American Airlines Flight 77

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Security camera image showing American Airlines Flight 77 (far right, just above far right stone block) just before impact.^[1]

Security camera image of the moment that American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.^[1]

American Airlines Flight 77 was a morning flight that routinely flew from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), near Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). On September 11, 2001, Flight 77 was hijacked between 08:51 EDT and 08:54 EDT, as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[2] On that day, the American Airlines Boeing 757-223, registered N644AA, was piloted by Captain Charles Burlingame and First Officer Dave Charlebois. Just over an hour and fifteen minutes into the flight, it was crashed into the Pentagon, killing 64 on the plane and 125 in the buildings. It was the third airliner to crash that morning, 50 minutes after the first, and 30 minutes after the second.

[edit] Hijackers

The hijackers were reported to have been:

• Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian) — pilot
• Khalid al-Mihdhar (Saudi Arabian)
• Majed Moqed (Saudi Arabian)
• Nawaf al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian)
• Salem al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian)

All of the hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 were CAPPS selectees, which required extra screening of their checked bags. Hani Hanjour, Khalid al-Mihdhar, and Majed Moqed chosen by the CAPPS criteria, while Nawaf al-Hazmi and Salem al-Hazmi were selected because they did not provide adequate identification. They had their checked bags held until they boarded the aircraft.^[3] Hani Hanjour, who earned a Commercial Pilot certificate in April 1999, is believed to have piloted the hijacked airplane.^[4] The passenger security checkpoint at Dulles International Airport was operated by Argenbright Security, under contract with United Airlines.

[edit] The flight

AA 77 flight path from Dulles to Pentagon (to east of Dulles).

The flight was scheduled to depart at 08:10 EDT, but actually departed at 08:20 EDT.^[5] The 9/11 Commission estimated that the flight was hijacked between 08:51 EDT and 08:54 EDT, just minutes after the first hijacked plane had struck the World Trade Center in Manhattan at 08:46 EDT. The last normal radio communications from the aircraft to air traffic control occurred at 08:50:51 EDT.^[6]

[edit] Hijacking

At 08:54 EDT, American Airlines Flight 77 began to deviate from its normal, assigned flight path and turned south.^[2] The Boeing 757's autopilot destination was set for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, located a short distance from the Pentagon.^[7] The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center, as well as American Airlines dispatchers, made several failed attempts to contact the aircraft. After learning of this second hijacking involving American Airlines aircraft and the hijacking involving United Airlines, American Airlines Executive Vice President Gerard Arpey ordered a nationwide ground stop for the airline.^[2]

Passenger Barbara Olson, who called her husband, Ted Olson, reported that the assailants had box cutters and knives.^[8] By 08:56 EDT, the flight was turned around, and the transponder had been disabled. The FAA was aware at this point that there was an emergency aboard the plane. By this time, American Airlines Flight 11 had already crashed into the World Trade Center, and United Airlines flight 175 was known to have been hijacked.

A plane was detected again by Dulles controllers on radar screens as it approached Washington, turning and descending rapidly. Controllers initially thought this was a fighter plane, due to its high speed and maneuverability.^[9][10]

[edit] Phone calls

Two people on American Airlines Flight 77 made phone calls to contacts on the ground. At 09:12 EDT, flight attendant Renee May called her mother, Nancy May, in Las Vegas.^[11] During the call, which lasted nearly two minutes,^[11] May said her flight was being hijacked by six individuals and they had been moved to the rear of the plane.^[2] May also asked her mother to contact American Airlines, which she and her husband promptly did.^[2] American Airlines was already aware of the hijacking.

Passenger Barbara K. Olson called her husband, United States Solicitor General Theodore Olson at the Department of Justice twice to tell him about the hijacking and to report that the passengers and pilots were held in the back of the plane. After the first call was cut off, Theodore Olson contacted the command center at the Department of Justice,^[12] and tried unsuccessfully to contact Attorney General John Ashcroft. Olson called her husband back, and asked him "What should I tell the pilot?"^[13]

[edit] Crash

Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C. at 09:37:44 EDT,^[14] killing all of its 53 regular passengers, 5 hijackers, and 6 crew. As the aircraft hurtled towards the Pentagon at 400 miles per hour,^[15] it clipped several street lampposts (one of which fell onto a taxi cab, injuring the driver, Lloyd England^[16]) as passed over Washington Boulevard, approximately 20 feet off the ground.^[17] Its right wing hit a portable generator that provided backup power for the Pentagon and the left engine hit an external steam vault^[18] before it slammed into the Pentagon.

