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?
Ive 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. Yesterdays Wilmington (Delaware) News-Journal featured a front-page article on the Delaware Air National Guards 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 Yorks 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 dont tell you things.
Why wouldnt the U.S. government want to report the incident? Why didnt 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?
oops! I thought it was Chicago to LA.
With all of the stories of hijackers getting away, box cutters found later on, etc. - it wouldn’t surprise me. I guess the government was worried about a nationwide threat as well - shutting down ALL the airports.
Hopefully the lack of reporting on the failed attempts means we got them behind the scenes without giving the various other cells a lot of notice on what we were doing. Although that assumes our government knows what the heck they are doing. The more we learn about their other failures leaves that in real doubt.
I am no fan of Gore, but I think the process would have been the same. This stuff is rote policy/process.
While the President is always in charge, the immediate response/reaction is not made up as you go.
The follow up is more flexible.
Interesting that the original news articles are “null and void”. They would be down the memory hole except for FR excerpts.
There were always stories about the Capitol and the White House being targets. The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was supposed to be headed for one of them. This one may have been targeting the other.
After we seated ourselves on the plane, airport officials came on board with a bomb sniffing dog and walked up and down the aisle then left the plane while escorting the guy off.
Don't know what it was all about and soon forgot about it........
Did you ever hear of Gorelick's wall?
Fahrenheit 404: google doesn’t need to burn books, they just make them unsearchable.
After cell phones alerted the passengers on FLT 93 and they prevented it from being crashed into the Capital building full of congress critters, the very first thing congress did was ban cell phones on airlines...
The FBI 'tells things' that hurts Republicans and helps Democrats. They must have made that call that the truth would NOT help democrats.
I know the lady (a born again Christian) who checked in Muhammad Atta on 9-11, and as I recall, she told her super that there was something wrong, but that was dismissed. She was so troubled later that she left her job and never went back.
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