What caused fourth jet to go down?

9-11-2001 | R.A. Cajun

[NY Cajun]

Does anyone have information as to what caused the fourth terrorist flight to go down in Pennsylvania, obviously missing it's target? I know it was being tracked prior to the crash. Did we have to shoot it down?

[NY Cajun]

If we had to shoot this flight down my heart goes out to the fighter pilot as well as the victims and families of the downed craft.

[Hillary 666]

When pressed for an answer, I heard a military officer being interviewed say that he "couldn't talk about the details; they're classified."

[Intolerant in NJ]

Local Philly TV tonight is carrying rumors from the crash scene that it was indeed shot down - authorities had received calls from the plane saying that it was being hijacked, and it was heading back toward Washington...those who know have had no comment...

[LouD]

I talked to a friend who works at United Headquarters. He said that the rumor there, as yet unconfirmed, was that the last transmission they received was the pilot saying "I'm going to ditch." If this is true, then he died a hero, keeping the plane away from targets or populated areas.

[TheDon]

Nope, it wasn't shot down. My guess is an unsuccessful takeover of control. I'm amazed that 3 of 4 succeeded.

[ladyinred]

I would say that comment speaks for itself. Read earlier that contact with it was ignored so........... Although it is a horrible thought, they would have had no choice but to do this to save more lives.

[Sloth]

Reportedly Ashcroft told members of Congress that we absolutely did NOT shoot it down (it would have been entirely justified, though). I suspect passengers tried to retake the plane but maybe the pilot was already dead by then.

[Keith in Iowa]

I don't know about the 4th one, but I question the one that ended up on the Pentagon - I keep hearing descriptions of how radar tracking of this plane had it on a direct course for the White House - and it made a sudden manuver and crashed into the Pentagon. Could it be that this plane, with it's ID transponders off, and probably not responding to radio calls, etc. reached the point that it was taken out by a SAM, like from the roof of the WH and that's why it crashed into the Pentagon?

Does this qualify for a tin-foil hat theory??

[Johnny Crab]

My son graduated from ERAU(aerospace engineering). His take(and that of numerous former military here) was that the pilot slammed the plane into a vertical dive/spin that would be impossible to control or recover from. Based on the "crater" found and the crash site reports, this is what happened. God bless the brave pilot(s), crew, and passengers for saving many more American lives on the ground.

[cactmh]

not tin-hat, but not realistic. The planes hit where they were aiming....

[LSJohn]

If the pilot had control, why would he ditch? If he didn't have control, how could he ditch? I would lean heavily toward shootdown except that I would think that decision would have been made only at the last possible moment, and the aircraft was far away from any population center (more than 20 minutes from D.C.)

Maybe given the earlier events they were afraid to delay.

[Mighty Mouse]

But the crater that the plane caused could only have been created by a total nose dive. I say the pilot took it down -this is the plane they suspect was the threat to either Camp David or WH

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

If the pilot had control, why would he ditch?

The pilot may have had control of the actual dials, but with a weapon to his head or neck. He may have intentionally put the plane into a dive to make sure the plane could not hit any major metro areas.

[xm177e2]

Does this qualify for a tin-foil hat theory??

Yes, but at this point those are welcome.

[FairAndBalanced]

Not quite. Scenario could be that wounded pilot smothered the controls, acted as dead weight to prevent terrorist from taking control. He knew plane would crash, but knew it wouldn't be where terrorist wantd it to crash.

[hayseed]

I think this plane was supposed to take out the Pentagon.

When the other hijackers heard it had gone down, that's when the jet reportedly heading for the Whitehouse veered off course to the Pentagon.

[Mike K]

If the jet was shot down there would be a debris field. The pictures and 'at the scene' accounts show no significant debris. Just a deep hole in the ground.

This suggests to me that the pilot is a hero.

[Alberta's Child]

My first reaction was that it was not the U.S. Air Force, but an Air National Guard unit, that brought the plane down. I've been told they can scramble those planes faster then the Air Force can.

[Alberta's Child]

The story was that it was heading for Camp David, which is some distance from D.C.