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Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland, Cleveland Airport, Delta Flight 1989, evacuations, issues, NASA | Leave a comment

Delta 1989 Change of Course Request

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

(Shortly After 9:44 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Change of Course and Pilot’s Failure to Respond to Message Lead Cleveland Center to Again Suspect Delta 1989 Is Hijacked

Having earlier concluded that it was not hijacked, air traffic controllers at the FAA’s Cleveland Center again become suspicious of Delta Air Lines Flight 1989, after its pilot requests a change of course and then fails to respond to a message.
Pilot Requests Diversion – Cleveland Center controllers initially thought the sounds from Flight 93 as it was being hijacked had come from Delta 1989, but soon decided they had come from Flight 93 (see (9:28 a.m.-9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

However, without notifying the Cleveland Center, Delta Air Lines has just instructed Delta 1989 to land at Cleveland Hopkins Airport (see (9:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001). After the plane’s pilot, Captain Paul Werner, calls the Cleveland Center at 9:44 a.m., requesting an immediate diversion, controllers there become suspicious. [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167-168; USA TODAY, 9/11/2008]

Supervisor Reports Concerns over Teleconference – USA Today will later describe: “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.” After Delta 1989 makes an abrupt 30-degree turn back toward Cleveland Airport, a supervisor at the Cleveland Center announces the apparently suspicious development on an FAA teleconference.

Coded Message Confirms No Hijacking – As Delta 1989 begins its descent toward Cleveland, a Cleveland Center controller radios Werner with a coded message to check whether his plane has been hijacked. The controller says, “Delta 1989, I hear you’re ‘late’ today.” (The controller is using the code word for a hijack, which has been replaced with the word ‘late’ in subsequent accounts of this incident, for security reasons. Pilots can use this code word to alert controllers to their situation if they are unable to do so openly because hijackers are in the cockpit.) Werner reassures the controller that all is okay, saying: “Negative. Delta 1989 is not a ‘late.’”

Lack of Response Causes More Suspicion – Then, as the plane descends, it receives another message from the Cleveland Center. But Werner, who is busy, fails to respond to it. This arouses further suspicion. According to USA Today: “On the ground, controllers in Cleveland Center grow alarmed. Why didn’t he respond? Have both jets—the United [Flight 93] and the Delta flights—been hijacked?” [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 168-169]

Entity Tags: Paul Werner, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport, Delta Airlines, Delta Flight 1989, issues, plane hijacking | Leave a comment

Delta Air Lines Tells Flight 1989 to Land at Cleveland Airport, but FAA Not Informed

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

(9:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Delta Air Lines Tells Flight 1989 to Land at Cleveland Airport, but FAA Not Informed

The Delta Air Lines operations control center in Atlanta, Georgia. [Source: Public domain]Delta Air Lines instructs one of its aircraft, Flight 1989, to land at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, but the FAA’s Cleveland Center, which is handling the aircraft, is not notified of this. [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/15/2002]

Pilots Instructed to Land – The pilots of Delta 1989 receive an ACARS text message from their airline’s dispatch office in Atlanta, Georgia, instructing them to “Land immediately in Cleveland.” [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167]

According to USA Today, “Since early reports that a bomb, then hijackers, might be aboard” Delta 1989, Delta Air Lines’ headquarters in Atlanta has been tracking the flight, and receiving reports on it every five minutes. [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

The plane’s pilot, Captain Paul Werner, quickly types a response to the message, “ok.” But, a couple of minutes later, he receives another ACARS message from the airline. It says: “Confirm landing in Cleveland. Use correct phraseology.” Werner and First Officer David Dunlap are puzzled. According to author Lynn Spencer: “There’s such a thing as correct phraseology on the radio, but there is no such thing when typing back and forth with dispatch on ACARS. Those messages are usually casual.” Werner carefully types a response: “Roger. Affirmative. Delta 1989 is diverting to Cleveland.” He calls the Cleveland Center at 9:44 a.m. and requests a diversion to Cleveland Airport. [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167-168; USA TODAY, 9/11/2008]

