One of the mysteries of the Langley AFB fighter reponse has been why they were sent to a CAP point south of D.C. instead of over downtown. On page 181, Spencer explains that this was an error by the NEADS controller, transposing a coordinate.

The CAP point given by NORAD was 38 25 N, 077 02 W. If you change the minutes in the latitude value from 25 to 52 (38 52 N, 077 02 W), then the CAP point is over DC.

It could happen….

I’ve just finished reading a new book by Lynn Spencer, Touching History and I am thoroughly pleased with the effort. Ms. Spencer has spent the last three years researching and interviewing many of the front-line participants who were engaged in managing the crisis and responding with an air defense on the morning of 9/11. It certainly cleared up a lot of questions still lingering in my own mind, although at the same time raising others.

I will be addressing a lot of the information and issues raised in this book in forthcoming posts. For now I wanted to praise her effort and express my complete delight with the book. She offers an explanation for the CAP point issued to the Langley fighters by NEADS which sent the fighters south of the DC area, which is actually quite reasonable, although sure to be controversial. The mystery of what happened to the Atlantic City fighters is addressed, along with the multiple chains-of-command among the various responding Wings.

I found the section dealing with AAL77 and the Pentagon attack very wanting, and I found little that was actually new in that section, except further confirmation that GOFER 06 (the C-130) was on a westbound departure from Andrews AFB. Fortunately, Pinnacle recently acquired the transcripts of that ATC conversation as well.

Since my future posts will look at some of the information in the book in a critical light, I wanted to make it clear beforehand that overall I find the book an easy read and a wonderful addition to my library. I highly recommend it to any serious researcher.

When I began this research several years ago, I had just finished reading the 911 Commission Report for the first time and was only vaguely familiar with the “conspiracy theories” which abounded on the internet and late-night radio. Although most of the “conspiracy” stuff I came across bordered on comedic, I did run across a few things that seemed worthy of further research. I simply did not want to believe that my government had lied to me, because the cost of that lie was too high. Yet, I determined to approach both sets of evidence (official and non-official) with an open mind.

I’m at the point now where I think I have learned more than I want to know. I’m entering now the shadowy world where spooks reside, and the reality that I, along with every other American has been lied to, or at the very least not told the whole truth. I don’t want to know this stuff, and I yearn for the days of ignorance when I could enjoy my fantasy where the lines between good and evil were clearly drawn. But I guess once innocence is lost, it can never be regained.

Perhaps all I need is a good nights sleep…

Caustic Logic has completed a good analysis of the Citgo shadow. Of course he is still got some work to do before he understands the light flashes, but it is a start.

“. . . when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Holmes

There is a solid and definitive evidence set for the “official” approach and impact of AAL77 (or equivalent) into the Pentagon. There is also a growing body of evidence of an airborne object to the North of the Citgo and in the vicinity of the ANC. These are incompatible evidence sets, but both exist and are compelling. It sure would be nice to have those Navy Annex and other Pentagon videos to resolve the conflicts.

Kudos to CIT! I was hoping they would go back to Arlington and follow-up on the ANC eyewitness set and they did not disappoint. Here is the trailer for the anticipated July release for those interviews.

Of course they will have their usual spin to it, but as I’ve already mentioned, they do a great job of getting these witnesses on the record although refusing to acknowledge that after almost 7 years the accounts are corrupted somewhat. I am excited however and anxiously awaiting the release. Together with the CMH statements they should resolve a few outstanding issues.

Related:

NEIT 032 added

NEIT 322

NEIT 501

NEIT 780

 I don’t know why I waste my time, but why not. Adam over at Caustic Logic has been annoying me of late with questions that can easily be answered with a little work on his part, so I finally had to tell him to stop wasting my time with foolishness. Although I did not call him an idiot, his continual nagging with foolishness certainly gives that impression.

Notice in image one that the parked car is reflecting a spot of sunlight which is slightly detectable in the camera (circle). It is also faintly visible on the canopy (arrow).

In the next frame, the car has moved forward slightly (notice reference line) and the incidence angle is now such that the sunlight is reflecting directly at the camera, ergo a flash is observed.

It is also noteworthy that a line drawn between the spot of light on the car and the camera is aligned approximately corresponding to the Sun’s azimuth (113 degrees) at the time (09:40:38).

I don’t mind helping anyone with a serious inquiry, but if I give you my evaluation and you want to argue the point, then I have better things to do with my time. As I have said numerous times, I’m not into the mindless hair-splitting nonsensical debate found in the internet forum world, so leave me out of it.

Two additional witnesses added to the CMH page:

NEIT 295 - I think most people will know her.

NEIT 473 - Witnessed event from South Parking Lot, Lane 1 (too bad CIT, he did not see Roberts 2nd plane).

Langley AFB and the USN FACSFAC VACAPES (Giant Killer) were directly involved in the NORAD (NEADS) response to defend Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. Due to an alledged ATC error, 3 fighters scrambled at ~9:30 a.m. were sent out over the Atlantic Ocean instead of towards the D.C. area. Their mission was to intercept and divert aircraft approaching that area.

I submitted two FOIA’s and an eventual appeal seeking the ATC audio recordings and other records associated with this response. Both facilities insist that the ATC recordings were “routinely” taped over and destroyed within 15 days of September 11, 2001. In the case of the USAF (AFI 23-204, paragraph 3.2.3), such records are required to be retained when “alleged deviations” are involved. The appeal response:

In this case, no aircraft from Langley AFB were involved in any mishap on September 11, 2001.

When these records are essential to determining what went wrong with the Langley fighter response, and any reasonable person would expect that Congressional, military and public investigations would seek to answer that question, the destruction of these records is in my opinion criminally negligent.

I completed the scanning of NEIT 503 and have it uploaded. It covers the Army Mortuary efforts (see also the Navy After-Action Report). It is a 125-page interview with some interesting observations.