One of the first things that came to mind for me on 9/11 was this: “Would anyone in the U.S. government ever have come out and admitted that this was a terrorist attack if only ONE aircraft had been hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center?”
I honestly think the answer to that would be NO … and we’d be sitting here on FR today talking about the upcoming 20th anniversary of an incident where the autopilot of an American Airlines passenger jet had mysteriously malfunctioned and flew the aircraft into one of the WTC buildings.
Especially after the U.S. admitted its error on its own.
My first reaction to the 9-11 Terrorist attack was what you described.
When I saw the footage of the first plane hitting the building and saw the clear blue sky, I felt the pilots were trying unsuccessfully to get off autopilot and hit the building.
That theory didn't last long, when shortly thereafter the second plane hit the other building.-Tom