Points to bear in mind as you read the timeline: 

The scrambling of fighter aircraft at the first sign of trouble is a routine phenomenon. In the year period before 9/11, fighters were scrambled 67 times. [AP, 8/13/02]

"Consider that an aircraft emergency exists... when: ... There is unexpected loss of radar contact and radio communications with any... aircraft." [FAA regulations]

"If... you are in doubt that a situation constitutes an emergency or potential emergency, handle it as though it were an emergency." [FAA regulations]

"Pilots are supposed to hit each fix with pinpoint accuracy. If a plane deviates by 15 degrees, or two miles from that course, the flight controllers will hit the panic button. They’ll call the plane, saying "American 11, you’re deviating from course." It’s considered a real emergency, like a police car screeching down a highway at 100 miles an hour. When golfer Payne Stewart’s incapacitated Learjet missed a turn at a fix, heading north instead of west to Texas, F-16 interceptors were quickly dispatched." [MSNBC, 9/12/01]

"A NORAD spokesman says its fighters routinely intercept aircraft. When planes are intercepted, they typically are handled with a graduated response. The approaching fighter may rock its wingtips to attract the pilot's attention, or make a pass in front of the aircraft. Eventually, it can fire tracer rounds in the airplane's path, or, under certain circumstances, down it with a missile." [Boston Globe, 9/15/01]

"In October, Gen. Eberhart told Congress that 'now it takes about one minute' from the time that the FAA senses something is amiss before it notifies NORAD. And around the same time, a NORAD spokesofficer told the Associated Press that the military can now scramble fighters 'within a matter of minutes to anywhere in the United States.'" [Slate, 1/16/02]

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, Anatoli Kornukov said the day after 9/11: "Generally it is impossible to carry out an act of terror on the scenario which was used in the USA yesterday... As soon as something like that happens here, I am reported about that right away and in a minute we are all up." [Pravda, 9/12/01]

Supposedly, on 9/11, there are only four fighters on ready status in the Northeastern US, and only 14 fighters on ready status in the entire US. [BBC, 8/29/02]

At FAA headquarters, "a secure Siprnet terminal and other hardware had been installed only six weeks earlier, greatly enhancing the movement of vital information." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/10/02]

Bush's motorcade left for the school at 8:30 A.M. As it was arriving, pagers and cell phones alerted White House aides that a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Bush remembers senior adviser Karl Rove bringing him the news, saying it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin-engine plane. [Washington Post, 1/27/02]

Bush: "I can remember noticing the press pool and the press corps beginning to get the calls and seeing the look on their face." [CBS, 9/11/02]

Also, the seat numbers [Sweeney] gave were different from those registered in the hijackers' names. [BBC, 9/21/01]

The jetliner was supposed to go to Los Angeles, but Alomari, Atta and three others seated in Row 8 — Waleed M. Alshehri, Wail Alshehri and Satam Al Suqami — prevented that. [Portland Press Herald, 9/16/01]

The investigators' trail to Portland began with a cell phone call by a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, placed moments before the jet crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. She told an airline worker that a group of Middle Eastern men sitting in rows 9 and 10 had taken over the plane, and were injuring hostages with knives. After the crash, FBI agents reviewed each of the names on the passenger manifest. They found that Abdulaziz Alomari and Mohamed Atta — later identified as a chief planner in the mass murder — had been sitting in row 8. [Portland Press Herald, 10/14/01]

(5:53 A.M.) Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari board a Colgan Air flight from Portland, Maine to Boston. They are filmed going through security in Portland. This is the only footage of the hijackers in airports on 9/11, and it's not even one of the suicide flights. [Time, 9/24/01] [5:45, New York Daily News, 5/22/02, 5:45, FBI, 10/4/01, 5:53, Miami Herald, 9/22/01, the timestamp on the released photos shows 5:53]

(6:00 A.M.) Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari's flight from Portland, Maine to Boston takes off. [FBI, 10/4/01] Two passengers later say Atta and Alomari board separately from each other, keep quiet and don't draw attention to themselves. [Washington Post, 9/16/01, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/16/01]

(6:00 A.M.) Bush is preparing for his morning jog at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, Florida, where he is staying. A van occupied by men of Middle Eastern descent pull up to the Colony stating they have a “poolside” interview with the president. They are turned away for not having an appointment. [Longboat Observer, 9/26/01] Was this an assassination attempt on the model of the one used on Afghani leader Ahmed Massoud two days earlier? [Time, 8/4/02]

(6:30 A.M.) Bush goes for a four-mile jog around the golf course at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. [Washington Post, 1/27/02]

(6:30 A.M.) A man has an argument with five Middle Eastern men over a parking space in the parking lot of Boston's Logan Airport. Later in the day he reports the event, and the car is discovered to have been rented by Atta. Inside, police find a ramp pass, allowing access to restricted airport areas. ["about 6.30," News of the World, 9/16/01, time unknown, Miami Herald, 9/22/01] Was the argument a staged event to make sure the car would be found? Why would they leave such a pass in their car instead of using it to board the airplanes?

(6:45 A.M.) "Approximately two hours prior to the first attack", at least two workers at the instant messaging company Odigo receive messages warning of the WTC attack. This Israeli owned company has its headquarters two blocks from the WTC. [Washington Post, 9/28/01, Ha'aretz, 9/26/01]

6:50 A.M. Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari's flight from Portland arrives on time at Boston's Logan Airport. [The book Inside 9-11: What Really Happened, 2/02]

(7:45 A.M.) Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari board Flight 11. Atta's bags contain airline uniforms and many other remarkable things, but are checked through to his final destination, making them unusable for the attacks. The bags are not loaded onto the plane in time, and are later found by investigators. [Boston Globe, 9/18/01] But at least two other hijackers on Flight 11 are able to use stolen uniforms and IDs to board the plane. [Sunday Herald, 9/16/01] There is speculation that the bags were meant to be left behind and found. [New Yorker, 10/1/01] How could Atta have been sure the bags would not be checked onto the plane unless a confederate working in the airport made sure the bags are not loaded?

(Before 7:59 A.M.) Supposedly, nine of the 19 hijackers are selected for special screening before they board their planes. None of their names are known, [Washington Post, 3/2/02] but one article makes clear wanted men Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi are not selected. [Cox News, 10/21/01] Six are chosen for extra scrutiny by a computerized screening system, prompting a sweep of their checked baggage for explosives or unauthorized weapons. Two are chosen because of irregularities in their identification documents and one is chosen for traveling with someone having such documents. After screening, all are allowed to board. [Washington Post, 3/2/02]

(Before 7:59 A.M.) Atta in Flight 11 calls Alshehhi in Flight 175 as both planes sit on the runway. They confirm the plot is on. ["just before 8:00," Time, 8/4/02] Do investigators know what was said in this call or are they just guessing, and if they do, what does that say about their data collection abilities?

(7:59 A.M.)� Flight 11 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport, 14 minutes after scheduled departure. [7:45 (actually the scheduled time), Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01, 7:59, ABC News, 7/18/02, 7:59, CNN, 9/17/01, 7:59, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:00, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:00, AP, 8/19/02, 8:00, Newsday, 9/10/02]

(8:00 A.M.) Bush sits down for his daily intelligence briefing. "The President's briefing appears to have included some reference to the heightened terrorist risk reported throughout the summer" but contained nothing serious enough to call National Security Adviser Rice. The briefing ends at about 8:20. [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

8:01 A.M.� Flight 93 is delayed for 41 minutes on the runway in Newark, finally taking off at 8:42. The Boston Globe credits this delay as a major reason why this was the only one of the four flights not to succeed in its mission. [Boston Globe, 11/23/01] [Newsweek, 9/22/01, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

8:13 A.M. The last routine communication between ground control and the pilots of Flight 11. The pilot responds when told to turn right. But almost immediately afterwards he fails to respond to a command to climb. [Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 8:13:31, New York Times, 10/16/01]

(8:13 A.M.) At the same time that flight controllers are asking Flight 11 to climb to 35,000 feet, the transponder stops transmitting. Air traffic manager Glenn Michael says later, "We considered it at that time to be a possible hijacking." ["when given permission to climb to 35,000 feet," AP, 8/12/02, "8:13:47 — 46R: AAL11, now climb maintain FL350," New York Times, 10/16/01, shortly after trying emergency frequencies, Christian Science Monitor, 9/13/01] The official story says NORAD is not notified the plane is hijacked until 8:40 - 27 minutes later. [NORAD, 9/18/01]

(8:13 A.M.) Flight 11 is hijacked around this time. One flight controller says the plane is hijacked over Gardner, Massachusetts, less than 50 miles west of Boston. [Nashua Telegraph, 9/13/01] Does the hijacking involve all of the hijackers from the beginning, or only one hijacker who is already in the cockpit when the hijacking begins, with the rest joining in later? This explanation seems to fit the facts best, since the storming of the cockpit doesn't appear to happen until after 8:21, yet communication with ground control stops now. [Fifteen minutes after takeoff, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01, "A few minutes into the flight," ABC News, 7/18/02] As the Boston Globe put it, "it appears that the hijackers' entry was surprising enough that the pilots did not have a chance to broadcast a traditional distress call," a button that would have taken only a few seconds to press. [Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

(After 8:14 A.M.) At some point after the hijacking begins, the pilot of Flight 11, John Ogonowski, activates the talk-back button, enabling Boston air traffic controllers to hear what is being said in the cockpit. A controller says, "The button was being pushed intermittently most of the way to New York." An article notes that "his ability to do so also indicates that he was in the driver's seat much of the way" to the WTC. Such transmissions continue until at least 8:38. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/13/01]

8:14 A.M.� Flight 175 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport, 16 minutes after the scheduled departure time. [CNN, 9/17/01, Washington Post, 9/12/01, Guardian, 10/17/01, AP, 8/19/02, Newsday, 9/10/02]

(8:15 A.M.)� Boston Air Traffic Control tries but fails to contact the pilots of Flight 11, even using emergency frequencies. [8:14, Guardian, 10/17/01] A Boston flight controller states of Flight 11, "He won't answer you. He's nordo roger thanks". Nordo means no radio. [8:15, New York Times, 10/16/01, "over the Hudson river", CNN, 9/17/01]

8:20 A.M. Flight 11 stops transmitting its IFF (identify friend or foe) beacon signal. [8:20, CNN, 9/17/01]

(8:20 A.M.)� Flight 11 starts to veer dramatically off course around this time. [USA Today flight path image, on this page] Recall that if a plane goes two miles off course, it should be considered an emergency situation. [MSNBC, 9/12/01]

(8:20 A.M.) Boston flight control decides that Flight 11 has probably been hijacked, but they don't notify other air traffic control centers for another five minutes, and don't notify NORAD for about another 20 minutes. ["about 8:20," Newsday, 9/23/01, "about 8:20," New York Times, 9/15/01] ABC News will later say, "There doesn't seem to have been alarm bells going off, traffic controllers getting on with law enforcement or the military. There's a gap there that will have to be investigated." [ABC News, 9/14/01]

(8:20 A.M.)�Flight 77 departs Dulles International Airport near Washington, ten minutes after the scheduled departure time. [8:20, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:20, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:20, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:21, AP, 8/19/02]

(Before 8:21 A.M.) Four hijackers get up from their seats and stab or shoot passenger Daniel Lewin, who belongs to the Israel Defense Force Sayeret Matkal, a top-secret counter-terrorist unit. He was sitting in front of one of the three hijackers in business class. This could have happened even before 8:13, but logically seems to have come not much before 8:21. A very preliminary FAA memo says Lewin was shot by Satam Al Suqami at 9:20 - clearly the time is a typo; perhaps 8:20 is meant? [ABC News, 7/18/02, UPI, 3/6/02, Washington Post, 3/2/02] Perhaps Lewin just happened to be there, and, with his past training, tried to be a hero and stop the hijack?

