9/11 Commission Report

Ok, I've been so annoyed with the political climate at the moment I just shut myself off. Who needs that much anger in their lives?

But, I have started reading the 9/11 Commission Report. I know it sounds like it'd be a dull read, but it's actually hard to put down. I've decided until I'm finished with the book, I would use this blog to report the interesting tidbits of things that haven't been reported in the news or discussed that we didn't know about 9/11

Chapter 1: The Attacks
One of the interesting things about the terrorists going through security on 9/11 was that many of them were flagged as a suspicious person. Unfortunately, all that meant at the time was that their bags weren't put on board until they'd actually boarded the plane. About 3 of them set off the metal detectors and had to be wanded down (at least that we know of, because only one of the airports actually had a surveillance camera at the security checkpoint).

Beyond that, military jets were scrambled on 9/11. Two F-15s were scrambled 9 minutes before the first plane hit (but weren't in the air by the time the plane crashed). The jets were in a holding pattern over Long Island because the air traffic controllers were having a hard time locating the plane and then it "disappeared." The Air Traffic Controllers in the New York area saw the second plane coming in, but it apparently looked like it was going to land at a suburban airport, until it made it's rapid and fateful turn and slammed into tower II of the trade center.

Military jets were also scrambled at Langely and sent to head off the flight that crashed into the pentagon. Unfortunately, the pilots flew out over the ocean in a holding pattern to await coordinates instead of flying up towards Baltimore to intercept the plane, which was their second order and they were confused as to whether or not that order superseded their first order. Ah, military intelligence. But wait, there was another military plane in the capitol airspace, which they had find the plane. It was a National Guard C-130H, which is a cargo plane (the AC-130H is the Air Force gun ship). It followed behind the plane and watched it crash into the Pentagon, to which the pilot reported, "I think that plane just crashed into the pentagon, sir."

more to come...

posted by Sarai @ 11:40 AM 0 comments