Mirror.co.uk
Sep
12 2002
RICHARD WALLACE, US Editor, examines riddle of hijacked jet as he visits crash site
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12192317&method=full&siteid=50143
THE
unmarked
military-style jet
swooped down at high
speed through the
valley, twice circled
the smoldering black
scar where Flight 93
had careered into the
ground just seconds
earlier and then
hurtled off over the
horizon.
GRIEF:
Victims' relatives
visit a makeshift
memorial at crash site
At
least six eyewitnesses
saw the mysterious
aircraft on the
morning of September
11 last year. But the
US authorities deny it
ever existed.
So
when George Bush laid
a wreath yesterday at
the crash site in a
remote valley outside
Shanksville,
Pennsylvania, he was
one of only a handful
of people who know
what really happened
to the 40 innocents
and four hijackers
aboard the doomed
United Airlines Boeing
757-200.
Those
unimaginable final
seconds as passengers
showed courageous
defiance apparently
wrestling for control
of the aircraft have
become one of the
defining images of the
tragedy.
And
"Let's roll"
- ringleader Todd
Beamer's no-nonsense
call to arms - became
a defining battle cry
in America's war on
terror.
But
of the four aircraft
taken on September 11,
the exact fate of
Flight 93 after its
two-hour journey is
proving difficult for
US officials to
explain.
What
was the white jet
doing there and why
won't they admit to
its presence? Why did
other witnesses see
smoke and flames
trailing from Flight
93 as it fell from the
sky, indicating a
possible explosion
aboard?
Or
- and this is proving
to be the most
uncomfortable question
of all - in the
moments before the
airliner piled into
the black, spongy
earth at 575mph did an
American fighter pilot
have to do the
unthinkable and shoot
down a US civil
airliner?
Susan
Mcelwain, 51, who
lives two miles from
the site, knows what
she saw - the white
plane rocketed
directly over her
head.
"It
came right over me, I
reckon just 40 or 50ft
above my
mini-van," she
recalled. "It was
so low I ducked
instinctively. It was
traveling real fast,
but hardly made any
sound.
"Then
it disappeared behind
some trees. A few
seconds later I heard
this great explosion
and saw this fireball
rise up over the
trees, so I figured
the jet had crashed.
The ground really
shook. So I dialed 911
and told them what
happened.
"I'd
heard nothing about
the other attacks and
it was only when I got
home and saw the TV
that I realized it
wasn't the white jet,
but Flight 93.
Didn't
think much more about
it until the
authorities started to
say there had been no
other plane. The plane
I saw was heading
right to the point
where Flight 93
crashed and must have
been there at the very
moment it came down.
"There's
no way I imagined this
plane - it was so low
it was virtually on
top of me. It was
white with no markings
but it was definitely
military, it just had
that look.
"It
had two rear engines,
a big fin on the back
like a spoiler on the
back of a car and with
two upright fins at
the side. I haven't
found one like it on
the internet. It
definitely wasn't one
of those executive
jets. The FBI came and
talked to me and said
there was no plane
around.
"Then
they changed their
story and tried to say
it was a plane taking
pictures of the crash
3,000ft up.
"But
I saw it and it was
there before the crash
and it was 40ft above
my head. They did not
want my story - nobody
here did."
Mrs.
Mcelwain, who looks
after special needs
children, is further
convinced the whole
truth has yet to come
out because of a phone
call she had within
hours from the wife of
an air force friend of
the family.
"She
said her husband had
called her that
morning and said 'I
can't talk, but we've
just shot a plane
down,' " Susan
said. "I presumed
they meant Flight 93.
I have no doubt those
brave people on board
tried to do something,
but I don't believe
what happened on the
plane brought it down.
"If
they shot it down, or
something else
happened, everyone,
especially the
victims' families,
have a right to
know."
Lee
Purbaugh, 32, was the
only person to see the
last seconds of Flight
93 as it came down on
former strip-mining
land at precisely
10.06am - and he also
saw the white jet.
He
was working at the
Rollock Inc. scrap yard
on a ridge overlooking
the point of impact,
less than half a mile
away. "I heard
this real loud noise
coming over my
head," he told
the Daily Mirror.
"I looked up and
it was Flight 93,
barely 50ft above me.
It was coming down in
a 45 degree and
rocking from side to
side. Then the nose
suddenly dipped and it
just crashed into the
ground. There was this
big fireball and then
a huge cloud of
smoke."
But
did he see another
plane? "Yes,
there was another
plane," Lee said.
"I didn't get a
good look but it was
white and it circled
the area about twice
and then it flew off
over the
horizon."
Tom
Spinelli, 28, was
working at India Lake
Marina, a mile and a
half away. "I saw
the white plane,"
he said.
"It
was flying around all
over the place like it
was looking for
something. I saw it
before and after the
crash."
