Criminal investigation

9/11: No Boeing757  Hit the Pentagon

According to The 9/11 Commission Report (2004), American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, was flown into the Pentagon at around 400 mph barely skimming the ground and taking out a series of lampposts on its approach. As a pilot and aeronautical engineer, however, that cannot be correct: high-speed flight in relatively close proximity to the ground is virtually impossible – in any fixed-wing aircraft.

An exception would be cruise-type missiles, whose flying surfaces are more akin to horizontal fins than wings, and thus have extremely high wing loadings (lbs/sf) — much higher even than of ground-attack fighter-bombers.

Commonly invoked photos of aircraft in flight close to the ground do not depict flight at anywhere near maximum speed; they are photos taken of craft flying at greatly reduced throttle settings – which is what actually happens during any landing!