SCENE XI HAVE THERE BEEN MORE?
“Evidence has
emerged on both sides of the Atlantic that indicates there were plans
to hijack two more
airliners
on September 11 and
that several of the would-be hijackers have yet to be caught. “
[New York Times, 19.09.01] [Guardian, 19.09.01]
“[T]he number of
targeted planes […] (was) as many
as eight.”
But there seem to
have been even more.
Two
Delta Airlines aircrafts:
“Officials from
both the government and the airline industry tell TIME Magazine that a
knife-like weapon
was found [in these
aircrafts] later that day [911],
although neither
plane took off due to the nationwide grounding”.
Unknown Flight:
“[O]ne
official disclosed that another weapon was discovered on
at
least one other aircraft, owned by a fourth airline.
The
government official refused to name that carrier.”
Continental
Airlines Flight from Newark:
“Retractable knives
[…] of the same type used in the four successful hijackings
were found taped to
the backs of fold-down trays.
The source did not
give details”.
American Airlines
Flight 43, bound from Boston to Los Angeles:
“[S]imilar knives
were found stashed in the seats”.
“American Airlines
flight 43 was cancelled at the last minute last Tuesday because of technical
problems.”
A Flight from
Atlanta:
“Investigators also
are scrutinizing knives found on an airplane […] that was due to depart from
Atlanta, a source close to the investigation confirmed.”
Air Canada Flight
792, bound for New York:
“[T]wo X-Acto
knives were placed aboard an Air Canada plane […]
The knives,
described as box cutters, were discovered on September 14”.
American
Airlines Flight 160, bound from San Diego to New York:
“A
box-cutter knife has been discovered under a seat cushion on the morning of
Sept. 11. [… The flight] was unable to take off before federal authorities
halted commercial air traffic.”
United Airlines
Flight 23, bound from New York to Los Angeles:
“After the plane
was boarded, United Airlines officials told passengers that [the flight] had
been cancelled.
Three males
travelling refused to disembark.
The argument with a
member of the flight crew became so heated that the crew member called airport
security.
But before security
arrived, the men had vanished, said the source,
who spoke on the
condition of anonymity. “
None of theses might-be-hijackers on any airplane has been put on trial.
DELTA FLIGHT 1989
“Shortly after the
second attack on the Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., FBI agents called an air
traffic facility in Ohio that was tracking Flight 1989.
Watch what the
Delta flight does, agents told controllers at Cleveland Center. Controllers
there had already been watching.
Like the FBI, they
realized
that the Delta
flight had taken off from Boston just minutes after American Flight 11 and
United Flight 175 — the two jets that crashed into the Trade Center towers.
The similarities
didn't end there.
All three jets were
Boeing 767s.
All were bound for Los Angeles.
All were heavy with fuel.
On this day, as Werner [the pilot of Delta Flight
1989] flies west over Pennsylvania, the similarities can't be dismissed.
[…]
Now about 9:30
a.m., controllers hear words that seem to confirm their worst fears. They hear
shouting as Flight 1989 approaches the Ohio border. Then they hear a voice:
‘Get out of there!’
Then what sounds
like a scuffle.
Minutes later, a new voice, this one with a heavy
accent:
‘Ladies and gentlemen, here it's the captain. Please
sit down. Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb aboard.’
No one who hears those words believes they are coming
from Werner.
Not with such a heavy accent. No way. Rather, the
transmission seems to be from
a hijacker who
unwittingly spoke over the radio when he meant to
address passengers.
Officials at Cleveland Center rush word to Washington:
Hijackers have another flight.
At the Federal
Aviation Administration's command center in Herndon, Va.,
Delta Flight 1989
joins a growing list of suspicious jets.
[…]
Perhaps the strange radio transmissions — the
reference to a bomb and the heavy accent of a ‘captain’ — hadn't come from the
Delta flight. Maybe Capt. Werner's Flight 1989 is fine after all.
[…]
When controllers ordered Werner to change course to
avoid Flight 93, he had complied quickly.
Yes, Delta Flight 1989 must be fine.
But now ... what's this?
The Delta flight wants to land in Cleveland? And the
captain's request comes
before he can know that the FAA wants every flight
down. On this day, the fact that the pilot requests to be rerouted before he is
ordered to land seems suspicious.
Why the urgency?
Controllers don't know that Delta officials, also
concerned about the flight, have ordered Werner to land in Cleveland. They
continue to send messages to Werner. In code, they ask him if all is OK. Yes,
he responds time and again.
He doesn't know why they're so worried.
And now, preparing for landing, Werner has more
important things to worry about. He was too close to Cleveland when he got the
order to land. So he loops back, over Michigan, and heads toward the city.
As the jet begins its descent, another message comes
through. Busy, Werner fails to respond.
On the ground, controllers in Cleveland Center grow
alarmed. Why didn't he respond?
[…]
On a remote taxiway at Hopkins International Airport
in Cleveland, Delta Flight 1989 is quarantined.
[…]
Still, the flight
landed uneventfully in Cleveland at 10:10 a.m.
[…]
For two hours, passengers and crew will stay aboard
the jet. Cautiously, federal investigators will talk with Capt. Werner through
an open cockpit window. Finally, they will board the flight and interview its
passengers and crew.
Not until midafternoon will [Delta CEO Leo] Mullin
learn
the flight never was in danger.
No bomb, no hijackers.”