QUOTE
America's New War: United Flight 93
Aired September 30, 2001 - 15:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you up to date now on the latest on United Flight 93 -- that is the flight that was going from Newark to San Francisco when it crashed in Pennsylvania. Dozens of volunteers have found more debris and remains this weekend from the crash of that flight in Pennsylvania, which, of course, took place on September 11th. No additional victims though have been identified.
Forty-four people were on board that flight and died in the crash but not before a violent struggle with the hijackers. And we have an update now on the investigation for you from our Eileen O'Connor.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
EILEEN O'CONNOR, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are struggling to piece together the final moments of United Airlines Flight 93 listening over and over and over again to the cockpit voice recorder -- difficult to understand due to damage from the crash and also, sources say, the abundance of angry American voices shouting over yelling in a foreign tongue believed to be the hijackers.
To help clarify the confusion agents have been reviewing with family and friends final phone calls made from the plane.
Investigative sources tell CNN they now believe that passengers were successful in overcoming some of the hijackers but are puzzling over who had control over the plane when it went down.
The questions left unanswered -- if the United pilot was successful in regaining control, why crash the plane? Were there still other hijackers in the back who he believed might try to take back the cockpit and fly the plane to its intended target? And did he intentionally down it in a deserted field to limit the loss of life on the ground? Or was he already dead and the struggle was strictly one between hijackers and passengers causing the crash?
What they do know, sources say, is that at 8:41 a.m. United Flight 93 took off from Newark en route to San Francisco. Seated in first class sets 3C and 3D men identified as investigators as two of the four suspected hijackers on board -- Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami. Right behind those two were Mark Bingham, a San Francisco publicist. Next to him, Tom Burnett, an executive for a west coast health care company.
In Economy Plus Jeremy Glick sat in row 11. Right behind him was DeLuca on his way to California to visit a client. And back in the main cabin Todd Beamer.
Unbeknownst to them another aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11 was heading straight toward the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Two other planes had also been hijacked and sources say there were bomb threats called in to air traffic control centers adding to the chaos including Cleveland's center, which routinely takes control of the United Airlines Flight 93 as it heads west.
Twenty-four minutes after United Flight 93 was airborne a second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Another 35 minutes later the plane out of Dulles Airport slammed into the Pentagon. About that time on the radio frequency Flight 93 used air traffic controllers in Cleveland hear screams and shouting, "Get out of here! Get out of here!" Then nothing.
The tower tries to contact the pilot, Captain Jason Dahl, but there is no response. A special code used to signal a hijacking is not answered. His family said Dahl always said he would never relinquish control of the cockpit without a fight.
BILL HEIDERICH, RELATIVE OF PILOT: Jason often talked and just recently about the heroes of the line. Pilots with crews who perform their duty meet sacrifice -- often the ultimate sacrifice -- for the safety of their passengers.
O'CONNOR: Within minutes Flight Attendant Cece Lyles, using her cell phone calls her husband Lorne.
LORNE LYLES, HUSBAND OF FLIGHT ATTENDANT: She said, "Babe?" She said, "My plane has been hijacked." And she said, "They forced their way into the cockpit."
O'CONNOR: In the back after trying to use his credit card unsuccessfully on the air phone Todd Beamer was routed to a customer service center. The supervisor there called the FBI.
LISA BEAMER, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He called the GTE air phone operator at 9:05 in the morning and started reporting to her what was going on in the plane including that there were hijackers and they had taken over the cockpit and possibly killed the crew.
O'CONNOR: Meanwhile first class passenger Tom Burnett was telling his wife Deanna what was happening.
DEENA BURNETT, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He said, "They've already knifed a guy. They're saying they have a bomb. Please call the authorities."
O'CONNOR: She patched his phone call through to the FBI but the FAA was already alerting them to Flight 93's predicament. At about 9:38 -- nearly one hour into the flight air traffic controllers saw a dangerously tight turn executed near Cleveland. United Airlines Flight 93 was now heading east towards Washington, DC and climbing to 41,000 feet at a rate of 1,500 feet a minute. Sources say controllers had to quickly reroute a jumbo jet now heading straight at Flight 93. Then air traffic controllers heard a heavily accented voice saying, "There is a bomb on board. This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seats. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport."
