Was it illegal to remove aviation debris from the World Trade Center on 911?
As long as the debris is properly checked and important pieces of evidence are kept, no. Basically, as long as no evidence is intentionally destroyed, there is no crime. It would be very hard, if not impossible, to prove that anyone intentionally destroyed aviation debris from the World Trade Center site. You also have to remember that the first priority is to rescue possible survivors, which may cause the destruction of evidence. The next step is to collect and record evidence. ADDITION: The key words are “without authority”. As long as you have the authority, likely from the NTSB or the FAA to remove such debris, it is not a crime. I would have to assume that the FDNY and other government agencies were given such authority to conduct the search for survivors at the World Trade Center site following the collapse. The second key part is “knowingly”. If you are removing a bunch of rubble that happens to have a hidden aircraft part in it, you are not knowingly removing that part as you b
There was only one part that was of any use, and that was the black box. There is a misconception in the minds of the public that any plane that crashes must be meticulously and methodically recovered and reconstructed. That is false. The truth is that they have do do this when the cause of the crash is unknown. This was NOT the case on 9/11. Everyone on earth knows how the planes crashed. That is why the individual pieces of debris and their location is inconsequential.
