Anthony Summers - The Eleventh Day

The Times

[London], 8/11/02, bio at

www.tomburnettfoundation.org

; Glick:

Reader’s Digest

[U.K.], 9/06, MFR 04020025, 4/22/04, “FBI Documents—Inc. Joanne Makely Call Transcript,” B13, T7, CF; Riffe: MFR 03007067, 9/11/03, “Flight 11 Gun Story,” B16, T7, CF; Hanson: Chicago to Director, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CG, INTELWIRE; Commission: CR 13, 452n25, 457n82).

6

Glick:

Reader’s Digest

(U.K.), 9/06, FBI 302 of Lyzbeth Glick, 9/12/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 146;

7

told him/“My God”/“A group”:

FBI 302 of int. Deena Burnett, 9/11/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 110–;

8

“I’m going”:

Reader’s Digest

(U.K.), 9/06;

9

equipped:

Longman, 19, 108–, 114, 27–,137–, 132–;

10 Beamer:ibid., 17–, 200, 202;

11 Jefferson account:Jefferson & Middlebrooks, 29–;

12 “Shit!”:“Recording of Conversation,” 9/15/01, “Flight 93 Calls,” B12, T7, CF;

13 “Oh, my God”:Jefferson & Middlebrooks, 44–;

14 Flight Data Recorder:“Study of Autopilot, Navigational Equipment, and Fuel Consumption Activity Based on UA Flight 93 and AA Flight 77 Digital Flight Recorder Data,” 2/13/02, www.ntsb.gov;

15 23rd Psalm:Longman, 200;

16 “We just lost”:Joseph Gregor, “Air Traffic Control Recording,” NTSB, 12/21/01, int. John Werth.

17 executive jet:transcript of audiotape, FAA Cleveland Air Traffic Control Center—Lorain position, 9/11/01, int. John Werth, CR, 30. There had not yet been time to comply with the nationwide grounding order. The FAA transcript indicates that the plane that sighted Flight 93 was Executive Jet 956. The authors’ reading of relevant sources, including a transcript of the Cleveland Air Traffic Control recording, suggests the Jet 956 sighting occurred soon after 9:41. The 9/11 Commission Report, meanwhile, refers to a sighting of Flight 93 by an aircraft at about 9:53. The sources cited in the Report do not make entirely clear whether this reference is to a sighting by Executive 956 or by another airplane (CR, 29–, 461n167, Full Transcription, “Air Traffic Control System Command Center, National Traffic Management Officer, East Position, 9/11/01,” B1, NY Office files, CF, int. John Werth).

18 navigational aid:CR, 457n85.

19 Britton:Interviewed by the FBI after the attacks, Britton’s friend Frank Fiumano said he “assumed she had borrowed a cell phone from another passenger” to make her call because Britton’s own cell phone was not working. Records released in 2009 make clear, however, that Britton used a seatback phone (Britton’s friend: FBI 302 of [name redacted], 9/20/01, & Pittsburgh to Pittsburgh, 9/22/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 162; 2009 records: United Airlines Flight 93, Telephone Calls, “Flight 11 Calls—Response to DOJ Documents Requests,” B13, T7, CF);

20 plane turning:“Flight Path Study—United Flight 93,” 2/19/02, NTSB;

21 “I know”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

22 “to jump”:Jefferson & Middlebrook, 52–;

23 “the impression”:MFR 04020031, 5/11/04;

24 Greene:Chicago to Counterterrorism Baltimore et al., 10/4/01, “Flights 175 and 93 Load Patterns,” B20, T7, CF, Longman, 182–. Another passenger on Flight 93, Andrew Garcia, had served in the California Air National Guard and trained as an air traffic controller. Even with his limited knowledge of aviation, he might have been of some help in the cockpit. As to the possibility that Greene could conceivably have landed the plane, the authors consulted Gerry Humphries, a working pilot with thirty-five years’ experience who regularly flies a plane similar to a King Air (Garcia: Post-Gazette [Pittsburgh], 10/28/01, Humphries: int. Gerry Humphries);

25 Boeing:“757–200 Technical Characteristics,” www.boeing.com;

26 flying erratically:“Flight Path Study—United Flight 93,” 2/19/02, NTSB;

27 “commotion”:Longman, 204;

28 “Are you guys”:MFR 04020031, 5/11/04, FBI 302 of Lisa Jefferson, 9/11/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 202;

29 “OK”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

30 Wainio:www.elizabethwainio.com, Longman, 168, 171–, FBI 302 of [name redacted], 9/12/01, INTELWIRE;

31 Bradshaw:MFR of Philip Bradshaw, 6/15/04, “Flight 93 Calls,” B12, T7, CF, FBI 302 of int. Philip Bradshaw, 9/11/01 & 9/12/01, INTELWIRE.

32 Lyles:Longman, 180. Lyles had phoned her police officer husband earlier. He had been asleep, after coming home from a night shift, and she had left a message on the answering machine (FBI 302 of int. Lorne Lyles, 9/17/01, “FBI 302s Homer,” B10, T7, CF).

33 “I think”:FBI 302 of [name redacted], 9/12/01, INTELWIRE;

34 Burnett’s wife recognized:MFR 04020024, 4/26/04;

35 rolling:“Flight Path Study—United Flight 93,” 2/19/02, NTSB;

36 “The wings started”:pilot Bill Wright cited at Longman, 192–, Flight 93’s Last Moments , WTAE TV, 9/19/01, & see CR, 30;

37 Glick’s father-in-law/“roller coaster”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

38 “wind sounds”:FBI 302 of int. [name redacted], 9/12/01, INTELWIRE.

39 scrapyard: St. Petersburg Times , 9/12/01;

40 “nosediving”: WP , 9/16/01;

41 “sort of whistling”: St. Petersburg Times , 9/12/01;

42 “barely fifty”: The Mirror (U.K.), 9/12/02.

43 It was 10:03:For the time Flight 93 crashed, the authors have relied—as did the 9/11 Commission—on the impact time established by the combination of the Cockpit Voice Recorder, the Flight Data Recorder, and Air Traffic Control and radar data. In 2002, geologists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory produced a report—based on seismic data—that put the impact time of Flight 93 as some three minutes later, at 10:06. In the years since, the scientists themselves have stressed that the seismic signals cited in respect to Flight 93 were too weak and speculative to be relied upon. It should be noted, too, that the NTSB does not characteristically rely on seismic data to establish crash time. Commission staff considered the Lamont-Doherty time of 10:06 to be a significant anomaly and therefore asked for the time according to satellite infrared imaging—as a “tiebreaker.” This further established the 10:03 time for the crash of UA 93. The timing discrepancy has been seized on by those who suggest the U.S. military shot down Flight 93, an issue that will be addressed in Ch. 12 (CR, 30, 461n168, Won-Young Kim & Gerald Baum, “Seismic Observations During September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack,” Spring 2002, corr. Won-Young Kim, Ted Lopatkiewicz, 2009, & see Terry Wallace cited in “Cockpit Voice Recording Ends Before Flight 93’s Official Time of Impact,” 9/16/02, www.phillynews.com, corr. Terry Wallace, 2010, Miles Kara, 2011).

44 strip mine/“Where’s the plane”:“Flight 93 Crash Site Left Most of the Horror to the Imagination,” KDKA radio, 2006;

45 crater burning/couple of feet: Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh), 9/12/01;

46 recorder buried: WP , 9/15/01;