I'm sure many people talked about this to death, but...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9/11/2001. Why didn't some helicopter just land on the roof of a tower and get some people out?

[eyesroll]

1. If I remember correctly

Roof access was blocked -- doors were locked, etc. People couldn't escape to the roof.

[On the Road]

2. I Think the Towers Coming Down Were a Surprise

Otherwise, all those firemen and policemen would have evacuated.

From a practical matter, you would also need a place to land, a way to contact the people trapped inside, and assurance that the buildings would be stable during the rescue.

[qb]

3. I remember some statement about the fires making it unsafe to land.

Updrafts, I don't know.

[Insider]

4. antennas

no helipad up there.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Well...

you have to get the choppers, and there aren't all that many available. Most around here are privately owned and not available on a moment's notice. Dangerous landing them up there, too, and only one of the towers had a place to land at all-- the other one had an antenna taking up most of the roof.

Things happened too fast to organize that sort of a rescue attempt.