Posted on 09/11/2018 5:02:54 PM PDT by TigerClaws
Have you heard about the airliner which was ordered back to the gate on 9/11 when the terrorist attacks began, only to have four young Arab passengers jump off the plane, after which box cutters and Al Qaeda documents were found in their abandoned bags?
I’ve heard that story before, but since it was never reported by the U.S. government, and not mentioned by the 9/11 Commission in their official report, I thought it might be another of those urban myths. Until now. Yesterday’s Wilmington (Delaware) News-Journal featured a front-page article on the Delaware Air National Guard’s first female general, Carol Timmons, who was promoted to that rank at a ceremony on Saturday. General Timmons has had a long career as a pilot, including time as a commercial pilot for Pan Am and United Airlines. The profile of General Timmons recounts that on the morning of September 11, 2001, she was the first officer on United Airlines flight 23 preparing to take-off from New York’s JFK Airport bound for Los Angeles. The plane had already pulled away from the gate and was taxiing down the runway when the airport was shut down and the crew was ordered to secure the cockpit. Timmons confirmed that as the pilot grabbed the crash ax, she jumped from her seat and started barricading the cockpit door. From the other side of the barricade the cabin crew relayed their concern about four young Arab men in first-class who became agitated when the take-off was cancelled, and fled from the plane when it returned to the terminal. Box cutters and Al Qaeda documents were later found in their luggage. Timmons, the pilot, and the rest of the crew were repeatedly questioned by the FBI, though the findings were never shared. The pilot concluded that Flight 23 would have been the next plane hijacked by terrorists if the airport shutdown order had been delayed.
“The FBI asks questions,” General Timmons is quoted as saying, “They don’t tell you things.”
Why wouldn’t the U.S. government want to report the incident? Why didn’t the 9/11 Commission mention it in their official report? Were they concerned about panicking the public? Were they trying to apprehend the four passengers who fled? Why maintain official silence about the incident a decade later?
luggage: suitcases OR OTHER BAGS in which to pack personal belongings for traveling.
“Carry ons” are LUGGAGE.
It didn’t say that the box cutters were in “checked” luggage.
“The government should have been able to figure out the identities of the Arabs who ran away.”
Arabs are like Mexicans. The have multiple names & documents.
The most likely scenario is the Saudi Arabian government agents in the uS had already phoned up their docs and IDs
The 9-11 hijackers all sat in first class seats and the cattle passengers get patted down for knives, going forward no passenger can carry a blade on a plane but those seated in first class get knives (and forks) courtesy of the airlines
Darn it! They missed the Capitol Bldg. (Might have woken up a few democrats. )
This is simply my story........could it have been a .......’dry run’?
One week before 9/11, I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago
Seated next to me and directly across the aisle were four Middle East men.....the one next to me in his 20’s.....very young......all dressed nicely in civilian clothes.......
The number and proximity seemed a bit odd, but I had no history (yet) to feel ‘spooked’.......but in retrospect, after trying to engage the young man in chit chat and getting dark looks from the others......I scrunched down in my seat and endured the over 4 hour trip uncomfortably.
A week later......and for evermore......I always wondered.
I actually flew back to LA 3 days before 9/11
Was there ever any speculation that Los Angeles was on their list?
How is it that it has taken 17 years to learn about a fifth plane?
The plane with the Frazier producer was headed to the west coast. Possibly Los Angeles.
Read today that James’s woods saw and reported something similar to what you saw. Middle eastern men together. Not eating. Intense.
Conspiracy ping!
How long will the Feds keep kissing Moslem ass?
Because President Trump is our President now.
I remember hearing about a plane “or two” where box cutters and such were found onboard after the passengers disembarked.
Never heard it confirmed though, at least not back then.
Thanks Robert A Cook PE. I'm pretty sure I'd never heard of this prior to this topic.
“[Washington, DC] is ringed with Air Force bases and Navy bases and the ability to get defensive planes in the air is very, very high, and at the same time you would do what is being done and that is closing off the entire airspace, so that in effect, the whole Washington area is a no-fly zone, so that any planes that can’t identify themselves and get into that are to be shot down.”
— Former US Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on DC precautions on 9/11. And yet, AAL77, ostensibly the plane that went into the Pentagon did so over an hour after the first plane went into the World Trade Center. No fighters were flying in the DC area, nor were any ground-based Pentagon defenses put into play.
Could be they left them in carry-ons in overhead compartments or under the seats.
The planes that attacked the east coast were heading to the west coast. That way they had a lot more fuel on them when they hit so close to where they started.
bookmark
IIRC, the “defensive” planes that were in the DC area had to be loaded and armed with missiles, etc. The first couple that they got off the ground that were headed to the plane in Pennsylvania weren’t armed. Although the Air Force pilots were ready to ram the airliner if necessary.
You are correct about the Pentagon’s job on 9/11 also, the ONE DAMNED thing the government is in place for is protecting this nation and her people YET it FAILED in every department!!! The government has become such a massive BEAST it doesn’t succeed at much of anything any longer!!!! They seem to have PLENTY OF TIME to text and tweet each other however!!!!
Yes I realize that....
.....but if a plane loaded with fuel to go from LA to Chicago had as its altered destination Los Angeles or San Francisco......it would be the same type of situation.
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