Cleveland Center Not Informed – About 15 minutes earlier, Cleveland Center heard the sounds from Flight 93 as it was being hijacked, but initially thought these came from Delta 1989, and mistakenly believed the Delta flight was being taken over (see (9:28 a.m.-9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

But the Delta pilots’ normal responses to radio transmissions soon led air traffic controller John Werth, who is handling Delta 1989, to conclude that this aircraft was fine. [USA TODAY, 9/11/2008]

However, controllers at the Cleveland Center are unaware that Delta Air Lines has instructed Flight 1989 to land, and so Werner’s request for a change of course will make them suspicious of it again (see (Shortly After 9:44 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

Entity Tags: David Dunlap, Delta Airlines, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, Paul Werner

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport, Delta Airlines, Delta Flight 1989, FAA Center, issues | Leave a comment

Hijacking of Delta 1989 – 9/11

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

9:39 a.m. September 11, 2001: Boston Center Informs NEADS of Possible Hijacking of Delta 1989

Stacia Rountree. [Source: Vanity Fair]Colin Scoggins, the military liaison at the FAA’s Boston Center, contacts NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) and incorrectly notifies it that another aircraft, Delta Air Lines Flight 1989, is a possible hijacking. [9/11 COMMISSION, 2004; VANITY FAIR, 8/1/2006]

Boston Center previously called NEADS at 9:27 and said that Delta 1989 was missing (see 9:27 a.m. September 11, 2001). [NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND, 9/11/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003]

NEADS Technicians Respond – At NEADS, Stacia Rountree, the ID technician who takes Scoggins’s call, announces to her colleagues: “Delta ‘89, that’s the hijack. They think it’s possible hijack.… South of Cleveland.” The plane’s transponder is still on, and she adds, “We have a code on him now.” Rountree’s team leader, Master Sergeant Maureen Dooley, instructs: “Pick it up! Find it!” The NEADS technicians quickly locate Delta 1989 on their radar screens, just south of Toledo, Ohio, and start alerting other FAA centers to it. [VANITY FAIR, 8/1/2006; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 177]

NEADS mission crew commander Major Kevin Nasypany will be notified by his staff of the suspected hijacking at about 9:41 or 9:42 a.m. [9/11 COMMISSION, 1/22/2004 ]

NEADS never loses track of Delta 1989. It will follow it on radar as it reverses course over Toledo, heads east, and then lands in Cleveland (see (10:18 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 28]

It will order Air National Guard fighter jets from Selfridge and Toledo to intercept the flight (see (9:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and 10:01 a.m. September 11, 2001). [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 178-179] But it will soon learn that Delta 1989 is not in fact hijacked. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 28]

Cleveland Center, Not Boston, Handling Delta 1989 – Although Boston Center notifies NEADS of the suspected hijacking, Delta 1989 is in fact being handled by the FAA’s Cleveland Center. [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 10-12]

Cleveland Center air traffic controllers suspected that Delta 1989 had been hijacked at around 9:30 a.m. (see (9:28 a.m.-9:33 a.m.) September 11, 2001), but apparently only informed the FAA’s Command Center, and not NEADS, of this. [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

To explain why Boston Center alerts NEADS to the flight, the 9/11 Commission will later comment that, “Remembering the ‘we have some planes’ remark” (see 8:24 a.m. September 11, 2001), the Boston Center simply “guessed that Delta 1989 might also be hijacked.”
Similar to First Two Hijacked Planes – Like Flights 11 and 175, the two aircraft that have crashed into the World Trade Center (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001 and 9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001), Delta 1989 took off from Boston’s Logan Airport. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 27-28]

According to the New York Times, it left there at about the same time as Flights 11 and 175 did, meaning around 8:00 to 8:15 a.m. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/18/2001; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 32]

Like those two aircraft, it is a Boeing 767. [USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 27-28]

But, unlike those flights, its transponder has not been turned off, and so it is still transmitting a beacon code. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 28; VANITY FAIR, 8/1/2006]

It is unclear what Delta 1989’s intended destination is. According to some accounts, like Flights 11 and 175 were, it is bound for Los Angeles. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; NEW YORK TIMES, 10/18/2001; USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 9/24/2007; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167]

Other accounts will say that its destination is Las Vegas. [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 28; VANITY FAIR, 8/1/2006]

Personnel at NEADS are apparently informed that Las Vegas is the intended destination. Around this time, one member of staff there tells her colleagues that the flight is “supposed to go to Vegas.” [NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND, 9/11/2001]

One of Numerous Incorrect Reports – The 9/11 Commission will comment: “During the course of the morning, there were multiple erroneous reports of hijacked aircraft (see (9:09 a.m. and After) September 11, 2001). The report of American 11 heading south was the first (see 9:21 a.m. September 11, 2001); Delta 1989 was the second.” [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 28]

Entity Tags: Maureen Dooley, Stacia Rountree, Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center, Colin Scoggins, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Kevin Nasypany

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive | Tagged 9/11, 9/11 Commission Report, 911 Truth Archive, Delta Flight 1989, FAA Center, issues, NEADS, NORAD, plane hijacking | Leave a comment

SWAT Teams, FBI and Delta 1989

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

11:28 a.m.-12:23 p.m. September 11, 2001: SWAT Teams and FBI Finally Allow Passengers off Delta 1989

Passengers and crew members on board Delta Air Lines Flight 1989, which was wrongly suspected to have been hijacked, are finally allowed to get off their plane and are taken to be interviewed by the FBI. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001; FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 ; WKYC, 9/11/2006]

Delta 1989 made an emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins Airport in Ohio after FAA and military personnel mistakenly thought it was hijacked and might have a bomb on board (see (10:18 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 27-28; WKYC, 9/11/2006; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167-169]

The plane was directed to a remote part of the airport, far away from the terminal, and the pilots were told not to allow passengers off.
No Evidence of Hijacking or Bomb – At 11:28 a.m., Cleveland Airport’s air traffic manager calls city officials and says he has no apparent reason to believe Delta 1989 has been hijacked, and he does not have any specific bomb threats. He says he has just received clearance from the FAA headquarters, which told him the airport had no reason to hold the aircraft unless city officials have other information from the FBI. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 229]

SWAT Team and FBI Approach Plane – Delta 1989’s pilots, Captain Paul Werner and First Officer David Dunlap, are finally informed that the Cleveland Police SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team and a team of FBI agents are coming out to their aircraft. While the FBI agents approach the plane, the SWAT team takes up a position about 50 yards behind it. Lt. Bernie Barabas, the leader of the SWAT team, will later recall, “If there had been some sort of problem and this turned into a situation where this was a live hijacking, or if they started killing Americans, we were going to act.”
SWAT Team Sees Pilot with Bloodied Face – Suspicion is aroused when Werner accidentally knocks his head and cuts it while returning to his seat, after going to the cabin to speak to the plane’s passengers. The members of the SWAT team outside are perplexed when they see him leaning out of the window to give the “all clear” signal, with blood running down his face. They then board the plane. [WKYC, 9/11/2006; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 270]

Passengers Taken off Plane – By 11:34 a.m., according to an FAA chronology, the FBI has commenced a controlled debarkation of Delta 1989. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 ]

The FBI agents slowly and carefully remove the passengers in small groups. [WKYC, 9/11/2006]

According to some accounts, there are 78 people on the plane. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001]

But other accounts say there are about 200 on it. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; NEWSNET 5, 9/11/2001; WCPN, 9/12/2001]

The FBI then instructs everyone that has got off to gather their belongings and line them up on the tarmac. [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 270]

Every piece of luggage and carry-on baggage will be opened and examined by security agents. [WKYC, 9/11/2006]

Bomb-sniffing dogs board the aircraft, which is then searched, but no explosives will be found.
Passengers Taken Away and Interviewed – The SWAT team gathers the plane’s crew and passengers onto nearby buses. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 271]

According to a timeline provided by the Cleveland Airport air traffic control tower, at 12:23 p.m. the passengers are taken to the Federal Facilities Building, located on the opposite side of the airfield to the terminal, where they are debriefed by the FBI. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001]

But the Associated Press will report that they are taken to a nearby NASA facility, presumably the Glenn Research Center, which is located next to the Cleveland airport. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; NATIONAL JOURNAL’S TECHNOLOGY DAILY, 11/27/2002]

After being interviewed separately by FBI agents, the passengers will be put up at a local Holiday Inn. [PORTLAND PRESS HERALD, 9/15/2001]

Entity Tags: Cleveland Police Department, Bernie Barabas, Paul Werner, David Dunlap, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Cleveland Airport and City Buildings Evacuated

Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport, Delta Flight 1989, issues | Leave a comment

Cleveland Airport Mystery – 9/11

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

[MEK Note: This situation and treatment of Delta 1989 very, very strange! What is the source of claims that there is a bomb on the plane or that it has been hijacked? What is the original source of these alarms? What about Delta Airline Dispatch text for Delta 1989 to land at Cleveland that creates additional hijack/bomb concerns with FAA and Cleveland Center. None of the other “hijackings of airliners have involved bombs. No other “non-hijacked” plane’s passengers and crew were ever subjected to this draconian treatment by authorities. Cleveland Airport has been evacuated. Cleveland FAA Center in Oberlin, Ohio 30 miles from Cleveland has also been evacuated except for senior personnel because of a separate bomb threat. All this while Secretary of transportation has ordered all planes to land at nearest airports ASAP! But Cleveland airport and FAA both get closed for bomb threats during this time. The conflicting landing times in the media suggest that possibly two separate planes may have landed. Delta 1989 sent across the airport to isolated runway, passengers forced to remain on plane for hours surrounded by SWAT team and then individually interrogated by FBI and all baggage inspected. While all this focused distraction is going on does another plane, the one wirh 200 passengers, land without much fanfare and disembarks passengers at perhaps the airport’s NASA Center or hanger. So many peculiar coincidences all involving one airport and one airline flight at a crucial time. That is why Operation Terror the movie, the original Loose Change documentary and others point to Cleveland Airport as a potential site for the elimination of all 4 “hijacked” airlines passengers and crews! Whether this is what happened or not, every theory including the government’s does have the passengers eliminated.]

Specific Information

Cleveland’s FAA Center Evacuated

Delta 1989 Change of Course Request

Delta 1989 Lands at Cleveland Airport, Moves to Secure Area

Delta Air Lines Tells Flight 1989 to Land at Cleveland Airport, but FAA Not Informed

Hijacking of Delta 1989

Non-Alert Jets Take off from Toledo

SWAT Teams, FBI and Delta 1989

Posted in 911 Attack, 911Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland Airport, Delta Flight 1989, issues, passengers | Leave a comment

Delta 1989 Lands at Cleveland Airport, Moves to Secure Area

Posted on September 12, 2021 by mekorganic

(10:18 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Delta 1989 Lands at Cleveland Airport, Moves to Secure Area

An aircraft at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. An aircraft at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. [Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer]Delta Air Lines Flight 1989, a Boeing 767 out of Boston that is wrongly suspected of being hijacked (see 9:39 a.m. September 11, 2001 and (Shortly After 9:44 a.m.) September 11, 2001), lands at Cleveland Hopkins Airport in Ohio, and is directed to a remote area of the airport. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001; USA TODAY, 8/13/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 27-28; WKYC, 9/11/2006]

