I like my odds jumping with a parachute better than jumping without one.

Please never run out of 9/11 videos

I am really glad these attacks did not happen in the current day, there would be so much horrific footage from live-streaming etc, nobody wants to see their loved ones like that in their final moments

If I worked in a skyscraper I would take base jumping lessons and keep a parachute under my desk. I would rather take my life into my own hands than wait around to see if I get rescued.

Anyone working in Freedom Tower (especially the upper floors) should probably consider keeping an emergency parachute in their desks, as well as taking a class learning how to use it.

The fact that this video is 9 minutes and 11 seconds long didn't escape me.

This has to be the only event in history i could witness live on TV that still gives me chills and a horrible sense of dread. If there was hell on earth than those trapped in the building definitely saw a glimpse of it.

A video about Edna Cintron the women that was pictured standing on the broken beams in the impact zone of the north tower would be interesting, its crazy to imagine how she must have felt looking down standing right on the edge, waving for help.

If I recall, there was consideration to develop a BASE jumping parachute for novices to be used in case of emergency. The canopy was to be deployed by a static line attached to the building. It was tested at the Perrine bridge in Idaho. On that terrible day a high school classmate and company colleague were lost. They will not be forgotten.

There was a guy on the 110 floor of the North Tower that quit because he was paranoid of a fire being caused by all the electrical equipment on the floor. He was told he couldn’t bring one so he quite a few months before 9/11

i appreciate the touch of the vid being 9:11 long

You forgot to mention jumping out with all the debris falling out of the building.

I’ve played this scenario out in my head for 23 years. I’m thinking if I worked at the twin towers I would have kept an emergency chute at my desk

I just watched 9/11 a day in America, and they did attempt a helicopter rescue, but no one was on the roof. The northwest corner of one of the towers was clear of smoke, they would have tried if someone was up there, but sadly no one was

Ive never seen that zoomed in photo before. Man, those poor people.

The helicopter pilots who had flown above the buildings to attempt a rooftop rescue said that the south tower had too much smoke and was out of play, and that there was a small opening on the northwest corner of the north tower where they maybe could have rescued people, but no one was up there. I believe there were phone call accounts as well from people in the south tower that had made it to the top but could not break open the door to reach the roof. Maybe this happened in both towers. Not sure what the protocol was for keeping those doors locked, but in hindsight it's obviously terrible to think about.

This event still haunts people. 23 years later.

There's a picture I saw of a jumper using her coat as a makeshift parachute, heartbreaking

Love that this video is excactly 9 minutes 11 seconds long

Jumping into the core may have been more frightening than out the window ,at least the window u know it’s over. If u jump in the core I’m sure it was pitch black,probably fire and full of smoke it would’ve been like falling into hell 😢

I worked at a skydiving dropzone for a summer about 12 years ago and my ex was a skydiving instructor there, he also held a couple records for most skydives in one day by one person in a couple of states. I was actually on site for both events. You can imagine it was a special setup and race to complete from sunrise to setting. He did like 110. He had to do what are called hop n pops to get them all done in time and safely. I think that the lowest altitude he could go to and immediately pull to deploy was 2000 or 1500 ft to ensure he made it down in time and safely. They were quick at that height literally immediately pulled after he stepped foot out of the plane/zero free fall and there were still several that just seemed too dang close for my liking. Even without the free fall/being under canopy it was only a matter of seconds until he was on the ground and he’s an exceptionally experienced skydiver. IMO, it would have taken very skilled skydivers/base jumpers to actually even have a chance of surviving that jump and you’d have to be up towards the very top. Forget all of the chaotic factors of the day - things like you mentioned about the obstacles of the buildings/terraces and then the lack of clear safe landing locations on the ground. Getting the gear on safely/securely is another factor. Can’t imagine a novice trying to get strapped to it safely with all the chaos going on. It’s not like just a backpack. Controlling the risers and braking handles can be physically difficult too. I packed parachutes there and it’s a very intricate system. Heck, even with my familiarity of the rigs, I only did one jump/tandem bc I’m petrified of heights. Even working around them for an entire summer, packing them and helping rig up tandem jumpers, I’d probably not be able to get it on correctly nor pull or control it if I were in the situation. At best everyone intending to use them would need thorough training and likely annually to even have a fighting chance of potentially surviving a hop n pop/BASE jump out. At worst, I think you’d have a whole lot of chaos - people hitting the ground having never pulled in time, people smacking into each other with or without open canopies - the lucky folks that deployed in time would be entangling chutes with each other and racing to the ground intertwined even faster than the 15/20 second ride without becoming entangled. And so on. Oh and an insane amount of critical casualties would end up perishing in a lot more pain than if they hadn’t had a drag to slow them down. Like, gruesome painful injuries from not deploying correctly - instead of instant lights out, they could be gravely injured and suffering bc they were merely slowed down and that would be an awful way to suffer before passing. I do commend your videos for exploring these types of inquiries so many years on. I’ve definitely thought about whether or not I think I could successfully jump with a rig and make it down alive plenty of times myself. Oh and then the logistics of the cost of the rigs, they are not cheap! Gosh maybe $5k per full rig for a basic setup, obviously they go well up over $10k for sport/sophisticated rigs. Most people rent them from the DZ or you can buy secondhand etc. A standard BASE jumping rig might be like $3kish. Then the cost to maintain and inspect them however often. Initial and probably annual training - even if very basic. Then the joys of the US these days, the liability /lawsuits from families of those who gave it a shot and it didn’t work so now they’re suing. Just so many variables. I get though that this is hypothetical and this could just be in reference to an individual keeping a rig at their desk. If they had experience either BASE jumping or with hop n pops and they weren’t up against several other random people jumping out with chutes on at the same time, depending on location and if you were like at the very top and not obstructed by smoke or obstacles in your path or on the ground, definitely doable and worth it if the opportunity presented itself! I would have given it a shot even with my fear of heights and very limited experience!