The section of the Pentagon, which had recently been renovated at a cost of $250 million,^[19] housed the Naval Command Center^[20] and other Pentagon offices, as well as some unoccupied offices. The crash and subsequent fire penetrated three outer ring sections of the western side. The outermost ring section was largely destroyed, and a large section collapsed. 125 people in the Pentagon died from the attack.

[edit] Witnesses

The Pentagon is surrounded by Interstate 395 and Washington Boulevard, on the side where the impact occurred. Numerous passersby and other people working in the nearby surrounding area witnessed the aircraft and many saw it crash into the Pentagon.

Steve Riskus witnessed the plane crash into the Pentagon, as he was driving along Washington Boulevard and stopped to take photographs moments after the impact.^[21] Mary Lyman, who was on I-395, saw the airplane pass over at a "steep angle toward the ground and going fast" and then saw the cloud of smoke from the Pentagon.^[22] Jim Sutherland, also on I-395, witnessed the plane pass 50 feet overhead, heading in a straight line into the Pentagon.^[23] Mary Ann Owens, of Gannett News Service, was stuck in traffic near the Pentagon when she saw the airplane pass 50 to 75 feet overhead and crash into the Pentagon.^[24] Another witness, Daryl Donley, saw the crash as he was driving on Washington Boulevard. Among debris that was scattered as the plane crashed, he found a "scorched green oxygen tank marked 'Cabin air. Airline use'" on the road.^[24] Mr. Donley also had a camera with him, and took some of the first photographs after the crash.^[25]

Lloyd England's taxicab hit by a lightpole as American Airlines Flight 77 passed low over Washington Boulevard and crashed into the Pentagon.

USA Today reporter Mike Walter, while driving on Washington Boulevard, also witnessed the crash. He recounted to CNN, "...looked out my window. I saw this plane, the jet, American Airlines jet coming. And I thought, this doesn't add up. It's really low. And I saw it. It just went — I mean, it was like a cruise missile with wings, it went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon. Huge explosion."^[12]

Terrance Kean, who lived in a nearby apartment building, heard the noise of loud jet engines, glanced out his window, and saw "very, very large passenger jet." He watched "it just plow right into the side of the Pentagon. The nose penetrated into the portico. And then it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere."^[26]

Terry Morin, who worked at the nearby Navy Annex, witnessed the airliner pass 100 feet overhead, moments before it crashed into the Pentagon.^[27] Some workers at offices in nearby Crystal City also witnessed the crash.^[22]

Allen Cleveland, who was aboard Washington Metro heading to Ronald Reagan National Airport, "looked out the window to see a jet heading down toward the Pentagon."^[13] Kate Agnew, a passenger on Washington Metro, also witnessed the explosion.^[22]

AP reporter Dave Winslow, who also witnessed the crash, recounted "I saw the tail of a large airliner. ... It plowed right into the Pentagon."^[28] Tim Timmerman, who is a pilot himself, noticed American Airlines markings on the aircraft as he saw it hit the Pentagon.^[29]

Marine Commander Mike Dobbs, who worked at the Pentagon, was on an upper level of the outer ring, looking out the window. He saw an American Airlines aircraft as it passed over the Navy Annex and hit the Pentagon.^[23]

Others who witnessed the explosion at the Pentagon include Democratic Party consultant, Paul Begala.^[28]

[edit] Security camera video

On May 16, 2006, the Department of Defense released filmed footage that was recorded by a security camera of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the Pentagon, with a plane visible in one frame, as a "thin white blur"^[30] and an explosion following.^[31] The images were made public in response to a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch.^[32] Some still images from the video had previously been released and publicly circulated, but this was the first official release of the full video of the crash.^[33] Judicial Watch hoped that the Pentagon security video would dispel conspiracy theories,^[34] though David Yancey, whose wife died on the flight, expressed concerns that the video did not show enough detail to "end the talk of a conspiracy".^[35]