(8:21 A.M.) Inside Flight 11, flight attendant Betty Ong calls Vanessa Minter at American Airlines reservations. Nydia Gonzales also listens in from 8:27. Ong talks for 25 minutes, until the plane crashes. The FBI says that only the first four minutes were recorded, but won't release the tape. Ong is apparently in the middle of the plane, but other flight attendants relay information about what is happening in the front. She says the hijackers sprayed something in the first-class cabin to keep people out of the front of the plane. It burns her eyes and she is having trouble breathing. ["25 minute phone call until crash," ABC News, 7/18/02, Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

(8:21 A.M.) Another Flight 11 attendant, Amy Sweeney, calls American Airlines ground manager Michael Woodward and speaks calmly to him for 25 minutes until the plane crashes. Supposedly the call was not recorded and Woodward took notes. Her first comment is "Listen, and listen to me very carefully. I'm on Flight 11. The airplane has been hijacked." She identifies four hijackers, and gives the seat numbers for them. Even before the plane crashes, staff are able to determine the names, phone numbers, addresses, and credit card information for these four hijackers, including Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari. She reports that two flight attendants had been stabbed and a passenger had his throat slashed.�She says the hijackers seem to be of Middle Eastern descent. ["over the next 25 minutes," ABC News, 7/18/02, AP, 10/5/01]

(After 8:21 A.M.) While flight attendant Amy Sweeney is relating details on the phone about the hijackers, the men are storming the front of the plane. She says they "just gained access to the cockpit." It's probable she called just after the storming begins, and it is during this struggle when the hijackers stab the two first-class flight attendants nearest to the cockpit, Barbara Arestegui and Karen Martin. Sweeney says they have a bomb with yellow wires attached. Meanwhile, the pilot apparently had been trying to alert authorities by surreptitiously clicking his radio transmission button. [ABC News, 7/18/02, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01] Could it be that one of the hijackers was posing as a pilot passenger and thus had been able to be in the cockpit as an observer, as happened on some of the hijacker's test run flights? If so, he would have begun the hijack around 8:13, but only received reinforcements and had Atta take over the flying of the plane around now. [Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01, AP, 10/5/01, ABC News, 7/18/02] This would explain why Sweeney reported four hijackers, not five.

8:24 A.M. The pilot of Flight 11, John Ogonowski, activates the talk-back button, enabling Boston air traffic controllers to hear a hijacker on Flight 11 say to the passengers: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport." A controller responds, ''Who's trying to call me?'' The hijacker continues, "Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." [8:24:38, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:24:38, New York Times, 10/16/01, 8:24, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 8:28, New York Times, 9/12/01, before 8:28, Channel 4 News, 9/13/01] Immediately after hearing this voice, the controller "knew right then that he was working a hijack." [Village Voice, 9/13/01] The transponder beacon and radio have been off for 10 minutes, the flight has been off course for about four minutes and only now he knows it's a hijack? Even so, no one notifies NORAD for another 14 minutes?

8:25 A.M. Boston air traffic controllers notify other air traffic control centers of the Flight 11 hijacking, but supposedly they don't notify the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) for another 13 minutes. [8:25:00, Guardian, 10/17/01] Why isn't NORAD also notified at this time? Note that this means the controllers working Flights 77 and Flight 93 would have been aware of Flight 11's hijacking from this time. [Village Voice, 9/13/01]

8:28 A.M.� Boston Air Traffic Control radar sees Flight 11 making an unplanned 100-degree turn to the south (they're already way off-course).�Flight controllers say they never lost sight of the flight, though they could no longer determine altitude once the transponder was turned off. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/13/01] However, in other media reports, "Boston airport officials said they did not spot the plane's course until it had crashed, and said the control tower had no unusual communication with the pilots or any crew members." [Washington Post, 9/12/01] The lack of unusual communication is a lie, as prior entries show. Before this turn, the FAA had tagged Flight 11's radar dot for easy visibility, and at American Airlines headquarters at least, "All eyes watched as the plane headed south. On the screen, the plane showed a squiggly line after its turn near Albany, then it straightened." [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/01] Why such blatant lies? They expect people to believe they didn't know the flight was a hijacking until after it crashed? Why should the same people be believed about other incidents of the day?

(Around 8:30 A.M.) Vice President Cheney and National Security Advisor Rice are at their offices in the White House. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is at his office in the Pentagon, meeting with a delegation from Capitol Hill. Secretary of State Powell is eating breakfast with the new president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, in Lima, Peru. CIA Director Tenet is at breakfast with his old friend and mentor, former senator David Boren (D), at the St. Regis Hotel, three blocks from the White House. Gen. Henry H. Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is flying across the Atlantic on the way to Europe. Ashcroft is flying to Milwaukee. FBI Director Mueller is in his office at FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue. [Washington Post, 1/27/02]

(Between 8:30 - 8:48 A.M.)� At some unknown point, Bush's motorcade leaves his hotel for Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. [8:30, Washington Post, 1/27/02, 8:30, Telegraph, 12/16/01] Supposedly the trip takes 25 minutes, which seems slow for a nine mile journey by a Presidential motorcade that usually travels fast and never stops at traffic lights. There was an early report that, as he is leaving his hotel, Bush is asked by a reporter "Do you know what's going on in New York?" He responds that he does, and he says he will have something about it later. [ABC News, 9/11/01] However, this report appears to be incorrect since Bush is unlikely to have left after 8:48 when news of the WTC attack first hit the news.

8.34 A.M.�Air traffic controllers hear a hijacker on Flight 11 say to the passengers: "Nobody move, please, we are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves." [8:33:59, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:33:59, New York Times, 10/16/01]

(8:36 A.M.) On Flight 11, flight attendant Betty Ong reports that the plane tilts all the way on one side and then becomes horizontal again. Flight attendant Amy Sweeney then reports on her phone that the plane has begun a rapid descent. ["About 15 minutes" after the calls began, ABC News, 7/18/02]

8:37 A.M. Flight controllers ask the Flight 175 pilots to look for a lost American Airlines plane 10 miles to the south. They respond that they can see it. They are told to keep away from it. [8:37:08, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:37, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, the incident is not included in New York Times flight controller transcript of New York Times, 10/16/01]

(8:40 A.M.) Boston Air Traffic Control supposedly notifies NORAD that Flight 11 has been hijacked. This is about 20 minutes after traffic control noticed the plane had its transponder beacon�and radio turned off. [8:38, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:38, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:40, NORAD, 9/18/01, 8:40, AP, 8/19/02, 8:40, Newsday, 9/10/02] Such a delay in notification would be in strict violation of regulations.

8:40 A.M. Maj. Daniel Nash (codenamed Nasty) and Lt. Col. Timothy Duffy (codenamed Duff) are the two F-15 pilots who would scramble after Flight 11 and then Flight 175. Nash says that at this time, a colleague at the Otis Air National Guard Base tells him that a flight out of Boston has been hijacked, and to be on alert. They put on their flight gear and get ready. [Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02] Duffy also says that they were told in advance about the hijacking by the FAA in Boston. They are already halfway to their jets when "battle stations" are sounded. Duffy briefs Nash on what he knows, and "About 4-5 minutes later, we got the scramble order and took off." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] If this is true, why wasn't the order to scramble given when the FAA called the pilots, instead of six minutes later? And even stranger, why did it take another six minutes (8:52) for the fighters to take off, if they had been given a heads up warning to get ready? Had the order to scramble been given now, there would have been plenty of time to reach New York before Flight 175.

8:41 A.M. The pilots of Flight 175 tell ground control, "We figured we'd wait to go to your center. We heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston. Someone keyed the mike and said: 'Everyone stay in your seats.' It cut out." [8:41, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:41, Newsday, 9/10/02, 8:41:32, New York Times, 10/16/01] Alternate version, ''We heard a suspicious transmission on our departure from B-O-S [Boston's airport code]. Sounds like someone keyed the mike and said, 'Everyone, stay in your seats.''' [Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

(8:42 A.M.) Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco. It leaves 41 minutes late because of heavy runway traffic. [MSNBC, 9/3/02] [8:41, Newsweek, 9/22/01, 8:41, AP, 8/19/02, 8:42, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, 8:42, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:42, Guardian, 10/17/01]

8:42 A.M. Flight 175 veers from its official course. ["Within 90 seconds" of the above item, Boston Globe, 11/23/01] (CNN had an early report that the deviation happened at 8:50, but that's probably when the plane, already off-course, made a complete u-turn north.) [CNN, 9/17/01]

8:42 A.M. A flight controller says of Flight 175, "... looks like he's heading southbound but there's no transponder no nothing and no one's talking to him." [New York Times, 10/16/01]

(Before 8:43 A.M.) At some unknown time period, businessman Peter Burton Hanson calls his father from the plane and says, "Oh, my God! They just stabbed the airline hostess. I think the airline is being hijacked." Despite being cut off twice, he managed to report how men armed with knives were stabbing flight attendants, apparently in an attempt to force crew to unlock the doors to the cockpit. He calls again and says good-bye just before the plane crashes. [Toronto Sun, 9/16/01, BBC, 9/13/01] This appears to have been one of only two passengers who called from this flight (an unnamed flight stewardess called as well). He also had a lot of trouble staying connected - was this flight too high up to enable people to easily call out?

8:43 A.M.� NORAD is notified that Flight 175 has been hijacked. [8:43, NORAD, 9/18/01, 8:43, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:43, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:43, AP, 8/19/02, 8:43, Newsday, 9/10/02] Note that this means the controllers working Flights 77 and Flight 93 would have been aware of both Flight 175 and Flight 11's hijacking from this time.

8:44 A.M. The pilot of US Airlines Flight 583 tells flight control, regarding Flight 175, "I just picked up an ELT [emergency locator transmitter] on 121.5 it was brief but it went off." The controller responds, "O.K. they said it's confirmed believe it or not as a thing, we're not sure yet..." [New York Times, 10/16/01] This appears to have been the only plane where the emergency signal was triggered by the pilot.

8:44 A.M. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, is talking about terrorism in the Pentagon. "Let me tell ya," he says, "I've been around the block a few times. There will be another event." He then repeats it for emphasis, "There will be another event." [AP, 9/16/01, Rep. Cox Statement, 9/11/01] Note that supposedly he doesn't know of the hijackings in progress, and says this two minutes before the first WTC crash.

(8:45 A.M.)�Just prior to the crash of Flight 11, flight attendant Amy Sweeney is asked on the phone if she can recognized where she is. "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings," then after a pause, a quiet "Oh, my God!" Mere seconds later the line goes dead. Flight attendant Betty Ong ends her call repeating the phrase "Pray for us" over and over. Apparently there is quiet instead of screaming in the background. [ABC News, 7/18/02]

(8:46 A.M.)� Two F-15 fighters are ordered to scramble from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts to find Flight 11, approximately 190 miles from the known location of the plane and 188 miles from New York City.�Fighters in nearer bases are not scrambled. This is 6-8 minutes after NORAD has been told the plane was hijacked, 29 minutes after losing contact with the plane. [8:39, Channel 4 News, 9/13/01, 8:46, NORAD, 9/18/01, 8:44, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:44, Washington Post, 9/15/01] Supposedly, the scramble order comes after only one phone call - the decision is made to act first and get clearances later. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] So why did it take 6-8 minutes to issue the order? According to the two pilots, Maj. Daniel Nash and Lt. Col. Timothy Duffy, they are geared up and walking towards their planes when this alarm to scramble sounds. As soon as they strap in, the green light to launch goes on, and they're up even before their jets' radar kicks in. [Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02] Yet, supposedly, it takes six more minutes for them to launch.

8:46 A.M. According to Robert Marr, commander of NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), NORAD is unable to find the location of Flight 11. Finally, someone sees a "green dot that's not identified. Almost as soon as it's discovered, it disappears. It's 8:46 A.M." At the time, "there are no other missing aircraft." But then, at 9:02, they see a second unidentified aircraft on a screen, which is Flight 175 crashing into the WTC. The whole time, NORAD staff "were constantly on the phone with the FAA, airlines and others, looking for clues. 'If we could get good last-known-positions and tail numbers, that would help the fighters pick out the right aircraft,'" says one staff member. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] in another account, the plane is rediscovered at 8:42. [Newsday, 9/10/02] Recall this from a previous entry: Before a turn at 8:28, the FAA had tagged Flight 11's radar dot for easy visibility, and at American Airlines headquarters, "All eyes watched as the plane headed south. On the screen, the plane showed a squiggly line after its turn near Albany, then it straightened." [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/01] So American Airlines says Flight 11 was never lost, and this corresponds with other reports. For instance, "Controllers scrambled to direct other planes out of the way of both United 175 and American Airlines Flight 11", and several collisions were barely averted. [Washington Post, 9/17/01] The airlines would have no reason to lie about this, NORAD would have a very big reason to lie.