Plane Flies Long Path toward Airport – Delta Air Lines had been concerned about Flight 1989, and ordered it to land as soon as possible in Cleveland (see (9:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 167; USA TODAY, 9/11/2008]

As it was heading in to land, air traffic controllers instructed Delta 1989 to follow a trajectory that initially took it far past Cleveland Airport. Unknown to the plane’s pilots, the controllers incorrectly believe the flight has been hijacked and contains a bomb, and they were therefore making time to evacuate the airport before the plane landed (see (9:50 a.m. and After) September 11, 2001). [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 191]

Plane Directed to Remote Area – Once Delta 1989 is on the ground, the Cleveland Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) informs the FAA’s Cleveland Center that Delta 1989 is “on the ground at 1418,” where “1418” means 10:18 a.m. Cleveland Center asks, “Very safely too, I hope?” The TRACON responds that the plane is being taken to the bomb area to check. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001]

Delta 1989 is directed to “taxi left onto taxiway Bravo and wait there.” This taxiway leads to a remote part of the airport that is far away from the terminal. The pilot does as instructed. [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 229]

Passengers Not Allowed Off – The pilots radio the airport’s air traffic control tower and say: “Just to make sure we don’t have any misunderstandings here, our flaps are up, we are landing only as a precaution at the company’s request. You understand that?” They ask if they are going to get to their gate soon, but the controller responds that city authorities are in charge and he believes people will be coming to search the aircraft. The controller advises that city authorities have said to keep the plane’s passengers on the aircraft for now. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001]

The passengers and crew will have to remain on board for perhaps a couple of hours, until FBI agents allow them off (see 11:28 a.m.-12:23 p.m. September 11, 2001). [WKYC, 9/11/2006; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 270-271]

Conflicting Reports of Landing Time – Subsequent accounts will give conflicting times for when Delta 1989 lands at Cleveland Airport. According to a detailed timeline provided by the airport’s control tower, the aircraft is “on the ground” at 10:18 a.m. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/16/2001]

Several accounts will give similar landing times of between 10:05 a.m. and 10:10 a.m. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 1/2/2002; USA TODAY, 8/13/2002]

But a NORAD official will tell the 9/11 Commission that Delta 1989 landed at 9:47 a.m. [9/11 COMMISSION, 5/23/2003] Other accounts will say it lands at between 10:33 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 9/11/2001; FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 ]

Entity Tags: Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, Cleveland Terminal Radar Approach Control, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, David Dunlap, Paul Werner

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Posted in 911 Attack, 911 Shanksville Crash, 911Truth Archive | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, bomb scare, Cleveland, Delta Airlines, issues, passengers | Leave a comment

Cleveland’s FAA Center Evacuated

Posted on September 11, 2021 by mekorganic

(10:17 a.m.) September 11, 2001: FAA’s Cleveland Center Evacuated due to Report of a Suspicious Plane

[MEK Note: This might be significant as Cleveland Airport has been considered the location that another airliner carrying all of the passengers and crew of the 4 “:hijacked airliners” are taken. More on that later.]

Air traffic controllers at the FAA’s Cleveland Center. [Source: Paul M. Walsh]Most members of staff at the FAA’s Cleveland Center are evacuated from the facility, due to a report of a small aircraft flying erratically above the center. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 3/21/2002, PP. S-19; NEWSNET5, 8/12/2002; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/15/2002]

The Cleveland Center, in Oberlin, Ohio, had the last contact with Flight 93 before it crashed. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/15/2002]

The center’s air traffic controllers have been working on clearing the skies over the US after FAA facilities were ordered to instruct all aircraft to land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [NEWSNET5, 8/12/2002; LAKE COUNTY NEWS-HERALD, 9/10/2011]

