[Shermy]

There was a white lear jet in the area, I recall - a private jet.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Why did other witnesses see smoke and flames trailing from Flight 93 as it fell from the sky, indicating a possible explosion aboard?

BS! I too, at one time, felt that perhaps the flight was shot down... until about a week or so ago when CNN showed previously unreleased fottage of the smoke billowing up from the ground after the crash. There were no trails of smoke leading down to the ground. The fact that there was almost nothing left of the plane seems to indicate a high speed ground impact.

Why even give credibilty to this twaddle?

[fone]

Nitro, what the hell did I just Freepmail you about less than 10 hours ago.

SW: For other reasons, I have re-read over 300 threads from that day. The shoot down story changed within one hour of the event. I hope this thread doesn't get pulled.

FWIW: I wrote this to Nitro earlier today:

One thing that I have found curious, and I certainly was not looking to find, was all the "official" reports that came out quickly regarding Flight 93 within the first hour reported that the USAF shot the plane down (they were certain it was headed for Camp David). They had the birds in the air and the authorization to do so, as per a report dated June 3, 2002 posted here: Check this. These reports, one from an Admiral who stated they had shot the plane down, were quickly redacted. I am no tin-foiler, let me assure you, and I've sifted through a lot of "unconfirmed" rumors that floated around that day, but this somehow has/had a different feeling to it. I'll not be mentioning anything about it other than to share it with you here, because I would be tarred and feathered. I'm just not sure anymore. It is best to leave one for the heroes of that fateful day.

[Centurion2000]

Or - and this is proving to be the most uncomfortable question of all - in the moments before the airliner piled into the black, spongey earth at 575mph did an American fighter pilot have to do the unthinkable and shoot down a US civil airliner?

It was shot down.

[Cicero]

Susan McElwain says that a white plane flew over her head only 40 or 50 feet up, yet "hardly made any sound." If an F-16 flew that close over your head the noise would practically knock you down.

It's just barely possible that some idiot decided that the American people could not be told that the airliner had to be shot down and therefore decided to cover it up. But Bush just said again only yesterday that it was an "easy" decision for him to make to give the order to shoot down any plane that threatened to crash into a city or similar target. People would have understood it if that's what happened with Flight 93. The judgment would have been that it was tragic but necessary. After all, everyone in the plane still would have died if it was allowed to crash into the Capitol or the White House.

Bush is no clinton, who lied from instinct, but it's possible that the clintonoid mindset was still lingering in his administration or at the airbase in question, and once they denied there was a shootdown they were stuck with that story.

Still, there's nothing here to confirm it.

[TexasCajun]

I think we all know what happened!

But I think its OK to portray it as heroic Americans making the ultimate sacrifice.

I don't have a problem with this.

[John H K]

"It had two rear engines, a big fin on the back like a spoiler on the back of a car and with two upright fins at the side. I haven't found one like it on the internet. It definitely wasn't one of those executive jets. The FBI came and talked to me and said there was no plane around.

F-16s have a single engine and a single fin.

And there are no "white" US Military fighter aircraft; such a livery would stand out like a sore thumb. They're various shades of grey.

Of course, this is FR, where every eyewitness is treated as infallible and beyond question, as long as said eyewitness supports your personal hobby horse, whatever it is.

[montag813]

This anti-American rag is trying their best to undermine American resolve with this absurd fairy tale regarding Flight 93 and its heroes. It is very sad that some members here are giving creedance to it.

A "white, unmarked" "jet" plane that makes no sound 50 feet above someone. Phony UFO "witnesses" usually have more credible tales than this dribble. Some imbiciles will say anything to get attention and perhaps money for themselves.

Of course their were jets which arrived soon afterwards. The pilots of those planes would likely have had to shoot down or "ram" (if unarmed) Flight 93 and force its crash, if the passengers had not acted first.

[desertcry]

What's the next conspiracy theory? A F16 bombed the Pentagon on 9.11?

[Aaron_A]

I have no real opinion on this - though my first thought when I heard this last year was that it must have been shot down. Here are a few pics that might be helpful...though I don't think any of these planes are cleared to fire AIM-9s.

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The C-38 replaces two C-21A transports currently operated by the 201st Air National Guard based at Andrews AFB, Md. It holds 11 passengers and crew, is primarily for operational support and distinguished visitor transport and can be configured for medical evacuation and general cargo duties.