Tom Beamer's wife said he wasn't fooled.
BEAMER: The plane began to fly erratically and he was aware that this was a situation that was not a normal hijacking situation and he informed the operator that he knew he was not going to make it out of this.
O'CONNOR: Jeromy Glick, a new father, was on the phone to his wife asking if it's true two other planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Now realizing the hijackers' intentions, investigators believe it's about that time that at least five of the men -- Burnett, Bingham, Glick, Beamer and Knacky and perhaps some of the flight attendants and others decided to take action.
BEAMER: He told the operator that he and some other people on the flight were deciding to jump on the hijacker with the bomb strapped around his waist.
O'CONNOR: Mark Bingham is on the phone with his mother, Alice Hoglan, but he seems distracted.
ALICE HOGLAN, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I said, "Mark, I love you, too." And I said, "Who are these guys?" And then he seemed to be pulled away from the phone for a minute.
O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer asked the operator to deliver a personal message for his wife and then to join him in the Lord's Prayer.
BEAMER: And the last thing the operator heard Todd say at 10:00 a.m. -- 15 minutes into the call was, "Are you ready? Let's roll."
O'CONNOR: Cece Lyles' husband couldn't tell what was going on.
LYLES: I didn't know what to think because my last words with my wife was of her screaming.
O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer never came back on the phone to the operator.
BEAMER: She heard some screams and some commotion. And she stayed on the line for 10 more minutes until the flight went down but she did not hear back from anyone in particular and did not know what happened after that.
O'CONNOR: What is unclear to investigators is whether United pilot Jason Dahl was already dead. Or had he somehow regained control with the help of his passengers and crew and then made the decision to put the plane down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania to minimize the loss of life?
Supporting this theory is an intriguing piece of evidence -- a recording of the air traffic control data showing the plane's track and transponder information. It shows in the last few minutes the transponder code for the destination changing to DCA. The FAA designation for Washington's Reagan National Airport -- a stone's throw from the White House.
What is clear, say investigators, is there was an heroic struggle for control of the plane -- a struggle by people who were willing to die in an effort to save others.
BURNETT: He went down fighting -- I know he did. He -- his adrenaline was going. He was not whispering -- we was talking quickly and he was ready to do something.
O'CONNOR: Eileen O'Connor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KAGAN: And incredible story of people who surely were heroes.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 30, 2001 - 15:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you up to date now on the latest on United Flight 93 -- that is the flight that was going from Newark to San Francisco when it crashed in Pennsylvania. Dozens of volunteers have found more debris and remains this weekend from the crash of that flight in Pennsylvania, which, of course, took place on September 11th. No additional victims though have been identified.
Forty-four people were on board that flight and died in the crash but not before a violent struggle with the hijackers. And we have an update now on the investigation for you from our Eileen O'Connor.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
EILEEN O'CONNOR, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are struggling to piece together the final moments of United Airlines Flight 93 listening over and over and over again to the cockpit voice recorder -- difficult to understand due to damage from the crash and also, sources say, the abundance of angry American voices shouting over yelling in a foreign tongue believed to be the hijackers.
To help clarify the confusion agents have been reviewing with family and friends final phone calls made from the plane.
Investigative sources tell CNN they now believe that passengers were successful in overcoming some of the hijackers but are puzzling over who had control over the plane when it went down.
The questions left unanswered -- if the United pilot was successful in regaining control, why crash the plane? Were there still other hijackers in the back who he believed might try to take back the cockpit and fly the plane to its intended target? And did he intentionally down it in a deserted field to limit the loss of life on the ground? Or was he already dead and the struggle was strictly one between hijackers and passengers causing the crash?
What they do know, sources say, is that at 8:41 a.m. United Flight 93 took off from Newark en route to San Francisco. Seated in first class sets 3C and 3D men identified as investigators as two of the four suspected hijackers on board -- Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami. Right behind those two were Mark Bingham, a San Francisco publicist. Next to him, Tom Burnett, an executive for a west coast health care company.
In Economy Plus Jeremy Glick sat in row 11. Right behind him was DeLuca on his way to California to visit a client. And back in the main cabin Todd Beamer.
Unbeknownst to them another aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11 was heading straight toward the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Two other planes had also been hijacked and sources say there were bomb threats called in to air traffic control centers adding to the chaos including Cleveland's center, which routinely takes control of the United Airlines Flight 93 as it heads west.
