Reply #304: What's the weight of an airplane?

[Emillereid]

Aren't they made of light weight aluminum? I imagine that much of the stuff that initially burned would have blown off as ash, yes? How long did it take for the airplane to burn or melt?

Obviously even if the heat was sufficient to melt the trusses at the floors that were hit, we all know that heat dissipates -- certainly the trusses on the floor below would have had to fail/break on the floors below not because of heat, but because of weight -- anyone know what the tolerances were. They apparently should have held their own floor and a couple more, but were they in fact built that strong.

Didn't the architect of these building actually say that the building were designed to take a direct hit from a plane -- one not that much smaller than the ones that hit?

The WTCs were built with small trusses? At what temperature would they melt or lose sufficient strength to collapse?

I agree that we're all speculating -- but I am for one impressed that there are sufficient 'scientific' questions regarding the collapse of these buildings that they should not simply be dismissed, but should be analyzed carefully and objectively by real scientists. The articles concerning the temperatures of the fires on 911 and the melting temperatures of steel etc. are not so easily dismissed especially since they actual were calculated using perfect 'conditions' . Are there any articles on the net that have run the real numbers -- calculated the actual weight of the planes, the actual amount of fuel, the angles of the impacts, the weight of the floors, the tolerances of the trusses, etc. etc. etc. We don't need analogies about camp fires or playing cards, we need real analyses with real facts. I am a scientist -- but I have seen enough written to keep an open mind on the matter, especially in view of this administration's ties to the writing of "Rebuilding America's Defenses" wherein the powers that be surmised that in order to get the American people behind their militaristic vision another Pearl Harbor might be needed and who could imagine the political viability of creating weapons that target specific genotypes. People who think like this are capable of anything!!