8:46 A.M.� Flight 11 slams into the north tower, 1 World Trade Center. Investigators believe it still had about 10,000 gallons of fuel and was traveling 470 mph. [New York Times, 9/11/02] Approximately 2662 people are killed on the ground between this crash and the crash of Flight 175. [AP, 8/19/02] [8:45, CNN, 9/12/01, 8:45, New York Times, 9/12/01, 8:46 (based on seismic data), New York Times, 9/12/01, 8:46, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:46, NORAD, 9/18/01, 8:46, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:46, AP, 8/19/02, 8:46, USA Today, 9/3/02, 8:46, Newsday, 9/10/02, 8:47:00, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:48, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 8:46:26, New York Times, 9/11/02, 8:46:26, seismic records]

8:46 A.M. Air Force General and acting Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers later claims that he is in Washington, talking to Senator Max Cleland at this time. A few minutes later, he sees a television report that a plane had hit the WTC, but he claims, "They thought it was a small plane or something like that," so he goes back to his call. He remains oblivious to what is happening until after the Pentagon is hit almost an hour later. [American Forces Press Service, 10/23/01] Yet, in testimony on September 13, he states, "after the second tower was hit, I spoke to the commander of NORAD, General Eberhart. And at that point, I think the decision was at that point to start launching aircraft." [Myers Confirmation Testimony, 9/13/01] Doesn't that expose his usual story that he didn't know what was happening until later as a lie? If the second statement is true, then doesn't that make all the details of planes being scrambled before 9:03 all lies?

(8:46 A.M.) Flight 175 stops transmitting its transponder signal.�It is 50 miles north of New York City, headed towards Baltimore. [8:46:18, Guardian, 10/17/01, "about the same time" as Flight 11 crash, Newsday, 9/10/02] Another lie? Note that at 8:42, a flight controller said, "there's no transponder no nothing." [New York Times, 10/16/01] However, they turned the transponder off for only about 30 seconds, then returned the transponder to a signal that was not designated to any plane on that day. [Newsday, 9/10/02] This "allowed controllers to track the intruder easily, though they couldn't identify it." [Washington Post, 9/17/01]

8:46 A.M. At the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16's assigned to Andrews Air Force Base 10 miles from Washington are flying an air-to-ground training mission on a range in North Carolina, 207 miles away. Eventually they are recalled to Andrews and land there at some point after Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02] F-16's can travel a maximum speed of 1500 mph. Travelling even at 1250 mph, at least one of the F-16's could have returned to Washington within 10 minutes and started patrolling the skies well before 9:00 A.M. Why were they recalled so late, and then ordered back to base (and then to take off again) instead of being sent straight to Washington?

(8:46 A.M.) Flight 77 from Washington goes severely off course. It heads due north for a while, then flies due south and gets back on course. [see USA Today's Flight 77 flight path] It was off course by around 15 miles, and stayed off course for about five minutes. According to regulations a fighter should have scrambled to see what was going on, regardless of any excuses from the pilot.

(After 8:46 A.M.) "During the hour or so that American Airlines Flight 77 was under the control of hijackers, up to the moment it struck the west side of the Pentagon, military officials in a command center on the east side of the [Pentagon] were urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do." [New York Times, 9/15/01] Since the Pentagon was struck around 9:41, this means that shortly after the first signs of trouble, the military knew that Flight 77 was hijacked, even though, supposedly, NORAD is not notified until 9:24.

(After 8:46 A.M.) Bush will say in a speech later that evening: "Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans." Whatever these plans were, they don't seem to have involved scrambling aircraft. [White House.gov, 9/11/01]

(After 8:46 A.M.) Shortly after the WTC is hit, the FAA has a open telephone line with the Secret Service, keeping them informed of all events. [Cheney: "The Secret Service has an arrangement with the FAA They had open lines after the World Trade Center was... " NBC, 9/16/01]

(After 8:46 A.M.) According to NORAD command director Capt. Michael H. Jellinek, at some point not long after the WTC hit, telephone links are established with the National Military Command Center (NMCC) located inside the Pentagon, Canada's equivalent command center, Strategic Command, theater Cincs and federal emergency-response agencies. An Air Threat Conference Call is initiated. At one time or another, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and key military officers are heard on the open line. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02]

(Between 8:46 A.M. - 9:00 A.M.) United States Navy Captain Deborah Loewer is traveling in Bush's motorcade towards a Saratoga elementary school. She receives a message from her deputy in the White House Situation Room about the first WTC crash, and passes the message on to Bush. Once they reach the school, Bush's team watches TV coverage of the attack for a short while. Loewer says, "Mr. President, I think it's terrorism." [Catholic Telegraph, 12/7/01, "shortly before 9:00", AP, 11/26/01] Note that Bush maintains he didn't know until he saw it on TV, then still didn't consider it might be terrorism until the second attack. Loewer may not even have been the first to warn Bush, for all we know.

(Between 8:46 - 9:03 A.M.) At some unknown point before Flight 175 crashes, flight controllers in Garden City on Long Island, New York, are still looking for Flight 11. Flight 175 is an unmarked blip. One controller stands up in horror. "No," he shouts, "he's not going to land. He's going in!" "Oh, my God! He's headed for the city," another controller shouts. "Oh, my God! He's headed for Manhattan!" [Washington Post, 9/21/01]

(Between 8:46 - 8:55 A.M.) �A passenger on Flight 77, Barbara Olson, calls her husband, Solicitor General Theodore Olson at the Justice Department. He is watching the WTC news on TV. She tells him, ''they had box cutters and knives. They rounded up the passengers at the back of the plane.'' She asks him, "What should I tell the pilot to do?" She gets cuts off, he calls the Justice Department's command center to alert them of the hijacking. She calls back and says the plane is turning around. [no time marker, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, "by 9:25," Washington Post, 9/21/01] She appears to have been the only person on this flight to have been able to call someone on the ground.

8:48 A.M. The first news reports appear on TV and radio that a plane may have crashed into the WTC. [New York Times, 9/15/01, CNN, 9/11/01]

(After 8:48 A.M.)� Bush is asked by a reporter "Do you know what's going on in New York?" He responds that he does, and he says he will have something about it later, as he leaves his hotel for Booker Elementary School. [ABC News, 9/11/01] Bush's motorcade then leaves for Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. [8:30, Washington Post, 1/27/02] Note that the Washington Post time is incorrect, because of the above reporter's question. Also, the hotel Bush was staying at is less than five miles away from the school, so there's no way a presidential motorcade that doesn't stop for traffic lights should take half an hour for the journey. It would have taken more like five to 10 minutes.

8:50 A.M. The last radio contact with Flight 77 is made when the pilots ask for clearance to fly higher. But then they fail to respond to a routine instruction.�[Guardian, 10/17/01, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 8:50:51, New York Times, 10/16/01] Note that normal communications continues with Flight 77 about four minutes after the plane went significantly off course, suggesting the original pilot continued to fly the plane for at least a while after it was hijacked. Again, evidence that a hijacker was in the cockpit at the start of the hijacking?

(8:50 A.M.) Rich ''Doc'' Miles, manager of United's Chicago system operations center, receives a call from a mechanic at an airline maintenance center in San Francisco that takes in-flight calls from flight attendants about broken items. The mechanic says a female flight attendant from Flight 175 just called and said, ''Oh my God. The crew has been killed, a flight attendant has been stabbed. We've been hijacked.'' Then the line went dead. [Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

8:52 A.M.�Two F-15's take off from Otis ANG Base, six minutes after being ordered to go after Flight 11, which has already crashed. [8:52, NORAD, 9/18/01, 8:52, CNN, 9/17/01, 8:53, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 8:52, Washington Post, 9/15/01] This is 38 minutes after flight controllers lost contact with the plane. They go after Flight 175 instead.�According to Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, "the pilots flew 'like a scalded ape,' topping 500 mph but were unable to catch up to the airliner." [Dallas Morning News, 9/16/01] NORAD Major Gen. Larry Arnold says they were headed straight for New York City and traveling about 1100 to 1200 mph. [Slate, 1/16/02] "An F-15 departing from Otis can reach New York City in 10 to 12 minutes, according to an Otis spokewoman." [Cape Cod Times, 9/16/01] According to Lt. Col. Timothy Duffy, one of the pilots, before takeoff, a fellow officer had told him "This looks like the real thing." He says, "It just seemed wrong. I just wanted to get there. I was in full-blower all the way." A NORAD commander has said the planes were stocked with extra fuel as well. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Full-blower is very rare - it means the fighters are going as fast as they can go. F-15's can travel over 1875 mph. [Air Force News, 7/30/97] An at average speed of 1600 mph, they would have reached New York City in seven minutes - 8:59. An at average speed of 1125 mph, they would have reached it in 10 minutes - 9:02 - still before Flight 175 crashes. Yet according to the NORAD timeline, these planes take about 19 minutes to reach New York City - less than 600 mph. Why so slow??

(After 8:52) William Wibel, principal of a school inside Otis Air National Guard Base in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts, is inside the Otis base preparing for a meeting. He hears about the WTC attack, and is told the meeting is canceled. He says, "As I drove away, and was listening to the news on the radio, the 102nd was scrambling into duty." [Cape Cod Times, 9/12/01] Given that the WTC story didn't break on local news and radio until about 8:52, and it must have taken him some time to learn the meeting is cancel, go back to his car and so forth, he must have heard the fighters take off well after 8:52. Yet NORAD says the fighters took off from Otis at 8:52.

8:53 A.M. A flight controller says to other airplanes in the sky about Flight 175, "We may have a hijack. We have some problems over here right now." [Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:53:23, New York Times, 10/16/01]

(8:55 A.M.) A public announcement is broadcast inside the WTC South Tower, saying that the building is secure and people can return to their offices. [New York Times, 9/11/02, interactive popup] Such announcements continue until a few minutes before the building is hit, and "may have led to the deaths of hundreds of people." No one knows what exactly was said (though many recall the phrase "the building is secure") nor who gave the authority to say it. [USA Today, 9/3/02] Given that at 8:43 NORAD was notified Flight 175 was hijacked and headed towards New York City, why weren't people in the building warned?

(8:55 A.M.)� Flight 77 turns around over northeastern Kentucky, and heads back towards Washington. The plane has already started turning before the transponder signal is lost. [Washington Post, 9/12/01, Newsday, 9/23/01] This actually probably occurred about five minutes later, if one looks at the flight path and calculates the timing. [see USA Today's Flight 77 flight path]

(8:56 A.M.)� Flight 77's transponder signal is turned off. [8:56, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:56, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, "six minutes before" Flight 175 hits WTC, Newsday, 9/23/01] For some minutes the plane is missing because flight controllers are looking for the radar signal towards the west and don't realize the plane is headed east. Rumors circulate that the plane might have exploded in midair. [Newsday, 9/23/01]

(8:56 A.M.) According to the New York Times, by this time (if not earlier), it is clear Flight 77 has gone missing. Yet the same newspaper points out NORAD is not notified about it for another 28 minutes! [New York Times, 10/16/01] Why were fighters not scrambled now to find Flight 77?

8:58 A.M. Brian Sweeney on Flight 175 tries to call his wife but can only leave a message. "We've been hijacked, and it doesn't look too good." He calls his mother and tells her what's happening onboard. [Hyannis News, 9/13/01, Washington Post, 9/21/01]

(Before 8:58 A.M.) Following Bush on the way to Booker Elementary School, a news photographer overhears a radio transmission saying that Press Secretary Ari Fleischer would be needed on arrival to discuss reports of some sort of crash. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01] This again shows Bush's team knows about the WTC crash before when they claim to know.

(8:58 A.M.) Bush arrives at Booker Elementary School. ["just before 9:00," Telegraph, 12/16/01]

(9:00 A.M.) According to the official timeline, only now does White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card tell Bush a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. [September 11 News timeline, Telegraph, 12/16/01] So, supposedly, Bush learns about this attack 12 minutes after millions start hearing about it on TV, and well after his staff knows about it!

(9:00 A.M.)� As Bush arrives at the Booker Elementary School, he is whisked into holding room and updated on the situation via telephone by National Security Advisor Rice. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01, Time, 9/12/01] Why doesn't Bush's team cancel his completely meaningless photo-op at the elementary school at this point?

9:00 A.M. The Pentagon moves its alert status up one notch from normal to Alpha. It stays on Alpha until after Flight 77 hits, and then goes up two more notches to Charlie later on in the day. [USA Today, 9/16/01]

(9:01 A.M.) Bush later makes the following statement. "And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, 'There's one terrible pilot.' And I said, 'It must have been a horrible accident.' But I was whisked off there -- I didn't have much time to think about it." [CNN, 12/4/01] He has repeated the story on other occasions. [White House, 1/5/02, CBS, 9/11/02] Given that there actually was no film footage of the first attack on TV until much later (and no footage of the plane actually hitting the tower), isn't this a clear lie to make it seem he didn't know what was happening? By 8:38, NORAD knew that Flight 11 was hijacked, and by 8:43, they knew Flight 175 was hijacked. As the New York Times points out, they also probably knew Flight 77 was hijacked a few minutes after 8:48. [New York Times, 9/15/01] He's had time to think about it - he's been briefed by his National Security Advisor on the situation. So by this time Bush certainly knew two planes were hijacked and headed towards New York City, and probably knew of a third hijacking. Yet he can only think "There's one terrible pilot"?

