I remember a newsclip after Sept 11th in which a NY firefighter said
that he could not hear his radio because of the noise from the
helicopters above the towers. Can anyone help me to find this clip or
the interview or transcript on the net.

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Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 04 Jan 2003 02:02 PST

macsmith -

Thanks for your question.

I have done significant search on this, and I suspect that what you
are looking for is a story that details the communications failures
among firefighters on September 11th - the story is that the
communications equipment was so poor that, although helicopter pilots
were warning rescue workers to evacuate the second tower, few heard
them.

All of the elements of the story you recall are there, but not exactly
as you recall it.  There is a lot of discussion of such communication
failures in several recent articles.

Please let me know if you would like me to post what i have found as a
response to this question.

thanks,
ragingacademic

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Clarification of Question by macsmith-ga on 04 Jan 2003 11:02 PST

Hi raging academic,

I have heard from a number of people of a TV newsclip that was put out
after Sept 11th. In it a firefighter said that he could not hear his
radio due to the noise fo the helicopters above. A VHF radio outputs
at about 85dB, a downdraft of a helicopter has a SPL of about 110dB,
so he could not have heard it, and reported this correctly. This was
also stated at the Zeebrugge disaster in 1987 in Europe where
emergency workers on the upturned hull of the ferry could not hear
their radios due to the helicpopte noise. I have tried to find these
referenes in a number of places but so far without success. I would be
very pleased to hear that you can help me find either of the source
items.

Macsmith

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Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 10 Jan 2003 12:40 PST

macsmith -

I was unable to locate such an article.
Perhaps another researcher will be more successful.

Let me know if you are interested in the information I do have.

thanks,
ragingacademic

Macsmith --

I'm not going to be a lot of help here but can suggest a pair of
resources.  The New York Times analyzed the Sept. 11 disaster
extensively in two long articles on May 26, 2002, both entitled "102
minutes: Last Words at the World Trade Center."

Another long piece on July 7, 2002 covered the communications
confusion, titled "Fatal Confusion".

You might also wish to check "Anatomy of Sept. 11," the 2-hour program
that A&E Channel did as part of its Investigative Reports series.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA