# Strange Streak in WTC Video **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305 "2002-12-03T23:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/1 "2002-12-03T23:30:20Z")
Can anyone offer an explanation as to what [this](http://www.mycountryrightorwrong.net/f-15.htm) is? Claims I’ve seen are usually made up of alien craft or F-15. It’s probably a hoax, but I’ve seen it other places…what’s the Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/2 "2002-12-03T23:44:20Z")
I seriously doubt that it’s an F-15, from the angle of the image in question, it looks like it’s going to impact into the ground. Also, given the scale, it looks far too large to be an F-15. The quality of the image is, crap, though, so it could simply be an “artifact” and not actually there at all. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/3 "2002-12-03T23:49:25Z")
It has always seemed to me to be stuff ejected out of the burning tower. Perspective can do funny things, but it looks to me like stuff coming out of the tower and falling in an arc to the ground. Not saying I can’t see an alternate explanation, but I need to stretch to see it. Stuff blowing out of the tower and crashing down I don’t need to use my imaginarion for. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/4 "2002-12-03T23:52:23Z")
Considering the speed and AOA, there’s no way in hell an F-15 could pull out of that dive. I raise the BS flag. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/5 "2002-12-03T23:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Cynical \* > \*\*Considering the speed and AOA, there’s no way in hell an F-15 could pull out of that dive. I raise the BS flag. \*\* That’s pretty much what I figured. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any email to ask them how an F-15 could’ve pulled out of a dive like that, or why there were no witnesses. Wouldn’t people notice an F-15 swooping by the towers at the time of the explosion? Some people… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/6 "2002-12-03T23:56:09Z")
I have a feeling that it was established (by examination of the full video) that it was one of the engines of the plane; it apears to be falling at the wrong angle - if you trace the path backwards, it misses the collision site - but it’s just falling at a steeper angle because it’s near the end of it’s trajectory. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/7 "2002-12-04T00:01:15Z")
**Mangetout,** /Ed McMahon/ You are correct sir!! /Ed McMahon. It is indeed one of the engines flying through the Tower and out the other side. Apparently it landed about 1/4 mile away. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/8 "2002-12-04T00:05:53Z")
They found a turbine near canal street. I don’t know what direction this video was taken from. Is the direction of the debris towards canal street? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/9 "2002-12-04T02:12:06Z")
The WTC tragedy was covered from multiple vantage points…including a view from directly opposite this video. If we didnt see any phantom jet swoop down in those angles, its probably just a video resolution artifact ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/10 "2002-12-04T02:45:02Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. The F-15 in this video is flying in the exact direction from Otis to the WTC Too … many … ridiculous … assumptions… Can’t … keep … straight … face… :wally ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/11 "2002-12-04T04:09:23Z")
> [@](#): > > we didnt see any phantom jet swoop down Well, of _course_, not. It was a F-15 Eagle, not an F-4 Phantom II. Don’t you debunkers know _anything_? (Now why a 29,000 lb. fighter that was _beyond_ the towers would show up as wider than a 350,000 lb. airliner that hit the tower or why the “fighter” never shows up to the left of the tower before it appears to the right of the tower is up to _you_ to explain–probably something to do with the Philadelphia Experiment.) BTW, despite the crappy quality of the video, the shadow at the extreme top right of the South Tower can be clearly identified as the shadow of the smoke billowing out of the North tower. To leave a shadow on the south of the south tower and still fly north of the north tower would require enough bending of physics to require a black hole (probably brought in by Phildelphia Experiment technology, then replaced in outer space). ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@Dave\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/12 "2002-12-04T06:39:24Z")
I’m going with a bird. I watched the video and you can see something streaking in front of the smoke and then drop. Unfortunately you can’t tell distance so it could easily be something very close.(Which would explain why it’s out of focus, because it’s close.) ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@Dave\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/13 "2002-12-04T06:42:18Z")
I would also like to point out an F-15 is 63 feet long. The towers were over 200 feet wide. It can’t be an F-15 flying near the towers because the image is simply too damn big. Looking at the video I still stick with a bird fairly close to the camera. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/14 "2002-12-04T16:20:31Z")
rods? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/15 "2002-12-04T17:09:26Z")
I’m going with an alien spacecraft _piloted_ by a bird. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/16 "2002-12-04T17:12:21Z")
**Eve** , have you been reading _Bizarro_ comic strips again? Was the bird eating pie? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-streak-in-wtc-video/140305/17 "2002-12-04T17:14:07Z")
If you watch the video very carefully, you’ll see that the object is visible from the moment it enters the screen at the upper left to the moment it leaves the screen at the lower right. It’s hard to see against the smoke, but it’s there if you know where to look. So whatever it is, it has to be between the towers and the camera. Multiple other cameras were pointed at the towers at the same time, yet only this camera recorded the object. This combined with the fact that the object appears to be outof focus suggests that it’s quite near to the camera, probably not large, and probably not moving very quickly. Most likely, it’s a bird, although it could concievably be some piece of litter or debris being carried by the wind. Here’s a frame-by-frame breakdown of the video clip: [http://www.inlex.net/bluemonk/wtc/stills/all\_frames/all\_frames.html](http://www.inlex.net/bluemonk/wtc/stills/all_frames/all_frames.html)