India
Lake also contributes
to the view there was
an explosion on board
before the Newark-San
Francisco flight came
down. Debris rained
down on the lake - a
curious feat if, as
the US government
insists, there was no
mid-air explosion and
the plane was intact
until it hit the
ground.
"It
was mainly mail, bits
of in-flight magazine
and scraps of seat
cloth," Tom said.
"The authorities
say it was blown here
by the wind." But
there was only a 10mph
breeze and you were a
mile and a half away?
Tom raised his
eyebrows, rolled his
eyes and said:
"Yeah, that's
what they
reckon."
Light
debris was also found
eight miles away in
New Baltimore. A
section of engine
weighing a ton was
located 2,000 yards -
over a mile -from the
crash site. Theorists
point out a Sidewinder
heat-seeking missile
attacks the hottest
part of aircraft - the
engine.
The
authorities say the
impact bounced it
there. But the few
pieces of surviving
fuselage, local
coroner Wallace Miller
told us, were "no
bigger than a carrier
bag".
Nearly
all the passengers
were reduced to
charcoal on impact and
the largest piece of
human tissue found was
a section of spine
eight inches long.
CURIOUSLY,
military officials
insist there was never
any pursuit of Flight
93, although they were
informed that it was a
suspected hijack at
9.16am, 50 minutes
before the plane came
down.
At
9.35am they assumed it
was heading for
Washington DC after it
changed course in a
180 degree turn and
three F-16s - top
speed 1,800mph - now
patrolling over the
capital were told to
"protect the
White House at all
costs".
An
anonymous flight
controller said on the
day that an F-16 was
"in hot
pursuit" of
Flight 93 - Washington
to Shanksville is
seven to 10 minutes
flying time.
A
few minutes before the
crash Bill Wright,
piloting a
single-engine Piper,
could see Flight 93
three miles away, but
was suddenly told to
turn away and land
immediately without
explanation.
At
9.58am a 911 call -
the last mobile phone
contact from Flight 93
- was made from one of
the airliner's toilets
by passenger Edward
Felt.
Glenn
Cramer, the emergency
supervisor who
answered it, said on
the day: "He was
very distraught. He
said he believed the
plane was going down.
"He
did hear some sort of
an explosion and saw
white smoke coming
from the plane, but he
didn't know where. And
then we lost contact
with him." Glenn
Cramer has now been
gagged by the FBI.
Also,
according to sources,
the last seconds of
the cockpit voice
recorder are the loud
sounds of wind,
hinting at a possible
hole somewhere in the
fuselage. What caused
the smoke and
explosion? Why the
wind sounds?
The
FBI's later
explanation for the
white jet was that a
passing civilian
Fairchild Falcon 20
jet was asked to
descend from 34,000ft
to 5,000ft some
minutes after the
crash to give
co-ordinates for the
site. The plane and
pilot have never been
produced or
identified. Susan
Mcelwain says a Falcon
20 was not the plane
she saw.
FURTHER
verification that some
kind of military
aircraft was operating
in the area is
scientifically
irrefutable.
At
9.22am a sonic boom -
caused by supersonic
flight - was picked up
by an earthquake
monitoring station in
southern Pennsylvania,
60 miles from
Shanksville.
That
Todd Beamer and others
launched an assault on
the hijackers there is
no doubt. The brief
extracts released from
audio tapes indicate a
fierce struggle going
on at the cockpit
door.
But
nobody - official or
otherwise - has
categorically said the
group got into the
cockpit or that their
actions led to the
crash. Those final, agonizing
moments are mere
presumption.
President
Bush and his team have
the whole story. So
why aren't they
telling the rest of
us?
UA93:
THE EVIDENCE
THE
WITNESSES
At
least SIX witnesses,
including Susan
Mcelwain saw a small
military type plane
flying around shortly
BEFORE UA93 crashed.
The FBI denies its
existence
THE
DEBRIS
The
US Government insists
the plane exploded on
impact yet a one-ton
section of the engine
was found over a mile
away and other light
debris was found
scattered over eight
miles away
THE
MOBILE CALL
Passenger
Edward Felt made an
emergency call from
the plane. He spoke of
an explosion and
seeing some white
smoke. The supervisor
who took the call has
been gagged by the FBI
THE
F-16s
UA93
was identified as a
hijack at 9.16am. At
9.35am three F-16s
were ordered to
"protect the
White House at all
costs" when it
turned towards the
capital. At 10.06am it
crashed at Shanksville,
less than 10mins
flying time from
Washington
THE
BLACK BOXES
Sources
claim the last thing
heard on the cockpit
voice recorder is the
sound of wind -
suggesting the plane
had been holed
THE
SONIC BOOM
The
FBI insists there was
no military plane in
the area but at 9.22am
a sonic boom - caused
by a supersonic jet -
was picked up by an
earthquake monitor in
southern Pennsylvania,
60 miles away from
Shanksville.
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