Originally posted by RT and his SE:
Originally posted by Jeb Hoge:
And 395 doesn't run that close to the Pentagon, either...I bet they're separated by a solid quarter-mile.



At 500 MPH it would take less than 5 seconds to cover that and you'd have to be pretty low at that point to have any hope of making impact.
I still think there are legitimate question.



OK, this isn't going to come out nicely.

Do you live here? No. Are you familiar with the topography of Arlington County, particularly with the route that the plane took to get to the Pentagon? I rather doubt it. Let me explain something to you, then. There is NO way that the airplane, at that size and speed, was anything but diving when it impacted the building. To put it simply, if you're headed northbound toward the Pentagon, you are going downhill, whether you're on foot or on a bike or in a car or in an airliner full of terrified passengers. That the pilot managed to hit the wall just at or above ground level and didn't skip the plane off the ground or hit short or long is damned luck and nothing more.

"Think of it, if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under the tweed." Clarkson on the Mondeo.