flight 77 black box transcript
The reader of these transcripts is cautioned that the transcription of a CVR or ATC tape is not a precise science but is the best possible product from a group investigative effort. Transcript 09:31:57 Ladies and Gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit … [30], Two people onboard the aircraft made phone calls to contacts on the ground. [97], During a press conference held inside the Pentagon at 18:42, Rumsfeld announced, "The Pentagon's functioning. Pusey, Allen. [89], About 03:40 on September 14, a paramedic and a firefighter who were searching through the debris of the impact site found two dark boxes, about 1.5 feet (46 cm) by 2 feet (61 cm) long. Deregistered Aircraft 1 of 1 . [Washington Times, 9/14/2001] These boxes are the plane’s flight data recorder and its cockpit voice recorder. [99] The rebuilt section of the Pentagon includes a small indoor memorial and chapel at the point of impact. And I thought, 'This doesn't add up, it's really low.' [2], Hanjour trained at the CRM Airline Training Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, earning his FAA commercial pilot's certificate in April 1999. all right you just have the track out there, 9:06:29 -- Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: you guys never been able to raise him at all, 9:06:31 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: no we called company they can't even get a hold of him so there's no no uh no radio communications and no radar, 9:06:36 -- Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: and his last clearance as far as you know is on course to falmouth and then jay one thirty four right well we're just gonna treat him like non radar and we've already told the next sector they're gonna have to sterilize for him until we find out, 9:06:49 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: O.K. The U.S. Army suffered 75 fatalities – 53 civilians (47 employees and six contractors) and 22 soldiers – while the U.S. Navy suffered 42 fatalities – nine civilians (six employees and three contractors) and 33 sailors. Hanjour's brother later explained that, frustrated at not finding a job, Hanjour "increasingly turned his attention toward religious texts and cassette tapes of militant Islamic preachers". Not all black boxes were destroyed. "[98] Pentagon employees returned the next day to offices in mostly unaffected areas of the building. I could never imagine I would see anything like that here. [52] Seven Defense Intelligence Agency civilian employees were killed while the Office of the Secretary of Defense lost one contractor. While the cable said Mansoori was currently under investigation, U.S. law enforcement officials said there was no active investigation of him or of the Qatari citizens mentioned in the cable. Aluminum plaques, painted black, are inscribed with the names of the 184 victims of the terrorist attack. Thompson was planning to be in Las Vegas for a friend's birthday on September 13, and initially insisted on traveling to Rome's Los Angeles studio on the 11th. "[23][37], According to the 9/11 Commission Report, as Flight 77 was 5 miles (8.0 km) west-southwest of the Pentagon, it made a 330-degree spiral turn clockwise. In its report, the NTSB identified the unit as an L-3 Communications, Fairchild Aviation Recorders model A-100A cockpit voice recorder – a device which records on magnetic tape. [72] After 11:00, firefighters mounted a two-pronged attack against the fires. The New York Times, April 12, 2006. American Forces Press Service. Eleanor Hill, the former staff director for the congressional joint inquiry on the September 11 attacks, said the cable reinforces questions about the thoroughness of the FBI's investigation. No usable segments of tape were found inside the recorder; according to the NTSB's report, "[t]he majority of the recording tape was fused into a solid block of charred plastic". N E W Y O R K, Sept. 14, 2001 -- Workers at the Pentagon have recovered the "black box" flight data recorders from the collapsed portion of the building, where a … The footage 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. [8], In December 2000, Hanjour arrived in San Diego, joining "muscle" hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who had been there since January of that year. By David Stout. The NTSB employee confirmed that these were the flight recorders ("black boxes") from American Airlines Flight 77. The black boxes for UA Flight 93 and AA Flight 77 were found, but the CVR for AA 77 was badly burned and the information recorded on it was not recoverable. They deliberately crashed the plane into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., killing all 64 aboard (including six crew and themselves) and another 125 in the building. An report two years prior to the publication of the Commission's Report -- when the crash time was widely recognized as 10:06 -- stated that "the last seconds of the cockpit … Contact climb and maintain five thousand. [49] A group of three 11-years old children, their chaperones, and two National Geographic Society staff members were also on board, embarking on an educational trip west to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary near Santa Barbara, California. They moved into an apartment with Hazmi and Hanjour. It hit some lampposts on the way in. "[61] Tim Timmerman, who is a pilot himself, noticed American Airlines markings on the aircraft as he saw it hit the Pentagon. [64], Rescue efforts began immediately after the crash. 