's where any ideas of roof rescue stop.
Fact : Helicopters were told to stay away !!! So how could they help !! If order to stay away!!
THE THUMBNAIL IS WILDDD 🔥🔥🔥
The problem with using a helicopter rope is that even if they did use a rope a person would not hold on for very long that high in the air. The helicopter would try to find a open sale to dr of the people. Dropping them off on another skyscraper would not be a good idea cause of the chaos. Plus nobody knew how many planes was hijacked. As for using a ladder on the side of the building that would not be possible as well. People would be pushing and shoving people and stepping on others to get down. It would cause more problems than helping to save them.
I heard the helicopter person say there was too much smoke and the copter would spread the smoke and make it worse. And he said the cables made it a risks.
Willis Tower is a bundle of buildings of different heights totally different
Would a parachute even be viable at that height? Say you survive initial impact, grab your chute.. could I just hop out and accept the injuries from the landing or is that not enough height for it to deploy etc?
Yes it would have been viable. Towers were a death trap.
Greetings from Scotland! i'm no expert but i think getting onto the roof of either building was an option providing the heat was not overwhelming. lowering a rope to the people on the roof has the issue of static discharge which means that people could have been knocked out by the electrical shock. Down draft from the helicopters as well as wind direction would mitigate some of the smoke issues for the helicopters.
the best option as i see it would have been a dedicated heli-bourne rescue team, which would have had to been similar it style to airforce PJ's. the winchman would have been trained how to deal with people panicking and some of the equipment they carried such as small demolition charges, det cord/cordex could have been used for opening the locked doors and removing obstacles on the roof in such a manner to cause them not to fall on the people at street level. This would have expanded the size of the LZ and would have allowed larger heavy lift helicopters to be employed.
I am not sure where the nearest military base would be in that area that would have had these helicopters but US Marines used boeing vertol sea knights that could carry 30+ fully equipped marines, so if you discard the military equipment, guns ammo etc that could have been 40+ per helicopter multiply by twelve for a full squadron. You could probably say 40-50 if CH-47 Chinooks were were available.
this is all dependant on people in authority making quick decisions and that can only happen with accurate information at the time and with a lot of the communication channels being overloaded, realistically i don't think it would have happened in time to save people on the south tower or the north tower.
i just hope and pray that there is now a new evacuation plan in place should this ever happen again but i suspect that penny pinching bureaucrats will say it's to expensive to maintain based on a "what if" scenario.
I'm wondering if someone ever thought of storing a parachute in their office in case something like that ever happened..but how could they have known I guess. I've also wondered how hard it would've been to scale down those concrete pillars
I know this might sound a bit fantastical, but I sometimes imagine a person who took a parachute into work that day and might have planned to do a jump off the roof, but instead used it to escape the collapsing towers. I think it would have been quite possible to base jump off the top or even out of a window and then open the chute. The problem then, is making sure you drift far enough away from the towers to land somewhere safely. Imagine being in flight while the towers were collapsing. You would have to glide to the top of another building or somewhere away from the debris cloud.
I’m pretty sure nowadays some work people (trained) carries parachutes at high offices buildings in the world.
@@GoMArkkrAM Yes I think so. I haven't seen anyone else mention the possibility of parachutes as a means of escaping the towers. All those jumpers could have potentially jumped with a chute on, had there been one available. It's all history now, but it bares thinking about.
They weren't expecting the towers to collapse. Once the first one did, it was about 1/2 an hour to plan, gather and execute a rescue attempt, before the second one collapsed.
4:20 ABSOLUTE BS. Nypd chopper was up assesing damage with in MINUTES. There's video and audio of them counting bodies falling out of the windows. You can't lie when there's actual video and audio available AND real people were on the scene. You're an "armchair" youtube analyzer.
Was dropping water from helicopters ever considered? There’s some pretty crazy water crane type choppers they use to fight fires in really remote areas, or even remote style fire fighters 🤷🏼♂️
No as that water would miss the flames and only hit the roof.
I would also guess (a pure guess) that the heat from the fires would have created some rough upward thermals making it difficult to control the helicopter.
Thanks for making this easy to understand. I too have wonder about a helicopter rescue for years after, that said thanks for digging and getting answer for the ones like me are always curious. what about fire helicopters to put out the fire? That's my new question.
Anything is possible with the right people
Yes if they are prepared
I asked this exact question on Quora years ago. Great video
we needed a chpper able to spray water through the openings onto the fire (Through windows on normal sky scrapper fires)
I wonder if anyone considered doing an aerial rescue from the helicopters like the Coast guard does.
They looked at it and ruled it to dangerous do to the smoke and heat updraft from the fire.
Not enough time, plus no one knew Towers were rigged to colapse.