(9:02 - approx. 9:25 A.M.) Bush reads a story to 18 Booker Elementary School second-graders about a girl's pet goat. During this time, except for one sentence whispered to him by his Chief of Staff, he is completely cut off from outside developments. What if, during this time, there was a possibility one of the planes had to be shot down? As CNN reported in 1999, "military planes could not take aim and pull the trigger unless they received permission from the White House because only the president has the authority to order a civilian aircraft shot down." [CNN, 10/26/99] (Note that one article claims that he left the classroom at 9:12 [Telegraph, 12/16/01], but videos of the Bush in the room last longer than that - the above time is a rough guess).

9:01 A.M. United warns all of its aircraft of the potential for cockpit intrusion and to take precautions to barricade cockpit doors. Flight 93 pilots acknowledge the message. ["just after 9 A.M.", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01] However, they're not told why, what happened at the WTC, or that another plane is missing.

9:03 A.M.� Flight 175, hits the south tower, 2 World Trade Center. Approximately 2662 people are killed on the ground between this crash and the crash of Flight 175. [AP, 8/19/02] F-15 fighter jets from Otis Air National Guard Base are still 71 miles or eight minutes away. [9:02, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:02, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:02, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:03, New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:03 (based on seismic data), New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:03, Guardian, 10/17/01, 9:03, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:03, AP, 8/19/02, 9:03, Newsday, 9/10/02, 9:03, USA Today, 9/3/02, 9:05, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:05, Washington Post, 1/27/02, 9:02:54, New York Times, 9/11/02, 9:02:54, seismic records] The Otis Air National Guard Base is 188 miles from New York City. According to NORAD's timeline, fighters left Otis 11 minutes earlier. If they were still 70 miles away, then that means they must have been traveling about 650 mph, when the top speed for an F-15 is 1875 mph!

(9:03 A.M. and After) The minute Flight 175 hits the south tower, F-15 pilot Maj. Daniel Nash says that clear visibility allows him to see smoke pour out of Manhattan, even though he is 71 miles away. However, he says he can't recall actually being told of the Flight 11 hit. And he isn't told about the danger of Flight 175 until after it too has crashed. And instead of being ordered to New York City, the two F-15's are ordered to hover in a 150-mile chunk of air space off the coast of Long Island. "Neither the civilian controller or the military controller knew what they wanted us to do." But then a few minutes later, they receive orders to head to Manhattan for combat air patrol, and they do that for the next four hours. At no point are these pilots given permission to shoot down any airliners. Nash points out that even if he had reached New York City before Flight 175, he couldn't shoot it down because only the President could make that decision and he was indisposed at a public event. [Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02] Why are the pilots not being told of their targets? Why are they being sent out into the ocean? Why IS Bush reading a book about a goat when all this is happening?

(After 9:03 A.M.) Shortly after the second WTC crash, calls from fighter units start "pouring into NORAD and sector operations centers, asking, 'What can we do to help?' At Syracuse, New York, an ANG commander [tells Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) commander Robert] Marr, 'Give me 10 min. and I can give you hot guns. Give me 30 min. and I'll have heat-seeker [missiles]. Give me an hour and I can give you slammers [Amraams].'" Marr replies, "I want it all." [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] Yet supposedly, the first fighters don't take off from Syracuse until 10:44 - over an hour and a half later. These are supposedly the first fighters scrambled from the ground aside from three at Langley, two at Otis, and two fighters that took off from Toledo at 10:16. [Toledo Blade, 12/9/01] What happened to all these volunteer fighters? Armed fighters could have been in the air from Syracuse by 9:20 or so, yet supposedly, when NORAD needed fighters to go after Flight 93 at least 20 minutes after that, the only ones they sent were two completely unarmed fighters on a training mission near Detroit! [ABC News, 8/30/02] The only likely explanation is that these fighters were prohibited from taking off. Aircraft cannon (the "hot guns" mentioned) would have been all that was needed in such a situation, since any fighter would presumably follow procedure and intercept visually first, tip their wings from a very short distance away, fire a warning shot, and so on, before firing on the plane.

(After 9:03 A.M.) A few minutes after 9:03, the Secret Service calls Andrews Air Force Base, located 10 miles from Washington. They are notified to get F-16's armed and ready to fly. Missiles are still being loaded onto the F-16's when the Pentagon is hit over half an hour later. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02] The problem with this account is that prior to 9/11, The District of Columbia Air National Guard (located at Andrews) had a publicly stated mission "to provide combat units in the highest possible state of readiness." Shortly after 9/11 this mission statement on its website is changed, so it merely has a "vision" to "provide peacetime command and control and administrative mission oversight to support customers, DCANG units, and NGB in achieving the highest levels of readiness." [DCANG Home Page (before and after the change)] Either Andrews failed in its stated mission, or fighters were not ordered to scramble so early.

(9:05 A.M.) West Virginia flight control notices a new eastbound plane entering their radar with no radio contact and no transponder identification. They are not sure it is Flight 77. Supposedly they wait another 19 minutes before notifying NORAD about it. ["about 9:05", Newsday, 9/23/01]

9:05 A.M.� Bush is still reading to 18 Booker Elementary School second-graders a story about a girl's pet goat.� His chief of staff Andrew Card, whispers into his ear, "A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is under attack."�[Telegraph, 12/16/01] He says nothing in response, but continues reading the goat story after a brief pause. Then, in an event noticeable in its absence, as one newspaper put it, "for some reason, Secret Service agents [do] not bustle him away." [Globe and Mail, 9/12/01] At some point shortly after, reporters ask him if he is aware of the two crashes and explosions. He nods and says he will talk about the situation later. [CNN, 9/12/01] Bush continues to read about goats for the next 20 minutes or so. The reason given is that they didn't want to scare the children.

9:06 A.M.� All air traffic facilities nationwide are notified that the Flight 11 crash in the WTC was probably a hijacking. [Newsday, 9/23/01]

(9:06 A.M.) An air traffic control manager bans any aircraft from flying into, out of or through the airspace over New York and the Western Atlantic. [9:04, AP, 8/12/02, 9:06, Newsday, 9/10/02, 9:08, AP, 8/19/02]

9:09 A.M. Supposedly, NORAD orders F-16's at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, on battle stations alert. Yet the order to scramble won't come till 9:27 or so, and they won't take off until 9:30. Around this time, the FAA command center reports 11 aircraft either not in communication with FAA facilities, or flying unexpected routes. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] So why aren't planes scrambled immediately, at 9:09 or even before, to find out what's going on? One of the pilots who actually took off from Langley says the battle stations alert isn't sounded until 9:24. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 64-65]

9:15 A.M. American Airlines orders no new takeoffs in the US, United Airlines follows suit five minutes later.[Wall Street Journal, 10/15/01]

9:16 A.M.� The FAA informs NORAD that Flight 93 may have been hijacked. No fighters are scrambled in specific response, now or later (there is the possibility some fighters sent after Flight 77 later headed towards Flight 93). Although this is what CNN learned from NORAD, its not clear why NORAD claims it was hijacked at this time (NORAD's own timeline inexplicably fails to say when the FAA told them about the hijack, the only flight they fail to provide this data for). [CNN, 9/17/01 , NORAD, 9/18/01] However, there may be one explanation: Fox News TV reported that "Investigators believe that on at least one flight, one of the hijackers was already inside the cockpit before takeoff." Cockpit voice recordings indicate that Flight 93's pilots believed their guest was a colleague "and was thereby extended the typical airline courtesy of allowing any pilot from any airline to join a flight by sitting in the jumpseat, the folded over extra seat located inside the cockpit." [NewsMax, 9/25/01] Note that all witnesses later report seeing only three hijackers, not four. So perhaps one hijacker tenuously held control of the cockpit as the original pilots still flew it, while waiting for reinforcements? Could this have happened before 9:01, when Flight 93 got a warning to beware of cockpit intrusions? Note that the crash of Flight 77 is still 25 minutes away. F-16 fighters from the far off Langley Air Force Base could have reached Washington in six minutes if they traveled at 1300 mph (maximum speed for an F-16 is 1500 mph). Even if the fighters were traveling slower and it took some minutes to get the plane off the ground, they still could easily have made it to Washington in those 25 minutes and prevented the Flight 77 crash.

9:17 A.M. The FAA shuts down all New York City area airports. [CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

9:21 A.M.�The New York City Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in New York City. [MSNBC, 9/22/01, CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01, AP, 8/19/02]

9:22 A.M. A British newspaper later strongly suggests that a fighter passed near Flight 93 well before it crashed. "Further verification that some kind of military aircraft was operating in the area is scientifically irrefutable. A sonic boom - caused by supersonic flight - was picked up by an earthquake monitoring station in southern Pennsylvania, 60 miles from Shanksville." [Mirror, 9/13/02] If this was a fighter, it could easily have reached Washington before Flight 77. Why isn't anything known about this?

9:24 A.M. The FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 77 "may" have been hijacked and appears to be headed towards Washington. [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:24, AP, 8/19/02, 9:25, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:25, Guardian, 10/17/01] This notification is 34 MINUTES after flight control lost contact with the plane and well after two planes have crashed, and even then the FAA only says "may"? Is such a long delay believable, or has that information been doctored to cover the lack of any scrambling of fighters? Additionally, with the exception of Vice President Cheney and possibility a few others, no one is evacuated in Washington until after the Pentagon crash. A Pentagon spokesman says, "The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way." Even Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his top aides in the Pentagon remain unaware of any danger up to the moment of impact 17 minutes later. [Newsday, 9/23/01] Yet since at least the Flight 11 crash, "military officials in a command center [the National Military Command Center] on the east side of the [Pentagon] were urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do." [New York Times, 9/15/01] Is it believable that everyone in the Pentagon outside of that command center, even the Secretary of Defense, would remain uniformed?

9:24 A.M. A fighter pilot codenamed Honey who flew one of the F-16's from Langley offers a different story than the official one. He claims that at 9:24 a battle stations alert sounds, and two other pilots are given the order to climb into their F-16's and await further instructions. Then, Honey, who is the supervisor, goes and talks to the two other pilots. Then, "five or ten minutes later," a person from NORAD calls, and Honey speaks to him at the nearby administrative office. He is told that all three of them are ordered to scramble. Then, Honey goes to his living quarters, grabs his flight gear, puts it on, runs to his plane and takes off. Its hard to know exactly how long all of this took, but clearly his recollection doesn't jibe with the official timeline, that NORAD ordered the fighters scrambled at 9:27 and they took off at 9:30. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 64-65] Is NORAD fudging the numbers to hide their inexplicable behavior?

(9:25 A.M.) The Flight 93 pilots check in with Cleveland air traffic control, uttering "good morning." [Newsweek, 11/25/01]

(9:26 A.M.) New takeoffs of airplanes in the US are banned. [9:26, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02, 9:26, Newsday, 9/23/01, 9:26, AP, 8/19/02, 9:26, Newsday, 9/10/02, 9:49, Washington Post, 9/12/01]

(Before 9:27 A.M.) On Flight 93, at least three of the hijackers stand up and put red bandanas around their heads. Two of them force their way into the cockpit. One takes the loudspeaker microphone, apparently unaware it could also be heard by air traffic controllers, and announces that someone has a bomb onboard and the flight is returning to the airport. He tells them he is the pilot, but speaks with an accent. ["the best estimation is about 40 minutes into the flight" (9:22), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/29/01, "about 40 minutes into its flight," Boston Globe, 11/23/01, "about 9:28," The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 208]

(9:27 A.M.) Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena and says, "I'm on United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. The plane has been hijacked. We are in the air. They've already knifed a guy. There is a bomb on board. Call the FBI." Deena connects to emergency 911. [9:27, "she scribbled down what Tom told her and noted the time," The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 107, ABC News, 9/12/01, "within minutes" of 9:28, MSNBC, 7/30/02, "She recalls it was around 6:20 A.M. -- 9:20 Eastern time," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, "shortly after" Jeremy Glick's call, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01] His wife Deena wonders if the call might have been before the cockpit was taken over, because he spoke quickly and quietly as if he was being watched. He also had a headset like phone operators use, so he could have made the call unnoticed. Note that original versions of this conversation appear to have been censored. The most recent account has the phone call ending with, "We are in the air. The plane has been hijacked. They already knifed a guy. One of them has a gun. They're saying there is a bomb onboard. Please call the authorities." [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 107] The major difference from earlier accounts of course is the mention of a gun. The call wasn't recorded, but Deena's call immediately afterwards to 911 was, and she states on that, "They just knifed a passenger and there are guns on the plane." [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 108] This is the first of over 30 additional phone calls by passengers inside the plane. [MSNBC, 7/30/02]

(9:27 A.M.)� NORAD orders three F-16 fighters scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to intercept Flight 77.�Langley is 129 miles from Washington.�Ready aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base, 15 miles away, are not scrambled. [Newsday, 9/23/01] [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:27, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:35, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:35, Washington Post, 9/15/01] Note that according to the official NORAD timeline, they ordered the F-16's scrambled the same minute they were told about the hijacking. A rare example of competence. But earlier, according to their own timeline, they waited six minutes before scrambling fighters after Flight 11. Why? Flight 77 had supposedly been missing from the radar screen since 8:56. Why wait 31 minutes to send a plane and find out where it is?

