Pentagon Research

KEY NOTES: These frames are as they were released to the media. This one was intentionally altered. They have universally brightened it. Why? I don't know. When you go back to the main video page look at the sequence again and watch how everything including the sky gets much brighter. Here in the still you can see that even the shadows get brighter. If it was that bright in reality it would have created a second lighter shadow from the direction of the explosion. Facts don't need to be altered. You can also still see the density of the vapor trail behind the aircraft.

I'm no fuel expert but do know that the explosion in this frame is more reminiscent of explosives and not kerosene. My personal belief is that the aircraft is already significantly breaking up long before hitting the building. This and the first frame took place within one second. At 345 mph the aircraft would be doing 506 feet per second. I estimate the distance traveled between frame 1 and 2 to be about 200 feet. This would be about right for 506 feet per second. It is not time for the plane to hit the building and have the explosion rebound to the point it is in the frame within one second however.

If you look at the right edge of the explosion you can see a good sized piece of debris. You can see another one at the top of the fireball. Notice how the fireball is "leaning" forward? This would indicate to me that the plane exploded prior to impact. It would explain why there is no significant wing or tail strikes on the building. It does not explain where the remnants of those significant structures went. No matter what the theory you can see the volume of the explosion and agree that an aircraft would have to be structurally compromised at this point.

Several eyewitness statements seem to indicate an explosion preceding the fireball. One thing to keep in mind is the time it takes sound to travel. Depending on their distance then the sound getting to them before the sight of the fireball is significant.

Dave Winslow, AP Radio Reporter . . .As I turned to my right, I saw a jumbo tail go by me along Route 395. It was like the rear end of the fuselage was riding on 395. I just saw the tail go whoosh right past me. In a split second, you heard this boom. A combination of a crack and a thud. It rattled my windows. I thought they were going to blow out. Then came an enormous fireball."

Kirk Milburn, a construction supervisor for Atlantis Co......was on the Arlington National Cemetery exit of Interstate 395. "I was right underneath the plane. I heard a plane. I saw it. I saw debris flying. I guess it was hitting light poles. It was like a WHOOOSH whoosh, then there was fire and smoke, then I heard a second explosion."

Depending on how you interpret this next one it is very interesting in terms of explosives. If her depth-of-field were off it seems like she might have seen two explosions. One before the actual impact.

Penny Elgas was driving to work (at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation near the White House) headed north stuck in the traffic, almost in front of the Pentagon....it gently rocked and slowly glided straight into the Pentagon. At the point where the fuselage hit the wall, it seemed to simply melt into the building. I saw a smoke ring surround the fuselage as it made contact with the wall. It appeared as a smoke ring that encircled the fuselage at the point of contact and it seemed to be several feet thick. I later realized that it was probably the rubble of churning bits of the plane and concrete. The churning smoke ring started at the top of the fuselage and simultaneously wrapped down both the right and left sides of the fuselage to the underside, where the coiling rings crossed over each other and then coiled back up to the top. Then it started over again -- only this next time, I also saw fire, glowing fire in the smoke ring. At that point, the wings disappeared into the Pentagon. And then I saw an explosion and watched the tail of the plane slip into the building. It was here that I closed my eyes for a moment and when I looked back, the entire area was awash in thick black smoke.

Don Perkal, a lawyer, was working at the Pentagon. " ... Even before stepping outside I could smell the cordite. Then I knew explosives had been set off somewhere. "

Master Sergeant James Smith........It literally rocked the west side of the Pentagon. They heard what sounded like two explosions. The first was the sound of the airliner's impact and the second was exploding jet fuel. At the time, however, they didn't know an airliner had hit the building."

The last one is very interesting. They had no visual impression since they didn't know what the sounds were caused by. Afterwards they interpreted them as the impact and the fuel, but in reality they heard a sequence of two explosions. This again is what you would expect from a missile launch as well as an aircraft exploding prior to impact. No matter what theory you adhere to it seems that explosives and two explosions are a possibility.