Would a helicopter rescue on the roof of both of the towers of the World Trade Center have been possible on 9/11?
Would a helicopter rescue on the roof of both of the towers of the World Trade Center have been possible on 9/11?
That day's rooftop helicopter rescue issue had nothing to do with the helicopters. It concerned the terrible circumstances up there.
Built for rescue operations, the NYPD owned three Bell 412 helicopters that morning. They tried. Made three separate attempts to land on the North Tower between 8:51 and 9:00—Couldn't do it. Couldn't get near enough.
The heat was producing strong updrafts. The smoke was thick as tar—the roof an inferno of burning trash and jet fuel.
There is another issue even if they could have landed: most people could not have reached the roof anyway. Standard procedure for those buildings, the roof's doors were locked.
The '93 bombing taught the Port Authority hard lessons about roof access control. There was smoke in the stairways, and several were already blocked or damaged.
Up there, the temperature was over one thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Burning jet fuel, melting steel, etc.—made that air poisonous. Not one pilot could have maintained a hover under those conditions. The updrafts would have flipped any helicopter.
Within minutes of the strikes, those rooftops became unreachable landing zones.
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