December 18, 2010

Flight AA11's "Routine Medical Emergency" on 9/11

According to official sources, at approximately 8:19 a stewardess reported from the back of the plane in a recorded call that "we can't breathe," because of a chemical irritant in the cabin. Shortly thereafter, she stated, "We can't breathe in business class. Somebody's got mace or something." At 8:26 and again at 8:38 she reported that the plane was “ﬂying erratically”. Yet at 8:41 another stewardess reported "that passengers in coach were under the impression that there was a routine medical emergency in ﬁrst class."

THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (page 5)

At 8:19, [Betty] Ong reported: "The cockpit is not answering, somebody's stabbed in business class -- and I think there's Mace -- that we can't breathe -- I don't know, I think we're getting hijacked." She then told of the stabbings of the two ﬂight attendants.

At 8:21, one of the American employees receiving Ong's call in North Carolina, Nydia Gonzalez, alerted the American Airlines operations center in Fort Worth, Texas, reaching Craig Marquis, the manager on duty. Marquis soon realized this was an emergency and instructed the airline's dispatcher responsible for the ﬂight to contact the cockpit. At 8:23, the dispatcher tried unsuccessfully to contact the aircraft. Six minutes later, the air trafﬁc control specialist in American's operations center contacted the FAA's Boston Air Trafﬁc Control Center about the ﬂight. The center was already aware of the problem.

THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (page 6)

Boston Center knew of a problem on the ﬂight in part because just before 8:25 the hijackers had attempted to communicate with the passengers. The microphone was keyed, and immediately one of the hijackers said, "Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Air trafﬁc controllers heard the transmission; Ong did not. The hijackers probably did not know how to operate the cockpit radio communication system correctly, and thus inadvertently broadcast their message over the air trafﬁc control channel instead of the cabin public-address channel. Also at 8:25, and again at 8:29, Amy Sweeney got through to the American Flight Services Ofﬁce in Boston but was cut off after she reported someone was hurt aboard the ﬂight. Three minutes later, Sweeney was reconnected to the ofﬁce and began relaying updates to the manager, Michael Woodward.

At 8:26, Ong reported that the plane was "ﬂying erratically." A minute later, Flight 11 turned south. American also began getting identiﬁcations of the hijackers, as Ong and then Sweeney passed on some of the seat numbers of those who had gained unauthorized access to the cockpit.

Sweeney calmly reported on her line that the plane had been hijacked; a man in ﬁrst class had his throat slashed; two ﬂight attendants had been stabbed -- one was seriously hurt and was on oxygen while the other's wounds seemed minor; a doctor had been requested; the ﬂight attendants were unable to contact the cockpit; and there was a bomb in the cockpit. Sweeney told Woodward that she and Ong were trying to relay as much information as they could to people on the ground.

At 8:38, Ong told Gonzalez that the plane was ﬂying erratically again. Around this time Sweeney told Woodward that the hijackers were Middle Easterners, naming three of their seat numbers. One spoke very little English and one spoke excellent English. The hijackers had gained entry to the cockpit, and she did not know how. The aircraft was in a rapid descent.

At 8:41, Sweeney told Woodward that passengers in coach were under the impression that there was a routine medical emergency in ﬁrst class. Other ﬂight attendants were busy at duties such as getting medical supplies while Ong and Sweeney were reporting the events.