The Lessons of 9/11 Haven't Been Lost on Today's Airline Passengers

In recent weeks we've seen a flight attendant have an in-flight breakdown, and yesterday a Captain of a Jet Blue flight suffered a similar fate.  Although those are disturbing incidents I'm a bit comforted as an occasional airline flyer that passengers are not just sitting by and letting things get out of control.  The days when a crazed person could take over a jet from a bunch of meek, compliant passengers is over.

We fight back now.

Gun Control Cartoon of the Day

From Facebook:

How Not To Design Your Skyscrapers

When you see this Korean design for residential skyscrapers, what thought comes to mind:

A lot of people are seeing something like this:

The designer is now backpeddling pretty hard and issued a statement:

“The Cloud was designed based on parameters such as sunlight, outside spaces, living quality for inhabitants and the city,” they wrote. “It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks, nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, it was not our intention.”

I'm guessing they're going to build something else.

A Pilot's Story

Here's a story I hadn't heard, of an American Airlines pilot who thought he was going to fly American Flight #11 on September 11, 2001, but was bumped for another pilot. That flight was the first to be hijacked and the first to crash into the World Trade Center.

Sports Video of the Day

From last night's World Series game:




It was almost 10 years ago to the day that President George W. Bush walked out to the mound at Yankee Stadium wearing a bulletproof vest under his jacket and reminded the world that America would go on after the 9/11 attacks.  Oh, and there's a bonus video with this one:

War on Terror Headline of the Day

From Drudge:

AL-QAEDA QUESTIONS LEGALITY OF KILLING U.S. CITIZEN

Funny, they didn't question the legality when they rammed airliners in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

What Makes Al Qaeda REALLY Mad? Truthers

Not just infidel Americans, but truthers like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who think America knocked its own buildings down:

The terror group al Qaeda has found itself curiously in agreement with the "Great Satan" -- which it calls the U.S. -- in issuing a stern message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: stop spreading 9/11 conspiracy theories.

In the latest issue of the al Qaeda English-language magazine "Inspire", an author appears to take offense to the "ridiculous" theory repeatedly spread by Ahmadinejad that the 9/11 terror attacks were actually carried out by the U.S. government in order to provide a pretext to invade the Middle East.

"The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al Qaeda was behind 9/11 but rather, the U.S. government," an article reads. "So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?"

As Jim Geraghty says: "Why don't you guys just fight it out?"

Was Hollywood Changed by 9/11?

First, this from the Daily Caller:

Disney sends 9/11 docudrama to Never Never Land -- TheDC's Matthew Boyle reports: "Activists tell The Daily Caller that The Walt Disney Company is refusing to re-air a 9/11-related docudrama, effectively burying politically inconvenient facts about the events which led to the 9/11 terror attacks, in order to protect the political future of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 'The Path to 9/11,' first aired on ABC in 2006, portrayed President Bill Clinton's administration as ignoring warnings and signs that Osama bin Laden and al Qaida were planning a major attack on the United States — a finding supported by The 9/11 Commission Report. But since 2006 Disney CEO Bob Iger has repeatedly refused to rebroadcast it, or to sell the rights to other broadcasters... 'The Path to 9/11' was nominated for seven Emmy awards, and won one. It also received an American Cinema Editors 'Eddie' award. But the film, which cost $40 million to make, has not aired in the U.S. since, nor has it been released on DVD... Tom Borelli, the director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise project and a Disney shareholder, told The Daily Caller that he has formally offered to purchase the film's rights from Disney — only to be ignored... Borelli has pressed Iger on the film's disposition at several Disney shareholder meetings, but the CEO hasn't budged for years on the issue — even telling Borelli 'F*** you!' during one such meeting." 9/11: Never forget... unless it reflects badly on the Democrats.

Protecting the Clinton Administration has been a recurring theme in Hollywood, while denigrating America has become a consistent post-911 theme.