8:20:47 -- AAL77: Five thousand, American 77. September 12, 2002. Vogel, Steve. Ah .. just barely .. we'll pick up the ILS here. 8:12:36 -- Ground Control West: American 77 Dulles taxi to runway three zero. [34] He told her of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Please note the same details, reason for cancellation and cancellation date. The 1.93-acre (7,800 m2) park contains a bench for each of the victims, arranged according to their year of birth, ranging from 1930 to 1998. [3] He had wanted to be a commercial pilot for Saudia but was rejected when he applied to the civil aviation school in Jeddah in 1999. American Airlines said Tuesdays were the least-traveled day of the week, with the same load factor seen on Tuesdays in the previous three months for Flight 77. 8:12:29 -- AAL77: Good morning ground American seven seven is off of dixie twenty six with information tango. [12] On September 10, he completed a certification flight, using a terrain recognition system for navigation, at Congressional Air Charters in Gaithersburg, Maryland. [85] In 2002, the remains of 25 victims were buried collectively at Arlington National Cemetery, with a five-sided granite marker inscribed with the names of all the victims in the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld insisted he remain at the Pentagon, and sent Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to Site R. The National Military Command Center (NMCC) continued to operate at the Pentagon, even as smoke entered the facility. Utility knives up to four inches were permitted at the time by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as carry-on items. [5] A transcript from UA 93’s CVR was released by the FBI in the 2006 trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. O.K. The Boeing 757-223 aircraft serving the flight was hijacked by five Saudi men affiliated with al-Qaeda on the morning of September 11, 2001. Almost all the successful rescues of survivors occurred within half an hour of the impact. Unknown to the hijackers, passengers aboard made telephone calls to friends and family and relayed information on the hijacking. 8:16:01 -- Local Control West: American 77, Dulles tower. The hijackers crashed the aircraft into the western side of the Pentagon at 09:37. Because… you aren’t paying attention. Runway three zero cleared for take off. Minutes later, at 10:10, the upper floors of the damaged area of the Pentagon collapsed. However, the CVR from Flight 77 was said to … [90] Dick Bridges, deputy manager for Arlington County, Virginia, said the cockpit voice recorder was damaged on the outside and the flight data recorder was charred. The Pentagon Memorial, located just southwest of The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, is a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people who died as victims in the building and on American Airlines Flight 77 during the September 11 attacks. [111] A portion of the remains of 25 other victims are also buried at the site. Hanjour, al-Mihdhar, and Moqed were chosen by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) criteria, while the brothers Nawaf and Salem al-Hazmi were selected because they did not provide adequate identification and were deemed suspicious by the airline check-in agent. O.K., O.K. [53] Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, an Army Deputy Chief of Staff, was the highest-ranking military officer killed at the Pentagon; also killed was retired Rear Admiral Wilson Flagg, a passenger on the plane. We also remember and cherish the lives of the beloved Americans who boarded Flight 77 at Dulles Airport that morning. Bridges said the recorders were found "right where the plane came into the building". [5][9] Soon after arriving, Hanjour and Hazmi left for Mesa, Arizona, where Hanjour began refresher training at Arizona Aviation. [69], By October 2, 2001, the search for evidence and remains was complete and the site was turned over to Pentagon officials. 8:16:32 -- Local Control West: American 77, Dulles tower. Recordings from Cleveland's Air Traffic Control tracking United 93 is available online for listening. Flight 77’s damaged cockpit voice recorder. Events on board Flight 11 and Flight 175 are identified as relating to the attacks at the World Trade Center. 8:12:39 -- AAL77: Taxi three zero American seven seven. [17][18] The aircraft was built and had its first flight in 1991 and delivered to American Airlines in May 1991. However, the data of the flight data recorders, or the voice from the voice recorder from Flight 77 have never been released: Sept. 14, 2001 -- Searchers found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders about 4 a.m. today in the wreckage of the hijacked plane that slammed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, Defense Department officials said. Passenger Barbara Olson was en route to a recording of the TV show Politically Incorrect. [44] The front part of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, while the mid and tail sections moved for another fraction of a second, with tail section debris penetrating furthest into the building. 