Twenty-four minutes after United Flight 93 was airborne a second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Another 35 minutes later the plane out of Dulles Airport slammed into the Pentagon. About that time on the radio frequency Flight 93 used air traffic controllers in Cleveland hear screams and shouting, "Get out of here! Get out of here!" Then nothing.
The tower tries to contact the pilot, Captain Jason Dahl, but there is no response. A special code used to signal a hijacking is not answered. His family said Dahl always said he would never relinquish control of the cockpit without a fight.
BILL HEIDERICH, RELATIVE OF PILOT: Jason often talked and just recently about the heroes of the line. Pilots with crews who perform their duty meet sacrifice -- often the ultimate sacrifice -- for the safety of their passengers.
O'CONNOR: Within minutes Flight Attendant Cece Lyles, using her cell phone calls her husband Lorne.
LORNE LYLES, HUSBAND OF FLIGHT ATTENDANT: She said, "Babe?" She said, "My plane has been hijacked." And she said, "They forced their way into the cockpit."
O'CONNOR: In the back after trying to use his credit card unsuccessfully on the air phone Todd Beamer was routed to a customer service center. The supervisor there called the FBI.
LISA BEAMER, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He called the GTE air phone operator at 9:05 in the morning and started reporting to her what was going on in the plane including that there were hijackers and they had taken over the cockpit and possibly killed the crew.
O'CONNOR: Meanwhile first class passenger Tom Burnett was telling his wife Deanna what was happening.
DEENA BURNETT, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He said, "They've already knifed a guy. They're saying they have a bomb. Please call the authorities."
O'CONNOR: She patched his phone call through to the FBI but the FAA was already alerting them to Flight 93's predicament. At about 9:38 -- nearly one hour into the flight air traffic controllers saw a dangerously tight turn executed near Cleveland. United Airlines Flight 93 was now heading east towards Washington, DC and climbing to 41,000 feet at a rate of 1,500 feet a minute. Sources say controllers had to quickly reroute a jumbo jet now heading straight at Flight 93. Then air traffic controllers heard a heavily accented voice saying, "There is a bomb on board. This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seats. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport."
Tom Beamer's wife said he wasn't fooled.
BEAMER: The plane began to fly erratically and he was aware that this was a situation that was not a normal hijacking situation and he informed the operator that he knew he was not going to make it out of this.
O'CONNOR: Jeromy Glick, a new father, was on the phone to his wife asking if it's true two other planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Now realizing the hijackers' intentions, investigators believe it's about that time that at least five of the men -- Burnett, Bingham, Glick, Beamer and Knacky and perhaps some of the flight attendants and others decided to take action.
BEAMER: He told the operator that he and some other people on the flight were deciding to jump on the hijacker with the bomb strapped around his waist.
O'CONNOR: Mark Bingham is on the phone with his mother, Alice Hoglan, but he seems distracted.
ALICE HOGLAN, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I said, "Mark, I love you, too." And I said, "Who are these guys?" And then he seemed to be pulled away from the phone for a minute.
O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer asked the operator to deliver a personal message for his wife and then to join him in the Lord's Prayer.
BEAMER: And the last thing the operator heard Todd say at 10:00 a.m. -- 15 minutes into the call was, "Are you ready? Let's roll."
O'CONNOR: Cece Lyles' husband couldn't tell what was going on.
LYLES: I didn't know what to think because my last words with my wife was of her screaming.
O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer never came back on the phone to the operator.
BEAMER: She heard some screams and some commotion. And she stayed on the line for 10 more minutes until the flight went down but she did not hear back from anyone in particular and did not know what happened after that.
O'CONNOR: What is unclear to investigators is whether United pilot Jason Dahl was already dead. Or had he somehow regained control with the help of his passengers and crew and then made the decision to put the plane down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania to minimize the loss of life?
Supporting this theory is an intriguing piece of evidence -- a recording of the air traffic control data showing the plane's track and transponder information. It shows in the last few minutes the transponder code for the destination changing to DCA. The FAA designation for Washington's Reagan National Airport -- a stone's throw from the White House.
What is clear, say investigators, is there was an heroic struggle for control of the plane -- a struggle by people who were willing to die in an effort to save others.