Last night I was watching KTLA in Los Angeles and their entertainment reporter Sam Rubin did a piece on whether Hollywood was changed by 9/11. He went on to recount a number of post-911 themed movies, most of which involved war movies based in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how badly those movies did at the box office. His conclusion was that moviegoers weren't interested in the subject and that's why the movies did so poorly.

He missed the point.

These movies tanked at the box office because almost without exception they had a decidedly anti-American tone. American soldiers and policymakers were the bad guys, terrorists were just poor misunderstood freedom fighters, and all that nonsense. Americans don't want to pay good money to see their country maligned on the big screen.

The people that made these movies, like The Hurt Locker or Redacted, love to claim that such moviemaking is "courageous", but there's nothing courageous about making a film that mirrors Hollywood's animosity towards America and its military. Had someone tried to make a move showing George W. Bush as a strong leader and our military as selfless heroes, THAT would have been courageous. And that guy would probably never get a job in Hollywood again.

I'm convinced that people who make these kinds of movies don't make them for the moviegoers, they make them for each other so they can win awards and peer recognition. The Hurt Locker won an Academy Award and yet it had the poorest box office in history for an Oscar-winning movie. I'm sure that didn't really bother the producers at all. They got what they wanted.

Rubin also wondered about the next post-911 movie on the killing of Osama bin Laden which is due out next Fall. I can tell him right now that this movie will be another box office disaster. Why? Two reasons. Number one, by the time the movie comes out bin Laden will have been dead for almost a year-and-a-half and will be an afterthought for most people. Secondly, the timing of this movie is a clear attempt by Hollywood to influence the election. I guarantee you that the hero in this movie will not be Seal Team 6 that carried out the attack, but the president that ordered it. It will be seen by moviegoers as a desperate attempt to save Obama and they won't appreciate it. Nor will they buy tickets to see it.

Yes, Hollywood was changed by 9/11.  They became more rabidly anti-American and anti-military.  Maybe if a Democrat had been president when it happened and had ordered the retaliatory attacks things would be different.  We'll never know.

My Recollections of 9/11

Here's the timeline of events from that day (from September 11 News.com):

7:58 a.m. - United Airlines Flight 175 departs Boston for Los Angeles,carrying 56 passengers, two pilots, and seven flight attendants. The Boeing 767 is hijacked after takeoff and diverted to New York.

7:59 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 11 departs Boston for Los Angeles, carrying 81 passengers, two pilots, and nine flight attendants. This Boeing 767 is also hijacked and diverted to New York.

8:01 a.m. - United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 carrying 38 passengers, two pilots, and five flight attendants, leaves Newark, N.J., for San Francisco.

8:10 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 77 departs Washington's Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles, carrying 58 passengers, two pilots, and four flight attendants. The Boeing 757 is hijacked after takeoff.

8:46 a.m. - American Flight 11 from Boston crashes into the North Tower at the World Trade Center.

9:03 a.m. - United Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the South Tower at the World Trade Center.

- U.S. Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York area airports.

9:21 a.m. - Bridges and tunnels leading into New York City are closed.

9:25 a.m. - All domestic flights are grounded by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

9:45 a.m. - American Flight 77 crashes into The Pentagon.

10:05 a.m. - The South Tower at the World Trade Center collapses.

10:05 a.m. - The White House is evacuated.

10:10 a.m. - A large section of one side of The Pentagon collapses.

10:10 a.m. - United Flight 93 crashes in a wooded area in Pennsylvania, after passengers confront hijackers.

10:28 a.m. - The North Tower at the World Trade Center collapses.

Like most of you I'll never forget that day. I got up at about 6:10 am PDT and as is my custom, turned on the computer. When AOL connected the headline said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My initial reaction was that it must be some type of terrible accident. Maybe the weather was bad in New York and some poor guy ran into the tower as had happened to the Empire State Building back in the 40's. Figuring that this was probably on TV, I turned on the set and was shocked to see the image of both towers on fire. It was pretty clear that this was no accident.

