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...and the plot thickens

susiesusie Member Posts: 7,667 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
I check the local news here in Arkansas in the morning at katv.com (ABC affiliate) and was reading the following article I pasted here. What seemed interesting me was the line "No intercepted planes have been fired upon since Sept. 11". Now would that be a slip of the tongue??? Just a thought.

Herndon, Va. (AP) - The military sent fighter jets to chase suspicious aircraft 462 times between Sept. 11 and June, nearly seven times as often as the 67 scrambles from the same period a year earlier.

More frequent scrambles are also faster in the tense new environment because the North American Aerospace Defense Command communicates better with the Federal Aviation Administration.

On Sept. 11, flight controllers suspected around 8:25 a.m. EDT that American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston's Logan Airport had been hijacked, but NORAD wasn't notified until 8:40 a.m. - six minutes before the plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City.

Today, NORAD would know instantly of a suspected hijacking, officials said Monday.

"NORAD is now linked up telephonically 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so anything that's an anomaly or a suspected anomaly that's found in the system, NORAD knows about it as quickly as we do,'' said David Canoles, FAA's manager of air traffic evaluations and investigations.

At a NORAD operations center in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colo., a noncommissioned officer listens to conversations on the FAA network from all over the United States, said Maj. Douglas Martin, NORAD spokesman.

"If he hears anything that indicates difficulty in the skies, we begin the staff work to scramble,'' Martin said. Before Sept. 11, the FAA had to telephone NORAD about any possible hijackings.

In June, Air Force jets scrambled three times to intercept small private planes that had wandered into restricted airspace around the White House and around Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

Jet fighters approaching a suspicious plane might radio the pilot, dip their wings or simply identify the aircraft and break off, Martin said. No intercepted planes have been fired upon since Sept. 11, he said; for that, an order must come from President Bush or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

FAA officials held news conferences Monday in Boston, New York and Washington, giving chronological accounts of the terrorist attacks and how they forced an unprecedented shutdown of the U.S. skies.

Air traffic controllers didn't notice anything odd Sept. 11 until communications fell silent with Flight 11's pilot 25 minutes after the plane took off at 8 a.m.

"We considered it at that time to be a possible hijacking,'' air traffic manager Glenn Michael said.

The FAA notified NORAD 15 minutes later; three minutes after that, NORAD was told United Airlines Flight 175 had been hijacked.

The first two military interceptors, Air Force F-15 Eagles from Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, scrambled airborne at 8:52 a.m., too late to do anything about the second jet heading for the Trade Center or a third heading toward the Pentagon.

Mike McCormick, air traffic control manager at the New York Center - the main control center for the area - made the unprecedented decision at 9:04 a.m. to declare "ATC Zero,'' meaning that no aircraft could fly into, out of or through the airspace over New York and the western Atlantic.

He made the decision after the second plane, United Flight 175, crashed into the World Trade Center. McCormick said the Boeing 757's transponder was working and he knew where it was headed, even before the Newark Airport Control Tower picked it up visually as it turned and headed back toward the twin towers.

At 9:45 a.m., after the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had been struck by the hijacked planes, the FAA ordered all of the more than 4,000 aircraft in the skies over the United States to land at the nearest airport.

Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



***There's a difference between living and living well!***

Comments

  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Why would that be a slip of the tongue? They are talking about the events of the period since 11 Sept., but that does not imply something was fired upon on 11 Sept.

    A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand
  • NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The way I understood the article,It said no planes had been fired upon (since) 9-11-01.

    Rugster
  • pikeal1pikeal1 Member Posts: 2,707
    edited November -1
    He-Dog...saying that nothing had been fired upon since 9-11..meaning something was fired upon that day.

    atleast thats what I got out of it.

    Alex
  • HighballHighball Member Posts: 15,755
    edited November -1
    heheheheheheh...lol..

    God,Guts,& GunsHave we lost all 3 ??
  • SkyWatcherSkyWatcher Member Posts: 1,571 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    ...chasing...rabbit trails...

    To whom much is given, much is expected.
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Pikeal1, if I say I have not had lunch since this morning, it does not mean I had lunch this morning, only that I have not within that period of time. Susie and you are reading in a statement that is not implied by the quote. I see how you are doing so, but he did not say we have not fired on anything since we fired on those guys on 9-11. He said we have not fired on anything since that date. Not the same at all. This is like the Bermuda triangle, It does not exist.

    A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand

    Edited by - He Dog on 08/13/2002 18:10:30
  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    To your Knoledge many things were "fired" upon that Day.

    awww something like 16 .... but they missed 3 and one officialy "crashed" ......

    JD

    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
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