It seems to me that the biggest problem with crashing a jet into the Capitol building is being sued by Tom Clancy’s lawyers, since he already used that as the climax of Debt of Honor back in 1994.
Of course, Clancy did it during a joint session of Congress. BTW we are having a joint session of Congress Thursday.
The big difference between Thursday and Clancy is that Thursday there will be a CAP deployed and more than a few people looking skyward with SAMs. 
But the plane wouldn’t have been “filled with jet fuel”.
Much of it would have mostly been used up in the flight from Boston, had the terrorists used the same planes. So the fireball would have been smaller.
Actually they were were in the novel also. In fact one of them hit the hit the plane. Apparently bringing down jumbo jet with 4 engines when Ronald Reagan airport is only a few minutes away is harder than it looks. In the novel, it was the actual pilot that crashed it into the capitol, so there was no warning until he veered off course.
Under that scenario, things would have worked out much better for America right there. 
The weird thing is that in Tom Clancy’s world, where terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb at the Superbowl (1991- The Sum of All Fears) and crashed an airplane into the capital building killing the entire national government (1996 - Debt of Honor), the 9/11 attacks in 2001 are still considered the biggest terrorist attack in our nation’s history.
I don’t think I have read a Clancy book since Debt of Honor…did all of those things, including 9/11 happen in the same ‘universe’? Didn’t his main character become president for a while?
-XT
To be fair the White house is 168 feet long and 85 feet wide. (cite)
Flight-93 was a 757-200. It has a wingspan of 124 feet and is 155 feet long. (cite)
If such a plane hit the White House dead-on it has a good chance of taking the whole thing out.
No need to aim for the West Wing.
What if, is a though that will not enter into my mind… What if, does not change anything…What if is not productive… The question should be what now… Wow, I think I am a poet…
Good point, but the West Wing isn’t part of the main building. It is more like an annex that’s probably 75 yards from the residence. Take a look at Google maps.
Jack Ryan was president for two books. He fought a war against Iran/Iraq and against China with Russia as an Ally. Robbie Jackson succeeded him as the first black president and was assassinated by a racist. The last two books use Jack Ryan Jr as the main character. The Rainbow 6 book has became a major video game spinoff. I understand that Ubisoft paid Clancy 100 million for his intellectual property rights.
Ah…I didn’t know that. (I suppose I once did but last time I was there I was in 7th grade so have had ample time to forget.)
I was never really clear on the chronology of these events. They happened “off-camera” and it was written after Clancy apparently stopped editing his books.
Jack Ryan was President and apparently served a second term (I’m not sure if his partial first term was more or less than two years so I don’t know if he was eligible to be re-elected once or twice).
Robbie Jackson, who was Ryan’s VP, is elected President and is assassinated.
Former VP Ed Kealty became President at some point.
Did Jackson pick Kealty as his running mate? That seems incredibly unlikely. But if not, then somebody else was Jackson’s Vice President and must have become President when Jackson was assassinated. But there’s no mention of anyone else being President during this time.
IIRC, Jackson is assassinated as VP, not Prez. That gives Ryan’s party no incumbent, and Kealty wins the election.
what if they had understood that it would be successful (and thus a one-off attempt) and had the resources to hijack more planes? how many planes were up in the air at the time?
I’m pretty sure there was something Presidential about Jackson when he was killed. He was either President, President-elect, or at least a Presidential candidate.
I haven’t read Clancy’s latest books but apparently Ryan is running against Kealty for the Presidency. So it appears that his first term must have been less than two years.
It was pretty clear that Robby Jackson was President. I’m not clear how Kealty became President. It seems unlikely the he was Jackson’s VP.