BURNETT: He went down fighting -- I know he did. He -- his adrenaline was going. He was not whispering -- we was talking quickly and he was ready to do something.
O'CONNOR: Eileen O'Connor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KAGAN: And incredible story of people who surely were heroes.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/30/sun.06.html
The question is focused on flight 93, but applies to all the other hijacked flights form September 11th.
Is it really possible to use a cellphone successfully from a high-altitude moving aircraft?
Not according to this article.
QUOTE (->
| QUOTE |
| America's New War: United Flight 93 Aired September 30, 2001 - 15:34 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring you up to date now on the latest on United Flight 93 -- that is the flight that was going from Newark to San Francisco when it crashed in Pennsylvania. Dozens of volunteers have found more debris and remains this weekend from the crash of that flight in Pennsylvania, which, of course, took place on September 11th. No additional victims though have been identified. Forty-four people were on board that flight and died in the crash but not before a violent struggle with the hijackers. And we have an update now on the investigation for you from our Eileen O'Connor. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) EILEEN O'CONNOR, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are struggling to piece together the final moments of United Airlines Flight 93 listening over and over and over again to the cockpit voice recorder -- difficult to understand due to damage from the crash and also, sources say, the abundance of angry American voices shouting over yelling in a foreign tongue believed to be the hijackers. To help clarify the confusion agents have been reviewing with family and friends final phone calls made from the plane. Investigative sources tell CNN they now believe that passengers were successful in overcoming some of the hijackers but are puzzling over who had control over the plane when it went down. The questions left unanswered -- if the United pilot was successful in regaining control, why crash the plane? Were there still other hijackers in the back who he believed might try to take back the cockpit and fly the plane to its intended target? And did he intentionally down it in a deserted field to limit the loss of life on the ground? Or was he already dead and the struggle was strictly one between hijackers and passengers causing the crash? What they do know, sources say, is that at 8:41 a.m. United Flight 93 took off from Newark en route to San Francisco. Seated in first class sets 3C and 3D men identified as investigators as two of the four suspected hijackers on board -- Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami. Right behind those two were Mark Bingham, a San Francisco publicist. Next to him, Tom Burnett, an executive for a west coast health care company. In Economy Plus Jeremy Glick sat in row 11. Right behind him was DeLuca on his way to California to visit a client. And back in the main cabin Todd Beamer. Unbeknownst to them another aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11 was heading straight toward the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Two other planes had also been hijacked and sources say there were bomb threats called in to air traffic control centers adding to the chaos including Cleveland's center, which routinely takes control of the United Airlines Flight 93 as it heads west. Twenty-four minutes after United Flight 93 was airborne a second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Another 35 minutes later the plane out of Dulles Airport slammed into the Pentagon. About that time on the radio frequency Flight 93 used air traffic controllers in Cleveland hear screams and shouting, "Get out of here! Get out of here!" Then nothing. The tower tries to contact the pilot, Captain Jason Dahl, but there is no response. A special code used to signal a hijacking is not answered. His family said Dahl always said he would never relinquish control of the cockpit without a fight. BILL HEIDERICH, RELATIVE OF PILOT: Jason often talked and just recently about the heroes of the line. Pilots with crews who perform their duty meet sacrifice -- often the ultimate sacrifice -- for the safety of their passengers. O'CONNOR: Within minutes Flight Attendant Cece Lyles, using her cell phone calls her husband Lorne. LORNE LYLES, HUSBAND OF FLIGHT ATTENDANT: She said, "Babe?" She said, "My plane has been hijacked." And she said, "They forced their way into the cockpit." O'CONNOR: In the back after trying to use his credit card unsuccessfully on the air phone Todd Beamer was routed to a customer service center. The supervisor there called the FBI. LISA BEAMER, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He called the GTE air phone operator at 9:05 in the morning and started reporting to her what was going on in the plane including that there were hijackers and they had taken over the cockpit and possibly killed the crew. O'CONNOR: Meanwhile first class passenger Tom Burnett was telling his wife Deanna what was happening. DEENA BURNETT, WIFE OF PASSENGER: He said, "They've already knifed a guy. They're saying they have a bomb. Please call the authorities." O'CONNOR: She patched his phone call through to the FBI but the FAA was already alerting them to Flight 93's predicament. At about 9:38 -- nearly one hour into the flight air traffic controllers saw a dangerously tight turn executed near Cleveland. United Airlines Flight 93 was now heading east towards Washington, DC and climbing to 41,000 feet at a rate of 1,500 feet a minute. Sources say controllers had to quickly reroute a jumbo jet now heading straight at Flight 93. Then air traffic controllers heard a heavily accented voice saying, "There is a bomb on board. This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seats. