Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers

NISTNCSTAR1CollapseofTowers.pdf (application/pdf Object)

NIST has released their report, and has a number of recommendations. As with anything NIST takes on, its pretty well done. The report is 298 pages, but the recommendations start on page 251.

There were a few eye openers in this report, but then again, knowing politics maybe not. Large projects unfortunately end up being economically and politically driven, rather than left in the confines of science and engineering.

It was also interesting to read footnote #50 on page 222….The structural engineer considered a Boeing 707 collision with the WTC towers during the design process.

The report is huge, I think its a must read for anyone in the science and tech sectors. It dispenses with the tinfoil hat mentality early on, and goes into significant depth as to what happened, and more importantly, some direction as to prevent such occurences in the future.