9/11 The Plane That Hit The Pentagon

Release Date: 2016

Watch Date: May 21, 2023

    The blurb for this special isn’t wrong, the fact that a plane hit the Pentagon is not an often talked about part of the events of 9/11. The attack on the World Trade Center, and the brave civilians who retook their hijack aircraft before it could make it’s way to Washington, D.C. are both well known facts, and while I am definitely aware that the Pentagon was hit, and that people must have died, it’s not a fact that I really think about that often. Bob has even encountered people that believe it was an inside job, or done by the Russians, and that a plane never hit the Pentagon at all. Those people are wrong, and denying the facts of the day minimizes the lives lost.

    The Pentagon attack was not as big or as epic looking a tragedy as the World Trade Centers, and there was not a heroic sacrifice by people who ought not to have been in that position at all. So it doesn’t ring as epic of a story as the other three planes. The Pentagon, and what happens inside it, is also a closely guarded secret – and the devastation that was caused by a plane ramming it wasn’t really going to be spread very widely when America found itself in a war that very same day. It also helps that the building was huge, so one side can be completely collapsed and in flames and the other side can still function as it ought to, helping to run the country. They did a press release from within the Pentagon on that same day, after the plane hit.

    This special does a fantastic job of relating the events of the day, with poignant interviews both by people trapped, people who had to do jobs one might consider small – like building maintenance- the first responders, air traffic controllers and people who escaped and still came back to help save others. It relates the tragedy of the day in a very concise way without, obviously, giving too much away about what happened at the Pentagon. There’s footage I hadn’t seen before and Bob had never realized how deep the plane had penetrated into the building, because from just the outside footage it simply doesn’t look like that big of a wound.

    I came close to tears multiple times, and Bob found it to be highly informative on a part of 9/11 he really was never taught much about, nor heard much about. For example, while he’s been to the other two 9/11 memorials, he never even knew the Pentagon had one until our last 9/11 documentary when he looked it up, which is a shame, because it seems incredibly peaceful, and a beautiful tribute to those who senselessly lost their lives.

    This documentary easily tops our list, having been informative, poignant, and emotional, with good reenactments, fantastic footage, and deep and detailed interviews. It is incredibly well done, and pays tribute to part of a day that is often overlooked – and probably shouldn’t be. No part of the tragedy of 9/11 should ever be forgotten, and it’s a shame that this incredibly important part often is – even if that is mostly because of the necessary secrecy that surrounds it.