This is something I haven’t heard mentioned, and it just occurred to me. A big deal has been made, and rightfully so, about the plane clearing the George Washington Bridge, considering all the variables and other problems. But was there ever any danger to the Lincoln Tunnel, which extends across the Hudson from 39th Street? If the plane had hit the water at the right location, the right angle, and the right velocity, could the tunnel have been compromised? Or would the plane have crumpled before reaching that depth?
The Lincoln Tunnel (like the other tunnels across the Hudson, the Holland, PATH and the Pennsylvania Railroad (Amtrak) tunnels) were bored out below the riverbed.
I’m not sure how much soil/rock there is above the top of the tunnels, but it isn’t like the tunnels are a tube just laid across the bottom of the river. If the plane had sunk, even after a high speed impact, by the time it had settled on the bottom of the river, it would be extremely unlikely to have affected the tunnel at all.
The river is about fifty feet deep, and the road surface is about fifty feet below that at the center. Some one else can consider the physics, but it would take a remarkable explosive force for an object striking the middle of the river to affect the tunnel.
Now if it struck closer to shore, or right at the tunnel’s opening (about 500 feet from the shore on each side), maybe a different story.
I doubt there is a right angle and velocity that would not cause the plane to pancake within the first few feet of the water.
That’s why they never open the skylights in the tunnel to let light into the tunnel. 