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Leto · 09-12-2006, 08:42 AM

Watch the documentary shown on the Passionate Eye earlier this week called the Falling Man. link: http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonday/fallingman/ (for a description)

Especially the interview of a man who's wife's body was found close by the building. It gives a rather poignant view on why somebody would jump to their certain death.

The documentary also explores the attempted identification of the iconic "falling man" and the religious ramification from his family.

I think that the sound of a building in destruction will be fairly noisy.

here is a brief discussion from the site: http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonda...n/jumpers.html

THE 9/11 Jumpers
When American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45, the plane cut a swath through floors 93 to 99. It ripped through elevator shafts and left emergency exits impassable. The huge fire spread fast and smoke plumed up through the ventilation shafts to the floors above. Nearly 1000 people were trapped with no exit.

People inside the building inundated the emergency services with calls for help. Some tried to escape to the roof but found the access doors locked. Rescue from the top of the building would have been impossible because helicopters couldn't land in the thick billowing smoke.

Desperate for air, the survivors started to break windows on the upper floors. But the oxygen from outside only fed the fire and made the situation inside the tower worse. Many people decided that there was only one option left. Not long after the first plane hit the World Trade Center people in the top floors began to jump out.

New York Times Reporter, Eric Lipton Eric Lipton, a reporter for the New York Times witnessed the scene. "You're able to see more and more people assembling at the windows as time is passing, not only assembled but they're stacked up against each other. Imagine leaning out of the hundredth and ninth floor of the World Trade Center, no rational person would do that."

Then the unimaginable happened. At 9:03 am a second plane hit between the 78th and 84th floors of the south tower and another 600 people were trapped. One stairwell was left passable but only eighteen people from above the crash zone managed to escape down it.

Jack Gentual, dean of student services at the New Jersey Institute of Technology got a call from his wife Alayne who worked in the tower and was trapped on the 97th floor. "She told me smoke was coming in the room, coming through the vents, her breath was laboured ... She said to me 'I'm scared' and she wasn't a person who got scared. She said that she loved me and to tell the boys she loved them." Alayne told her husband that she was going to try to escape to the lower floors and that she would call later.

Alayne Gentual was trapped in the south tower when the second plane hit New York.But Gentual never heard from his wife again. Her body was found on the street in front of the building across from hers. He wonders if his wife was one of the many who decided to jump. "In some ways it might just be the last elements of control. To be out of the smoke and the heat, to be out in the air...it must have felt like flying."

For those who jumped, the fall lasted about ten seconds. The jumpers hit the ground at 240 kilometres a hour. It wasn't fast enough to cause unconsciousness while falling, but ensured instant death on impact.

Witnesses there that day say there was a constant stream of jumpers over the next hour and a half. They jumped alone, in pairs and in groups. Most of the jumpers came from the north tower where smoke was particularly dense and where there were more victims concentrated on fewer floors.

Well after 9/11, Tom Junod a writer from Esquire magazine contacted the coroner's office in New York and asked for a count of how many people jumped. He was told that nobody jumped. The official word was that victims were blown out or they were forced out, but nobody jumped. "There were just those things that day that you were supposed to see, you weren't supposed to say and you weren't supposed to talk about."

Now it's estimated that anywhere between 50 and 200 jumped out of the Trade Center that day, although experts believe that the higher number is more likely. If so, nearly 8% of those who died in New York on September 11th died by falling or jumping out of the buildings.

Richard Pecorella searches the internet for photos of the last moments of his partner's life.Richard Pecorella lost his partner that day and was desperate to find out how she met her end. He scoured the internet looking for photos and found one of a jumper with the same clothes and shape and believes that she must have jumped. "Nothing is more painful than losing her but not knowing how I lost her was even more painful, so now that I believe that that's what took place, it's not painful for me to talk about."

The people who jumped from the World Trade Center that morning were the only visible fatalities in the day that claimed thousands.