A nearby Citgo gas station also had security cameras, but this video released on September 15, 2006 did not show the crash because it was pointed away.^[36][37][38] The Doubletree hotel, located nearby in Crystal City, Virginia, also had a security camera video, and on December 4, 2006 the FBI released the video in response to a freedom of information lawsuit filed by Scott Bingham. "The video is grainy and the focus is soft, but a rapidly-growing tower of smoke is visible in the distance on the upper edge of the frame as the plane crashes into the building."^[39][40] No plane can be clearly seen entering the Pentagon since the camera was mounted on a lower point on the Doubletree Hotel and an elevated highway obstructs the view of the Pentagon.^[41][42] However, a shape or group of shapes can be seen above the highway, moving from left to right and ending at the explosion point.^[43]

[edit] Collapse

About 18 minutes after impact, upper floors of the damaged area of the Pentagon collapsed. Although most of the plane was destroyed in the massive explosion and subsequent fire, some wreckage was found from the airliner within the impact zone and inside the building. The collapse caused the burial of airliner wreckage inside the Pentagon, with some aircraft parts not located until days later. Pieces of fuselage were found some 30 metres (90 feet) away from the crash site. As opposed to the extremely tall World Trade Center, the Pentagon is merely five stories tall, and thus the flight was forced to dive low enough, according to multiple eyewitness accounts, to glance off the concrete helipad before hitting the Pentagon, which absorbed much of the impact of the crash. The Pentagon is composed of five concentric rings. Due to the thick limestone walls and the sturdiness of building materials being used in the renovations at the time, Flight 77 fully penetrated only the outer three rings, although it caused damage to all five rings. The wings were broken off and pushed into the fuselage, where they were destroyed in the explosion, fire and collapse, although blackening of sections of the building, visible in photographs, seems to have been caused by the burning wings.

[edit] Rescue and recovery

The Arlington County Fire Department led the rescue and recovery efforts at the Pentagon, with involvement from the Arlington County Police Department, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Fort Myer, and others.^[44] Other area jurisdictions, including the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team, were able to assist the rescue and recovery efforts, working through the National Interagency Incident Management System (NIIMS).^[45] The FBI's Washington Field Office, National Capital Response Squad (NCRS), and the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) led the crime scene investigation at the Pentagon.^[44] The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were both recovered at the Pentagon; however, the cockpit voice recorder was so badly damaged and burned that nothing could be recovered from it.

[edit] Victims

Among the 54 non-hijacking passengers were:

• Barbara Olson, American television commentator for CNN (b. 1955). Olson was en route to a taping of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.^[46]
• Three 11-year-old schoolchildren (Bernard Brown, Asia Cottom, and Rodney Dickens) embarking on an educational trip to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary near Santa Barbara, California, as part of a program funded by the National Geographic Society. Their chaperones and National Geographic staff members Sarah Clark, 65, James Debeuneure, 58, Ann Judge, 45, Hilda Taylor and Joe Ferguson, were with the children.^[13]
• Two more children, sisters aged 8 and 3.
• Bryan C. Jack, budget analyst/director of the programming and fiscal economics division, Defense Department. He worked at the Pentagon at the time of the attacks.
• Mari-Rae Sopper, 35, was the women's gymnastics coach at UC Santa Barbara. Sopper was hired as coach less than two weeks before. She graduated from Iowa State in 1988 and received a master's in athletic administration from North Texas in 1993. Three years later, she graduated from the University of Denver College of Law.
• Wilson Flagg- An Admiral in the U.S. Navy

[edit] Memorial

Main article: Pentagon Memorial

A memorial is being constructed at the Pentagon in memory of those who lost their lives at the Pentagon and on American Airlines Flight 77.^[47][48]

[edit] Notes

• After the crash, the flight route designation for future flights on the same route was renumbered to Flight 149, which is now operated by a Boeing 737-800 instead of a Boeing 757-200.
• Flight 77 was the only flight hijacked where a bomb threat was not made. The other three hijacked flights were reported to have one hijacker with a red box strapped around their torso, claiming it to be a bomb.^[49]

[edit] See also

• 9/11 conspiracy theories

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Flight manifest for American Airlines flight 77
• Memorial wiki tribute to those killed in this flight (with flight manifest)
• Joint Staff FOIA Requester Service Center- Pentagon site for two videos released by same on 16 May 2006
• GPOAccess.gov - 'The 9-11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Official Government Edition' 2005)
• Full series of images
• 3-D simulation of the last moments of American Airlines Flight 77 - 911 Case Study: Pentagon Flight 77
• 9-11 NTSB Report
• Arlington Fire Journal - Arlington County Fire Dept. operations at crash site