from the 9/11 report. stop now this is a long ass post and i'm giving you time to stop reading now.
stop now if you don't want to read this account of the hikacking of flight 77.
The Hijacking of American 77
American Airlines Flight 77 was scheduled to depart from Washington Dulles
for Los Angeles at 8:10. The aircraft was a Boeing 757 piloted by Captain
Charles F. Burlingame and First Officer David Charlebois. There were four
flight attendants. On September 11, the flight carried 58 passengers.52
American 77 pushed back from its gate at 8:09 and took off at 8:20. At 8:46,
the flight reached its assigned cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Cabin service
would have begun. At 8:51,American 77 transmitted its last routine radio communication.
The hijacking began between 8:51 and 8:54. As on American 11
and United 175, the hijackers used knives (reported by one passenger) and
moved all the passengers (and possibly crew) to the rear of the aircraft (reported by one flight attendant and one passenger). Unlike the earlier flights, the Flight 77 hijackers were reported by a passenger to have box cutters. Finally, a passenger reported that an announcement had been made by the ?pilot? that the plane had been hijacked. Neither of the firsthand accounts mentioned any stabbings or the threat or use of either a bomb or Mace,though both witnesses began the flight in the first-class cabin.53
At 8:54, the aircraft deviated from its assigned course, turning south.Two
minutes later the transponder was turned off and even primary radar contact
with the aircraft was lost.The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center repeatedly
tried and failed to contact the aircraft.American Airlines dispatchers also
tried, without success.54
At 9:00,American Airlines Executive Vice President Gerard Arpey learned
that communications had been lost with American 77.This was now the second
American aircraft in trouble. He ordered all American Airlines flights in
the Northeast that had not taken off to remain on the ground. Shortly before
9:10, suspecting that American 77 had been hijacked, American headquarters
concluded that the second aircraft to hit the World Trade Center might have
been Flight 77. After learning that United Airlines was missing a plane,American Airlines headquarters extended the ground stop nationwide.55
At 9:12, Renee May called her mother, Nancy May, in Las Vegas. She said
her flight was being hijacked by six individuals who had moved them to the
rear of the plane. She asked her mother to alert American Airlines. Nancy May
and her husband promptly did so.56
At some point between 9:16 and 9:26, Barbara Olson called her husband,
Ted Olson, the solicitor general of the United States. She reported that the
flight had been hijacked, and the hijackers had knives and box cutters. She further indicated that the hijackers were not aware of her phone call, and that they had put all the passengers in the back of the plane. About a minute into the conversation, the call was cut off. Solicitor General Olson tried unsuccessfully to reach Attorney General John Ashcroft.57
Shortly after the first call, Barbara Olson reached her husband again. She
reported that the pilot had announced that the flight had been hijacked, and
she asked her husband what she should tell the captain to do.Ted Olson asked
for her location and she replied that the aircraft was then flying over houses.
Another passenger told her they were traveling northeast.The Solicitor General
then informed his wife of the two previous hijackings and crashes. She did
not display signs of panic and did not indicate any awareness of an impending
crash. At that point, the second call was cut off.58
At 9:29, the autopilot on American 77 was disengaged; the aircraft was at
7,000 feet and approximately 38 miles west of the Pentagon.59 At 9:32, controllers at the Dulles Terminal Radar Approach Control ?observed a primary
radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed.? This was later determined to have been Flight 77.
At 9:34,Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advised the Secret Service
of an unknown aircraft heading in the direction of the White House.American
77 was then 5 miles west-southwest of the Pentagon and began a
330-degree turn. At the end of the turn, it was descending through 2,200 feet,
pointed toward the Pentagon and downtown Washington.The hijacker pilot then advanced the throttles to maximum power and dove toward the Pentagon.60
At 9:37:46,American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, traveling
at approximately 530 miles per hour.61 All on board, as well as many civilian
and military personnel in the building,were killed.
now i know that doesn't answer the specific questions of the video, but i guess it raises a scarier question of what happened to those passengers on the plane who made the calls?
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
Updated On: 9/3/04 at 04:41 PM
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