Because of 9/11, I made a pact long ago that if I ever have to work high up in a tall building like this, I would have a wingsuit and glider parachute on hand somewhere in my work space

You could have a really tall fire pole to slide down, that way people could access it at any floor and slide down the way firefighters or the Ghostbusters do!

The tangents in this one. 😅

A witness from an adjacent building had clear view of those who were forced to jump from the windows of the towers, he made eye contact with them right before they jumped and said he saw the souls of the jumpers leave the body just before impacting the ground and disintegrating..

There’s a story of the chief chef on the titanic, He thought he was doom and was gonna die so he went into the ships pantry and made it his mission to not leave one bottle of alcohol on the ship left. He got so drunk and actually survived because of it. Most people died within 20 minutes of hitting the 28 degree water, Yet he swam for 2 hours and survived because of the alcohol. Is it possible that someone in the wtc knew there was no escape so decided to go to the windows of the world and drink as much as they can as a last hurrah? I know it’s a dark topic but it’s just interesting to talk about when you brought up the titanic

I remember reading somewhere, that an employee of one of the company's that had offices high up in one of the towers, had asked about having parachutes and doing training for their use. Unfortunately his idea was rejected out of hand, quite harshly, if I remember correctly. They were told that the towers were built to withstand tremendous damage. We all know what happened, but nobody in the late 60's, when these buildings were designed, would expect someone to deliberately crash a jetliner into the towers fully laden with fuel. You could not "jump down into the impact zone" on the North tower and escape. There is the famous waving woman, who is stood in that impact zone. Somehow she survived the impact and destruction of her floor, but there was no way out. The stairs are gone, chocked full of rubble. If you look at photos of the fires. Up to three floors below her are engulfed in flame. You are not getting out doing that.

Think of the people that finally accessed the stairwell in the south tower and thought they were saved. If 15 got out there must’ve been another 15 or so on the way out when it collapsed

I found the article about building an emergency escape BASE jumping rig for novices: "Aside from the absolute unlikelihood of being caught in a burning high rise and actually having a rig right there, finding a way to get out a window, avoiding the sucking phenomenon that occurs when flames meet air, and landing safely in a city environment that has devolved into chaos all seem pretty dubious. “As a base jumper,” Jimmy said, “If I got trapped in a burning building, I would take the stairs.”

I enjoy this series idc what anyone says. I always wonder these questions and for someone to make a full blown discussion about this is necessary and appreciated. Thank you

this is the question i have always asked.

