# Could the Capitol Building have withstood Flight 93? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769 "2013-09-01T23:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/1 "2013-09-01T23:30:12Z")
A search reveals that the topic of Flight 93 hitting the Capitol has of course been discussed before, but in the political context. What I want to know is how the actual structure of the Capitol building would stand up to an impact by a Boeing 757 - are we talking total and complete destruction like the WTC or repairable damage like the Pentagon? I’d assume that a hijacker would aim for the most visible part from the air, that being the dome. The [dome interior](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USCapitolRotunda.JPG) looks pretty thin - would a 757 just slice right through it? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/2 "2013-09-02T06:02:10Z")
My WAG is that it would be extremely damaged, if not completely destroyed. We’re talking late-1700s construction standards. It was designed to look majestic, not sturdy enough to withstand some future means of attack. And yes, from the right angle, the plane would just slice right through it, leaving a pile of rubble behind, and causing further annihilation ahead. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/3 "2013-09-02T06:12:44Z")
Tom Clancy had an airliner crashing into the Capitol at the end of _Debt of Honor_. It gets trashed. I know this is fiction, but Clancy seems to get a lot of the technical stuff right (the appeal of his work, I guess), so I imagine the destruction is plausible. [I am not an architect] ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/4 "2013-09-02T12:22:06Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My WAG is that it would be extremely damaged, if not completely destroyed. We’re talking late-1700s construction standards… Not to dispute your point, but for what it’s worth, most of the Capitol isn’t quite that old. The size of the building was more than doubled in the 1850s, and the current dome was installed in 1855. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/5 "2013-09-02T12:33:18Z")
The Capital building is very wide. There would be extremely bad damage where it hit but much of the building would be untouched. It really depends on how quick the fire could be extinguished. I would guess that the fire would rage out of control and destroy most of it but that would just be a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/6 "2013-09-02T12:42:06Z")
Assuming the target is the dome itself, which seems likely, then I’d have no trouble believing that the dome would be destroyed by a direct hit by a jumbo jet. The dome itself was constructed between 1855 and 1866 out of cast iron pieces. The site for the [Architect of the Capitol](http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/capitol-dome) notes that more than 8 million pounds of iron went into its construction. Still, there’s a LOT of glass and pillars in the dome and those would be gone on impact so I’m going to assume that the plane goes through the dome into the rotunda and lights it up when the fuel goes up. Whether or not that flame gets into either or both the Senate and House chambers I don’t know but it will set every other thing on fire. How long that takes to burn out is anyone’s guess. Congress was not meeting (though technically in session) the morning of 9/11 so it’s doubtful any elected officials would have been killed in the attack, at least not wholesale. Whether any were in there for admin purposes or tours or meetings or whatever is unknown to me. Still, there would have been loss of life from staffers, security and the like. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/7 "2013-09-02T14:46:09Z")
Just so we’re all on the same page concerning the size of the objects involved: [The capitol building itself is about 750’ x 350’; the rotunda is 96’ in diameter.](http://www.aoc.gov/facts/capitol-hill) A Boeing 757, meanwhile, has a [wingspan of about 125’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_757#Specifications). There’s not a huge margin for error there to get a head-on, centered collision; but I can believe that even a “grazing” collision would have caused substantial damage. (For comparison, the WTC towers were over twice as wide as the Capitol dome. Wiki says the original design called for the towers to be 208’ wide.) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/8 "2013-09-02T15:24:24Z")
Comparing the size of the plane to the width of the Capitol sort of misses the point; a 105MM howitzer round’s much less wide than my torso, but if it hits me I’m going to go kablam. The Capitol would have been essentially destroyed by a direct hit due to the subsequent explosion and catastrophic structural damage. The fire would have been extraordinary. The far reaches of its wings might have stayed up, at best. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/9 "2013-09-02T15:55:08Z")
It would depend on how well-placed the secondary charges were, but my guess is that the dome would be utterly gone, the chambers of the House and Senate likely consumed in the resulting fires, but maybe their outer walls would remain standing. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/10 "2013-09-02T16:03:40Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > It would depend on how well-placed the secondary charges were… And where were the secondary charges? Why weren’t they detonated, anyway? Why has nobody noticed them in the past twelve years? This is a public building that is regularly swept for explosives, and even removed explosives leave a trace. :dubious: Please let this be a whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/11 "2013-09-02T16:20:20Z")