(9:28 A.M.) On Flight 93, "there are the first audible signs of problems, in background cockpit noise." Air traffic controllers hear the sound of screaming and scuffling over an open mike. They then hear hijackers speaking in Arabic to each other. Yet this is at least 12 minutes after at least one the hijacker has taken over the cockpit and done something to cause the FAA to notify NORAD of a hijacking. [9:28, Guardian, 10/17/01, after 9:25, Newsweek, 11/25/01]

(9:28 A.M.??) On Flight 93, air traffic controllers hear someone say, "Get out of here," through an open microphone in the cockpit. The mike goes off and comes back on. Scuffling is heard in the background. Somebody again yells, "Get out of here!" Eventually there are a total of four murky radio transmissions, which include lots of non-English phrases, ''bomb on board' twice, ''our demands'' and ''keep quiet.'' ["probably around the time the plane was taken over," Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 9:28, MSNBC, 7/30/02, 9:30, Observer, 12/2/01, 9:32: "90 minutes into the flight," Toronto Sun, 9/16/01] Newsweek repeats possibly the same story, but suggests it happened at 9:58: "The last transmission from the cockpit records someone, probably a hijacker, screaming 'Get out of here. Get out of here.' Then grunting, screaming and scuffling. Then silence." [Newsweek, 9/22/01]

(9:27 A.M.) Just prior to his first public comments at about 9:29, Bush speaks with Vice President Cheney and watches a recording of events at the WTC. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] This would have been a good time to discuss if hijacked planes should be shot down or not, but apparently that conversation doesn't happen until after 9:55.

(9:29 A.M.)� Bush leaves the elementary school classroom, and as he leaves, makes a few brief comments to reporters, calling the crashes "an apparent terrorist attack on our country." The talk occurs at exactly the time and place his publicly announced advance schedule planned they would - making Bush a possible terrorist target. [9:24, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:28, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:30, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:30, New York Times, 9/12/01, speech begins at 9:29:55 according to an ABC timing device, advanced schedule 9:30 in Federal News Service, 9/10/01]

(9:30 A.M.) Bush speaks privately with National Security Adviser Rice, who briefs him. Its unclear if this was just before or just after his first public comments. [September 11 News timeline] Why does Bush not okay the shooting down of passenger aircraft at this time? Even had fighters caught up to Flight 77 when it hit the Pentagon 11 minutes later, they still wouldn't have had permission to shoot it down. Its known he didn't okay any shooting down until after 9:55.

9:30 A.M. United begins landing all of its flights inside the US. American Airlines follows suit five minutes later. [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/01]

9:30 A.M. The F-16's scrambled towards Flight 77 get airborne. [9:30, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:35, Washington Post, 9/12/01] If the NORAD departure time is correct, the F-16's would have to travel slightly over 700 mph to reach Washington before Flight 77 does. The maximum speed of an F-16 is 1500 mph. [AP, 6/16/00] Even at traveling 1300 mph, these planes could have reached Washington in six minutes - well before any claim of when Flight 77 crashed. Yet they obviously don't.

(9:30 A.M.) Around this general time, the hijackers on Flight 77 tell the passengers that the plane is going to hit the White House in a few minutes. [Sunday Herald, 9/16/01]

(9:30 A.M.) The hijackers make an announcement to the passengers in Flight 77, telling them to phone their families as they are "all going to die". They also told the passengers that they were going to hit the White House. ["When they took over the controls," Sunday Herald, 9/16/01, "around 9:30," Cox News, 10/21/01] Given this announcement, why are there almost no phone calls from this flight?

(9:30 A.M.)�The transponder signal from Flight 93 ceases and radar contact is lost. [9:30, MSNBC, 9/3/02, 9:40, CNN, 9/17/01] However, the plane could still be tracked, and is tracked at least at United headquarters until shortly before final crash (the exact time is not mentioned). However, altitude could no longer be determined. The plane's speed begins to vary wildly, moving between 600 and 400 mph before eventually settling around 400 mph. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 77, 214]

(After 9:31 A.M.) A few minutes after 9:31, a hijacker on board Flight 93 can be heard on the cockpit voice recording ordering a woman to sit down. A woman, presumably a flight attendant, implores, "Don't, don't." She pleads, "Please, I don't want to die." Patrick Welsh, the husband of flight attendant Debby Welsh, is later told that a flight attendant was stabbed early in the takeover, and it is strongly implied it was her wife. She was a first class attendant, and he says, "knowing Debby," she would have resisted. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 207]

9:32 A.M. A hijacker says over the radio to Flight 93's passengers: "Ladies and gentlemen, here it's the captain, please sit down. Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb aboard." [MSNBC, 9/3/02]

9:32 A.M.�The New York Stock Exchange closed. [MSNBC, 9/22/01]

(9:32 A.M.) Secret Service agents burst into Vice President Cheney's White House office. They carry him under his arms - nearly lifting him off the ground - and propel him down the steps into the White House basement and through a long tunnel towards an underground bunker. [9:32, Washington Post, 1/27/02, shortly after Bush's speech at 9:30, CBS, 9/11/02] Why didn't this happen to Bush? Was he meant to remain visibly out of the loop? Another article claims this happened to Cheney at 9:05, exactly when Bush was being told of the second WTC hit. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] If that's true, the fact that Cheney gets moved to safety and Bush doesn't is even stranger.

9:32 A.M.� Flight 77 crosses over the Capital Beltway at least 7000 feet up, and starts making a sharp turn, rapidly dropping towards the Pentagon. It drops down nearly to surface level and so is lost to radar. [Guardian, 10/17/01, no time marker, Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

9:33 A.M. According to the New York Times, Flight 77 was lost at 8:56 when it turned off its transponder, and stayed lost until now. Washington air traffic control sees a fast moving blip on their radar at this time and sends a warning to Dulles Airport in Washington. [New York Times, 10/16/01] Is it conceivable that an airplane could be lost inside US air space for 37 minutes? One doesn't need a transponder signal to get a radar signal! If this is true, that why did the FAA warn that the plane was headed towards Washington at 9:24?

(9:34 A.M.) The Cleveland air traffic control listening to the pilot on Flight 93 hear screams for about a minute, then a voice say "bomb on board." A hijacker says in broken English that they are returning to the airport. [9:34, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, 9:35, Newsweek, 9/22/01]

9:34 A.M. Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena a second time. He says "They're in the cockpit." He has checked the pulse of the man who was knifed (later identified as Mark Rothenberg sitting next to him in seat 5B) and determined he is dead. She tells him about the hits on the WTC. He responds, "Oh my God, its a suicide mission." As they continue to talk, he tells her the plane has turned back. By this time, Deena is in constant communication with the FBI and others, and a policeman is at her house. ["again, Deena noted the time," The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 110]

9:35 A.M. Flight 93 climbs without authorization. [Guardian, 10/17/01]

(9:36 A.M.)� Flight 93 files a new flight plan with a final destination of Washington, reverses course and heads towards Washington. [9:35, "turned around near Cleveland," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, "turns off course," 9:36:01, Guardian, 10/17/01, 9:36, MSNBC, 9/3/02, 9:36, "made an ominous turn," The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 219] Radar shows the plane turning 180 degrees. [CNN, 9/13/01] The new flight plan schedules the plane to arrive in Washington at 10:28. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 78]

9.36 A.M. The national airport instructs a military C-130 (Golfer 06) that has just departed Andrews air force base to intercept Flight 77 and identify it. [Guardian, 10/17/01, New York Times, 10/16/01]

(9:37 A.M.) Jeremy Glick calls his wife Lyz from Flight 93. He describes the hijackers as Middle Eastern, Iranian looking. They put on red headbands and the three of them stood up and yelled and ran into the cockpit. He was sitting in the front of the coach section, but was sent to the back with most of the passengers. They claimed to have a bomb, which looked like a box with something red around it. He says the plane has turned around. Family members immediately call emergency 911 on another line. New York state police get patched in midway through the call. Glick finds out about the WTC towers. Two others onboard also learn about the WTC at about this time. Glick's phone remains connected until the very end of the flight. [9:37, the book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 143, MSNBC, 7/30/02, "just before 9:30," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, no time explanation, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01]

(9:39 A.M.) The hijackers probably inadvertently transmit over radio: ''Hi, this is the captain. We'd like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board. And we are going to turn back to the airport. And they had our demands, so please remain quiet.'' [9:38, MSNBC, 9/3/02, 9:39, The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 209, no time marker, Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

9:41 A.M. From Flight 93, Marion Birtton calls a friend. She tells him two people have been killed and the plane has been turned around. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

(9:41 A.M.) Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is sitting in the Pentagon, but supposedly completely oblivious of the approaching Flight 77. As he watches TV coverage of WTC, he says, "Believe me, this isn't over yet. There's going to be another attack, and it could be us." Supposedly, "moments later, the plane hit." [Telegraph, 12/16/01] Rumsfeld is apparently psychic, because two minutes before the first WTC crash and supposedly completely ignorant of the hijackings, he predicted a terrorist attack upon the US (see 8:44 A.M.). Which is more believable - that Rumsfeld twice has uncanny predictive luck or ability on this day, or that he knew what was going to happen?

(9:41 A.M.) As fireman Alan Wallace is walking in front of the Pentagon, he looks up and sees a jet coming straight at him. It is about 25 feet off the ground, no landing wheels visible, a few hundred yards away and closing fast. He runs about 30 feet and dives under a nearby van. ["about 9:40," Washington Post, 9/21/01]

(9:41 A.M.)� Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.�The section of the Pentagon hit consists mainly of newly renovated, unoccupied offices.�Approximately 125 are later determined killed or missing.�The surface to air missiles presumably surrounding the Pentagon are not fired in defense. Fighters are supposedly still 105 miles or 12 minutes away. [Newsday, 9/23/01, NORAD, 9/18/01] [9:37, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:37, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:38, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:38, Guardian, 10/17/01, 9:39, Washington Post, 1/27/02, 9:40, AP, 8/19/02, 9:43, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:43, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:43, MSNBC, 9/3/02, 9:43, New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:45, Boston Globe, 11/23/01] NORAD states the fighters took off from Langley at 9:30, 129 miles away, yet when Flight 77 crashes they are still 105 miles away. [NORAD, 9/18/01] So that means they must have been flying at an average of about 130 mph! Even if one uses the NORAD crash time of 9:37 (which we know is untrue), that still averages to only about 205 mph!

9:41 A.M. The F-16 pilot codenamed Honey later offers a different explanation of where the F-16's are when Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. He says they are flying towards New York, when they see a black column of smoke coming from Washington, about 30 or 40 miles to the west. He is then asked over the radio by the North East Air Defense Sector of NORAD if he can confirm the Pentagon is burning. He confirms it. The F-16's are then ordered to set up a defensive perimeter above Washington. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 76] This contradicts the official NORAD claim that the F-16's were still 105 miles away when the Pentagon was hit. [NORAD, 9/18/01] If his account is true, it shows that the F-16's would have been over Washington in time to shoot down Flight 77 if they had been given orders to fly to Washington, and not to New York, which was already defended by two F-15's! (additionally, subtract 8-10 miles (Sidewinder missile) or 12-20 miles (Sparrow missile) from the flight distance required for the fighters [Slate, 1/16/02]) Well before these F-16's took off, NORAD already knew there was a threat to Washington and that New York was being defended by F-15's, and yet they were ordered to New York and Washington was left undefended? At 9:36, a C-130, a slow and large transport plane, was ordered to intercept and identify Flight 77, and these F-16's were not? If Honey's account is true, and the F-16's took off at, say, 9:34, they would have been averaging a speed of about 1100 mph up to the Pentagon crash, much more reasonable than the crazy speeds of 200 mph and the like if one follows the NORAD story. It would also explain eyewitness claims of fighters over Washington only a couple of minutes after the Pentagon crash, not at 9:56 when they supposedly arrived. At 1100 mph, it would have taken about three minutes for Honey to reach Washington from where he says he was.