Operations Manager Orders Evacuation – The police in Oberlin now contact the Cleveland Center and warn it about a small plane that is still airborne and circling above the facility. As a result, the decision is made to evacuate the center. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001, PP. 9 ; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/15/2002; CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, 7/3/2011]

The order to evacuate is apparently given by Leo Wolbers, the center’s operations manager. Wolbers will later recall, “[W]e made the decision to evacuate all non-essential personnel and get as many controllers out as possible.” He will say that he gathers together the supervisors at the center “to make sure they all knew to tell their controllers to get the planes down as quickly and safely as possible, and then leave the center.” [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/19/2001, PP. 6-7 ; 9/11 COMMISSION, 10/2/2003 ]

Non-essential personnel are sent home, while essential personnel who leave the building go to the parking lot. By 10:30 a.m., the facility will be running on a skeleton crew of eight controllers and eight supervisors.
Center Considered a Possible Terrorist Target – The Cleveland Center is evacuated “because someone feared the facility could be targeted for a terrorist attack,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/12/2001, PP. 70 ; CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, 7/3/2011]

But Bill Keaton, a controller at the center, thinks to himself that “the evacuation [is] a little silly.” He will comment: “Though Cleveland Center might be a great strategic target, it was an awful terrorist target. Most people have no idea what goes on at a [air traffic control] center, and the terrorists were striking symbolic targets… the World Trade Center, the Pentagon.” [LORAIN MORNING JOURNAL, 9/11/2011]

Center Is Searched – Around the time it is being evacuated, the Cleveland Center is receiving a number of bomb threats (see 10:07 a.m.-10:21 a.m. September 11, 2001). [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 3/21/2002, PP. S-17, S-19]

Possibly in response to these, the building is searched, apparently during the period when many of its employees are outside in the parking lot. Wolbers will recall, “After we got all of our aircraft on the ground, we went to one person in each area until the building was searched and found to be secure.” [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/19/2001, PP. 6-7 ]

Around two hours after the evacuation, employees who left the building but have not gone home will go back inside and return to their posts. By then, though, the airspace will be empty, apart from some military aircraft, and so the controllers will have little to do. [CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, 7/3/2011]

Identity of Plane Unknown – The suspicious aircraft that prompted the evacuation is not identified. Rick Kettell, the manager of the Cleveland Center, will recall that it “flew off to the north and we lost radar on it.” Eleven months after 9/11, the FAA will reportedly still be investigating what the plane was and what it was doing. [NEWSNET5, 8/12/2002]

Entity Tags: Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, Bill Keaton, Rick Kettell, Leo E. Wolbers

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Posted in 911 Attack, 911 Shanksville Crash, 911Truth Archive | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Cleveland, FAA Center, Flight 93, issues, Shanksville, United Airlines Flight 93 | Leave a comment

Missiles and Plane Shoot Down

Posted on September 11, 2021 by mekorganic

Just Before 10:06 a.m. September 11, 2001: Locals Hear a Missile Before Flight 93 Crashes?

[MEK Note: Observations of a missile and debris scattered over large area away from “crash site” strongly indicate a government back-up story and has the effect of deflecting attention away from the lack of plane and bodies at “crash site” White jet could be government observation plane monitoring in “real time” the ongoing Shanksville situation.]

Several local people believe they hear a missile overhead just before Flight 93 goes down. Barry Lichty, a US Navy veteran and mayor of Indian Lake Borough (just to the east of where Flight 93 crashes), is watching television with his wife. He says he hears “a loud roar above the house that sounded like a missile.… Shortly thereafter, we heard an explosion and a tremor. My first reaction, as a former utility employee, was that maybe someone shot a missile into the substation.” He says Flight 93 “did not come over my house. I don’t know what we heard.” [KASHURBA, 2002, PP. 158-159]

Joe Wilt, who lives a quarter-mile from the crash site, hears a “whistling like a missile, then a loud boom.” He says, “The first thing I thought it was, was a missile.” [BOSTON GLOBE, 9/12/2001; WASHINGTON POST, 9/12/2001]

