FBI probes 5th flight for hijackers, Plane grounded on day of attack

Chicago Tribune ^ | 18 Sept 2001 | Stephen J. Hedges, Naftali Bendavid

[newzjunkey]

WASHINGTON -- The FBI is investigating the possibility that suicide hijackers were on board a fifth transcontinental airline flight last Tuesday, one that was cancelled just minutes before its scheduled 8:10 a.m. departure from Boston due to a mechanical problem, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Federal agents are searching for an undetermined number of passengers who were on board American Airlines Flight 43, according to one source familiar with the passenger manifest. The flight was to have departed Boston 25 minutes after American Flight 11, which struck New York's World Trade Center, this source said.

[newzjunkey]

I've been concerned this was the case. I've been figuring as AF1 was considered a target, there was probably another flight. However, I expected it would originate out of Florida as that was the President's location. That Logan appears to have been the source of yet another likely hijacking. I'm afraid this won't be the last of such reports.

Also, it's been nagging me: why stop at just four hijackings from two or three East Coast airports? I did a search on the original title and didn't find the article.

It's now more important than ever we watch what we say here about what we observer regarding our personal knowledge military movements or investigations. We need to support our gov't's efforts.

[CheneyChick]

I don't think those slimeballs figured the FAA could shut things down so fast.... Who knows how many more were actually planned.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

The thing is, they are lose, and if they have a "2nd wave" of attack items, then when, where and what is next?

This is not over by a long shot. The Mossad warned us 2 weeks ago there were 200 of them. Now we are looking for approx. 200 (according to Ashcroft).

Who and where are they?

In your town? My town?

[John Jamieson]

East coast airports were needed because they were hitting east coast targets and wanted full fuel tanks. DC was missed altogether and WTC was botched.

[Who dat?]

They look like they train their people, have them fan out, and at a certain time attack targets of opportunity. Some are bound to get hung up somewhere, and some might have chickened out at the last minute.

[RoughDobermann]

DC was missed altogether and WTC was botched.

The WTC was botched? How so?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Call the FBI Toll Free at 1-866-483-5137
if you see or hear anything that threatens our national security.

[mtngrl@vrwc]

I don't think those slimeballs figured the FAA could shut things down so fast.... Who knows how many more were actually planned.

And then those terrorists must still be in our country waiting for another chance, right? Frightening!

[John Jamieson]

WTC: First plane was too high, Second plane was 18 minutes late, not level or centered. The goal was surely 20,000+.

[Alberta's Child]

I've read in a couple of places that the planes were supposed to arrive closer together, and that the first building stood for much longer than expected because the plane hit it too close to the top.

Although a death toll in excess of 5,000 is incomprehensible, the fact that there were 50,000 to 60,000 people in those buildings and another several thousand on the adjacent streets and in the concourse area below makes the death toll in New York miraculously low.

[ambrose]

They may have also figured they could cause the WTC to topple over in a domino effect to the surrounding skyscrapers, rather than implode.

[RoughDobermann]

WTC: First plane was too high, Second plane was 18 minutes late, not level or centered. The goal was surely 20,000+.

Flying a commercial airliner into a building with sides not much greater than its wingspan at 400 knots + is not an easy task. I agree that they would have liked a higher body count and could have achieved it if what you say had come to pass, but I hardly think that you can call what happened a "botched" job. 5000+ killed and the towers are gone...

[RoughDobermann]

Agreed. But I find it somewhat grotesque to call what happened a "botched" job. I sure wouldn't say that to those who lost friends and loved ones.

[John Jamieson]

Praise to the man that shut it down allright!

The leftovers are running for hills, and I think we got some of them. These are NOT bright, sophisticated, educated people. They used our "commercial" technology against us. They have to buy high technology to do more damage--that's how we'll catch them.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

.....and some might have chickened out at the last minute.

Sort of like the Kamakaze pilot who flew 32 missions. :-)

[John Jamieson]

My point was only that their goal was much higher. No disrespect intended. Would you call DC a botched job?

