APentagon

Hunt the Boeing! And test your perceptions!

As everyone knows, on 11 September 2001, less than an hour after the attack on the World Trade Centre, an airplane was reported to have collided with the Pentagon.

The Associated Press first reported that a booby-trapped truck had caused the explosion. The Pentagon quickly denied this. The official US government version of events still holds. Here's a little game for you: Take a look at these photographs and try to find evidence to corroborate the official version. It's up to you to Hunt the Boeing!

These photographs were downloaded from official US military sites shortly after the events took place.

Image : Space Imaging

Image : U.S. Department of Defense

The first satellite image shows the section of the building that was hit by the Boeing. In the image below, the second ring of the building is also visible. It is clear that the aircraft only hit the first ring. The four interior rings remain intact. They were only fire-damaged after the initial explosion.

Can you explain how a Boeing 757-200, weighing nearly 100 tons and traveling at a minimum speed of 250 miles an hour* only damaged the outside of the Pentagon?

Image : U.S. Marine Corps, Cpl. Jason Ingersoll

Image : U.S. Army

The two photographs in question 2 show the building just after the attack. We may observe that the aircraft only hit the ground floor. The four upper floors collapsed towards 10.10 am. after the "crash". The building is 78 feet high.

Can you explain how a Boeing 45 feet high, 155 feet long, with a wingspan 125 feet wide and a cockpit 12 feet high, could crash into just the ground floor of this building?

Image source: U.S. Army

The photograph above shows the lawn in front of the damaged building.

You'll remember that the aircraft only hit the ground floor of the Pentagon's first ring. 

Can you find debris of a Boeing 757-200 in this photograph?

The photograph in question 4 shows a truck pouring sand over the lawn of the Pentagon. Behind it a bulldozer is seen spreading gravel over the turf.

Can you explain why the Defense Secretary deemed it necessary to sand over the lawn, which was otherwise undamaged after the attack?

Image : Space Imaging

Image : U.S. Department of Defense, Sgt. Rudisill

The photographs in Question 5 show representations of a Boeing 757-200 superimposed on the section of the building that was hit.

Can you explain what happened to the wings of the aircraft and why they caused no damage?

When asked by a journalist: "Is there anything left of the aircraft at all?"

"First of all, the question about the aircraft, there are some small pieces of aircraft visible from the interior during this fire-fighting operation I'm talking about, but not large sections. In other words, there's no fuselage sections and that sort of thing." " You know, I'd rather not comment on that. We have a lot of eyewitnesses that can give you better information about what actually happened with the aircraft as it approached. So we don't know. I don't know."

When asked by a journalist: "Where is the jet fuel?"

"We have what we believe is a puddle right there that the -- what we believe is to be the nose of the aircraft. So -"

The quotations in Question 6 correspond to statements made by Arlington County Fire Chief, Ed Plaugher, at a press conference held by Assistant Defense Secretary, Victoria Clarke, on 12 September 2001, at the Pentagon.

Can you explain why the County Fire Chief could not tell reporters where the aircraft was?

Images : U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jason Ingersoll 1 and 2

The two photographs in question 7 were taken just after the attack. They show the precise spot on the outer ring where the Boeing struck.

Can you find the aircraft's point of impact?