I've done a bit of BASE jumping and I can say that the best bet would definitely be to parachute out. I've done some quick research, and the North Tower was about 1,300 feet tall. Now, most experienced BASE jumpers don't generally attempt a jump at or below 2,000 feet. If you jump below 2,000 feet you're really pushing your luck, but it is possible and has been done many times. So let's assume you've found a parachute on one of the upper floors. Owen Quinn BASE jumped from the North Tower in 1975, but he was an experienced jumper. If you're inexperienced and you've managed to fend off your coworkers for the chute then you're going to want to get to the roof as quickly as possible, you'll need all the height you can get. You've mentioned in other videos that the roof might have been locked off, if that's the case then maybe you'd have to break a window on the top floor or something. In this situation, feet = time. The more height you can get the more time you'll have to sort out a panic attack, fumble your hands for the cord, and try to guide yourself to safety. I think the best bet would be to try and land in the Hudson River. Trying to land in Lower Manhattan would decrease your chances of survival significantly. In BASE jumping even small obstacles can cause death, broken bones, or other severe injuries. Unlike what you see in video games, when you parachute, you often come in pretty hard. You would want to have seen it in some movies or something so you know to land feet first at least. Honestly, if you land in the Hudson, your chances of surviving would be pretty decent as long as you know how to swim and you don't get tangled in your parachute, which could drown you (similar to falling in a pool while the pool cover is on, the chute would envelop you and trap you). When you hit the water, you would want to take a deep breath and immediately remove the harness, then swim down and away from the chute before coming up. Anyway, I hope this helps some time travelling BASE jumpers in the future.

I want to correct you on something... When the towers were designed they took into account a plane crash. They designed the towers to absorb a plane crash on any portion of the tower, but the planes they had at the time were considerably smaller than a jumbo jet and they thought if a plane did hit the towers it would be one coming from far away and not familiar with the area and there wouldn't be a full fuel load.

You could have a stack of static line parachutes (not packed, like paratroopers sometimes use) in a facility near the roof. You don't need too much space and a simple open window to leap out. There'd be a battle to decide who gets to use them though. Definitely within reach of a multi-millionaire exec to have installed in their office a facility only for their own personal use.

Former Airborne trooper here ! Of, all the 300 comments I can say with absolute certainty that 3% maybe have used or actually know how to work a parachute. Also smoke and debris are absolute terrible to fly through with them and downright unsurvivable if any piece of debris or fire hit your chute.

I can not get enough of you talking about 911 Wtc

I have never jumped with a parachute, but I do know that they have a yearly event where they allow people to parachute off the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, USA. I read that you have to have some kind of special certification or training in order to be allowed to do it because the bridge is only 876 feet tall. The original world trade center buildings we're 1300 feet tall. So I would think that anyone jumping would have to have the knowledge and ability to know when to pull the cord in time to avoid smashing into the ground.

I think it's possible. The most difficult thing would be controlling your descent, so you don't hit another building going down and pull the rip cord in time.

Equip the FDNY with a platform that could scale the outside of the building. Use the window washer tracks. The firefighters wear a parachute and carry other chutes to give to people they find.

The hypothetical I’ve always wondered about was the possibility of using something like a fire hose or some long rope to rappel from the upper floors to somewhere below the impact zone. From there, they could break another window and get back into the tower below the impact and escape down that way. It would be incredibly dangerous, but I think it could be almost plausible

What if they had the inflatable hamster balls

You've always been optimistic. Especially the NODADDYDONTTOUCHMETHERE days

It is well known one person on the 93rd floor kept one after the original bombing. Alas, the plane went directly into his floor, so it was a moot point.

The biggest issue was that the steel supports weren't encased in concrete. It caused the steel to melt and collapse the building. I wonder if that would have caused the buildings to sway more and lead to a more unsteady jump?

Experienced Skydivers BASE Jump off Fixed Structures: "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas (referring to radio masts), spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). People in Twin Towers would need to go to Rooftop. Windows in surviving floors after Impact were extremely tough type of Glass. Hypothetically, if Windows could be broken, people could BASE Jump from their own Floors. Regardless of Jumping from Roof or through Broken Windows, people would be limited how far they could get away from Buildings. Air currents can suck a Parachutist back against the Exterior Walls, resulting in Chute collapsing. Then Jumper is truly just like other Jumpers without Parachutes.

Actually those Towers were a catastrophe waiting to happen. Port Authority refused to follow the strict Codes NYC and FDNY had for public safety in Hi-rise Bldgs. (Fire Commissioner refused to sign off on them.) The PA grouped all three of the stairways in the core area for ease of construction and lower costs. FDNY wanted (as other Bldgs had), a FIRE TOWER. That is a stairway usually in a corner that has a vented access hallway protected with a 4 Hr firedoor. After you pass through the hall another 4Hr door leads to the wide stairs enclosed within 4Hr walls. NO LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST IN NYC TO BLDGS WITH THAT STAIRWAY.

You should have talked about whould it be possible to actually get the parachute open rather than would it be possible to find one lying around in the building. Just assume you have one

The parachute idea is silly. Your best bet in WTC 1 was to climb and reach the mechanical floor. It's an open air walkway for HVAC and if you reached it, there's a strong possibility that you could get back into the building, especially since it was below the impact point just below the sky lobby.

