What I think? That program you just watched is just propagating
an urban legend. The conspiracy theory that you watched on TV
sounds compelling, but science tells me otherwise.
I admit that it does seem somewhat suspicious that an aircraft can
impact a building at such a low altitude when piloted by a novice
pilot, but it's not impossible, either. Besides, as the snopes
article mentioned, it hit the ground just prior to hitting the
Pentagon walls.
That's the main reason why the damage is far less extensive than we
would all expect - much of the kinetic enegy of the aircraft was
dissipated before it even hit the Pentagon. Besides, the reinforced
construction materials used in renovating the Pentagon would have
absorbed a lot more energy, thereby limiting the damage
further.
In addition, the reinforced walls may have caused the wings to
simply snap into the hole created by the main body of the aircraft
upon impact. I don't know the exact strength of the reinforced
walls, but 24-inch thick reinforced concrete is definitely very,
very tough. The steel reinforcement in those walls would have
allowed it to absorb large amounts of energy upon impact via
ductile fracture.
So... the conspiracy theory's interesting, but I don't accept
it.
