Re: WTC structural site

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 0:17 -0400 9/17/01, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

> What about an escape "pipes" made from strong canvas to be
> available at every floor? Pipes attached to escape ports would
> roll down and be pulled away by fire fighters on the ground
> (creating an acceptable slope). Sliding down into a receiving
> platform (able to handle frequent arrivals) could perhaps be
> made more practical than parachutes.

Perhaps, but I think I like Brian's idea better, although a row of
"lifeboats" hanging ouside a building every few floors would look
pretty stupid, I think the idea could be made practical. Safety
factors built into these devices would have to be huge, though, since
there would be almost no way to control how many people would get
into one container, especially if the flames were licking at their
heels. Like parachutes, these things would have to be tested
periodically. That would add another expense that building owners
would resist.

But the "slide tubes", which would have to enable an escape from
upards of 12-1300 feet elevation, would have to be several thousand
feet long in order to give a reasonable slide angle, and would
certainly be so massive that only a large vehicle on the ground could
hold them. Then imagine the friction burns that the sliders would
likely suffer, as well as other problems due to the rather high
speeds that they would almost certainly attain during their slide.
And what if, by some fluke, someone got stuck in the tube and all of
the people behind piled into him. That might be enough to rip the
canvas. The chutes would also have to be tested periodically, and
that would be a major undertaking.

Considering the problems the airlines have had with the slide chutes
from only about 15 feet up, I can't imagine being able to build
chutes capable of getting people down from 1200 feet up.

In fact, considering all the problems they had with those buildings,
it may be remarkable that only about 5000 people were killed. I'm
sure that doesn't make the families and friends of the victims feel
any better, though. Apparently the problems with the buildings was
only the final snafu in a disaster that, as seems to be emerging,
didn't have to happen at all.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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