Has it been confirmed yet that the Capitol building was the intended target? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/12 "2013-09-02T16:28:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Why has nobody noticed them in the past twelve years? This is a public building that is regularly swept for explosives _Quis custodiet ipsos custodies_? Who better to place bombs than the bomb sweep teams? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/13 "2013-09-02T16:35:40Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > Has it been confirmed yet that the Capitol building was the intended target? I would have thought the White House myself. The Capitol Building is rather easy to spot from the air. The WH isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/14 "2013-09-02T16:43:59Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > _Quis custodiet ipsos custodies_? So you are blaming the janitors? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/15 "2013-09-02T19:31:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I would have thought the White House myself. The Capitol Building is rather easy to spot from the air. The WH isn’t. But the Capitol would cause more disorder than the WH even if the President were there. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/16 "2013-09-02T19:37:20Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > So you are blaming the janitors? 😉 How easy would it be to put a bomb underneath the trash bag in a public trashcan? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/17 "2013-09-02T19:52:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I would have thought the White House myself. The Capitol Building is rather easy to spot from the air. The WH isn’t. We may never know for sure. The 9-11 Commission, in some informed speculation, said the terrorists’ target was probably the Capitol; FWIW, the movie _United 93_ showed the hijackers put a picture of the Capitol dome on the aircraft’s control yoke. I agree that the WH isn’t as prominent from the air as the Capitol, but had the hijackers intended to find and hit it, they easily could have, probably lining up on the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial: [http://www.richardcrouse.com/images/content/gallery/mall\_big.jpg](http://www.richardcrouse.com/images/content/gallery/mall_big.jpg) [![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7184/6871114515_6c37f9efe0.jpg) ](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7184/6871114515_6c37f9efe0.jpg) [![](https://media.npr.org/programs/newsnotes/features/2007/07/Aerial%20View%20MLK%20Memorial%20Site-s6-c30.jpg) ](https://media.npr.org/programs/newsnotes/features/2007/07/Aerial%20View%20MLK%20Memorial%20Site-s6-c30.jpg) Here’s a good pic of the Capitol dome’s interior structure; it’s relatively thin iron and could never withstand the impact of a jetliner: [http://www.cowanauctions.com/itemImages/97451.jpg](http://www.cowanauctions.com/itemImages/97451.jpg) God forbid that any of this should happen. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/18 "2013-09-02T19:59:23Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And where were the secondary charges? Why weren’t they detonated, anyway? Why has nobody noticed them in the past twelve years? This is a public building that is regularly swept for explosives, and even removed explosives leave a trace. :dubious: > > Please let this be a whoosh. Yes, well, um… Halliburton! I said on the morning of the attack after the Pentagon that a third striek was likely, against the Capitol, because it represent the third leg of American power. WTC = economic. Pentagon = Military. Capitol = Political. The power of the People is vested on Capitol Hill, not the White House, and Osama knew this. Also, bigger target, easier to hit, and the damage would have been much more dramatically visible as the Capitol is a huge building not surrounded by trees. Makes for better video on the evening news. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/19 "2013-09-03T01:49:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I would have thought the White House myself. The Capitol Building is rather easy to spot from the air. The WH isn’t. I’ve always thought that the third plane’s original target may have been The White House but as pointed out the WH isn’t easily stopped from the air (especially at airliner speeds) and the hijackers knew that they wouldn’t get too many ‘passes’ if you will, before fighters would have been scrambled (they were on their way to intercept United 93). So they hit the Pentagon as a secondary (it’s extremely easy to spot from the air). Although I would think that the airspace above DC has always been closely monitored, but I’ve never heard if the third plane’s exact flight path was accurately tracked. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769/20 "2013-09-03T02:37:41Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > Yes, well, um… > > Halliburton! Well played! 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-capitol-building-have-withstood-flight-93/667769.md?page=2)