[BruceS]

I seem to recall that there were some men who were on a flight from the east coast to west coast, but the airplane landed in Cleveland (or somewhere around there) when all planes were ordered to land. They were then picked up in Texas, with boxcutters and $5,000 cash after taking an Amtrak train.

This is just a thought, but maybe they were supposed to take over the plane somewhere over the midwest and then fly it back to Washington to catch Bush returning in a hurry? Or maybe they were supposed to catch Marty Meehan at his Congressional office.

[newzjunkey]

the fact that there were 50,000 to 60,000 people in those buildings

This is not a fact. No one has determined exactly how many people were in the buildings. From interviews I've seen, a number of companies while offices there had 'shifts' with later starts so the building wasn't nearly as busy as it could have been two hours later. I've seen one estimate by a company representative that "only" 20,000 may have been in the towers based on the time of day. If that's so, it would mean almost 25% are missing. Another 25% were injured.

[blam]

I posted this on a couple threads yesterday. Could this be your plane crew out of Florida? the Florida state line is about 30 miles east of this location

("The below described incident happened about 20 miles straight down I-10 from where the USS Cole is being repaired. Connection? Don't know.)

FBI denies reported arrests

09/17/01
Mobile Register (Alabama)
Staff Report

FBI agents gathered at a Daphne (East side of Mobile Bay)service station Friday morning but did not arrest or see anyone who appeared to be of Arabic descent, a bureau spokesman said Sunday afternoon.

Charles Middleton, special agent in charge of the FBI's Mobile office, made the statement in response to an article in Sunday's Register that quoted a clerk at the station as saying FBI agents and police had taken four men into custody.

Middleton said, "Our violent crime task force was out in Daphne Friday morning looking for a fugitive. The team arrived at the Shell station at about 5 a.m. as a staging area.

"Someone came out of the Shell station and told us their were four Arabic males in the station an hour before. We didn't fully explain to the person why we were there."

According to Middleton, the agents left their cars at the station on U.S. 98. He said they were looking for two men, one in Daphne and one in Bay Minette, but did not find either. He said the team continued its search for the men Sunday.

Middleton said the story about the four men being taken into custody was "amazing," especially since the man at the service station "came out and told us they were there an hour before we were."

The Sunday article quoted John Mornan, a cashier at the Shell station in Daphne, as saying that four men who appeared to be of Arabic descent came to the station about 5:20 a.m. Friday. One man remained outside to pump gasoline into the white van the men were traveling in and the others came inside.

He said one of the men, who bought caffeinated soft drinks and ice, told him they had been driving for days from California and were tired. He said the men did not appear tired and the van had a Florida license plate.

Mornan said the men appeared to be nervous and would not make eye contact.

After a few minutes, the man who had been pumping gasoline came to the door and spoke to the others in a language that was not English, Mornan said.

The men quickly went outside where FBI agents and police surrounded them. They were searched, handcuffed and put into two cars and driven away, said Mornan.

He said two FBI agents got into the van the men had been using and drove it away.

Mornan said several FBI agents remained behind and one told him that they had been following the men from Tampa since Thursday night.

He said the agent told him the men were expected to rendezvous with three other men but had not done so and the agents were concerned that, with dawn approaching, the men would realize they were being followed.

Mornan said he did not ask whether the men were under arrest or were just being detained for questioning.

He said he did not ask for the names of the FBI agents.

"They were wearing vests with 'FBI' written across them," Mornan said.

Contacted Sunday by the Register and told of Middleton's statement, Mornan, a 65-year-old retired aerospace engineer,(This does not sound like a kook type to me) said that the FBI must have been working on something that it did not want to reveal and that he did not want to argue with the FBI or do anything to harm national security.

"Why would I want to make up something like that," he said. "If I'd been looking for press (coverage), it would have been different. I didn't call you, you called me."

[JRadcliffe]

"I've been figuring as AF1 was considered a target, there was probably another flight."

I'll bet money that the Statue of Liberty was one of its targets.