"Mohammad Atta was in my Cockpit Jump seat" (Anyone seen this article)

Pat Gilmore

[TXFireman]

ping

[Wolfstar]

and so, of course, Atta would have been truthful about where he was from - but this pilot is lying, I tell ya, LYING

There are more holes in that hoax than Swiss cheese, more even than I listed.

[Wolfstar]

He's either a phoney or a knucklehead. Or both.

Probably both.

[rlmorel]

No need to use caps, Wolfstar.

If you were doing something outside the law in a foreign country, would you tell anyone your real country of origin? I know I wouldn't.

I know it seems preposterous to you, but not everyone views it as preposterous.

I viewed planes full of screaming people being deliberately crashed into mutiple skyscrapers and the Pentagon simultaneously (or approaching it) as preposterous before 9/11.

There are very few things I will throw out as preposterous out of hand nowadays.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Thank you. Atta was Egyptian, and none of this sounds right. If it were real, Mr. Gilmore would not just have been casually contacted by Delta security, he would have been whisked off to DC for a month to tell Homeland Security everything he knew. In fact, there is a 100% chance he would have radioed ahead and had the police waiting at the gate to pick up "Atta" once it became clear he was an impostor.

[Wolfstar]

As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." More to the point, there's a con man born every minute who will grow up to take advantage of the suckers. It's one thing if a sucker truly is ignorant, but quite another to insist on remaining one even when confronted by facts that expose the con:

Information from the 9/11 Commission Report: The question has been raised about whether one or more of the hijackers may have used pilot's credentials in order to sit in the cockpit with the pilots during the flight to facilitate the takeover. In view of the requisite paperwork and other procedures which must be followed to permit a jumpseat privilege,there is no evidence that such a tactic was used by the hijackers. They actually had reservations and sat in the seats that they were assigned.

In addition to all of the other holes in this con, there is no record of Atta taking a flight from Baltimore to Atlanta at any time time during July 2001. His known flights are:

July 1, 2001: Atta flies from Boston to New York City.

July 3, 2001: Atta flies from Newark to Fort Lauderdale.

July 7 or July 8 or July 9, 2001: Atta fly from Miami to Madrid, Spain via Zurich.

July 19, 2001: Return flight to America, Fort Lauderdale, Florida via Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.

Late July, 2001: Atta flies to Newark, New Jersey to meet with other hijackers in the area.

July 30, 2001: Atta flies back from New Jersey to Florida.

Go ahead. Believe the con if you wish. I'll know whose opinions to discount the next time some piece of disinformation cross the FR transom.

[Wolfstar]

In fact, there is a 100% chance he would have radioed ahead and had the police waiting at the gate to pick up "Atta" once it became clear he was an impostor.

You're welcome. Even I, a true cynic, have trouble believing any bona fide commercial airline pilot confronted with the lies described in this "email" would not have made such arrangements.

[rlmorel]

I am trying to be civil here. I cannot understand why you are being the way you are about it. You seem to have some emotional investment in this that goes beyond simply looking at this and evaluating it. And if you read my posts, you can see I do not say I believe it.

What I am saying is that I do not reject things out of hand unless I have a good reason to do so. There is nothing completely outlandish that will make me reject it.

[southland]

btt

[cmiller623]

I agree with you. Wolfstar seems to go beyond the norm in saying it is debunked. We have too many cases of the FBi covering things up that were real. James Woods is a solid source and is very straight forward. This pilot could be telling the truth but too many people are skeptical of everything these days. Too many things just get shut down by the FBI if it doesn't fit their view of the way the events should go. This was the case in Dallas, Flight 800 and the Oklahoma Bombing.

[bandleader]

ThankYou,once again!I just got a bit tearful whilst reading this account!I was in Texas(San Antonio).I let myself be persuaded to return home on Sept.11(I was meant to fly home on Sept.10th).I was up and watching NBC soon after the North Tower had been hit.My friend asked me if I wanted more coffee(soon after I witnessed on TV The South Tower being hit)!I said no,but I will have a beer!!I remember screaming at the TV set for somebody to do something!!!Another airliner is going to hit the South Tower!!!!Oh well,We'll NEVER forget it(I HOPE)???????????

[Petronski]

This story is either fantastically creepy or an internet hoax, I don't know which. Has anyone done a Snopes check?

[rlmorel]

Well, skepticism is a good thing, especially with the Internet.

I reiterate my points:

1.) Is this pilot a real person?

2.) Does he publicly stand by what he says?

Both of these conditions must be true before one can even consider the veracity of the rest of the account. IF both are true, then we can look at the rest of the account with a more critical eye.

In my opinion, I do not give much creedence unless the first two conditions are met. It is just so much mental masturbation until then.

I am not sure why Wolfstar is so angry or upset that people are not just throwing it in the trash out of hand. Perhaps he is upset we are not taking him at his word that it is bunk, and somehow takes exception to it.

[rlmorel]

Yeah, there is message board discussion at Snopes, but it has not been officially placed in the files by them as a hoax yet.

Could very well be, and maybe it is. Some people just want to dismiss it out of hand, an approach I do not take unless there are aliens and spaceships involved (only a degree of sarcasm there...)

[RichardW]

But there is no evidence of an external hit by a rocket. The plane was reassembled and the FBI agent in charge was not one to rush to judgment. The facts just don't support it. Frankly, I wanted to believe it but I can't argue with the facts.

[Cindy]

Could you please locate the url to this article?

THANKS.

[rlmorel]

You know, there is just WAY to much of that kind of conspiratorial thought process going on.

Like the people who think a cruise missile hit the Pentagon and not an airliner...you have to wonder, do they even consider what was done with the passengers on the "Non-existent plane" or their families?

Were they taken somewhere and eradicated, or had their memories erased a la "Men in Black" with a little flashy thing?

Good gosh.

[reagan_fanatic]

Atta was Egyptian, not Saudi.

This story is a fake.