Terror attacks brought drastic decision: Clear the skies (a USA Today 9/11 must read Part I)

USA Today ^ | Aug 12, 2002 | Alan Levin, Marilyn Adams and Blake Morrison

[Prodigal Son]

Capt. Jim Hosking is stunned as he reads the message from the cockpit printer aboard United Flight 890. On most days, messages sent to the Boeing 747 are ordinary: maintenance items or reports of bad weather. On this day, Sept. 11, before sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, the warning is unlike any he has seen. Hijackings? Terrorist attack? Taking off from Narita, Japan, just hours before, Hosking, 56, looked forward to heading home to Los Angeles, where his wife would be waiting. But reading the message, sent at 9:37 a.m. Eastern Time, the pilot of 34 years wonders: What the hell happened down there? And then, even more chilling: What's going to happen up here?

[Prodigal Son]

This is excellent stuff here. The writers might even be looking at a Pulitzer for this series (IMHO). A couple of notes- obviously they put the thoughts of the individuals in italics and I would urge everyone to visit the source- they've got some good graphics and other stuff that relate. This is all history. Save it while you can.

[Prodigal Son]

For part two- Click Here

[Prodigal Son]

And a trailing story related to this series: Korean Air jet may have narrowly missed disaster

[Selara]

All back...it has all come back. Thank you so much for posting this.

[Prodigal Son]

No problem. Actually, I didn't want to work with the source code so I wound up inserting all the bold and italics html tags by hand- but it was worth it- this is a good "counter-conspiracy" resource against all those on the forum who think the FAA were just twittling their thumbs and allowing the attacks to happen.

What I find very interesting is- they thought more than four airliners were hijacked- so it wasn't as if they had definitely identified the four and the other 4,000 plus planes in the air were ok.

There were pilots sending distress messages, pilots refusing to land, pilots not responding and one Korean Plane over the Pacific set his transponder to the "hijack" setting and almost got shot down. In addition, the FAA originally thought it was Flight 1989 (?) instead of Flight 93 that had been hijacked and there was some confusion there.

This series does a good job, I think in shedding some light on that confusing and horrible day.

[LarryLied]

"Get out the crash ax," Hosking tells him.

A sad commentary. The day's take from a grocery store gets an armored truck and two armed guards. A 747 with hundred of passengers has one crash ax for protection against the bad guys.

[Selara]

This was so intense..so edge of your seat, imposed upon the visual images I had in my brain from television. I have no words...for the those of the aviation industry...in the air and the ground, for their heroism that day. Part 2...wow.

[Humidston]

I'm breathless here. It all came crashing back. WOW!

[Texasforever]

Lord have mercy. Arm the pilots! Many of us delight in making fun of government workers but the entire air traffic control team did a magnificent job under un-imaginable stress.

[Selara]

Agree totally. Arm them TODAY! My heart soared when I read of the extra pilot guarding the cockpit with a bottle of wine....the pilots with a small axe...bracing the door with luggage or a beverage cart. Arm them now.

[Prodigal Son]

I'm breathless here. It all came crashing back. WOW!

I know, it puts you right there doens't it?! I'm glad they took the time to put this report together.

[jriemer]

bttt

[jriemer]

Prodigal Son,

On 9/11, I was on one of the four thousand commercial airplanes that morning on a flight to Greensboro, NC and I arrived at 10:10 AM – four minutes after United flight 93 crashed into Pennsylvania. During the entire terrorist attack, my fellow passengers and I were blissfully ignorant of what was occurring in NYC and Washington. Later, I listened to the North Tower collapse on the radio as I sat in the rental car parking lot watching plane after plane land in a normally quiet airport and saw the NC State Troopers arrive to secure the main concourse.

9/11 was utter madness and those responsible have not even began to pay the piper.

Never Forget

jriemer

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for sharing that. Did it ever give you the "shudders" afterwards- "there but for the grace of God go I..."? I know it would have me.

I've been thinking about the only other thing the FAA could've done would've been to order all the pilots to announce to the cabins what the sit-rep was and to instruct the passengers to fight any terrorists that suddenly stood up and made a go for the cockpit. But it's too easy to sit here almost a year later and play arm chair general. It probably would've just caused panic and death from asthma and heart attacks. I salute them for containing the situation as best they could and getting all the other aircraft down safely- a stunning feat in itself.

[Prodigal Son]

doens't it=doesn't it

[Samwise]

Thanks for the post.

BUMP

[Dog]

A Must read.......see post # 2 for the second part in the series.

[kayak]

We must NEVER FORGET!!!

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for the bump, Dog!

[Prodigal Son]

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