(9:41 A.M.)� As Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, Bush and his entourage are at the Sarasota airport, getting ready to board Air Force One. [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

(After 9:41 A.M.) A few minutes after Flight 77 crashes, the Secret Service commands fighters from Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles from Washington, to "Get in the air now!" Almost simultaneously, a call from someone else in the White House declares the Washington area "a free-fire zone. That meant we were given authority to use force, if the situation required it, in defense of the nation's capital, its property and people," says one of the pilots. Lt. Col. Marc H. (Sass) Sasseville and a pilot only known by the codename Lucky sprint to their waiting F-16's armed only with "hot" guns and 511 rounds of "TP" -- nonexplosive training rounds. The pilot later say that, had all else failed, they would have rammed into Flight 93. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02] Why is the Secret Service ignoring the chain of command and giving direct commands to the pilots?

(After 9:41 A.M.) The three F-16's flying on a training mission 207 miles away return to their home at Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles from Washington. Maj. Billy Hutchison's fighter still had enough gas to take off again immediately; the other two needed to refuel. He supposedly takes off with no weapons. "Hutchison was probably airborne shortly after the alert F-16's from Langley arrived over Washington, although 121st FS pilots admit their timeline-recall 'is fuzzy.'" That would mean this fighter didn't even leave Andrews until after 9:49. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02] Yet it is the first one from Andrews to reach the Pentagon area, and there are multiple reports of an Andrews fighter at the Pentagon before then. For instance, "Within minutes of the [Pentagon ]attack ... F-16's from Andrews Air Force Base were in the air over Washington DC." [Telegraph, 9/16/01] "A few moments [after the Pentagon attack]... overhead, fighter jets scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base and other installations." [Denver Post, 9/11/01] Yet other newspaper accounts deny fighters from Andrews were deployed, [USA Today, 9/16/01] and some deny Andrews even had fighters at all! [USA Today, 9/16/01] Could the pilot's recall of times be "fuzzy" because they don't like lying?

9:42 A.M. From Flight 93 Mark Bingham calls his mother and says, "I'm on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb." [9:42, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01] In an alternate version, he says, "I'm in the air, I'm calling you on the Airphone. I'm calling you from the plane. We've been taken over. There are three men that say they have a bomb." ["just before dawn in San Francisco," Toronto Sun, 9/16/01, 9:42, Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

(After 9:44 A.M.) According to F-16 pilot Honey's account, at some point after the F-16's had set up a defensive perimeter over Washington, the lead pilot received a garbled message about Flight 93 that wasn't heard by the other two pilots. "The message seemed to convey that the White House was an important assent to protect." Honey said he was later told the message was "Something like, 'Be aware of where it is, and it could be a target.''' The other pilot, codenamed Lou, says the unnamed lead pilot told him "I think the Secret Service told me this." [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 76] Both Lou and Honey state they were never given orders to shoot down any plane. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 222] How could these pilots not be sure of their instructions to protect the White House? Wouldn't the order have been confirmed and shared with the two other pilots? What happened to the dramatic "I want you to protect the White House at all costs" order supposedly given to all the pilots? Why weren't any of them actually ordered to fly towards this mysterious target?

9:45 A.M. Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena for the third time. She tells him about the crash into the Pentagon. Tom speaks about the bomb he'd mentioned earlier, saying, "I don't think they have one. I think they're just telling us that." He says the hijackers are talking about crashing the plane into the ground. "We have to do something." He says that he and others are making a plan. "A group of us." [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 111] So there would have been at least 19 minutes advance warning that a passenger takeover was likely, if the contents of these phone calls were being passed on to the right authorities. Even by his second call, the FBI was listening in. [Toronto Sun, 9/16/01] Since Burnett was sitting in the first class section in the front and Todd Beamer was sitting in the coach section in the back and the two sections were separated by a curtain, could there have been two independent plans by the passengers to take over the plane?

9:45 A.M. After having some trouble with his phone, passenger Todd Beamer is able to speak to Verzion phone representative Lisa Jefferson, with the FBI listening in. He talks for about 15 minutes. Beamer says he has been herded to the back of the plane along with nine other passengers and five flight attendants. A hijacker who says he has a bomb strapped to his body is guarding them. 27 passengers are being guarded by a hijacker in first class. One hijacker has gone into the cockpit. One passenger is dead (that leaves one passenger unaccounted for - presumably the man who made a call from the bathroom). The two pilots are apparently dead. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/16/01, Newsweek, 9/22/01, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01] (A conflicting version [Boston Globe, 11/23/01] states that 27 were in the back, and that he saw four hijackers)

(9:45 A.M.) The White House begins evacuation. This is 21 minutes after the FAA has warned a hijacked plane appears to be headed towards Washington. [9:43, New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:45, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:45, Washington Post, 1/27/02, 9:45, Telegraph, 12/16/01, 9:45, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:48, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:48, AP, 8/19/02]

(9:45 A.M.)�The FAA orders the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down. All flights at US airports are stopped.�Over 4,000 flights are still in the air at the time. [AP, 8/12/02] [9:40, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:40, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:40, New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:45, AP, 8/12/02, 9:45, AP, 8/19/02, 9:45, Newsday, 9/10/02, 9:49, Washington Post, 9/12/01]

(9:46 A.M.) According to the Flight 93 voice recording, around this this one hijacker in the cockpit says to another, "Let the guys in now." A vague instruction is given to bring the pilot back in. Its not clear if this is a reference to an original pilot or a hijacker pilot. Investigators aren't sure if the original pilots were killed or allowed to live. ["about midway", through a 31 minute recording that starts at 9:31, The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 208] Also by this time, "everyone" in the United Airlines crisis center "now knew that a flight attendant on board had called the mechanics desk to report that one hijacker had a bomb strapped on and another was holding a knife on the crew." [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/01] Perhaps the pilots were being kept alive, in case the hijackers faced a problem they couldn't handle? The presence of two hijackers in the cockpit talking to each other suggest that there were in fact four hijackers, and one was in the cockpit from before the hijacking began, since passengers only saw three, and two are known to have been guarding the passengers.

(9:47 A.M.) On Flight 93, Jeremy Glick is still on the phone with his wife Lyz. He tells her that the passengers are taking a vote if they should try to take over the plane or not. [about the same time as a different phone call, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01] He later says that all the men on the plane have voted to attack the hijackers. [no time marker, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01] When asked about weapons, he says they don't have guns, just knives. This appears to contradict an earlier mention of guns, but this may be the true account since no other calls mention guns, and the voice recorder doesn't record any gunshots. His wife Lyz got the impression from him that the hijacker standing nearby claiming to hold the bomb would be easy to overwhelm. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 153-154] If the authorities hadn't learned they shouldn't shoot down the plane from Tom Burnett's call two minutes earlier, they should have learned it from this one.

9:48 A.M. The Capitol building in Washington begins evacuation. [AP, 8/19/02]

(9:49 A.M.)� Three F-16's scrambled from Langley at 9:30 reach the Pentagon.�The planes, armed with heat-seeking, Sidewinder missiles, are authorized to knock down civilian aircraft. According to NORAD, they were flying at 650 mph. The official maximum speed for F-16's is 1500 mph. [9:49, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:49, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:56: "15 minutes after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon", New York Times, 9/15/01, "just before 10:00," CBS, 9/14/01] Using the New York Times arrival time and given that Langley is 129 miles away, this means the fighters were flying at an average speed of about 300 mph! But using NORAD's official departure time of 9:30 and even the generous CNN arrival time, the journey takes 19 minutes, or a speed of about 410 mph!

9:50 A.M. Sandra Bradshaw calls her husband from Flight 93. She says, ''Have you heard what's going on? My flight has been hijacked. My flight has been hijacked with three guys with knives." [Boston Globe, 11/23/01] She tells him that they are in the rear galley filling pitchers with hot water to use against the hijackers. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

(After 9:50 A.M.) Shortly after the Langley fighters arrive over Washington, three F-16's from Andrews also arrive. The first is probably piloted by Maj. Billy Hutchison. F-16's flown by Lt. Col. Marc H. (Sass) Sasseville and codename Lucky arrive shortly thereafter. Only Sasseville's plane has ammunition. Supposedly, these three fighters remain ignorant that three Langley F-16's are flying over Washington at the same time, at a higher altitude. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02]

9:53 A.M. The NSA intercepts a phone call from one of bin Laden's operatives in Afghanistan to a phone number in the Republic of Georgia. The caller says he has "heard good news" and that another target is still to come (presumably, Flight 93). Tenet tells Rumsfeld about the intercept two hours later. [CBS, 9/4/02] How could someone in Afghanistan know so quickly that Flight 93 had been delayed 40 minutes of takeoff, was still in the air and was controlled by hijackers? Did the hijackers call from a plane?

9:55 A.M.� Bush departs from the Saratoga, Florida airport on Air Force One. [9:55, [Washington Post, 1/27/02, 9:57, CNN, 9/12/01, 9:55, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:55, AP, 9/12/01, 9:57, New York Times, 9/12/01, 9:57, Telegraph, 12/16/01] Amazingly, his plane takes off without any fighters protecting it. "The object seemed to be simply to get the President airborne and out of the way," says an administration official. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] But with so many reports of hijacked planes, how is being in the sky unescorted any safer than being on the ground?

(After 9:55 A.M.)� After flying off in Air Force One, Bush talks to Cheney on the phone. Cheney recommends that Bush authorize the military to shoot down any plane under control of the hijackers. "I said, 'You bet,'" Bush later recalls. "We had a little discussion, but not much." ["after Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon", Newsday, 9/23/01, time unknown, USA Today, 9/16/01, "Once airborne, Bush spoke again to Cheney", Washington Post, 1/27/02, after Bush is airborne, CBS, 9/11/02] If this decision was so easy to make, why wasn't it given earlier? What has Bush been doing since giving a speech at 9:30? Why hasn't he okayed the shooting down of any aircraft during that time, when its been known there is a hijacked plane headed towards Washington since before he gave the speech?

(After 9:55 A.M.) At some point after the F-16's are in the air, someone from the Secret Service gets on the radio and tells the pilots, "I want you to protect the White House at all costs." [New York Times, 10/16/01] This must have occurred after Bush gave his okay to shoot down planes just after 9:55, if it occurred at all.

(9:55 - 11:55 A.M.) "For much of the next two hours the presidential jet [appears] to be going nowhere. The journalists on board - all of whom [are] barred from communicating with their offices - [sense] that the plane [is] flying in big, slow circles. Apparently Bush, Cheney and the Secret Service argue over the safety of Bush coming back to Washington. [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

9:53 A.M. The hijackers in the cockpit of Flight 93 grow concerned that the passengers might retaliate. One urges that the plane's fire ax be held up to the door's peephole to scare the passengers. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 209-210]

(After 9:55 A.M.) Inside his White House bunker, a military aide asks Cheney, "There is a plane 80 miles out. There is a fighter in the area. Should we engage?" Cheney immediately answers "Yes." As the fighter gets nearer to Flight 93, he is asked the same thing twice more, and responds yes both times. [Washington Post, 1/27/02] Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, had previously claimed that no military planes were sent after Flight 93. [Seattle Times, 9/16/01] However, two of the three pilots flying over Washington specifically deny ever being ordered to shoot down a plane (the third hasn't spoken). They say that all of them didn't even learn about Flight 93 or any plane crashing in Pennsylvania until they returned to base in the afternoon. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 222] There is a lot of evidence that fighters were sent after Flight 93, including the Vice President's claim. Is someone lying, or were the planes coming from somewhere else?

(After 9:55 A.M.) At some point after the F-16's are in the air, someone from the Secret Service gets on the radio and tells the pilots, "I want you to protect the White House at all costs." [New York Times, 10/16/01] This must have occurred after Bush gave his okay to shoot down planes just after 9:55, if it occurred at all.

(Before 10:00 A.M.) Three F-16 fighter jets near Washington head in pursuit towards Flight 93. ["Sometime shortly before 10," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01] Yet the pilots themselves deny this. They say they maintained a defensive position over Washington for four hours. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 222] Who is correct? If it is true they went after Flight 93, it appears planes were scrambled 40 minutes or so after NORAD was told at 9:16 the plane was hijacked. What is the explanation for the delay?