8:23:55 -- North Departure Low: O.K., alright. we're trying to get a hold of him we also contacted you company so thanks for the help, 9:01:50 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: over ride line beeping, 9:02:00 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: outside line ringing, 9:02:07 -- AAL: American dispatch Jim McDonnel, 9:02:09 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: yeah this is indianapolis center we uh I don't know if I'm talking to the same guy about American 77, 9:02:13 -- AAL: yeah I I I cell called him but I did not get a reply back from him, 9:02:17 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: we uh we lost track control of the guy he's in coast track but we haven't we don't where his target is and we can't get a hold of him um you guys tried him and no response, 9:02:26 -- AAL: no response (background noise), 9:02:28 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: yeah we have no radar contact and uh no communications with him so if you guys could try again, 9:02:37 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: all right thanks a lot, 9:03:07 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar: American 77 Indy, 9:06:20 -- Indianapolis Control: override line beeping, 9:06:21 -- Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: falmouth decos, 9:06:22 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: this is henderson American seventy seven do you guys have radar on him is he over falmouth or, 9:06:25 -- Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: no we just moved the track there we never you know, 9:06:27 -- Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: O.K. The transcript, or parts thereof, if taken out of context can be misleading. The medical examiner's office was able to identify remains belonging to 179 of the victims. Everybody was running away in different directions. [23] About five minutes later, Barbara Olson called again, told her husband the "pilot" (possibly Hanjour on the cabin intercom) had announced the flight was hijacked, and asked, "What do I tell the pilot to do? Text in parentheses was translated from Arabic. He felt the impact from the crash at his home near the Pentagon. Timeline of the transcript and the plane's flight is also at the bottom of this page. It was capable of recording data from the entire flight from take-off to crash. Chief Schwartz ordered two evacuations during the day in response to these rumors. Oct. 16, 2001 Following is a transcript of the radio communications of American Airlines Flight 77 (AAL77), which took off from Dulles International Airport … As of September 2018, flight number 77 has been renumbered to 252, now using a Boeing 737-800, departing at 07:27. The FBI released the video on December 4, 2006, in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed by Scott Bingham. [26], The hijackers were all selected for extra screening of their checked bags. The whole ground shook and the whole area was full of fire. He had difficulty picking out the airplane in the "East Coast haze", but then saw a "huge" fireball and assumed it had hit the ground. [85] However, the project moved forward at an accelerated pace and was completed by the first anniversary of the attack. 8:23:28 -- North Departure Low: O.K. Already having selected the Hamburg cell members, Al Qaeda leaders selected Hanjour to lead the fourth team of hijackers. [52], —Jim Miklaszewski, NBC Pentagon correspondent reporting from inside the Pentagon at 09:39[56]. The cockpit crew were … [58], Afework Hagos, a computer programmer, was on his way to work and stuck in a traffic jam near the Pentagon when the airplane flew over. [95] On the day of the attacks, DoD officials considered moving their command operations to Site R, a backup facility in Pennsylvania. [28] Unlike the other three flights, there were no reports of anyone being stabbed or a bomb threat and the pilots were possibly not immediately killed but herded to the back of the plane with the rest of the passengers. On the flight, Hani Hanjour was seated up front in 1B, while Salem and Nawaf al-Hazmi were seated in first class in seats 5E and 5F. At around 3:40 a.m on September 14, a paramedic and a firefighter [] who were searching through the debris of the impact site found two dark boxes, about 1.5 by 2 feet long. ACFD Assistant Chief James Schwartz implemented an incident command system (ICS) to coordinate response efforts among multiple agencies. [23] The hijackers set the flight's autopilot on a course heading east towards Washington, D.C.[29], The FAA was aware at this point there was an emergency on board the airplane. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, both black boxes from Flight 77 and both black boxes from Flight 93 were recovered. [87] The remains of the five hijackers were identified through a process of elimination, and were turned over as evidence to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). [42] Investigators also found a part of Nawaf al-Hazmi's driver's license in the North Parking Lot rubble pile. While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. It was tilting its wings up and down like it was trying to balance. Good day. Hani Hanjour checked in separately and arrived at the passenger security checkpoint at 07:35. Firefighters continued to put out smaller fires that ignited in the succeeding days. [73] Typical firefighting tactics were rendered useless by the reinforced structure as firefighters were unable to reach the fire to extinguish it. The Washington Field Office, National Capital Response Squad (NCRS), and the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) led the crime scene investigation at the Pentagon. All times are in EDT on Sept. 11, 2001. Cass, Connie. [11] While in Maryland, Hanjour and fellow hijackers trained at Gold's Gym in Greenbelt. O.K. Sickening thuds, moans of pain, despairing pleas for mercy and then a final defiant "Allah is the greatest" resounded through a … Garamone, Jim. 08 Nov 1965: American Airlines: 383: Have you still got the runway OK? Hani Hanjour, one of the hijackers who was trained as a pilot, assumed control of the flight. 30 Jun 1967 The following timeline focuses primarily on events related to United Airlines Flight 93, the plane which did not strike the terrorists’ intended target. 8:20:38 -- AAL77: Is with you passing one decimal one for three. American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled American Airlines domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. The cockpit voice recorder from Flight 77 was heavily damaged from the impact and resulting fire. "[33] Ted Olson asked her location and she reported the plane was flying low over a residential area. By this time, Flight 11 had already crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center and Flight 175 was known to have been hijacked and was within minutes of striking the South Tower. [1] Hanjour first came to the United States in 1990. The 184 victims of the attack are memorialized in the Pentagon Memorial adjacent to the crash site. The FDR on Flight 93 was a solid-state, digital model measuring 19.5” long x 5” wide, x 6” high. On the side where the plane hit, the Pentagon is bordered by Interstate 395 and Washington Boulevard. [60], Terrance Kean, who lived in a nearby apartment building, heard the noise of loud jet engines, glanced out his window, and saw a "very, very large passenger jet". Was Among Last Stops For Hijackers; Those Who Recall Encounters Are Haunted By Proximity To Agents Of Tragic Event", "WikiLeaks cable revives talk of 9/11 support network", "Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 77", "N644AA AMERICAN AIRLINES BOEING 757-200", "Staff Monograph on the "Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security, "The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks – Staff Statement No. The tape begins at … [27] During the call, which lasted nearly two minutes, May said her flight "was being hijacked by six persons", and staff and passengers had been moved to the rear of the airplane. 3", "New Video of 9/11 hijackers at Dulles Airport before attacks", United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, "Study of Autopilot, Navigation Equipment, and Fuel Consumption Activity Based on United Airlines Flight 93 and American Airlines Flight 77 Digital Flight Data Recorder Information", "Probe reconstructs horror, calculated attacks on planes", "Wife of Solicitor General alerted him of hijacking from plane", "On Flight 77: 'Our Plane Is Being Hijacked, "To the Minute, Panel Paints a Grim Portrait of Day's Terror", "Phoenix Rising: The Rebuilding of the Pentagon", "Survivor of Pentagon attack has a positive attitude", "Team from National Geographic Killed in Pentagon Crash", "Military's aid and comfort ease 9/11 survivors' burden", "Sept. 11 fallen warrior memorialized in building dedication", "Witnesses to the moment: Workers' voices", "Loud Boom, Then Flames In Hallways; Pentagon Employees Flee Fire, Help Rescue Injured Co-Workers", "Transcripts – America Under Attack: Eyewitness Discusses Pentagon Plane Crash", "Arlington, Virginia After-Action Report", "Inside the Pentagon on 9/11: The Call of Duty", "Web Exclusive: Washington's Heroes – On the ground at the Pentagon on Sept. 11", "Prosecution Trial Exhibits – Exhibit Number PE00102", "Twin Towers Demolished, Pentagon Hit in Terrorist Attacks", "The Pentagon Attack on 9-11: Arlington County (VA) Fire Department Response", "Mass Fatality Management for Incidents Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction", "Forensic feat IDs nearly all Pentagon victims", "Washington's Heroes: On the ground at the Pentagon on Sept. 11", "Specialist's Factual Report of Investigation: Cockpit Voice Recorder", "Specialist's Factual Report of Investigation: Digital Flight Data Recorder", "Project Phoenix: Pentagon offices rise from rubble", "Nearly complete Pentagon memorial tells story of 9/11", "Flight Finder ✈ Washington Dulles Intl (KIAD) – Los Angeles Intl (KLAX) ✈ FlightAware", "Video of 9/11 plane hitting Pentagon is released", "Judicial Watch Obtains September 11 Pentagon Video", "Images show September 11 Pentagon crash", "CITGO Gas Station Cameras Near Pentagon Evidently Did Not Capture Attack", "FBI Releases New Footage of 9/11 Pentagon Attack", "South Pool: Panel S-74 – Timothy J. Maude".