And Ernie Stuhl, the mayor of Shanksville, later says, “I know of two people – I will not mention names – that heard a missile. They both live very close, within a couple of hundred yards.… This one fellow’s served in Vietnam and he says he’s heard them, and he heard one that day.” [PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 11/18/2001]

Officials will emphatically deny that Flight 93 was shot down, as some people later suggest (see September 14, 2001). [PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/14/2001; LONGMAN, 2002, PP. 264]

However, a number of witnesses report seeing a small, white jet plane near the crash site, around the time Flight 93 reportedly goes down (see (Before and After 10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001).

Entity Tags: Barry Lichty, Joe Wilt

Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline

Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania

(Before 10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 93 Breaks Up Prior to Crash?

Flight 93 apparently starts to break up before it crashes, because debris is found very far away from the crash site. [PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 11/15/2001]

The plane is generally obliterated upon landing, except for one half-ton piece of engine found some distance away. Some reports indicate that the engine piece was found over a mile away. [INDEPENDENT, 8/13/2002]

The FBI reportedly acknowledges that this piece was found “a considerable distance” from the crash site. [PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 11/15/2001]

Later, the FBI will cordon off a three-mile wide area around the crash, as well as another area six to eight miles from the initial crash site. [CNN, 9/13/2001]

One story calls what happened to this engine “intriguing, because the heat-seeking, air-to-air Sidewinder missiles aboard an F-16 would likely target one of the Boeing 757’s two large engines.” [PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 11/15/2001]

Smaller debris fields are also found two, three, and eight miles away from the main crash site. [INDEPENDENT, 8/13/2002; MIRROR, 9/12/2002]

Eight miles away, local media quote residents speaking of a second plane in the area and burning debris falling from the sky. [REUTERS, 9/13/2001]

Residents outside Shanksville reported “discovering clothing, books, papers, and what appeared to be human remains. Some residents said they collected bags-full of items to be turned over to investigators. Others reported what appeared to be crash debris floating in Indian Lake, nearly six miles from the immediate crash scene. Workers at Indian Lake Marina said that they saw a cloud of confetti-like debris descend on the lake and nearby farms minutes after hearing the explosion…” [PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/13/2001]

Moments after the crash, Carol Delasko initially thinks someone had blown up a boat on Indian Lake: “It just looked like confetti raining down all over the air above the lake.” [PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/14/2001]

Investigators say that far-off wreckage “probably was spread by the cloud created when the plane crashed and dispersed by a ten mph southeasterly wind.” [NEWS JOURNAL (WILMINGTON, DE), 9/16/2001] However, much of the wreckage is found sooner than that wind could have carried it, and not always southeast.

Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Carol Delasko

Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline

Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, Key Day of 9/11 Events, Shanksville, Pennsylvania

(Just Before 10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Lights Go Out Before Flight 93 Crashes, Allegedly Indicating a Missile Being Fired

John Fleegle, a manager at the Indian Lake Marina about 1.5 miles from where Flight 93 crashes, is indoors with some colleagues, watching the televised coverage of the World Trade Center attack. Then, as he later describes, “All of a sudden the lights flickered and we joked that maybe they were coming for us. Then we heard engines screaming close overhead. The building shook. We ran out, heard the explosion and saw a fireball mushroom,” following the crash. When he later describes this incident while on a training course in Atlanta, Fleegle will be told that what happened means Flight 93 “was shot down.” A man there who says he is a retired Air Force officer will tell Fleegle, “[W]hen your lights flickered, [it was because] they zap the radar frequency on everything before they shoot. Your lights didn’t flicker from the impact—your lights flickered because they zapped the radar system before they shot it.” However, William “Buck” Kernan, a retired four-star Army general, will dispute this claim, saying, “[R]egarding an aircraft engaging an airborne target having an electrical disruption on the ground, no, this would not be a result of lock on or any electromagnetic pulsing.” He will suggest it is “possible that overpressure from explosions could momentarily disrupt microwave connections or cause sensations on ground relays, wiring, etc.” that might result in the lights having flickered. [PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/14/2001; LAPPE AND MARSHALL, 2004, PP. 35-36]

But, consistent with Fleegle’s allegation, a number of local residents—including military veterans—say they heard the sound of a missile overhead just before the time of the crash (see Just Before 10:06 a.m. September 11, 2001).

