Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenRivet
The amount of convection created by a sizable fire of that sort makes it next to impossible to land a helicopter atop the building, the heat from a fire that size causes insane updrafts and downdrafts that makes it a full time job just to fly very near the building - let alone directly above it.. Additionally, the thick black smoke would substantially reduce visibility in the landing zone.
A helicopter pilot would have likely considered a few variables in his decision to land.
1) The pilot may have considered that the fire department has a chance of controlling the fire, and that by attempting to land his helicopter he risks a crash - and the last thing they needed was another aircraft crashing onto the building
2) Smoke reduced the rooftop visibility substantially, creating an even more hazardous landing zone
3) A helicopter pilot would have likely considered structural integrity of the landing zone, if he thought for a moment that the roof top might not bear the load of his helicopter he wouldnt risk it.
Im sure there were many other considerations, but the bottom line is he decided not to land on the roof, and the number of reasons opposing a landing decision must have obviously been greater than the number of reasons supporting a landing decision.
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Yeah, this is exactly what I got out of the video. It's just that from the previous perspectives I've seen of the towers, it looked like MAYBE it could be possible to do something. But when I saw this from the chopper's perspective, with that smoke just blasting out of the building and blocking clear view of the rooftop by at least 2/3 at all times, that definitely settled it. I agree, there was no reasonable chance for him to come in. Even if it was attempted, I think the risk of crashing and creating only more casualties, would've outweighed the possibility of saving lives. I mean, the other thing you can definitely tell from this video, is that noone even contemplated that the towers would just go down. You can definitely tell the crew's shock when the south tower gives in. But that was an unbelievable moment for absolutely everyone - that whole day was unreal and I think for even the most trained emergency people, it was hard to contemplate that things were actually going to be as bad as they turned out. I'm pretty sure noone thought that there was going to be that little time to evacuate the towers - and all things considered, I honestly don't think anyone could've done a better job saving the people in the towers in the time and circumstances. The FDNY and NYPD response that day was and still stands as unquestionably heroic.