... one of the towers at a speed of 200 miles per hour, the average speed of an aircraft upon landing. The Boeing 707 was the largest commercial aircraft in the sky at the time the first tower opened in 1970. Unfortunately, the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center Towers were Boeing 767 jets fully tanked with 20,000 gallons of highly combustible jet fuel flying at speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour. Experts agree that it was the intense heat of this fuel, likely burning in excess of 850? C, and interior debris burning that ultimately caused the progressive collapse of the towers. According to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the collapse of each tower was estimated to be equivalent to the explosion of 23.5 tons of TNT. The estimated area of Manhattan real estate that was razed or temporarily rendered unavailable due to the terrorist ...

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