Another local resident, Val McClatchey, will report her lights and phone going out around the time of the crash. [PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/11/2002]

According to Barry Lichty, the mayor of Indian Lake Borough, the town’s electricity goes out around this time. He later learns that the plane crash had disrupted service to the borough. [PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/12/2001]

Interestingly, one alternative theory later suggested is that Flight 93 could have been brought down using “electromagnetic interference” (see August 13, 2002).

The US Air Force and Pentagon have in fact “conducted extensive research on ‘electronic warfare applications’ with the possible capacity intentionally to disrupt the mechanisms of an airplane in such a way as to provoke, for example, an uncontrollable dive.” [INDEPENDENT, 8/13/2002]

Entity Tags: Barry Lichty, Val McClatchey, John Fleegle, William Kernan

Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline

Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Flight UA 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Posted in 911 Attack, 911 Shanksville Crash, 911Truth Archive | Tagged 9/11, 911 Truth Archive, Flight 93, issues, missiles, Shanksville, shoot down, United Airlines Flight 93 | Leave a comment

Just Excuse to Restrict Crash Site from Observers

Posted on September 11, 2021 by mekorganic

(Shortly After 10:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Members of the Public Take Flight 93 Wreckage from the Crash Site as ‘Souvenirs’

[MEK Note: I couldn’t find anything to back up any souvenir hunters in the references provided except for two “curiosity seekers,” arrested. I suspect authorWilliam J. Thompson either embellished this problem (or maybe was given this excuse if he had tried to visit site) in his 2017 book. I think it would be very peculiar for souvenir hunters to show up immediately at a “crime scene” especially on 9/11 after all the things that had happened. What seems clear is that the site quickly became off limits even to journalists. I just don’t believe there was a plane crash there. See Jet Flyover of Shanksville “crash site”? for more on this!]

Thomas O’Connor. [Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]Members of the public are observed removing—or trying to remove—debris from the crash site shortly after Flight 93 goes down and some of them are arrested for doing so. [PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/18/2009; THOMPSON, 2017, PP. 6-7]

Flight 93 apparently crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. (see (10:03 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:06 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 30] Emergency responders soon start arriving at the crash site. “Almost as quickly,” however, according to author J. William Thompson, “legions of curiosity seekers and souvenir hunters showed up.” The “dozens of souvenir hunters” who converge on the scene are observed “stuffing objects in their shirts.” [THOMPSON, 2017, PP. 6-7]

Sergeant Thomas O’Connor and Corporal Ronald Zona of the Pennsylvania State Police are among the first people to arrive. During their first few hours at the site, they have to prevent “souvenir hunters from coming near the downed plane,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While doing so, they make several arrests. [PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/18/2009; PAMATTERS (.COM), 9/10/2011]

Eventually, a security perimeter will be set up to protect the site and only authorized personnel will be allowed through it. [MCMILLAN, 2014, PP. 131; THOMPSON, 2017, PP. 27-28]

But two “curiosity seekers,” one of them on an all-terrain vehicle, will be arrested later today for trying to get through the perimeter. [PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/12/2001] People are similarly observed removing—or trying to remove—wreckage from the crash site at the Pentagon, following the attack there (see (After 10:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 11/30/2001; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 12/3/2001]

Entity Tags: Thomas O’Connor, Ronald Zona

Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline

Category Tags: All Day of 9/11 Events, Shanksville, Pennsylvania