Flight 77

Let's start by looking at the key points in the story of Flight 77 as told by the 9-11 Commission Report.

8:20 Takeoff
8:51 Last routine radio communication
8:51-8:54 Likely takeover
8:54 Flight 77 makes unauthorized turn to south
8:56 Transponder is turned off
9:05 AA headquarters aware that Flight 77 is hijacked
9:25 Herndon Command Center orders nationwide ground stop
9:32 Dulles tower observes radar of fast-moving aircraft (later identified as AA 77)
9:34 FAA advises NEADS that AA 77 is missing
9:37:46 AA 77 crashes into the Pentagon
10:30 AA headquarters confirms Flight 77 crash into Pentagon

American 77 began deviating from its flight plan at 8:54, with a slight turn toward the south. Two minutes later, it disappeared completely from radar at Indianapolis Center, which was controlling the flight.¹³⁸

The controller tracking American 77 told us he noticed the aircraft turning to the southwest, and then saw the data disappear. The controller looked for primary radar returns. He searched along the plane's projected flight path and the airspace to the southwest where it had started to turn. No primary targets appeared. He tried the radios, first calling the aircraft directly, then the air-line. Again there was nothing. At this point, the Indianapolis controller had no knowledge of the situation in New York. He did not know that other aircraft had been hijacked. He believed American 77 had experienced serious electrical or mechanical failure, or both, and was gone.¹³⁹

The failure to find a primary radar return for American 77 led us to investigate this issue further. Radar reconstructions performed after 9/11 reveal that FAA radar equipment tracked the flight from the moment its transponder was turned off at 8:56. But for 8 minutes and 13 seconds, between 8:56 and 9:05, this primary radar information on American 77 was not displayed to controllers at Indianapolis Center.¹⁴² The reasons are technical, arising from the way the software processed radar information, as well as from poor primary radar coverage where American 77 was flying.

According to the radar reconstruction, American 77 re-emerged as a primary target on Indianapolis Center radar scopes at 9:05, east of its last known position. The target remained in Indianapolis Center's airspace for another six minutes, then crossed into the western portion of Washington Center's airspace at 9:10.As Indianapolis Center continued searching for the aircraft, two managers and the controller responsible for American 77 looked to the west and southwest along the flight's projected path, not east-where the aircraft was now heading. Managers did not instruct other controllers at Indianapolis Center to turn on their primary radar coverage to join in the search for American 77.¹⁴³

This completely contradicts the testimony of Col. Alan Scott at the 2nd hearing of the Commission (9-11 commission hearing, 23rd May 2003)

"And at about that same time, kind of way out in the West, is when America 77, which in the meantime has turned off its transponder and turned left back toward Washington, appears back in radar coverage. And my understanding is the FAA controllers now are beginning to pick up primary skin paints on an airplane, and they don't know exactly whether that is 77, and they are asking a lot of people whether it is, including an a C-130 that is westbound toward Ohio."

Download and view the Flytecomm video from http://irvingshapiro.tripod.com/cgi-bin/Flight_93/crashother.avi. You will see that Flight 77 actually did reappear to the West. If this radar track (labelled by the FAA with the Flight 77 data block) is Flight 77, then it cannot have hit the Pentagon. The timeline simply does not allow it.

If you are unable to download the video you can view some screenshots and a timeline here..

If this is not Flight 77 then the only other explanation would be that the FAA somehow managed to either automatically or manually label another plane with as Flight 77. How could this happen? How could the controllers not have spotted that it was the wrong plane for such a long period? Why do the locations of this plane fit so tidily into Flight 77's flight path (the red dotted line in the video)?

Now let's look at some diagrams that show how Flight 77 "disappeared completely from radar".

	Click on the graphic for a larger image. The air traffic control sector that Flight 77 is shown flying through was using the secondary radar site labelled QHY-E. When the transponder was switched off this, in itself would cause the plane to disappear. If the controller decided to try and find the plane using either of the two primary radar sites QWO-E and QRI-E he might also run into problems. Flight 77 is shown heading directly for the centre point between the two radar sites. A relatively low flying plane would not be picked up at this point simply because of the distance from the radars and the curvature of the earth.
	This image shows the official flight path from the Commission Report superimposed onto the FAA map of the radar sites. Notice how the attackers used the radar layout to hide the plane for as long as possible. The white area is a mountainous region that is not covered by primary radar at all. The crinkled edges of the radar are caused by the mountains. Notice also how the attackers came in through the least protected area around Washington D.C. Ask yourself how they knew exactly where to turn and where to attack.
	Here is an analysis of the official return journey of Flight 77. Note how neatly it flies over the two small airports and follows the green ATC sector boundary after it crosses into Washington airspace.
	The Detroit News clearly obtained its data from Flytecomm.