Posted on 08/12/2002 12:50:43 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
FAA says it had 11 other suspect planes on Sept. 11
Monday August 12, 2002
By RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
WESTBURY, N.Y. (AP) In the tense minutes after two hijacked jetliners smashed into New York's World Trade Center and another hit the Pentagon, air traffic controllers had as many as 11 other suspect aircraft on their screens, federal aviation officials said Monday.
The concern over possible additional hijackings did not end until 12:15 p.m. on Sept. 11 3{ hours after the first attack on the twin towers when the last of 4,546 commercial aircraft were safely on the ground nationwide.
``Somewhere in the first hour after the first plane hit, we were receiving reports of additional confirmed hijackings. The list at that point in time started to grow,'' said Frank Hatfield, Eastern Region division manager for FAA air traffic control operations.
``All reports were treated as unconfirmed hijackings until we eliminated that as a possibility. We were not satisfied that the last number was four until 12:15 p.m., and every airplane in the country was on the ground,'' he said.
``No one had ever envisioned a scenario where the United States would land every plane in the sky.''
Airports became jammed with the unexpected aircraft, yet there were no mishaps, he said.
Hatfield and other FAA officials briefed news media on Monday at the New York Terminal Approach Control Center, known as TRACON, on Long Island.
Mike McCormick, air traffic control manager at New York Center the main traffic control center for New York area airports made the unprecedented decision at 9:04 a.m. to declare ``ATC Zero,'' meaning that normal services were suspended and no aircraft could fly into, out of or through the region's airspace.
At that time there were still hundreds of aircraft in the skies around New York and the western Atlantic, for which the Long Island-based center had responsibility.
The decision came just after the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, struck the south tower of the World Trade Center, confirming that the country was under terrorist attack.
Unlike the first hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 11, the second Boeing 767's transponder was working and he knew where it was headed, McCormick said, even before the Newark Airport control tower picked it up visually as it flew south along the Hudson River, turned and headed back toward the twin towers.
``I wanted to make sure everyone understood that this (attack) was not a single aircraft, that this was not a single event. There was at least one other aircraft involved and there could be many more, and we needed to prepare for all eventualities,'' McCormick said.
The officials said many changes have been effected in emergency procedures since Sept. 11 but declined to go into detail for security reasons.
Hatfield said, however, that the time frame for the FAA to make contact with the military in an emergency ``has been shaved from minutes to seconds.''
On that day, the first two military interceptors, Air Force F-15 Eagles from Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, scrambled airborne at 8:52 a.m., six minutes after the first attack, but too late to do anything about the other jets heading for the Trade Center or Pentagon.
Those struck at 9:02 and 9:40 a.m., respectively. The fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Somerset, Pa., at 10:07 a.m.
McCormick said that under the new procedures, ``We are in direct instantaneous communication with our military and those people responsible for defending our country.''
Hatfield said security now has a much higher priority than it did before Sept. 11.
``We have searched our souls and tried to figure out what we could have done differently on that day,'' he said. ``Probably the best thing we could have done was to improve our communications, and over the last year we have aggressively addressed that issue.''
The Port Authority did all their own sprinkler work. There were no contractors, according to Mr. Alan Hicks, the spokesman.He suggested if Hammad was working on sprinklers he was doing so for an individual tenant and the records would have been destroyed.
That struck me as peculiar that an individual tenant could bring in an unlicensed plumber to work on a system integral to the safety of the entire structure.
I could not locate a listing for Denko Mechanical in the actual local "hardcopy" white or yellow pages.
You are right. There is alot about this I don't know. The one thing I know for certain is that if Denko Mechanical was working on a legitimate job in the World Trade Center, there should be some record, some address or phone listing,or a shop or business office to confirm that there actually is a Denko Mechanical, other than what is on the previous reply. How many businesses have no listing in a phone book? Isn't that bad for business?
If the business they were working with was in the building, good luck finding the records.
some address or phone listing,or a shop or business office to confirm that there actually is a Denko Mechanical, other than what is on the previous reply.
Not necessarily. Many tradesman outfits work out of their trucks and work onsite. No shop necessary--the "shop" is a van.
How many businesses have no listing in a phone book?
Mine doesn't. A lot do not, because they don't have time to waste answering the phone--they're too busy working for paying customers.
Isn't that bad for business?
If the order book is full, advertising one's existence in the phone book means that you are inviting time-wasting phone calls. ("No, sir, we are not accepting new clients at this time. Good day, sir.")
Was that the same flight that was rumored to have the CDC headquarters as their target?
This is from switchboard.com
I would suspect there should be some record of such a business on the tax rolls somewhere,even if there is no shop. The law requires most companies to pay in social security taxes and worker's compensation premiums foe employees.
A letter from Sergei Denko was provided at Hammad's bail hearing.
I know.
Calvin Coolidge was correct that there is no right to strike against the public. In theory, governments undertake to provide services that are deemed too important to be left to the vagaries of the market. Yes, government has bloated far beyond a strict application of that principle, but that's the underlying idea.
The corollary is that any government function in which we are prepared to take a strike ought to be privatized immediately. This is exactly the deal I would put to public sector unions. Ask them: Do you want the right to strike? If their answer is yes, privatize.
There is little to no interest outside of this forum to the Muslims arrestted in the driver's license scam in Memphis, the murder of Katherine Smith, the Shelby County medical examiner(still trying to determine cause of Smith's death) being assaulted outside his office and tied up with barbed wire and wired with a bomb, or the unlicensed plumber Hammad's job working on the WTC sprinkler system.
Quite frankly, I don't think very many Americans have seen any reporting on any of this unless they read the local Memphis paper. There is simply not time in the 24 hour news cycle to cover these insignificant stories.
And for that, you'd have to show some reason to believe that Sergei Denko (or Davidenko) was directly involved with the attack in some fashion--and I'm willing to bet that said reason is in fact nonexistent.
I think they would do a lot ---and the other military branches, the National Guard, state militias, the people themselves. I'm not sure the Arabs completely understand this country, I think they meant to do quite a bit more than they did accomplish, it seems they targetted the Pentagon for some purpose probably thinking they'd knock out our military.
They also have a big disadvantage in depending on suicide jihaders because I'm sure there are enough who chicken out at the last minute. I think our airplanes were brought down quickly and our Government responded quite well so that more wasn't done ---more hijacked planes could have targeted nuclear plants, and communication centers. It was a strange day but massive power outs would have made things far more chaotic.
I think you're right on this ---I don't give the Arabs too much credit for sophistication, they may have lucked out with the level of damage they managed to do. I think they're basically barbarians who quickly learned to fly planes enough to fly them into buildings without much thought, they planned an invasion of the US like they did with Sudan and other countries they've successfully invaded. They didn't shut down the Pentagon or Congress but may have intended to.
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