I sat there transfixed and watched the coverage. At 7:05 one tower appeared clothed in smoke and a cloud was rapidly spreading out from the base. At first the commentator didn't know what he was seeing, but having watched numerous shows on Las Vegas, including many which showed hotel implosions, I immediately knew that a collapse had occurred. At that point I had to take my kids to school. I remember telling them that school might be very different today because there had been an attack on America.

By the time I got back home the second tower had collapsed and Brit Hume began talking about an explosion at the Pentagon. He also said there was a possibility of another plane on the way to Washington. Smoke was visible in the distance from the crash at the Pentagon.

The coverage was chaotic but very professional. I had planned to work in San Diego that day but ended up watching the coverage non-stop. At lunch time I headed over to pick up a sandwich, and in that same center was a Red Cross Blood Center. Someone in the Togo's line mentioned that there was a 2 hour wait to give blood. America was responding.

The rest of that week is a bit of a blur. Non-stop coverage from New York, the memorial services, the famous scene of President Bush with his arm around a fireman and talking through a bullhorn to the rescue workers.  The terribly sad family members holding pictures of their loved ones hoping someone had seem them.

My office at the time was right off the end of the runway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA. We were used to regularly hearing jets take off almost right over our heads, but for several days there was an eerie quiet in the office with the entire nation's air traffic system shut down.

One of the memories that will stick with me was the Saturday following the attack. We had some free tickets to Magic Mountain that expired after that day, so we took the family up there. The crowd was down and the music they were playing in the park was all patriotic music. I remember hearing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and thinking that it won't be long until Johnny starts marching again.

The next day (Sunday) my quartet had a couple of concerts scheduled. The morning event was in Brea (CA) where the pastor didn't make it to church because he was stranded in Washington State by the flight cancellations. He didn't make it back for a couple of days.

That evening we were in West Hills (San Fernando Valley) and as we were setting up, a demonstration was forming in the parking lot next door. A group of Muslims and members of a Jewish synagogue were trying to organize some sort of march. Things were a little confused over there, and appeared to be getting a little tense. The cops showed up, along with the media, and the thing fizzled out.

As bad a day as September 11th was, for a brief moment it brought the country together. For at least a few days there weren't any Democrats or Republicans, just Americans. I wonder if we'll ever see an attitude like that again in the US?

My Most Memorable 9/11 Photo

I think this picture sums up the best of America that came to the forefront on 9/11.


Firefighters run in when everyone else is running out. God bless 'em.

UPDATE: Unlike 343 others, this firefighter, Mike Kehoe, got out before the building collapse. He was one of the lucky ones.

A 9/11 National Holiday? No.

I'm rerunning this piece today from 2006.  My feelings on the issue haven't changed:

Christopher Hitchens writes a piece today in The New York Daily News on the move to turn 9/11 into a national holiday. Here's some of it:

Any proposal to enshrine the calendar date of Sept. 11 as a national holiday would not only repeat all the errors of taste and judgment made so far, but would add a further one.
We have already embarrassed ourselves - and begun to bore the people of other countries - by describing the atrocity as "an attack on America." More than 80 nationalities, as well as many people of all faiths, were numbered among the victims of what was actually an assault on civilization. To commemorate it as a "national" day would be to miss a large part of its point. And to call it a "holiday" would be to degrade it even further. How long before people would start asking each other - as they now do for Memorial Day - say, "What're you doing for the Sept. 11 long weekend?"

I have to differ with Hitches on the issue of an "attack on America". This clearly was designed as an attack on our country and the financial center in New York. The hijackers were not out to kill Bulgarians just because there might have been a Bulgarian or two in the World Trade Center. If nothing else, the attack on the Pentagon and the fact that United 93 was heading to Washington should be confirmation enough that the hijackers were targeting America, and not the world in general.

Hitchins concludes his piece with this:

This is not a matter of sentiment or commemoration: Memorials and holidays are for when the war is over - in the sense of being won. In the meantime, who needs yet another day off from school? Better to have the children taught what is at stake, if we can find enough teachers to do it.