There was a video of a guy that base jumped from the top of the Towers back in the day. He survived & recorded it in it's entirety. It's probably somewhere on KZfaq.

And regarding the helicopter scenario , they could have saved people, the wind was taking the smoke to one side of the buildings , but can you imagine how many people would be fighting to get on board . We would of needed dozens and dozens of helicopters at the ready to rescue people back to back one copter after the next, but unfortunately access to the roof was locked and prevented people from reaching the top

Bro after 9/11 there were parachutes designed for office use for sale. The rip cord you had to tie to a piece of furniture so it would deploy automatically.

this is 9 minutes and eleven seconds

Man I love your reviews, you are objective and respectfull

I remember adults talking about this ad nauseam for months after. And very serious words were spoken about highrises being equipped with parachutes like freaking fire extinguishers. It would have never worked. Was there a news report talking about this?? It’s like a half forgotten phantom memory of mine.

Could specially made equipment have been able to enable the FDNY to suppress or extinguish the fires on the top floors? Prepositioned water pumps and hoses on every 10 floors of the building?

These videos be entertaining fr 🐐

Thanks so much for making this video. I had mentioned the concept of parachuting off, a few weeks ago in one of your videos. I have done one single parachute jump, but an expert in the field, would have some very interesting things to say for sure. I remain convinced that it would have been very possible. If a person was skilled, they would take wind direction into account and plan their landing spot. I assume you would have to make sure you jumped well clear of the side of the building, so that the chute did not skim down the building structure and get caught or tangled. Because of the huge size of these buildings, you would have enough glide time to get well clear of the immediate impact zone. It might have been possible to land in Rockefeller Park or Washington Market park? Maybe the Battery Park Ball Fields? I think that landing on another building would be very risky, unless there is a large flat roof. It would be better to land on the ground. It would also have been possible to land in the water at the yacht harbour? There are many hypothetical possibilities here. I really would love to hear the views of an expert and what they would have done, had they gone to work with a chute. If you had a chute, you would have to plan your exit fast, before someone else could grab the chute. I even wondered if one chute could carry two people. Imagine you were there with your Wife and there is no way you could leave her. You either give her the chute and sacrifice yourself or you try to do a tandem jump. I'm always thinking about this type of thing. In all this carnage and hell, I would have loved to hear a story like this, where someone jumped off and survived. I bet there are people out there, who have a parachute in their tall building office.

Were any of the elevator shafts below the impact floors operable at all? Are there elevator lift motors that the FDNY could bring to a skyscraper fire that would enable firefighters to manually ride an elevator car in an elevator shaft? Would the FDNY have been able to extinguish fires if they were able to get men up to the burning floors?

This is a question I've asked myself for over 20 years

In 2001, the Twin Towers were the superstars of high-rise buildings. No one ever dreamed a 9/11 situation would ever happen. The windows I believe could not be opened from the inside, that day for security reasons the roof was locked and could not be accessed, and all emergency plans depended on the core stairways which were destroyed in the attack. Now a question. If you were on one of the upper floors and had a parachute were would you go to jump out of the building?

I have often wondered about this scenario, myself. I guess the potential to survive such a catastrophe as 9/11 would depend upon what type of parachute, which way the wind was blowing, and what other buildings/obstructions were on the side that you jumped out of. I do agree with Depressed Ginger though that just about anybody would take that chance, rather than choke on the billowing smoke if they were were trapped above the impact zone.

Wingsuit would be sick.

Base jumpers often jump off skyscrapers. It's really gusty up near the top of skyscrapers so the risk of getting knocked into a building would be high. Finding a landing spot would be tough since drivers in the city are often out of control.

Could people inside Twin Towers fight against fire?

no joke when this happened I told myself if I ever worked in a skyscraper I would bring a parachute to work. 9 year old me was smart af

Could they provided enough parachutes for everyone about certain floor? And how many parachutes would they supply for for people on how high of floors? How high up in the tower would you have to be for a parachute to be supplied for you???? Those are all questions to consider!

The ferocious winds up there. No way.

I’d say you could definitely survive jumping from the towers on 9/11 if you had had an intact parachute that you could put on in the moments after the plane impacts But, of course, nobody did

Short haul helicopter rescue would have worked, they use it in wildland firefighting all the time when people are injured in remote terrain where a helicoper cannot land.