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport." Tom Beamer's wife said he wasn't fooled. BEAMER: The plane began to fly erratically and he was aware that this was a situation that was not a normal hijacking situation and he informed the operator that he knew he was not going to make it out of this. O'CONNOR: Jeromy Glick, a new father, was on the phone to his wife asking if it's true two other planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Now realizing the hijackers' intentions, investigators believe it's about that time that at least five of the men -- Burnett, Bingham, Glick, Beamer and Knacky and perhaps some of the flight attendants and others decided to take action. BEAMER: He told the operator that he and some other people on the flight were deciding to jump on the hijacker with the bomb strapped around his waist. O'CONNOR: Mark Bingham is on the phone with his mother, Alice Hoglan, but he seems distracted. ALICE HOGLAN, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I said, "Mark, I love you, too." And I said, "Who are these guys?" And then he seemed to be pulled away from the phone for a minute. O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer asked the operator to deliver a personal message for his wife and then to join him in the Lord's Prayer. BEAMER: And the last thing the operator heard Todd say at 10:00 a.m. -- 15 minutes into the call was, "Are you ready? Let's roll." O'CONNOR: Cece Lyles' husband couldn't tell what was going on. LYLES: I didn't know what to think because my last words with my wife was of her screaming. O'CONNOR: Todd Beamer never came back on the phone to the operator. BEAMER: She heard some screams and some commotion. And she stayed on the line for 10 more minutes until the flight went down but she did not hear back from anyone in particular and did not know what happened after that. O'CONNOR: What is unclear to investigators is whether United pilot Jason Dahl was already dead. Or had he somehow regained control with the help of his passengers and crew and then made the decision to put the plane down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania to minimize the loss of life? Supporting this theory is an intriguing piece of evidence -- a recording of the air traffic control data showing the plane's track and transponder information. It shows in the last few minutes the transponder code for the destination changing to DCA. The FAA designation for Washington's Reagan National Airport -- a stone's throw from the White House. What is clear, say investigators, is there was an heroic struggle for control of the plane -- a struggle by people who were willing to die in an effort to save others. BURNETT: He went down fighting -- I know he did. He -- his adrenaline was going. He was not whispering -- we was talking quickly and he was ready to do something. O'CONNOR: Eileen O'Connor, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEO TAPE) KAGAN: And incredible story of people who surely were heroes. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com |
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/30/sun.06.html
The question is focused on flight 93, but applies to all the other hijacked flights form September 11th.
Is it really possible to use a cellphone successfully from a high-altitude moving aircraft?
Not according to this article.
A. K. Dewdney
Acknowledgment: I wish to thank Brad Mayeaux for assistance in preparing this article
Introduction
If the hijackings of September 11 were staged, the organization responsible would also be sure to add other elements to the basic plan, not only developing lists of hijackers, but sending fake cellphone calls from some of the passengers. The following analysis focuses on Flight 93, from which more alleged cellphone calls were made than from the other three flights combined. It could be called the "Cellphone Flight." Like the staged attacks themselves, the calling operation would be complex, involving the a) deployment of voice mimicry techniques,
gathering personal intelligence on at least some of the passengers, c) coordination of calls with the operation's timeline.1. Background
Any analysis of the cellphone and "airfone" calls from Flight 93 must begin with some basic, high-altitude cellphone facts. According to AT&T spokesperson Alexa Graf, cellphones are not designed for calls from the high altitudes at which most airliners normally operate. It was, in her opinion, a "fluke" that so many calls reached their destinations. (Harter 2001) In the opinion of a colleague of mine who has worked in the cellphone industry, it was a "miracle" that any of the calls got through from altitude. (See the recent proposal to install equipment to make cellphone calls possible from aircraft.) An aircraft, having a metal skin and fuselage, acts like a Faraday cage, tending to block or attenuate electromagnetic radiation. One can make a cellphone call from inside an aircraft while on the ground because the weakened signal is still close enough to the nearest cellsite (relay tower) to get picked up. Once above 10,000 feet, however, calls rarely get through, if ever.