9:54 A.M. Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena for the fourth and last time. In early reports of this call, he says, "I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it." [no time marker, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01, no time marker, Boston Globe, 11/23/01] However, in a later and much more complete account, he sounds much more upbeat. "It's up to us. I think we can do it." "Don't worry, we're going to do something." He specifically mentions they plan to regain control of the airplane over a rural area. [9:54, "again Deena noted the time," The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 118] Could the early reports of fatalism have been deliberate misinformation to make it appear that the passengers had no chance of success?

9:57 A.M. One of the hijackers in the cockpit asks if anything is going on, apparently meaning outside the cockpit. "Fighting," the other one says. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 210] An analysis of the flight recorder suggests that the passenger struggle actually started in the front of the plane (where Bingham and Burnett were sitting) about a minute before a struggle in the back of the plane (where Beamer was sitting). [Observer, 12/2/01] Officials later theorize that the Flight 93 passengers did actually reach the cockpit using a food cart as a battering ram and a shield. They claim that digital enhancement of the cockpit voice recorder reveals the sound of plates and glassware crashing around 9:57. [Newsweek, 11/25/01]

(9:57 A.M. and after) "In the cockpit! In the cockpit!" is heard. Hijackers are reportedly heard telling each other to hold the door. In English, someone outside shouts, "Let's get them." The hijackers are also praying "Allah o akbar" (God is great). One of the hijackers suggests shutting off the oxygen supply to the cabin (which apparently wouldn't have had an effect since the plane was already below 10,000 feet). A hijacker says, "Should we finish?" Another one says, "Not yet." The sounds of the passengers get clearer, and in unaccented English "Give it to me!" is heard. "I'm injured," someone says in English. Then something like "roll it up" and "lift it up" is heard. Passengers' relatives believe this sequence proves that the passengers did take control of the plane. [MSNBC, 7/30/02, Telegraph, 8/6/02, Newsweek, 11/25/01, Observer, 12/2/01, The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 270-271]

9:58 A.M. Todd Beamer ends his long phone call saying that they plan "to jump" the hijacker in the back who has the bomb. In the background, the phone operator already could hear an "awful commotion" of people shouting, and women screaming, "Oh my God", and "God help us." He lets go of the phone but leaves it connected. His famous last words are said to nearby passengers: "Are you ready guys? Let's roll" (alternate version: "You ready? Okay. Let's roll"). [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 204, Newsweek, 9/22/01, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

9:58 A.M. CeeCee Lyles says to her husband, "Aah, it feels like the plane's going down." Her husband Lorne says, "What's that?" She replies, "I think they're going to do it. They're forcing their way into the cockpit (an alternate version says, "They're getting ready to force their way into the cockpit"). A little later she screams, then says, "They're doing it! They're doing it! They're doing it!" Her husband hears more screaming in the background, then he hears a "whooshing sound, a sound like wind," then more screaming, and then the call breaks off. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 180, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

9:58 A.M. Sandy Bradshaw tells her husband, "Everyone's running to first class. I've got to go. Bye." She had been speaking with him since 9:50. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, Boston Globe, 11/23/01]

9:58 A.M. A man calls 911 from a bathroom on the plane, crying, "We're being hijacked, we're being hijacked!" [Toronto Sun, 9/16/01], then reports that "he heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him." [ABC News, 9/11/01, AP, 9/12/01] One minute after the call began, the line goes dead. [Pittsburgh Channel, 12/6/01] Investigators believe this was Edward Felt, the only passenger not accounted for on phone calls. He was sitting in first class, so he probably was in the bathroom near the front of the plane. At one point he appears to have peeked out the bathroom door. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 193-194, 196] The mentions of smoke and explosions of the recording of his call are now denied. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 264] The person who took Felt's call is not allowed to speak to the media. [Mirror, 9/13/02] If that's true, why is this important fact only denied now, when the FBI got a copy of the recording on 9/11, and let the media report the smoke and explosion story for months?

9:59 A.M.� The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses. It was hit by Flight 175 at 9:02. [9:50, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:59, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 9:59, AP, 8/19/02, 9:59 (based on seismic data), New York Times, 9/12/01, 10:05, CNN, 9/12/01, 10:05, New York Times, 9/12/01 , 9:59:39, US Army authorized seismic study, 9:59:04, seismic records]

(10:00 A.M.)�Elizabeth Wainio says to her stepmother, "Mom, they're rushing the cockpit. I've got to go. Bye," then hangs up. This may have been a delayed reaction to events, since her stepmother says that in their ten minute call Elizabeth was in a trance like state, appeared to have resigned herself to death, was breathing in a strange manner, and even said she felt she was leaving her body. ["shortly after 10:00," MSNBC, 7/30/02, "sometime shortly before 10," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01]

(10:00 A.M.) Bill Wright is flying a small plane when an air traffic controller asks him to look around outside his window. He sees Flight 93 three miles away - close enough to see the United Airlines colors. Air traffic control asks him the plane's altitude, then commands him to get away from the plane and land immediately. Wright saw the plan rock back and forth three or four times before he flew from the area. He speculates that the hijackers were trying to throw off the attacking passengers. [time unknown, Pittsburgh Channel, 9/19/01]

(After 10:00 A.M.) About 10 minutes after the first F-16's from Andrews Air Force Base reach Washington, two more F-16's arrive - the first from Andrews that are armed with missiles. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02] So by 10:00 or a few minutes after, there are at least five F-16's armed with missiles flying over Washington. Yet at 10:32, Cheney supposedly tells Bush that Bush can't come to Washington because there is a threat to Air Force One, and it could take up to an hour and half to get a fighter escort for Bush's plane. [Washington Post, 1/27/02]

(Between 10:00-10:06 A.M.) During this time, there apparently are no calls from Flight 93. Several cell phones left on record only silence. For instance, Todd Beamer didn't hang up, but nothing more was heard after he put down the phone, suggesting things were quiet in the back of the plane. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 218] The only exception is Richard Makely, who was listening to the Jeremy Glick open phone line after Glick went to attack the hijackers. A reporter summarizes Makely explaining that, "The silence lasted two minutes, then there was screaming. More silence, followed by more screams. Finally, there was a mechanical sound, followed by nothing." [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/17/01] The second silence lasted between 60 and 90 seconds. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 219] Near the end of the cockpit voice recording, loud wind sounds can be heard. [CNN, 4/19/02, The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 270-271] "Sources claim the last thing heard on the cockpit voice recorder is the sound of wind - suggesting the plane had been holed." [Mirror, 9/13/02] Was there a hole that depressurized the cabin and let it the wind? If the passengers had taken over the plane, there was at least one passenger, Don Greene, who was a professional pilot, who'd learned to fly at age 14, as well as Andrew Garcia, a former air traffic controller. [Newsweek, 9/22/01, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, Telegraph, 8/6/02] So what happened here???

10:01 A.M. The FAA orders F-16 fighters to scramble from Toledo, Ohio. Although the base has no fighters on standby alert status, it manages to put fighters in the air 16 minutes later, a "phenomenal" response time - but still 10 minutes after the last hijacked plane has crashed. [Toledo Blade, 12/9/01] One interesting aspect is that NORAD has explained that it didn't scramble fighters from bases nearer to the hijacked planes because they only used bases in the NORAD defensive network (a mere seven bases in the entire US). Yet this Toledo base wasn't part of that network, so why weren't planes in this base and other bases scrambled an hour or more earlier? Could it be that they were scrambled earlier, and that it was one of these F-16's that tailed Flight 93?

10:03 A.M. According to the US government, Flight 93 crashed at 10:03. [NORAD, 9/18/01] The cockpit voice recording was recorded on a 30 minute reel, which means that as new tape was recorded the old tape was being erased. The government has let relatives listen to this tape, which began at 9:31 and ran for 31 minutes. [CNN, 4/19/02, The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 206-207] So it sounds like the recording ends a minute before the official crash time. However, a seismic study authorized by the US Army to determine when the plane crashed concluded the crash happened at 10:06:05. [US Army authorized seismic study] If this is true, what happened to the vital last three or four minutes of this tape? Was the tape doctored, or was the timing of the whole tape moved forward?

(Before 10:06 A.M.) CBS television reports at some point before the crash that two F-16 fighters are tailing Flight 93. [Independent, 8/13/02] Shortly after 9/11, an flight controller in New Hampshire ignores a ban on controllers speaking to the media, and it is reported he claims "that an F-16 fighter closely pursued Flight 93... the F-16 made 360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial jet, the employee said. 'He must've seen the whole thing,' the employee said of the F-16 pilot's view of Flight 93's crash." [AP, 9/13/01, Nashua Telegraph, 9/13/01]

(Before 10:06 A.M.) In the tiny town of Boswell, about 10 miles north and slightly to the west of Flight 93's crash site, Rodney Peterson and Brandon Leventry notice a passenger jet lumbering through the sky at about 2000 feet. They realize such a big plane flying so low in that area is odd. They see the plane dip its wings sharply to the left then to the right. The wings level off and the plane keeps flying south, continuing to slowly descend. Five minutes later they hear news that the plane has crashed. Other witnesses also later describe the plane flying east-southeast, low and wobbly. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 205-206, New York Times, 9/14/01] Note the fact that they heard news the plane had crashed only five minutes later supports that the plane crashed at 10:06, not the official time of 10:03. The rocking wings could have been the hijackers trying to throw off the attack of the passengers, or it could be a passenger pilot trying to gain control of the plane. In either case, its interesting that the plane appeared to stop rocking.

(Before 10:06 A.M.) Numerous eyewitnesses see and hear Flight 93 just before its crash:
1) Terry Butler, at Stoystown: he sees the plane come out of the clouds, low to the ground. "It was moving like you wouldn't believe. Next thing I knew it makes a heck of a sharp, right-hand turn." It banks to the right and appears to be trying to climb to clear one of the ridges, but it continues to turn to the right and then veers behind a ridge. About a second later it crashes. [St. Petersburg Times, 9/12/01]
2) Ernie Stuhl, the mayor of Shanksville: "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." He adds that based on what he has learned, F-16's were "very, very close." [Philadelphia Daily News, 11/15/01]
Accounts of the plane making strange noises:
3) Laura Temyer of Hooversville: "I didn't see the plane but I heard the plane's engine. Then I heard a loud thump that echoed off the hills and then I heard the plane's engine. I heard two more loud thumps and didn't hear the plane's engine anymore after that" (she insists that people she knows in state law enforcement have privately told her the plane was shot down, and that decompression sucked objects from the aircraft, explaining why there was a wide debris field). [Philadelphia Daily News, 11/15/01]
4) Charles Sturtz, a half mile from the crash site: The plane is heading southeast and has its engines running. No smoke can be seen. "It was really roaring, you know. Like it was trying to go someplace, I guess." [WPXI Channel 11, 9/13/01]
5) Michael Merringer, two miles from the crash site: "I heard the engine gun two different times and then I heard a loud bang..." [AP, 9/12/01]
6) Tim Lensbouer, 300 yards away: "I heard it for 10 or 15 seconds and it sounded like it was going full bore." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/12/01]
Accounts of the plane flying upside down:
7) Rob Kimmel, several miles from the crash site: He sees it fly overhead, banking hard to the right. It is 200 feet or less off the ground as it crests a hill to the southeast. "I saw the top of the plane, not the bottom." [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 210-211]
8) Eric Peterson of Lambertsville: He sees a plane flying overhead unusually low. The plane seemed to be turning end-over-end as it dropped out of sight behind a tree line. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/12/01]
9) Bob Blair of Stoystown: He sees the plane spiraling and flying upside down before crashing. Its not much higher than the treetops. [Daily American, 9/12/01]
Accounts of a sudden plunge and more strange sounds:
10) An unnamed witness says he hears two loud bangs before watching the plane take a downward turn of nearly 90 degrees. [Cleveland Newschannel 5, 9/11/01]
11) Another unnamed witness sees the plane overhead. It makes a high-pitched, screeching sound. The plane then makes a sharp, 90-degree downward turn and crashes. [Cleveland Newschannel 5, 9/11/01]
12) Tom Fritz, about a quarter-mile from the crash site: he hears a sound that "wasn't quite right" and looks up in the sky. "It dropped all of a sudden, like a stone," going "so fast that you couldn't even make out what color it was." [St. Petersburg Times, 9/12/01]
13) Terry Butler, a few miles north of Lambertsville: "It dropped out of the clouds." The plane rose slightly, trying to gain altitude, then "it just went flip to the right and then straight down." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/12/01]
14) Lee Purbaugh, 300 yards away: "There was an incredibly loud rumbling sound and there it was, right there, right above my head – maybe 50 feet up... I saw it rock from side to side then, suddenly, it dipped and dived, nose first, with a huge explosion, into the ground. I knew immediately that no one could possibly have survived." [Independent, 8/13/02]
Upside down and a sudden plunge:
15) Linda Shepley: She hears a loud bang and sees the plane bank to the side. [ABC News, 9/11/01] She sees the plane wobbling right and left, at a low altitude of roughly 2,500 feet, when suddenly the right wing dips straight down, and the plane plunges into the earth. She says had an unobstructed view of Flight 93's final two minutes. [Philadelphia Daily News, 11/15/01]
16) Kelly Leverknight in Stony Creek Township of Shanksville: "There was no smoke, it just went straight down. I saw the belly of the plane." It sounds like it is flying low, and its heading east. [Daily American, 9/12/01, St. Petersburg Times, 9/12/01]
17) Tim Thornsberg, working in a nearby strip mine: "It came in low over the trees and started wobbling. Then it just rolled over and was flying upside down for a few seconds ... and then it kind of stalled and did a nose dive over the trees." [WPXI Channel 11, 9/13/01]

What sense can be made of all these different accounts? Some say it was flying a couple thousand feet up and suddenly plunged down, some say it was flying extremely low. Turns, climbs, strange noises, flipping, etc... While many of these accounts conflict, virtually all support a missile strike, because of the common theme of noises and a plane struggling to rise and stay in the air. The plunge doesn't seem to be a deliberate thrust of the plane towards the ground, but instead the result of engine failure. Other passenger planes hit by missiles continued to fly for several minutes before crashing. For instance, a Korean Airline 747 was hit by two Russian missiles in 1983, yet continued to fly for two more minutes. [KAL Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript] Is that what happened here?