What about if it had some kind of rappel rope on the top floor which is coiled up (like in R6V) and you can just feed it out of the broken window down to the street and climb down it?

you could install certain zip lines on skyscrapers to other lower building roofs.... working people could've the counter parts available on every floor

The only other possibility would be to Die Hard it with a cord or something to the lower floors and hope to break a lower window. I remember within a year or so after 9/11 there was a lot of talk about putting in emergency parachutes and one concept I heard was having windows that could be removed and lockers full of parachutes with a device that would be attached to the window frames that would pull the cord for you after a certain distance.

So u build several storage rooms, fill em with parachutes (over 650 cantor employees killed in tower one) so how many chutes u gonna store? Impossible to determine.

How many more videos can you squeeze out of 9/11? DG: Yes

Also I love ur videos my dude! Because ur not annoying or byest or just plane stupid or click bate, keep it up ..p.s keep it up , senserly from ur number 1 # fan!

I used to work on the 32nd floor of a 40 story tower from years 2000-2013 and not once during those 13 years did anyone there ever mention wanting to keep a parachute under their desk...neither before nor after 9/11 happened. Its just not something skyscraper workers ever want to think about.

Would it have been possible to of climbed down hugging the outside beams or inching down between the beams pushing against them and possibly using something to increase grip?

If a parachute attempt was to be made - above the fire likely would not be possible. The building above the plane strike would act like a giant chimney. The tremendous heat generated by the fire rises. Thus - if you weren't quickly toasted to death - the heat would carry your parachute upward (like a hot air balloon), and within a few seconds your chute would likely burst into flames or flip you over and down. The super heated air would rob the atmosphere of breathable oxygen. There are a dozen scientific reasons you probably wouldn't make it. However - it's a 100% likelihood just jumping out of any window higher than three stories would not work. Jumping from a window below the fire line would need to be from a minimum of 30 stories to allow the chute to open (might work with a little luck). If I worked higher than thirty stories - I might consider getting some training and keep a chute in my office.

Any outside stairs structures or inflatable stuffs, or safety escape wires on each window. Any building should have improved their security since 09/11. Did they?

It sounds silly, but I often thought of a top to bottom slide that would convey people quickly down with a rubberized matting to slow you as you reach bottom.

Why aren't jetpacks available on a mass-produced & affordable level? (and yes, I'm taking into account instant rebuttals that naturally follow a wild ass statement like that)

Were the twin towers high enough for a parachute to be able to work? I like your theory, though I wish something like that would’ve been in place. At least it could’ve gave some people a chance.

After the bldg was hit in 1993 i would not have gone back in as it was a target.... Also would fire dept nets have helped?

What If they climb down? Like brake a window and T-post down below the impact and run the rest away down? Dumb question I know

I don't think the chute would open correctly because anyone jumping would be really close to the building, I think you would have to create some space between you and the building. so the jumper would have to lunge their self out the window to try and get that space? and of course then you have to open the chute quickly, you would have literally only seconds.

Always wondered if helicopters would be able to drop members of the fire department on the roof, if they could break the doors open with equipment and perhaps make an attempt to rescue people and extinguish the fire

Maybe you could make some videos on Costa Concordia?😊

How does he go from minute maid park in houston texas to sepetember 11, 2001

The picture of the 3 men in the windows is crazy. Where did you find that picture? If I’m not mistaken that must be one of the only women pictures from people on 9/11 in the buildings where you can actually see their faces

I also wonder what if they had cable fire ladder. That a person could break out a window may make to under the impact zone

Finally a video about a parachute

There was a loud explosion before the north tower fell. It was big explosion I heard on a new Yorkers video on you tube. Also most of the fuel would have burned up on impact on the out side of the building. The big fire ball of the north tower. You do see a flash before it hits.I think they need to come up with better escape plans for building like the world trade centers.

You probably would hit the ground before the parachute could fully deploy.

Even if the parachute were to open in time before hitting the ground, what about it hitting the tower structure on opening? Surely one would struggle to jump far enough away from the towers to allow the shute to fully open.......worth a try though for sure.

anyone have source of the zoomed in shots of the north tower and the guys looking out?

Parachute is bad idea what would happen chute wont come out or you hit a building down below or hit the cables attached to the telephone pole any thing can happen

yeah, it's called base jumping. you just have to pull the cord as SOON as your feet leave the structure

Please do an analysis of how it could of possibly been if the hijacked planes would of been intercepted in time before they could hit the towers.

Most people had to deal with choking blinding smoke, let alone put on parachutes.

After September 11 if I worked in a high-rise I would definitely get base jumping lessons and keep a parachute in my briefcase. Whether or not it would work out doesn't matter. It would be better than plummeting to my death from a hight of 100 floors.