Here is the statement of an experienced airline pilot: "The idea of being able to use a cellphone while flying is completely impractical. Once through about 10,000 feet, the thing is useless, since you are too high and moving too fast (and thus changing cells too rapidly) for the phone to provide a signal." (AVWeb, 1999)
People boarding aircraft for the last decade or so have all heard the warnings to turn off their cellphones for the duration of the flight. The reasons for this regulation are somewhat mysterious, since the usual explanation, that delicate aircraft electronics might be affected by cellphone signals, is cast somewhat in doubt by the fact that all avionics are shielded from stray electromagnetic radiation. (Spitzer 1987) On the other hand, the FCC had apparently requested that airlines make this rule, owing to the tendency for cell phone calls made from aircraft at lower altitudes to create "cascades" that may lead to breakdown of cellsite operations. (Fraizer 2002)
The cascade problem is more likely at altitudes of 10,000 feet or lower, where reaching a cellsite, although still a touch-and-go matter, is more easily accomplished. However, because of its superior position, the cellphone may reach several cellsites at once. This can create problems, as software that determines which site is to handle the call makes its judgment based on the relative strength of calls. If the call is made from an overhead position, it may well not be able to distinguish relative strength at different cellsites. When this happens it is designed to close off the calling channel, selecting another channel in its place. But the same problem of deciding which cellsite should handle the call also occurs on the new channel, so the new channel is closed, and so on. One by one, in a rapid cascade that would last only seconds, all the channels would be closed, leading to a network-wide breakdown.
As I have pointed out elsewhere, cellphone calls from commercial aircraft much over 8000 feet are essentially impossible, while those below 8000 feet are highly unlikely down to about 2000, where they become merely unlikely. (Dewdney 2003) Moreover, even at the latter altitude (and below), the handoff problem appears. Any airliner at or below this altitude, flying at the normal speed of approximately 500 mph, would encounter the handoff problem (Dewdney 2003). An aircraft traveling at this speed would not be over the cellsite long enough to complete the electronic "handshake" (which takes several seconds to complete) before arriving over the next cellsite, when the call has to be handed off from the first cellsite to the next one. This also takes a few seconds, the result being, in the optimal case, a series of broken transmissions that must end, sooner or later, in failure.
It must also be remarked that the alleged hijackers of the Cellphone Flight were remarkably lenient with their passengers, allowing some 13 calls. However, it would seem highly unlikely that hijackers would allow any phone calls for the simple reason that passengers could relay valuable positional and other information useful to authorities on the ground, thus putting the whole mission in jeopardy.
http://www.physics911.net/cellphoneflight93.htm
I have heard, that passangers soetimes get through.
The New York area, is a heaviliy cell phone towered are.
On Pa, I f dont know?
The New York area, is a heaviliy cell phone towered are.
On Pa, I f dont know?
Yeah!!! Could it be that the transceiver stations in N.Y.C. are mounted on some very high structures. Planes in that area would either be on approach or taking off and therefore not well above critical cell phone range. Besides, passengers are explicitly instructed not to use their phones. We were led to believe that attempting to do so could interfere with on-board avionics. So, from what data base of airline cell phone users are you getting this call completion rate from? Cell phones transmit microwave frequencies just like your microwave oven only at an infinitesimal level. If a thin, sheet-metal enclosure can keep you safe from 1500 watts of microwave energy, don't you think a little milliwatt signal might have some problems getting through the multitude of shielded skins used to create the modern pressurized fuselage??
Note; Try putting your cell phone in the microwave and calling it with your land line. I got no response. Dial your land line from your cell, activate the dialing sequence while inside the microwave and quickly close the door. Again, my other phone did NOT receive a call. My cell phone indicated a "failed call attempt". Don't do this procedure on the same day you receive your cell phone bill. You might get ideas.
sorry i gotta be quick here... i m going to the hospital to get my cast off my leg in about 20 minutes and my ride just arrived. i also may get my cast of my arm and my neck brace off... i m so excited... wish me luck... my back surgery may be an overnighter... i m in so much pain with my shoulder too...
anyway it is extremely possible to use cell phones while in an airplane AT TIMES...