10:06 A.M.� Flight 93 crashes just north of the Somerset County Airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, 124 miles or 15 minutes from Washington DC. Little information has been made public. It is now believed its target was the White House. The plane was generally obliterated upon landing, except for one half ton piece of engine found over a mile away. [Independent, 8/13/02] 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, 11/15/01] Smaller debris fields were also found 2, three and eight miles away from the main crash site. [CBS, 5/23/02] [10:00, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 10:03, NORAD, 9/18/01, 10:06, Guardian, 10/17/01, 10:06, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01, 10:06, MSNBC, 9/3/02, 10:06, Mirror, 9/13/02, 10:07, AP, 8/19/02, 10:10, CNN, 9/12/01, 10:10, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 10:10, New York Times, 9/12/01, 10:10, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 10:06:05, US Army authorized seismic study]

(Before and After 10:06 A.M.) "At least half a dozen named individuals ... have reported seeing a second plane flying low and in erratic patterns, not much above treetop level, over the crash site within minutes of the United flight crashing. They describe the plane as a small, white jet with rear engines and no discernible markings." [Independent, 8/13/02]
1) Lee Purbaugh: "I didn't get a good look but it was white and it circled the area about twice and then it flew off over the horizon." [Mirror, 9/13/02]
2) Susan Mcelwain: Less than a minute before the Flight 93 crash rocked the countryside, she sees a small white jet with rear engines and no discernible markings swoop low over her minivan near an intersection and disappear over a hilltop, nearly clipping the tops of trees lining the ridge. [Bergen Record, 9/14/01] She later adds, "There's no way I imagined this plane - it was so low it was virtually on top of me. It was white with no markings but it was definitely military, it just had that look. It had two rear engines, a big fin on the back like a spoiler on the back of a car and with two upright fins at the side. I haven't found one like it on the internet. It definitely wasn't one of those executive jets. The FBI came and talked to me and said there was no plane around... But I saw it and it was there before the crash and it was 40 feet above my head. They did not want my story - nobody here did." [Mirror, 9/13/02]
3 and 4) Dennis Decker and Rick Chaney, Decker speaking: "As soon as we looked up [after hearing the Flight 93 crash], we saw a midsized jet flying low and fast. It appeared to make a loop or part of a circle, and then it turned fast and headed out." Decker and Chaney described the plane as a Learjet type, with engines mounted near the tail and painted white with no identifying markings. "It was a jet plane, and it had to be flying real close when that 757 went down. If I was the FBI, I'd find out who was driving that plane." [Bergen Record, 9/14/01]
5) Jim Brandt sees a small plane with no markings stay about one or two minutes over the crash site before leaving. [Pittsburgh Channel, 9/12/01]
6) Tom Spinelli: "I saw the white plane. It was flying around all over the place like it was looking for something. I saw it before and after the crash." [Mirror, 9/13/02]
The FBI later says this was a Fairchild Falcon 20 business jet, directed after the crash to fly from 37,000 feet to 5,000 feet and obtain the coordinates for the crash site to help rescuers. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/16/01, Pittsburgh Channel, 9/15/01] The FBI also says there was a C-130 military cargo aircraft flying at 24,000 feet about 17 miles away, but that plane wasn't armed and had no role in the crash. [Pittsburgh Channel, 9/15/01] Was the unmarked jet some kind of reconnaissance plane, and the C-130 story a cover for sitings of fighters in the area?

(After 10:06) At some point after Flight 93 crashes, NORAD diverts "unarmed Michigan Air National Guard fighter jets that happened to be flying a training mission in northern Michigan since the time of the first attack." [AP, 8/30/02] Why weren't they diverted an hour or more earlier?

(10:08 A.M.) Bush is told of the crash of Flight 93 a few minutes later. Because of Cheney's earlier order, he asks, "Did we shoot it down or did it crash?" Several hours later, he is assured it crashed. [Washington Post, 1/27/02]

10:08 A.M.� Armed agents deploy around the White House. [CNN, 9/12/01]

10:10 A.M. The section of the Pentagon hit by a crash collapses. [CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01] A few minutes prior to its collapse firefighters saw warning signs and sounded a general evacuation tone. No firefighters were injured. [NFPA Journal, 11/1/01]

10:13 A.M.� Federal buildings in Washington begin evacuation. The UN building evacuates first, others follow later. [CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

10:20 A.M. It is reported that a huge car bomb has gone off outside the State Department in Washington. The report isn't true, but it it is initially believed by officials, increasing tension and confusion. [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

10:24 A.M.� The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic flights are to be diverted to Canada.� [MSNBC, 9/22/01, CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

10:28 A.M.� The World Trade Center's north tower collapses. It was hit by Flight 11 at 8:46. [10:28, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 10:28, CNN, 9/12/01, 10:28, New York Times, 9/12/01, 10:28, AP, 8/19/02, 10:28 (based on seismic data), New York Times, 9/12/01, 10:29, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 10:28:31, seismic records]

10:32 A.M. Cheney calls Bush and tells him of a threat to Air Force One. He is told it would take between 40 minutes and 90 minutes to get a protective fighter escort up to Air Force One. About ten minutes later, his plane turns towards Louisiana. [Washington Post, 1/27/02] This event, if it happened at all, is highly bizarre. For one, why wouldn't Air Force One already have a fighter escort, and why would it take so long for new planes to arrive? There already are fighters and AWACS flying over Washington since well before 10:00.

(After 10:42 A.M.) According to two different accounts, no fighters escort Bush's Air Force One until at least this time, if not later. [Washington Post, 1/27/02, CBS, 9/11/02] Two F-16's eventually arrive, piloted by Shane Brotherton and Randy Roberts, from the Texas Air National Guard. [CBS, 9/11/02] A different account is also very vague, but implies the fighters arrived earlier, and that they came from a base near Jacksonville, Florida. [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

(11:00 A.M.)� Evacuations are ordered at the tallest skyscrapers in several cities, and major tourist attractions are closed, including Walt Disney World, Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Seattle's Space Needle and the Gateway Arch in St.�Louis. [Times Union, 9/11/01]

(11:45 A.M.) Air Force One lands at Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana. "The official reason for landing at Barksdale was that Bush felt it necessary to make a further statement, but it isn't unreasonable to assume that - as there was no agreement as to what the President's movements should be - it was felt he might as well be on the ground as in the air." [Telegraph, 12/16/01, CBS, 9/11/02] If this is true, then having him take off without any fighter escort makes even less sense.

(12:00 Noon) Bush arrives at the Barksdale Air Force base headquarters in a Humvee escorted by armed outriders. Reporters and others are not allowed to say where they are. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] Compare this level of security to the complete lack of any security measures to protect Bush earlier in the day when it is learned that a second plane has hit the WTC.

(12:00 Noon) The state of readiness signal for the US military is upgraded to Defcon Delta - "the highest possible level of alert, and the same footing as for a nuclear war." [Telegraph, 12/16/01] (Actually two notches higher indicates all out nuclear war)

12:15 P.M.� The US closes some border crossings with Canada and Mexico.�[MSNBC, 9/22/01]

12:30 P.M. The FAA reports about 50 flights still flying in US airspace, but none are reporting problems. [CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

(12:58 P.M.) Bush spends most of his time at Barksdale Air Force base arguing on the phone with Cheney and others over where he should go next. "A few minutes before 1 P.M.," he agrees to fly to Nebraska. During these arguments, rumors of "credible terrorist threat" to Air Force One arise. No one is sure where the story came from, but "what can be safely said is that it served the White House's immediate purposes, even though it was completely untrue." [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

(1:02 P.M.)� New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani orders an evacuation of Manhattan south of Canal Street. [1:02 PM, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 11:00 AM, AP, 8/19/02]

1:04 P.M. �President Bush puts the US military on high alert worldwide. [CNN, 9/12/01, AP, 8/19/02]

1:04 P.M.� In a speech at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, President Bush announces that security measures are being taken and says: "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts." [MSNBC, 9/22/01, CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

1:27 P.M.� A state of emergency is declared in Washington. [CNN, 9/12/01, New York Times, 9/12/01]

1:44 P.M.� The Navy dispatches aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington.� Around the country, fighters, airborne radar and refueling planes scramble.� The North American Aerospace Defense Command go to its highest alert. [MSNBC, 9/22/01, CNN, 9/12/01]

(1:44 P.M.)� President Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base for Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base, home to the US Strategic Command.�[1:15, Telegraph, 12/16/01, 1:44, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 1:48, CNN, 9/12/01]

(2:00 P.M.) F-15 fighter pilot Maj. Daniel Nash returns to base around this time, after chasing Flight 175 and patrolling the skies over New York City. He says that when he got out of the plane, "he was told that a military F-16 had shot down a fourth airliner in Pennsylvania, a report that turned out to be incorrect." [about 1:30, Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02, about 2:30, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02] How do we know it was incorrect? Isn't it interesting that the fighter pilots active that day thought it was correct?

(2:40 P.M.) By this time, the CIA determines from airplane passenger manifests that three of the hijackers were suspected al-Qaeda operatives. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld begins planning an attack against bin Laden. In his notes composed at this time (which are leaked almost one year later), he writes he wants the "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only UBL. [Usama bin Laden] Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not." [CBS, 9/4/02]

(2:50 P.M.) Air Force One lands at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. Bush is taken into an underground bunker designed to withstand a nuclear blast. There, he uses an advanced strategic command and communications center to teleconference directly with Vice President Cheney, National Security Advisor Rice, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and members of the National Security Council. The meeting lasts an hour. [2:50, Telegraph, 12/16/01, 3:07, AP, 8/19/02]

4:00 P.M.:� CNN reports that US officials say there are "good indications" that Saudi militant bin Laden, suspected of coordinating the bombings of two US embassies in 1998, is involved in the attacks, based on "new and specific" information developed since the attacks. [CNN, 9/12/01]

4:10 P.M. Building 7 of the WTC complex is reported on fire. [CNN, 9/12/01]

(4:30 P.M.)� President Bush leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for Washington. [4:30, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 4:30, CNN, 9/12/01, 4:36, Telegraph, 12/16/01]

5:20 P.M. Building 7 of the WTC complex, a 47-story tower, collapses from ancillary damage. [5:20, MSNBC, 9/22/01, 5:20, CNN, 9/12/01, 5:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 5:25, AP, 8/19/02]

6:54 P.M.� Bush arrives back at the White House. [6:54, CNN, 9/12/01, 6:54, Telegraph, 12/16/01, 7:00, AP, 8/19/02]

(7:00 P.M.) Secretary of State Powell returns to Washington from Lima, Peru. Ten hours after the attacks began, he is finally able to speak to Bush for the first time when they both arrive to the White House at about the same time. "Why so long? In the weeks before September 11 Washington was full of rumors that Powell was out of favor and had been quietly relegated to the sidelines..." [Telegraph, 12/16/01]

8:30 P.M.� Bush addresses the nation on live TV. [CNN, 9/12/01]

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