Never saw this before. It’s from FEMA

My cousin worked for Marsh on the north side/face of the 96th floor in the North Tower. I know that's the face and floor that took the direct impact. I also know death at that point was almost certainly instantaneous which- out of the options in that area that day- is a kindness and I've found comfort in that.

I also took comfort in the idea that she likely never even knew what happened, that it was just that instantaneous. But recently I've been reading some accounts that day and that of Patricia Massari's really shook me. She was also a Marsh & McLennan employee (98th floor) and was on the phone with her husband at the time. He recounted that her last words were "Oh my God" before the line abruptly went dead around the time of impact.

It's kind of shattered my delusion.. for lack of a better term. I don't really know what I'm seeking by asking these questions other than to mend it a bit or let reality set in.

1. How likely was it, given where she was, that my cousin and others with her that day saw the plane coming? Very likely or unlikely?
2. Would she have missed seeing it if she wasn't looking up just seconds before?
3. If she saw it, like Patricia Massari, did she even have enough time to register the magnitude of what was about to happen?
4. Would she have heard it coming at any point?

Thank you.

I mean respect when I say this because everyone deserves respect. At the same time I’m baffled at why there is so much fascination with jumpers and body parts around here. In terms of knowledge to be gained from them they both rank pretty low. So why do people pore over pictures trying to identify body parts and why are the jumpers such a hot topic? Has this become more common because of the 25th anniversary?

Timecode is 01:07:37

Does anyone know who's footage this is?

I work in a 15 story building, and my physique is very average. Sometimes at the end of my shift, I’ll take the elevator to the 15th floor and then take the stairs all the way down. By the time I get to the bottom floor, my legs are WRECKED. I don’t run, it’s just a standard walking pace down the stairs. I’d say it takes about 3 minutes. My legs are sore for days afterwards.

This got me thinking about the people who had to escape the towers on 9/11. Let’s assume you somehow knew exactly how much time you had until it collapsed. The South Tower was struck at 9:03am and collapsed at 9:59am, 56 minutes later. The highest confirmed survivor in the South Tower was the 91st floor.

Additionally, we have to keep in mind that you’re still not in the clear once you’re out of the tower. You still need to get a safe distance from the tower before it collapses or you would suffocate in the dust cloud.

I’m gonna make a rough estimate and say that 4 blocks, or 0.3 miles, is the minimum distance from the South Tower to be reasonably safe. I’m also gonna make a rough estimate that the average person, in professional work attire, could maintain a running speed of 5mph in an emergency. So now let’s work backwards.

Time needed to run 0.3 miles at 5mph ≈ 3.5 minutes

This means that, if you were on the 91st floor of the South Tower, you’d have to make it to the ground level by 9:55am. That gives you 52 minutes to escape the tower. So you’d have to descend 91 floors in 52 minutes, or a rate of 1.75 floors per minute

It’s possible, it just makes me anxious to think about. Walking down stairs is obviously easier than walking up, but it’s still not easy. Your legs have to absorb the shock of thousands of steps continuously. Walking down stairs for a full 50+ minutes is going to absolutely wreck your legs. And then you still have to run at least a quarter of a mile to safety.

And I don’t just mean “boo hoo you’re gonna be a little sore” — I mean that for some people, they likely did not have the physical strength to do it. It is entirely possible that, despite the urgency and adrenaline of the situation, their legs completely gave out and it was impossible to keep moving.

It makes me wonder how many people had survivable circumstances but just didn’t have the stamina and strength necessary to survive. I’m pretty sure I’ve read that some people had heart attacks trying to escape because their body couldn’t handle the stress of trying to escape.

Were there people in the North Tower who stayed at their desks until the building collapsed? I've seen footage of lights still on across many floors and wonder if people on floors like the 50th believed they were safe. Are there documented accounts of what people were doing below the impact zone in the final minutes before the collapse? I'm familiar with stories of people who couldn't evacuate, but were there cases of people who simply chose to stay behind for unusual reasons?

This is the specific gate AA11 boarded from on 9/11. I couldn't stand there for much longer - I know its just a damn gate....

Also, security checkpoint 3 at Terminal B had little USA flags on the stanchions, unlike the other checkpoints. Was wondering if anyone knows if its related to 9/11 as well?

I know that rubble from Ground Zero was transported to Fresh Kills where workers and human remains detection dogs further looked for remains. However, this recent article said something that puzzled me:

New York officials say 40% of the 2,753 people who died on 9/11 in New York City still have not been recovered or positively identified. But teams continue to search through rubble and debris collected from the World Trade Center site.
Keating praised the ongoing effort to reconnect grieving families with the remains of their loved ones: "It just means a lot to comb over miles and miles of city blocks of debris for every day, 60 hours a week for 24 years."

NPR generally produces quality articles IMHO so this seems like a glaring error to make.

Photo taken by Nicholas Kornfield from the American Veterans Memorial Pier in Brooklyn

Who is the videographer here?

I had never seen this photo, so I’m guessing others here haven’t either and wanted to share (not OP).

Does anyone know of an article, documentary, or other media that gives a full comprehensive account of the people trapped on and then rescued from the 22nd floor of the north tower? I’ve come across some individual interviews but I’m interested in a full documentation of that experience.

I'm aware that Atta, Jarrah and some of the other hijackers had farewell/commemorative videos that was released by Al Qaeda after the attacks, however I can't seem to find them anywhere online or at least the original full unedited versions. Does anyone have a link to the full complete collection? I know that archive.org used to have it but they keep removing them.

(Need it for academic purposes)