If you are near a tower or close enough to land to get service, it would probably work. It also depends on the phone. if it's crappy and needs a really strong signal, it probably wouldn't work. if it's new and works nicely and has a strong battery, it would probably work.
oh no, gotta go now. my boyfriend is knocking on my front door and i gotta lower my self into my wheelchair which can take 10 minutes sometimes. i hope we get into a big kissing fit tonight. i love to kiss him. he is so cute. ow! BYE! and remember, love rocks, kissing is healthy, and cell phones may work in high altitudes!
My only thought on this topic is.. If you can't use a cel phone from a plane AND if it is a conspiracy, why would "they" go to such trouble to fake something that could so easily be disproven?
Your right, you can't use a cell phone from a plane. The hand-off rate between cell towers is designed for a phone moving through them at ground speeds. Ground to ground communications. The spinning antennas, you see up on signs and such, are horizontally configured. Outward, not effective upward, transmission. Then there's all the impediments and impracticalities of the signal getting in and out of the aircraft. Commercial airliners were not so equipped then, although they will be.------> My opinion on the cell phone issue has recently changed 180 degrees! IMHO they didn't need to fake it. The 911 planes WERE equipped with some kind of military ground-to-air technology and utilized its' network. Another possibility is that the aircraft were fitted with microwave antennas allowing internal signals to connect with the external environment. The ever present C-130, most likely the air-born 911 command center, monitored the calls and modulated them onto a secure frequency. A ground station then received demodulated and inserted the signals into the cell network. Think about how easy that would be to do. Those calls had to get out, to enhance the drama and pathos of the event. It was all about enraging us, preparing us to enlist, re-enlist, send our sons and daughters and our hard earned tax dollars into an open ended invasion of the middle east and...? The weapons inspectors were there for a decade and they found nothing, nada. Any thing they could have found, would have been left over WMDs, that the west supplied them during the Iran-Iraq war. Time for plane B which was really plan A all along.
You can make calls from cell fones while the plane is on the ground at the airport. Once airborne you cannot - be it New York or anywhere else.
Problem being: Once airborne, which cell mast do you connect to? Answer: Them all.
Combined with the aircraft's speed and distance from the ground your cell fone tries to connect to all the masts on the ground because they are all equi-distant. This causes a cascade in the cellular network.
Dont listen to the morons!!
Problem being: Once airborne, which cell mast do you connect to? Answer: Them all.
Combined with the aircraft's speed and distance from the ground your cell fone tries to connect to all the masts on the ground because they are all equi-distant. This causes a cascade in the cellular network.
Dont listen to the morons!!
Appears someone is not telling truth. Adding theatrics to this seems to point towards larger, more technical advanced group than people with switchblades.
I have had my cellphone ring in my pocket while airborne.. but only within about 15 minutes or less of takeoff/landing. It seems altitude and speed could be a factor as well as region.
That would be a pretty retarded plan if it is a conspiracy. Let's place a flaw in out plan so that people might doubt it, AND at the same time make the enemies we plan to go to war with seem more human and considerate.
just pertinate to the convo
http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/09/technology...hones_inflight/
the fcc planning on allowing cell phone use on planes..
two quotes
"cell phones sometimes have trouble working when the plane is at cruising altitude because phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high."
well that kinda suggest they sometimes work...but i hardly see a mostly empty plane with 13 calls going through...
"In July, American Airlines (Research) and cell phone maker Qualcomm (Research) held a demonstration in which in-cabin calls were made using commercially available cell phones through a small cellular base on board that connected to worldwide terrestrial phone networks."
sound like phones really need help to be realiable
I am not all sure on the conspiracy but bush did get his "lets roll" quote from th cells calls supposidly.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/09/technology...hones_inflight/
the fcc planning on allowing cell phone use on planes..
two quotes
"cell phones sometimes have trouble working when the plane is at cruising altitude because phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high."
well that kinda suggest they sometimes work...but i hardly see a mostly empty plane with 13 calls going through...