On that I agree. To make another meaningless holiday out of 9/11 would be an insult to the victims, both in the attacks themselves and in the war on terror that followed. We would be better served by using the anniversary of the attacks to show the horrifying pictures of the burning and collapsing buildings, the people jumping to their fate before the buildings fell, and the shock on the faces of New Yorkers who witnessed the scene. We need to be reminded of the sights, sounds and feelings of that day so we can remember why we're fighting and who we're fighting against.

Instead of memorializing the attacks by not working and going to the beach, we should remember the attacks by doing the very things the terrorists tried to stop.

The 9/11 Attack Was a Failure

I'm reprinting some posts from the past that reference the 9/11 attacks.  This one was from 2010:

First, let me give you Ted Koppel's opinion about the 9/11 attacks:

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, succeeded far beyond anything Osama bin Laden could possibly have envisioned. This is not just because they resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, nor only because they struck at the heart of American financial and military power. Those outcomes were only the bait; it would remain for the United States to spring the trap.

The goal of any organized terrorist attack is to goad a vastly more powerful enemy into an excessive response. And over the past nine years, the United States has blundered into the 9/11 snare with one overreaction after another. Bin Laden deserves to be the object of our hostility, national anguish and contempt, and he deserves to be taken seriously as a canny tactician. But much of what he has achieved we have done, and continue to do, to ourselves. Bin Laden does not deserve that we, even inadvertently, fulfill so many of his unimagined dreams.

I disagree. I think the 9/11 attacks were a dismal failure when compared to what they might have been had the tactics been just a little bit different.  You can argue all you want about what's happened in the nine years since, but I believe the attacks themselves failed to accomplish what had been planned.

After watching numerous shows recounting the sights, sounds and actions of that terrible day it's clear to me that the radical Islamists made some significant errors in their attack planning. The death toll, while horrific, was probably only 5% or less than what it might have been.

The fact that they hit the World Trade Center near the top of both buildings tells me they didn't really understand what would happen next. It's my belief that they though that a fully loaded airplane striking at high speed near the top of the structure would have caused a levering effect that would have caused structural failure somewhere near the bottom, thus causing the building to collapse sideways onto adjoining structures. Had that happened nearly everyone in the WTC buildings and many hundreds more in the adjoining area would have been lost.

However, the building proved to be far more resilient to the crash than they probably planned. As a result thousands of people below the impact areas were able to escape before the fires and structural damage finally caused the pancake collapses that occurred.  We're terribly lucky they hit the buildings up high as they did.

Had the buildings been struck at much lower floors, which might have been tough due to surrounding structures, everyone above the impact would likely have been lost and the collapses would have occurred much quicker given the extra weight above the damaged section.  Those buildings might have come down in minutes instead of lasting as long as they did.

An even worse outcome might have occurred had the buildings been hit at lower levels by a plane that was in a high speed dive.  A plane striking the building in a 30-45 degree dive would have slashed through the supports for several floors and created a weak side on the building, much like a lumberjack taking a hunk out of the side of  tree.  Something like that might have caused a building to topple over with a terrible loss of life.

A second factor was the day they chose. Whether intended or not, the attacks were launched on election day when the city would be choosing their new mayor. Consequently, buildings that would normally have been completely full at 8:46 in the morning were not because many workers had chosen to vote before going to work that morning - like this guy.

Finally, choosing the Pentagon as a target might have been a symbolic victory for the terrorists, but it was a terrible choice given the other options available in Washington D.C.  The Pentagon structure itself held up well given the impact it sustained, and the loss of life was somewhat limited because there weren't that many people in the area hit.  Symbolically, a strike at the White House or Capitol Building would have had a much more devastating impact on American morale and spirit.  Chances are United 93 was headed to one of those locations, but thankfully the passengers were able to stop that attack.

Having said all this, the death toll, as terrible as it was, could have been 50,000+ with a slight change in tactics.  Given the potential for destruction of human life, this attack was a failure.

There was one other failure in the nine years since, but it was New York's failure - the failure to rebuild.  The Empire State Building was constructed in 18 months at the height of a Depression.  Nine years and there's still basically a big hole at Ground Zero.  We should have had that place rebuilt long before now, but the grief builders have to go through these days is absolutely ridiculous.

