question about flights 175 and 11

[freepcrusher]

what would have happened if one of those planes had missed the WTC? The pilots were still novices and its nothing short of luck that they did what they did.

One of the things I wondered is if one of the pilots had missed the tower and clipped it with his wings. Had that happened he would have likely lost control and the plane would have nosedived into the heart of Manhattan. Would that have actually been worse than hitting the world trade center?

Sorry if I appear to be insensitive but I've always been interested in the thought of alternate scenarios, in which case this would be a lose-lose.

[dead0man]

There would have been a lot fewer deaths.  The vast majority of deaths happened when the towers came down, if instead of taking down a tower, you crash a plane into a shorter, less occupied building you are going to have fewer deaths.

[Mr. Morden]

United 175 also had a near collision in the air with another plane, missing it by ~300 feet.  If they'd collided, it also would have meant far fewer deaths.

You can also speculate about what would have happened if either 175 or 11 had been delayed.  If the other two planes had hit their targets first, then maybe there could have been a passenger revolt on 175 or 11 instead, which also would have spared one of the towers.

[minionofmidas]

If that second plane hadn't gotten in so very low, it's dubious if the towers would have collapsed.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The WTC was going to collapse even if the plane only clipped it....unless the bombs inside failed to go off.

(Kidding, I'm not a truther )

I think if the plane clipped the WTC, and hit another building, not only would the casualties be fewer, but the psychological impact lessened. Part of the reason 9/11 was such a major shock was the fact that on September 10th, the WTC was NYC's biggest set of buildings, and on 9/12, they are just totally gone from the skyline.

[J. J.]

A lot of it was the fire.  It melted the support frames.