That's What She Thinks or A Short Musing on Building Design in Relation To the Probability of Their Being Struck by an Aeroplane

In discussing the fact that the office of the Garcia Law Firm is located at 1 World Trade Center in Long Beach, my coworker regaled us with a story about a man who refused to deliver things to this building, requiring her to meet him at the Starbucks down the street. Now, I must admit I see the obscure reasoning behind this as since the infamous 9/11 the words "world” “trade” and “center" have struck fear into the most paranoid of hearts in these great United States of ‘Merica; what logic I find more difficult to follow is this:

“It’s not like our building is tall enough to even get struck by an airplane.”

Let us think about that statement for a moment while allowing the various images of airplanes striking low lying buildings such as tumble down shacks in Tennessee badlands, hangars in Taiwan, and four-storey government buildings in Virginia. Got those in your mind, now permanently seared into your retina? Good, so I repeat:

“It’s not like our building is tall enough to even get struck by an airplane.”

Apparently, and until now unknown to me, there exists a magical height, an optimal elevation if you will, for buildings that wish to “fly under the radar” (forgive the awfulness) of passing aeroplanes. Also, apparently, this optimal level of stories wherein a building is sure not to be struck by a mass of steel and gasoline propelling towards them at ungodly speeds is somewhere between five (the level of above ground floors of the Pentagon) and twenty-seven (the topmost floor of the Long Beach World Trade Center). According to the logic of my coworker, buildings within this range are sure never to be struck by the aforementioned mass of metal and flammable substances hurling towards them at ungodly speeds.

Therefore, the safest building height to ensure one is not brought to an early demise by a carelessly gone astray TWA flight is that of sixteen floors. Those of you working in buildings that rest below or above this limit line must forthwith begin a move towards more appropriate structures to ensure a long lived life in this wonderful country of ours. Remember, masses of metal and flammable substances hurling towards buildings are truly fickle creatures who cannot be bothered with mid-height run-of-the-mill structures. They either go for the gold of the low-lying, or the easily attainable Babellian Towers mocking the skies.