"In July, American Airlines (Research) and cell phone maker Qualcomm (Research) held a demonstration in which in-cabin calls were made using commercially available cell phones through a small cellular base on board that connected to worldwide terrestrial phone networks."
sound like phones really need help to be realiable
I am not all sure on the conspiracy but bush did get his "lets roll" quote from th cells calls supposidly.
see ...
http://analysis.batcave.net/cell_phones.html
september 11 cell phone calls
some of these calls were airphones, but some had to be cell phones.
(2-3 people said they saw their loved ones caller ID)
also some people dialed 911
one of the calls was taken by state police in Illinois.
http://physics911.ca/org/modules/weblog/de....php?blog_id=65
if you dail 911 the LOCAL cops will pick up.
so this call was made in illinois, and he had said he was aboard flight 93
so either the call was being faked (and thats why it NEVER MADE the 911 commission report), or some guy was aboard flight 93, and it was over illinois.
either way, we are being lied to BIG TIME.
theres a LOT of other problems as well.
i am a cell phone design engineer, and have tried SEVERAL TIMES to call out, but cant over 5,000ft. these calls were supposedly made at 35,000ft.
doesnt work
i garuntee if you could get a call through
(1 in 100 maybe?) , it would drop in 2 seconds
also see...
http://www.911review.org/Wiki/CellPhoneCal...l">Cell Phone Calls 911
also olson changed his story 3 times
http://analysis.batcave.net/cell_phones.html
september 11 cell phone calls
some of these calls were airphones, but some had to be cell phones.
(2-3 people said they saw their loved ones caller ID)
also some people dialed 911
one of the calls was taken by state police in Illinois.
http://physics911.ca/org/modules/weblog/de....php?blog_id=65
if you dail 911 the LOCAL cops will pick up.
so this call was made in illinois, and he had said he was aboard flight 93
so either the call was being faked (and thats why it NEVER MADE the 911 commission report), or some guy was aboard flight 93, and it was over illinois.
either way, we are being lied to BIG TIME.
theres a LOT of other problems as well.
i am a cell phone design engineer, and have tried SEVERAL TIMES to call out, but cant over 5,000ft. these calls were supposedly made at 35,000ft.
doesnt work
i garuntee if you could get a call through
(1 in 100 maybe?) , it would drop in 2 seconds
also see...
http://www.911review.org/Wiki/CellPhoneCal...l">Cell Phone Calls 911
also olson changed his story 3 times
www.infowars.com
Read it, believe it.
Read it, believe it.
wow. i'm gonna run with this one for a bit....
another glitchy hitch in the official lie.
doesn't that image pull up the typical suicide bomber for all of us. very shocky awey. (shekinah)
WHAT strapped on bomb? how did it get there? why were bombs changed to boxcutters in the official hoodwink? lies built on lies soon crumble. the problem with this lie, is that the dust that is made of is the same dust that the truth is made of.
what joe six pack needs, is an ultra-violet light to illuminate only the salient facts of the whole whitewash.
i think we can all agree on one thing. it's no fun being 'intelligent'.
barbara olsen being allegedly arrested with counterfiet money in germany is also a bit of a hitch to the pyramid powers that be, i imagine. they sure are damn good at pluggin up those kind of leaks, though.
it's kind of exciting being an international rebel, don't ya think? beats the hell out of being a corporate lapdog. 'we' are REAL, whereas, they are A LIE.
QUOTE
BEAMER: He told the operator that he and some other people on the flight were deciding to jump on the hijacker with the bomb strapped around his waist.
another glitchy hitch in the official lie.
doesn't that image pull up the typical suicide bomber for all of us. very shocky awey. (shekinah)
WHAT strapped on bomb? how did it get there? why were bombs changed to boxcutters in the official hoodwink? lies built on lies soon crumble. the problem with this lie, is that the dust that is made of is the same dust that the truth is made of.
what joe six pack needs, is an ultra-violet light to illuminate only the salient facts of the whole whitewash.
i think we can all agree on one thing. it's no fun being 'intelligent'.
barbara olsen being allegedly arrested with counterfiet money in germany is also a bit of a hitch to the pyramid powers that be, i imagine. they sure are damn good at pluggin up those kind of leaks, though.
it's kind of exciting being an international rebel, don't ya think? beats the hell out of being a corporate lapdog. 'we' are REAL, whereas, they are A LIE.