Posted on 09/05/2011 4:58:40 AM PDT by nuconvert
Edited on 09/05/2011 7:58:22 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I don't know- order a strike on London or Tel Aviv? I trust his judgement about as far as I can throw a big-block V-8.
Airliners fly with a backup transponder. Even if the both transponders fail, they are still in direct contact with ATC which knows precisely where they are and is telling them precisely where to go at all times. Everyone who flies IFR knows that if one diverts at all from where he is supposed to be, it doesn't take more than a few seconds for ATC to notice and contact the plane to make a correction. I'm quite sure things are even more severe if one is flying anywhere in the vicinity of AF1. (which flew low over my backyard yesterday)
ML/NJ
Ever hear of literary license, or ineptitude?
See my post at #22 above for more info.
ML/NJ
Ever hear of literary license, or ineptitude?
“literary license” when you’re directly quoting someone? No.
“ineptitude” - yes. He could have put the quotation marks in the wrong place making it appear as though it was part of the quote from the pilot.
But that doesn’t make the entire article dubious.
You might want to watch this,...
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/remembering-9-11/6683/Overview
Why? Transponders fail. I’ve replaced them.
Airliners fly with a backup transponder. Even if the both transponders fail, they are still in direct contact with ATC which knows precisely where they are and is telling them precisely where to go at all times. Everyone who flies IFR knows that if one diverts at all from where he is supposed to be, it doesn’t take more than a few seconds for ATC to notice and contact the plane to make a correction. I’m quite sure things are even more severe if one is flying anywhere in the vicinity of AF1.
So rather than think maybe the failure was actually more extreme than just a single transponder, you’d rather believe that the pilot of AF1 was lying?
One of the more surreal moments of that unspeakably surreal day was watching Air Force One fly just above tree top level right in front of me while I was stopped at a red light heading home.
One of those things I’ll never forget.
I can imagine
I’m going to jump in here. I think this line is a petty point.
It may have been a way to summarize , rather than speculate on any of the number of possibilities, i.e., maybe the transponder was intermittent, maybe it had the wrong code, maybe the controller was a bit on edge and wasn’t getting or missed the code, maybe the AF-1 pilot told the author it was an AIRPLANE, not airliner, with not transponder (that’s not unusual for a GA airplane).
The point is, ATC reported a target and ATC wasn’t receiving a transponder code on the target, as it was relayed to the AF-1 pilot.
That and answering the phone when I got home. It was a pastor at my church calling to console my family on the event of my death. There was a rumor I was killed in a terror attack that day.
oh my gosh. good thing someone else didn’t answer when you were out.
When I was in the USAF, based at Yokota AB, Japan in 1986, my comms squadron provided support communications for AF1 and the airborne command post that always accompanies the President on overseas trips.
We supported Reagan’s trip to Tokyo for an economic summit. Among the activities were extra briefings on the capabilities of the 747 aircraft involved, as well as rides on the aircraft for a lucky few, as the pilots flew escape-and-evasion practice flights around the region.
Suffice it to say that the 747-type national aircraft have surprising performance for such large aircraft. They are over-engined, over-winged and under-weight.
bfl
Hmmmm, maybe..........
On the late afternoon of 9-11-2001 I heard a loud “boom-boom”, what I quickly deduced was a sonic boom. I ran outside and looked up in the clear blue skies and spotted a couple of F-16s at very high altitude (I’d guess 30-40 thousand feet). I never saw AF-1, but I’m sure it was up there somewhere returning from Offutt AFB back to Washington.
I live in Beavercreek, Ohio, near Wright-Patterson AFB. A few minutes after the sonic boom, I was listening on my radio scanner, I heard an aircraft declare an emergency and land at WPAFB - from what I could deduce, he nearly ran out of fuel.
That’s one of my lasting memories of 9-11.
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