# Any 9-11 survivors aboard the planes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689 "2004-02-17T18:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/1 "2004-02-17T18:37:59Z")
Did any of the passengers of the two planes that crashed into World Trade Center survive? I know many people who were inside WTC during the impact survived, and frankly I think your chances of surviving if you were aboard the planes were rather small, but I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/2 "2004-02-17T18:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I think your chances of surviving if you were aboard the planes were rather small The chances of surviving a 500 mph impact into the side of a building not just rather small, it is zero. No survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/3 "2004-02-17T18:51:12Z")
I know that you didn’t ask, but none of the passengers aboard the other 2 planes survived either. (Just in case that was going to be your next question) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/4 "2004-02-17T18:59:02Z")
No one from Pan Am 103 fell onto a trampoline in Lockerbie either. ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/5 "2004-02-17T20:30:24Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Did any of the passengers of the two planes that crashed into World Trade Center survive? > > I know many people who were inside WTC during the impact survived, and frankly I think your chances of surviving if you were aboard the planes were rather small, but I’m curious. It’s taken you nearly two and a half years to come up with this question? I’m trying to be kind, now… have you been hibernating, or are you an idiot? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/6 "2004-02-17T20:34:25Z")
**Schnitte** old fellow, I’m sorry to put it this way, but your question is slightly nuts. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/7 "2004-02-17T20:45:10Z")
On the assumption that the OP is serious, all four aircraft impacted at speeds greater than 250 miles per hour, and the nearly-full fuel tanks of at least three of the planes ignited on impact. Not only did no one survive, it is likely that little other than small parts of the victims’ bodies were recovered. IIRC, those persons that survived the initial impacts of the aircraft on the WTC towers were mostly on floors well above or below the impact zones. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/8 "2004-02-17T21:36:49Z")
> [@gluteus maximus](#): > > have you been hibernating, or are you an idiot? **gluteus maximus** , personal insults are not permitted in GQ. Repeat your behaviour at the risk of being banned. You have been warned. - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/9 "2004-02-17T22:54:22Z")
I haven’t got a ‘Guinness Book Of Records’ handy (nor even a Guinness, unfortunately), but IIRC there are cases of people surviving falls from several thousand feet, normally involving a gradual deceleration through the branches of pine trees in a forests. **El\_Kabong** : The front end of one of the planes went through relatively intact (a hijackers passport was found) - it wasn’t until the fuel tanks (presumably in the wings?) hit the tower that the fireball erupted. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/10 "2004-02-17T23:31:46Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > I haven’t got a ‘Guinness Book Of Records’ handy (nor even a Guinness, unfortunately), but IIRC there are cases of people surviving falls from several thousand feet, normally involving a gradual deceleration through the branches of pine trees in a forests. > **El\_Kabong** : The front end of one of the planes went through relatively intact (a hijackers passport was found) - it wasn’t until the fuel tanks (presumably in the wings?) hit the tower that the fireball erupted. Falling from 10,000 feet, yes- I believe the last one was a German stewardess- but from a relatively stable airframe, nor a crumpling and/or exploding one. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/11 "2004-02-17T23:49:09Z")
[Everything you ever wanted to know about free-falls.](http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html) Including this(from the Wreckage Riders section) : > [@](#): > > Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess on a Yugoslav DC 9 jet airliner that blew up in January of 1972 (probably as the result of a terrorist bomb). She fell more than 33,000 feet in the wreckage of the plane, which hit a snow-covered slope. The only survivor, she was badly injured and was paralyzed from the waist down, but later recovered and now can walk. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/12 "2004-02-18T00:09:48Z")
> [@xash](#): > > **gluteus maximus** , personal insults are not permitted in GQ. > > Repeat your behaviour at the risk of being banned. You have been warned. > > - **xash** > General Questions Moderator I think it quite possible the question was posed in poor taste and meant to be a general insult. ---
**Author:** ![mancunian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mancunian/32/12244_2.png) [@mancunian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mancunian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/13 "2004-02-18T00:54:42Z")
I got a related question. Would death have been instantaneous, or would these poor guys got burned alive? I know a 300 mph impact should be instant, but if hostages where sat at the back of the plane, would they have decelerated enough not to be killed by the impact? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/14 "2004-02-18T05:42:56Z")
> [@Zukhoi](#): > > I got a related question. > > Would death have been instantaneous, or would these poor guys got burned alive? > > I know a 300 mph impact should be instant, but if hostages where sat at the back of the plane, would they have decelerated enough not to be killed by the impact? From 500 mph to basically 0 mph in the length of the plane? Someone will surely come along with the calculations expressing the deceleration in G forces. I’m betting they were sufficiently high that those forces caused the deaths and no one aborad the various aircraft were alive to be burned to death. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/15 "2004-02-18T05:46:36Z")
> [@Zukhoi](#): > > I got a related question. > > Would death have been instantaneous, or would these poor guys got burned alive? > > I know a 300 mph impact should be instant, but if hostages where sat at the back of the plane, would they have decelerated enough not to be killed by the impact? I don´t want to get morbid here, but it´s not only a matter of deceleration, just imagine yourself inside a soda can filled with fuel, someone sets it on fire and stomps on it… ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/16 "2004-02-18T06:12:08Z")
Intact bodies from the planes were recovered from the WTC site. [Note the last line of this Snopes article.](http://snopes.com/rumors/hands.htm) Also, regarding the decelleration of the planes, you’ll note that the fireballs continued THROUGH the towers and out the other sides, carrying significant amounts of mass with them. It’s not as if the planes crashed into a solid wall. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-9-11-survivors-aboard-the-planes/229689/17 "2004-02-18T18:10:36Z")
All right, I knew this question would appear very stupid before I posted it. I’m not trying to justify the question, but let me try to explain why I asked it (and honestly, it was not meant as an insult against anybody). It was more a scholar thing; I started studying (German) law in fall, and a penal law case we are faced with involves the question of whether shooting down a plane that’s about to crash int a building could be justified or not. One theory discussed is that killing some people to save the lives of even more people can be justified if and only if the people killed were doomed anyway, i.e. if any single one of them was about to die just as well if the act that was meant to save the others does not take place. Hence my posting. I apologize if anyone felt offended. That was not my intention. It was not my intention, either, to have my work done by others; this bit of information does, however, play some role in my line of argumentation regarding this hypothetical case.