John O’Keefe, 25-year-old Northern Virginia
commuter, managing editor of Influence, an American Lawyer Media
publication about lobbying was "not much more than a football field
away" “The first thing I did was pull over onto
the shoulder, and when I got out of the car I saw another plane
flying over my head, and it scared ...me, because I knew there had
been two planes that hit the World Trade Center. And I started
jogging up the ramp to get as far away as possible
“Then the plane -- it looked like a C-130 cargo plane --
started turning away from the Pentagon, it did a complete
turnaround. http://www.nylawyer.com/news/01/09/091201l.html
Scott P.
Cook was at work on the fifth floor of the Portals
building, at 1280 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington DC. immediately
opposite to the Pentagon across the River.
- "As we watched the black plume gather strength, less
than a minute after the explosion, we saw an odd sight that no one
else has yet commented on. Directly in back of the plume, which
would place it almost due west from our office, a four-engine
propeller plane, which Ray later said resembled a C-130, started
a steep decent towards the Pentagon. It was coming from an
odd direction (planes don’t go east-west in the area),
and it was descending at a much steeper angle than most aircraft.
Trailing a thin, diffuse black trail from its engines, the plane
reached the Pentagon at a low altitude and made a sharp left
turn, passing just north of the plume, and headed straight for the
White House. All the while, I was sort of talking at
it: "Who the hell are you? Where are you going? You’re not headed
for downtown!" Ray and Verle watched it with me, and I was convinced
it was another attack. But right over the tidal basin, at an
altitude of less than 1000 feet, it made another sharp left turn to
the north and climbed rapidly. Soon it was gone, leaving only
the thin black trail. http://www.clothmonkey.com/91101.htm
"Likewise, it was true that an
airplane was seen -- by others -- circling the Capitol, shortly
after the Pentagon was hit." said Michael Doyle in a Bee
Washington Bureau report, Sept. 15th. Brian Kennedy. Press
Secretary to California Congressman George Radanovich said
"There was a plane over the Capitol; I was there,
and I saw it. If I was standing outside a building in West
Virginia, I might not have been paranoid, but I was standing outside
the Capitol." http://www.sacbee.com/static/archive/news/special/attacks/0915_01.html
Off to the
west, Sucherman saw another
plane "off to the South West and it made a bee
line straight up into the sky and then it angled off"
"I thought, 'Is this thing coming around to make a
second attack? If there is another explosion, we're
toast.'" http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s%253D704%2526a%253D15161,00.asp "Within a minute another plane started veering up
and to the side. At that point it wasn't clear if that plane was
trying to manouver out of the air space or if that plane was coming
round for another hit." Audio recorded report
Anon, from the Naval
Annex: We constantly scanned skyward
with our "eyeball radar," noting the sound of every jet engine
seemed to make us jump. Fortunately, the only aircraft noise was the
crisp distinctive ripping sound was of Air Force F-16's or the roar
and popping of the rotor blades of a Park Police UH-1 helicopter
surveying the damage. The only large fixed wing aircraft to appear
was a gray C-130, which appeared to be a Navy electronic warfare
aircraft, he seemed to survey the area and depart in on a westerly
heading. http://www.ournetfamily.com/WarOnTerror/emails/pentagonwitness.html
Kelly
Knowles, a First Colonial High School alumnus who now
lives in an apartment a few miles from the Pentagon, said some sort
of plane followed the doomed American Airlines jet toward the
Pentagon, then veered away after the explosion.
At the same time, Keith
Wheelhouse and his sister, Pam
Young, who lives in Surry, were preparing to leave a
funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, which is less than a mile
from the Pentagon, when they watched the jet approach and slam into
the Pentagon. Both of them, as well as at least one other person at
the funeral, insist that there was another plane flying near
the hijacked jet. (abstracted
from the ARLINGTON Daily Press; Newport News; Sep 15, 2001)
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=131871&group=webcast
Keith Wheelhouse, of Virginia Beach, spotted the
planes first. The second plane looked similar to a C 130
transport plane, he said. He believes it flew directly
above the American Airlines jet, as if to prevent two planes
from appearing on radar while at the same time guiding the jet
toward the Pentagon. insists he was not confused by other air
traffic. A Norfolk-based FBI agent
interviewed him, Wednesday evening. (abstracted from the ARLINGTON Daily Press; Newport
News; Sep 14, 2001)
An Arlington Cemetery
worker who declined to be interviewed in front of the
media told a story that the military historians had not heard in the
244 interviews they had conducted through last week: ".. a
mysterious second plane was circling the area when the first one
attacked the Pentagon." http://www.s-t.com/daily/12-01/12-20-01/a02wn018.htm
Phillip
Thompson was sitting in the I-395 HOV lanes
directly across from the Navy Annex... "I started
directing cars to pull to the side of the HOV lanes to make way for
emergency vehicles. On the way in to work, I’d heard about the two
planes that attacked the World Trade Center, and now that came to
mind. What if “dash two” was inbound to the Pentagon? Then a gray
C-130 flew overhead, setting off a new round of panic. I tried
to reassure people that the plane was not a threat. http://www.militarycity.com/sept11/911_1068139.html
A 'Civilian' on his way to the Pentagon interviewed an
hour after the event said: "Right there right where the smoke's
coming out. I was in in my car - yeah - a big assed plane -
a four propeller, huge grey plane" http://www.defenselink.mil/multimedia/audio/srtv.ram
An unidentified contributor wrote: I'm
curious as to why no one has mentioned the all white, no markings
jet that was flying in an erratic flight pattern over the pentagon
just minutes before the explosion turned jet crash happened? I
was sitting near my home listening to the radio broadcast when they
mentioned once, AND ONLY ONCE, about the eyewitnesses who had seen
this all white, unmarked aircraft flying erratically over the
pentagon just before the crash. http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/warrant5.htm
People began to evacuate the building Tuesday morning after an
apparent fire alarm and reports that a plane was flying in the
restricted airspace over the Capitol, the officer said.
After seeing the plane approach the Capitol, security personnel and
pedestrians began to flee. The unmarked plane, thought at first to
be a government aircraft, changed course and flew in the
opposite direction and ultimately toward the Pentagon. Cavalier
Daily, 9/13/01 - Deirdre Erin Murphy & Kadie Bye (Lexis
Nexis) (text
mirror)
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/royster.txt
In a TLC documentary the pilot of the C-130 was
identified NARRATOR: By chance a C-130 is already
in the skies above Washington. The plane everyone is looking for
is right in front of them. National Guard
Lt. Col.Steve O'Brien. We were at about 3,500 feet at
the time that I first noticed this commercial airliner in our 12
o'clock position in about a 45-degree bank, which is unusual for a
large aircraft to be descending and turning at a 45-degree bank turn
like that, so that really got our attention. The next thing we
saw was a fireball and a big plume of smoke. From a mail message from 'Isopodia'.
See
also:The
pilot's version "I noticed
this airplane up and to the left of us. at 10 o'clock. He was
descending to our altitude. four miles away or so. That's
awful close. so I was surprised he wasn't calling out to us.
... Then he made a pretty aggressive turn so he was
moving right in front of us. a mile and a half. two miles
away...."