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C-21

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[Slyfox]

Before Flight 93 crashed we got reports that fighter jets had been dispatched to the remaining planes in the air. I remember hearing about jets making a beeline for DC before the Pentagon was hit and I remember hearing about fighter's being dispatched to PA. Yeah, jets were probably there at the scene, but would there be any reason to shoot it down when it was obvious that 93 was way off course, wasn't anywhere near the Capitol and was already looking like it was going to crash?

[steve-b]

At least six eyewitnesses saw the mysterious aircraft on the morning of September 11 last year.

There are cases in which six eyewitnesses claim to have seen flying saucers piloted by space aliens.

We know from the phone calls that the passengers were planning to take back the plane or die trying. We know that the plane crashed immediately after these calls. The notion that some "mysterious aircraft" was involved is for people who think that "Occam's Razor" is the brand name of the box cutters used by the terrorists.

[mikegi]

He was working at the Rollock Inc. scrapyard on a ridge overlooking the point of impact, less than half a mile away. "I heard this real loud noise coming over my head," he told the Daily Mirror. "I looked up and it was Flight 93, barely 50ft above me. It was coming down in a 45 degree and rocking from side to side. Then the nose suddenly dipped and it just crashed into the ground. There was this big fireball and then a huge cloud of smoke."

Uhhh, I don't think so. If Flt93 was "50ft" above him and coming down at a 45deg angle, it would have crashed 50ft away from him. Plus, he sure did witness a lot of maneuvering in less than four seconds ("rocking" and nose dip).

[Jonathan]

I have heard first hand from 2 contacts at Toledo Express Airport that one of the F-16's from there shot the jet down with cannon fire.

Oh - and I also heard them fly from the ANG base their, over my house on 9/11/01, on their way to PA. And they were not going slow.

[Spirited]

I figure a worm caused the sonic boom and a ton of engine skipped and bounced for over a mile to get away from the crash site while a contrary wind flipped the debris back 8 miles over lake and all.
The passenger caller really heard only a hiccup onboard and the FBI knows there was no white plane so they injected/projected something about a Fairchild Falcon 20 just for their own amusement.
That allows anyone to believe everything they want!

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Article is BS. The flight was NOT shot down, as the sane here have noted.

"10.06am it crashed at Shanksville, less than 10mins flying time from Washington""

Uh - Shanksville is about 140 miles from DC - that is MORE than 10 minute flight time from Washington, even at 575 mph.

"THE BLACK BOXS
Sources claim the last thing heard on the cockpit voice recorder is the sound of wind - suggesting the plane had been holed"

What "sources"? This is made up.

"THE SONIC BOOM
The FBI insists there was no military plane in the area but at 9.22am a sonic boom - caused by a supersonic jet - was picked up by an earthquake monitor in southern Pennsylvania, 60 miles away from Shanksville."

Where to start with this one? A sonic boom at 9:22am would mean nothing - the flight crashed 40 minutes later! Why would jets be in the area a FULL FORTY MINUTES before they were to shoot Flight 93 down there? Also - I have never heard of said "earthquake monitor" - and I doubt they would even detect sonic booms. But even if they do - it does not matter because one does not exist for Shansville.

I live in the closest media market to Shanksville, and the local media did a lot of coverage interviewing the townsfolk that SAW IT GO DOWN. And no one has said anything about a missile or it being shot down. But I guess all the good people of Shanksville, the same town where the miners were trapped, were in on it. Maybe the mine rescue was devised by the CIA/NSA to divert attention from the true story (shoot-down) of Flight 93. Yeah, maybe those 9 miners were gonna tell the truth and had to be dealt with. Yeah, that's it, that's the ticket.

Uh oh, time to replace my tin-foil, I can feel the radio waves attacking my hair follicles.

[CWOJackson]

Of all the conspiracy theories this one has to be the sickest. What happened on Flight 93? What happened is a bunch of ordinary citizens became uncommon heroes.

Why does the tin foil hat crowd have to try and take that away from those heroes?

[I still care]

I have to go with the families. They are some of the few that actually heard the tapes from the plane. They are not allowed to talk in detail, but they have spoken to some extent and to a man you can see they believe the passengers took that plane down. I seem to remember an FR thread a while ago about this, and it seemed fairly clear the plane wasn't shot down.