09-12-2006, 08:42 AM	#467 (permalink)
Leto Junkie Location: The Danforth	Watch the documentary shown on the Passionate Eye earlier this week called the Falling Man. link: http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonday/fallingman/ (for a description) Especially the interview of a man who's wife's body was found close by the building. It gives a rather poignant view on why somebody would jump to their certain death. The documentary also explores the attempted identification of the iconic "falling man" and the religious ramification from his family. I think that the sound of a building in destruction will be fairly noisy. here is a brief discussion from the site: http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonda...n/jumpers.html THE 9/11 Jumpers When American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45, the plane cut a swath through floors 93 to 99. It ripped through elevator shafts and left emergency exits impassable. The huge fire spread fast and smoke plumed up through the ventilation shafts to the floors above. Nearly 1000 people were trapped with no exit. People inside the building inundated the emergency services with calls for help. Some tried to escape to the roof but found the access doors locked. Rescue from the top of the building would have been impossible because helicopters couldn't land in the thick billowing smoke. Desperate for air, the survivors started to break windows on the upper floors. But the oxygen from outside only fed the fire and made the situation inside the tower worse. Many people decided that there was only one option left. Not long after the first plane hit the World Trade Center people in the top floors began to jump out. New York Times Reporter, Eric Lipton Eric Lipton, a reporter for the New York Times witnessed the scene. "You're able to see more and more people assembling at the windows as time is passing, not only assembled but they're stacked up against each other. Imagine leaning out of the hundredth and ninth floor of the World Trade Center, no rational person would do that." Then the unimaginable happened. At 9:03 am a second plane hit between the 78th and 84th floors of the south tower and another 600 people were trapped. One stairwell was left passable but only eighteen people from above the crash zone managed to escape down it. Jack Gentual, dean of student services at the New Jersey Institute of Technology got a call from his wife Alayne who worked in the tower and was trapped on the 97th floor. "She told me smoke was coming in the room, coming through the vents, her breath was laboured ... She said to me 'I'm scared' and she wasn't a person who got scared. She said that she loved me and to tell the boys she loved them." Alayne told her husband that she was going to try to escape to the lower floors and that she would call later. Alayne Gentual was trapped in the south tower when the second plane hit New York.But Gentual never heard from his wife again. Her body was found on the street in front of the building across from hers. He wonders if his wife was one of the many who decided to jump. "In some ways it might just be the last elements of control. To be out of the smoke and the heat, to be out in the air...it must have felt like flying." For those who jumped, the fall lasted about ten seconds. The jumpers hit the ground at 240 kilometres a hour. It wasn't fast enough to cause unconsciousness while falling, but ensured instant death on impact. Witnesses there that day say there was a constant stream of jumpers over the next hour and a half. They jumped alone, in pairs and in groups. Most of the jumpers came from the north tower where smoke was particularly dense and where there were more victims concentrated on fewer floors. Well after 9/11, Tom Junod a writer from Esquire magazine contacted the coroner's office in New York and asked for a count of how many people jumped. He was told that nobody jumped. The official word was that victims were blown out or they were forced out, but nobody jumped. "There were just those things that day that you were supposed to see, you weren't supposed to say and you weren't supposed to talk about." Now it's estimated that anywhere between 50 and 200 jumped out of the Trade Center that day, although experts believe that the higher number is more likely. If so, nearly 8% of those who died in New York on September 11th died by falling or jumping out of the buildings. Richard Pecorella searches the internet for photos of the last moments of his partner's life.Richard Pecorella lost his partner that day and was desperate to find out how she met her end. He scoured the internet looking for photos and found one of a jumper with the same clothes and shape and believes that she must have jumped. "Nothing is more painful than losing her but not knowing how I lost her was even more painful, so now that I believe that that's what took place, it's not painful for me to talk about." The people who jumped from the World Trade Center that morning were the only visible fatalities in the day that claimed thousands. Last edited by Leto; 09-12-2006 at 08:45 AM..