Pentagon Report fails to demonstrate that damage to the Pentagon was caused by a Boeing 757

By Sami Yli-Karjanmaa

The Pentagon Building Performance Report (January 2003 – American Society of Civil Engineers) fails in its attempt to show that the structural damage to the Pentagon on 9/11 was caused by a Boeing 757 aircraft.

This key conclusion is based on nine observations which can be divided into two categories, based on whether they apply to events prior to, or during, the crash of the aircraft. As regards the first group, the overall conclusion is that the approach of the aircraft, and its damage cannot have taken place in the manner put forward in the report. This conclusion is supported by the following observations:

• the aircraft's reported 42º approach angle is not possible for a B-757;
• the aircraft's right wing hitting a generator cannot account for the narrowness and discontinuity of the damage to the facade as proposed by the report;
• the intact cable spools in the trajectory of the aircaft are incompatible with the information on the impact contained in the report.
  and
• there is no evidence to support the claim of the left engine having hit a vent structure; such a hit would also not explain the narrowness of the damage to the facade.

For the second group, the overall conclusion is that the report's description of the impact of the plane and of the damage caused manifestly contradicts photographic evidence from the scene. The description includes impossible, contradictory and unexplained phenomena:

• the allegation of the aircraft's fuselage sliding into the first floor has no physical credibility;
• the facade damage on the right side of the opening in the outer wall does not have anything in common with the shape, size and position of the alleged B-757;
• the facade damage on the left side of the opening are not suggestive of the proposed impact of a B-757;
• the tail of the aircraft left no visible marks on the facade while the report in no way explains this;
  and
• the report fails to provide any kind of explanation for the hole in the wall of Ring C.

The uncertainties related to the alleged point of impact as well as the approach angle, vertical position and inclination of the aircraft do not weaken the conclusion presented herein that the Pentagon could not have been hit by a Boeing 757 in the manner described in the report. This is because changing one of these factors to allow the better explanation of a particular damage (or the lack of it) renders the other damage even less comprehensible.

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