I think it was Jerry Seinfeld who once suggested that  we should have built four buildings with one of the middle ones significantly taller than the others.  And pointed the whole thing toward Mecca.

UPDATE - these numbers from the UK Guardian underscore my point that the loss of life on 9/11 could have been so much higher:

Number of companies housed in the WTC: 430

Number working in World Trade Centre on average working day prior to 11 September: 50,000

Average number of daily visitors: 140,000

Number killed in attack on New York, in the Twin Towers and in aircraft that crashed into them: 2,823

Bill Clinton Gives a Fine Speech at the Flight 93 Memorial

Have to give credit where credit is due - Bill Clinton gave a great speech today's Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania:


UPDATE: George W. Bush also spoke at the Flight 93 Memorial. His speech is here.

What if First Responders and Clergy Members Just Showed Up at the 9/11 Anniversary Event?

Mayor Bloomberg has made some pretty bad decisions in his years in New York City, but deciding that First Responders and clergy wouldn't be part of the 9/11 Memorial Service tops the list.  Gateway Pundit has these thoughts:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning religious leaders and rescue workers from the 9-11 anniversary event tomorrow morning.

He says, “We just don’t have room for them.”

343 firefighters and paramedics killed on 9-11.
60 NYPD and Port Authority police officers were killed that day.
They will not be represented at the ceremony.

Bloomberg insists that the separation of Church and state is in the Constitution. This is the same guy that bent over backwards for the 9-11 mosque.

There's one of those viral Facebook posts that's been going around, and normally I ignore those things, but I kind of liked this one:

Firefighters, police and clergy weren't invited to the first 9/11 either. They just showed up. Maybe they should just show up to the 10th anniversary events too.

Maybe they should. Can you imagine the scene if during Nanny Bloomberg's remarks dozens of fire trucks with sirens blaring came screaming up to Ground Zero? And police cars.  And groups of clergymen.  It would be a pretty amazing turn of events.

War on Terror Video of the Day

Despite the attempt by detestable filmmaker Michael Moore to smear President Bush with his Fahrenheit 911 agitprop movie, that day in a Florida schoolroom the President showed the calm leadership that was needed for that critical moment. Just ask the kids who were there:

The Jumpers

I knew that many people chose to jump from the burning World Trade Center rather than burn to death in the massive fire, but I didn't realize how many there were.  Sundries Shack linked to a USA Today article published a year after the attacks that tells some chilling facts:

USA TODAY estimates that at least 200 people jumped to their deaths that morning, far more than can be seen in the photographs taken that morning. Nearly all were from the north tower, which was hit first and collapsed last. Fewer than a dozen were from the south tower.

The jumping started shortly after the first jet hit at 8:46 a.m. People jumped continuously during the 102 minutes that the north tower stood. Two people jumped as the north tower began to fall at 10:28 a.m., witnesses said.

For those who jumped, the fall lasted 10 seconds. They struck the ground at just less than 150 miles per hour — not fast enough to cause unconsciousness while falling, but fast enough to ensure instant death on impact. People jumped from all four sides of the north tower. They jumped alone, in pairs and in groups.
…
Intense smoke and heat, rather than flames, pushed people into this horrific choice. Flight 11 struck the 94th through 98th floors of the north tower, shooting heat and smoke up elevator shafts and stairways in the center of the building. Within minutes, it would have been very difficult to breathe. That drove people to the windows 1,100 to 1,300 feet above ground.

The whole article was chilling.

I bought the documentary that was filmed by the French brothers who shot the only footage of the first plane hitting the North Tower, and one thing you can't ever forget is the sound of those bodies slamming into the ground around the lobby area as the fire department worked to get teams up into the building. The article mentions those sounds:

On the west side, falling bodies crashed onto the awning covering the circular VIP driveway. The thudding of bodies at this entrance can be heard on a video taken near there by French cameraman Jules Naudet, whose footage was broadcast on CBS on March 11 (2002).

