[april15Bendovr]

My Dad emailed this article to me. My wife and I watched United 93 last evening. I cant believe that my anger and resolve after 9/11 could grow any stronger than it already has been.

As a psychiatric counselor who has worked with many family members on those flights I could not hold back the tears. As I looked around the movie theatre I realized I'm not alone.

I hope every nay saying liberal across this nation views this movie.

[dirtboy]

I hope every nay saying liberal across this nation views this movie.

Nah, they're too busy going batsh** over the Rolling Stone article claiming Ohio was stolen.

[MizSterious]

Those that do will call it politically motivated, or fiction, or simply blame the whole thing on GWB.

[dead]

Was there ever any confirmation that the guy in the jumpseat was Atta, or does this guy just think it was Atta?

[april15Bendovr]

I should say "I worked with the surviving family members of those flights" just so their isn't any confusion.

[griswold3]

Mark

[silverleaf]

I did not realize there were FOUR MORE FLIGHTS that were to be hijacked that day.

That means there were FOUR MORE TERRORIST TEAMS on board aircraft waiting to murder people onbaord and crash into selected targets. Anyone know what targets these were to be?

Only one man has evenr been brought to trial for the murders committed on 9-11...Zakarias Moussaoui, aka "the 20th hijacker".

So ..... where are hijackers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40?

Anyone know where the rest of the al Qaeda hijacking teams are these days?

[RichardW]

I'm not sure this is genuine. This needs to be verified.

[chae]

This story is creepy. I keep coming back to the story out of Florida a wek or so ago about the middle eastern suspicious men who "accidentally" got on a school bus, and I think is this another dry run?

[MEG33]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1643658/posts
Related article by another pilot and his experience in the air on 911 and his reflections on the movie..Powerful.

[eureka!]

marking

[Lancey Howard]

WOW!

[Velveeta]

ping

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I've been known to lose my patience with those who say the war in Iraq or anywhere else in the Muslim world is wrong, or who say we shouldn't become involved in that area of the world for political correctness reasons.

It seems painfully and manifestly obvious that the critism of the administration is opportunistic, rather than principled.

[jaime1959]

> right or wrong, this administration is at least taking the bull by the horns and fighting our enemies, which is something concrete that I can appreciate. <

Except for border security, that is. And except for the ridiculous TSA which doesn't use terrorist profiling and, as the author noted, searches people such as himself and little old ladies.

[TomGuy]

Very few people know that, while only four airliners crashed that day, four more were targeted

It seems strange that little information has ever come out about the 4 planes, the cells that would have been on them, etc.

We have had speculation that there were at least 1 and possibly 2 more targeted planes, for a total of 6 on 911. Some speculated that maybe 10 total planes had been targeted that day, but only 4 terrorist cells were able to act, either because of plane delays or the cells unable to board and group.

One strange crew of ME guys ended up taking a train from Texas to St. Louis, and then disappeared.

What happened to the cells that were supposed to be on those other planes???

[BadAndy]

I call BS. It's very strange that the first we hear about this is 5 years after the fact.

[Not now, Not ever!]

Bump, Bttt, As a bookmark.

[Rapscallion]

Here I was, a retired USAF officer who had been entrusted to fly nuclear weapons around the world, who had been granted a Top Secret clearance and had been on missions over the course of 21 years in the military that I still can't can't talk about without fear of prosecution by the DoD, who was being scanned by a flunkie TSA screener looking for any sign of a pen knife or nail file on my person.

I controlled nuclear weapons in Strategic Air Coomand and then held the nations highest clearances at a national level intelligence agency. No matter, to TSA you're just another flunkie. TSA is a waste of bodies; An inner-city employer. The people who created the sham we call homeland security ought to do time for defrauding the public. Trust only the uniformed armed forces! The rest are snake-oil sellers and carpet baggers. Politicians seeking re-election are the absolute lowest form of life while the nation is in danger.

[small voice in the wilderness]

To read later.

[muddytadpole]

Seems that Pat has made a follow-on post found here to verify the authenticity of this article.

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/2994-A-Delta-pilot-who-dodged-a-bullet,-re-United-93.html

It reads as follows:

I assure you this letter is true. As to the fact that I wrote that a holder of an Airline Transport Pilot rating (ATP) must be a US citizen, I admit that I was mistaken here. I had always assumed so, because that's what I had heard, so I looked up the requrements for an ATP just now. There is nothing that says that US citizenship is required. Okay, I'll bite the bullet on that one. I recieved my ATP back in 1975 and now that I think of it I do not remember having to prove my citizenship. However, the rest of the story is true.

As for my airline career, I worked for Western Airlines (who merged with Delta in 1987), Jet America Airlines (who was bought by Alaska Airlines in 1988), and Delta Airlines, as well as a few "fly by night" cargo airlines during my furlough period from Western from 1981-1985. I also flew in Vietnam as a transport pilot and retired from the USAF Reserve in 1991 after the Gulf War. I have 21,500+ flight hours in T-41, T-37, T-38, C-141/L-300, CE-500, CV-440, MD-80/82, B-727, B-737, B-757, and B-767 aircraft, all logged between 1970 and 2005 when I retired from Delta.

Trust me, folks, this was real. I must admit I am quite surprised that my letter made it this far on the internet. The letter was nothing more than am innocent reply to a group of friends, one of whom sent me a similar letter from another Delta pilot who had been flying the morning of 9/11 and who had experienced the flying that day for himself. His letter had detailed his thoughts as he viewed the movie "United 93", and he also told in detail how he had been diverted to Knoxville when the FAA shut down the airspace. My friend had asked me if I had known of any other similar experiences, so I wrote him what I had encountered myself a few months before. This was my letter to him.

Another retired Delta captain contacted me yesterday after reading this blog and related an experience his wife had on a flight from Portland, OR to Atlanta in August 2001, just a week or so after my experience with Atta. She was riding on a company pass and seated in First Class. A person of "Middle Eastern" descent had sought permission to sit on the cockpit jump seat, but was denied access by the captain because he did not have an FAA Medical certificate. She said he ranted and raved because he couldn't ride the cockpit jump seat, even though there were three empty seats in First Class, which the captain offered him. What pilot in his right mind would refuse a First Class seat over a cramped cockpit jump seat? He stormed off the aircraft and they left him at the gate. You see? Mine wasn't the only experience leading up to 9/11.

Delta Airlines Corporate Security even contacted me a few days ago to ask if I had, indeed, written this letter. I wrote them back that I had. They were worried that someone was using my name without my knowledge. I assured them I was the author.

Keep the faith, and don't let the bastards get you down.

Pat Gilmore