To my knowledge that documentary, which originally aired on CBS, has only been shown twice on TV in the 10 years since the attack. It really brings out the horror of the event, and if I was in charge it would air every year.

Surprisingly, the jumpers actually saved lives in the South Tower:

The sight of people jumping saved lives, too. In the south tower, people had a close-up view of people plunging to their deaths from a building that was a mirror image of their own. "I looked at a couple of people jumping, and that was it. I'd seen enough. I said, 'We've got to get the hell out of here,' " says Jaede Barg, who worked for Aon on the south tower's 100th floor.

Many south tower survivors say the sight of people jumping created an urgency that caused them to leave immediately and ignore announcements that it was safe to return to their desks. About 1,400 people evacuated the upper floors before the second jet hit.

I should clarify that although they're called "jumpers" in the article, the coroner never classified them that way because none of these people came to work that day planning to jump from the building.

War on Terror Video of the Day

I can't embed the video, but you should watch the video at this link of the flight attendant who stopped the Shoe Bomber on a flight from Paris three months after 9/11.

Flying Into a Fight With No Ammunition

Look at this exchange between two Air National Guard F-16 pilots:

“Lucky, you’re coming with me,” barked Col. Marc Sasseville.

They were gearing up in the pre-flight life-support area when Sasseville, struggling into his flight suit, met her eye.

“I’m going to go for the cockpit,” Sasseville said.

She replied without hesitating.

“I’ll take the tail.”

It was a plan. And a pact.

"Lucky" is Heather "Lucky" Penney and the date was September 11, 2001. She and Col. Sasseville were being tasked with bringing down United Flight 93 before it got to Washington D.C. and their aircraft were unarmed with no time to wait for weapons to be loaded. The whole story is here.

I saw an interview with Sasseville in which he had decided if he had to he's approach the jet with one hand on the stick and one on the ejection handle in the hopes he could saw the wing off and eject before his plane exploded.

And they did it without hesitation.

Fortunately, they didn't have to use their skills because the passengers of Flight 93 ended the flight before it threatened DC.

Is There a Light Airplane Terror Threat?

I'm not so sure:

The FBI and Homeland Security have issued a nationwide warning about al-Qaida threats to small airplanes, just days before the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Authorities say there is no specific or credible terrorist threat for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. But they have stepped up security nationwide as a precaution.

According to a five-page law enforcement bulletin issued Friday, as recently as early this year, al-Qaida was considering ways to attack airplanes.

The alert, issued ahead of the summer’s last busy travel weekend, said terrorists have considered renting private planes and loading them with explosives.

“Al-Qaida and its affiliates have maintained an interest in obtaining aviation training, particularly on small aircraft, and in recruiting Western individuals for training in Europe or the United States, although we do not have current, credible information or intelligence of an imminent attack being planned,” according to the bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.

Sometimes I wonder how much of these types of warnings are legitimate and how much is just an excuse for more government oversight.

Renting a small plane is not like renting a car from Avis. You don't just show up, give them your license and a credit card, and then fly off. Most aircraft clubs will not rent to a stranger without first sending that person up with an instructor to check them out on the aircraft. When I switched to a new flight school in San Diego I had to undergo two check flights with instructors from the school before I was allowed to fly on my own. They were checking me out as well as my flying skills.

And you can't just take an airplane and load it full of explosives without somebody noticing. Even small airports have lots of eyes around - other pilots who frequent the place - who will notice unusual activity around an unfamiliar plane.

There have been a couple of incidents in which disturbed jihadist-wanna be's flew light planes into buildings. Because of the slow speeds, small fuel load, and relatively light construction, small planes are not that big of a threat.

The George W. Bush 9/11 Interview

You might want to set your TiVo's for this one - the George W. Bush 9/11 Interview which airs on National Geographic Channel on Sunday night, August 28, 10pm.  It's part of a "Remembering 9/11" series that NatGeo will be running all next week.  My TiVo will be busy.

On the 29th they'll be running a show about Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 experience.  I think I've seen that one before but it's very interesting.