8:20 A.M. American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington's Dulles Airport: Boeing 757-223 flying from Dulles Airport outside Washington to Los Angeles with 11,489 gallons of fuel. 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots. [Back]

8:46 A.M. Flight 77 from Washington goes severely off course. It heads due north for a while, then flies due south and gets back on course. It was off course by around 15 miles, and stayed off course for about five minutes. According to regulations a fighter should have scrambled to see what was going on, regardless of any excuses from the pilot.

8:50 A.M. The last radio contact with Flight 77 is made when the pilots ask for clearance to fly higher. But then they fail to respond to a routine instruction. [8:50, Guardian, 10/17/01, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, 8:50:51, New York Times, 10/16/01]

8:55 A.M. Flight 77 turns around over northeastern Kentucky, and heads back towards Washington. The plane has already started turning before the transponder signal is lost. [Washington Post, 9/12/01, Newsday, 9/23/01] This actually probably occurred about five minutes later, if one looks at the flight path and calculates the timing. [see Flight 77 flight path]

8:56 A.M. Flight 77's transponder signal is turned off. [8:56, Guardian, 10/17/01, 8:56, Boston Globe, 11/23/01, "six minutes before" Flight 175 hits WTC, Newsday, 9/23/01] For some minutes the plane is missing because flight controllers are looking for the radar signal towards the west and don't realize the plane is headed east. Rumors circulate that the plane might have exploded in midair. [Newsday, 9/23/01] According to the New York Times, by this time (if not earlier), it is clear Flight 77 has gone missing. Yet the same newspaper points out NORAD is not notified about it for another 28 minutes! [New York Times, 10/16/01] Why are fighters not scrambled now to find Flight 77? [Back]

9:05 A.M. ''A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is under attack,'' Andrew Card whispers into President Bush's ear. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] Bush says nothing in response, but after a brief pause continues reading a story about a girl's pet goat to 18 second-graders at Booker Elementary School in Sarasota Florida. At some point, reporters ask him if he is aware of the two crashes and explosions. He nods and says he will talk about the situation later. [CNN, 9/12/01] Bush continues to read the goat story for the next 20 minutes or so. Why isn't the Commander-in-Chief taking command? Why are fighters not scrambled NOW to find Flight 77?

9:24 A.M. Supposedly at this time, the FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 77 "may" have been hijacked and appears to be headed towards Washington. [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:24, AP, 8/19/02, 9:25, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:25, Guardian, 10/17/01] This notification is 34 MINUTES after flight control lost contact with the plane and well after two planes have crashed, and even then the FAA only says "may"? Is such a long delay actually believable?

9:27 A.M. NORAD orders three F-16 fighters scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to intercept Flight 77. Langley is 129 miles from Washington. Ready aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base, 15 miles away, are not scrambled. [Newsday, 9/23/01] [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:27, CNN, 9/17/01, 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01, 9:35, CNN, 9/17/01]

9:30 A.M. The F-16's scrambled towards Flight 77 get airborne. [9:30, NORAD, 9/18/01, 9:35, Washington Post, 9/12/01] If the NORAD departure time is correct, the F-16's would have to travel slightly over 700 mph to reach Washington before Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. The maximum speed of an F-16 is 1500 mph. [AP, 6/16/00] Even at traveling 1300 mph, these planes could have reached Washington in six minutes - well before any claim of when Flight 77 crashed. Yet they obviously don't.

9:32 A.M. Flight 77 crosses over the Capital Beltway at least 7000 feet up, and starts making a sharp turn, rapidly dropping towards the Pentagon. It drops down nearly to surface level and so is lost to radar. [Guardian, 10/17/01, no time marker, Boston Globe, 11/23/01] [Back]

9:41 A.M. Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. The section of the Pentagon hit consists mainly of newly renovated, unoccupied offices. Approximately 125 are later determined killed or missing. The surface to air missiles presumably surrounding the Pentagon are not fired in defense. Fighters are supposedly still 105 miles or 12 minutes away. [Newsday, 9/23/01, NORAD, 9/18/01, New York Times, 9/12/01, Boston Globe, 11/23/01] NORAD states the fighters took off from Langley at 9:30, 129 miles away, yet when Flight 77 crashes they are still 105 miles away. [NORAD, 9/18/01] That means they must have been flying at an average of about 130 mph!

However, an F-16 pilot codenamed Honey later offers a different explanation of where the F-16's are when Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. He says they are flying towards New York, when they see a black column of smoke coming from Washington, about 30 or 40 miles to the west. He is then asked over the radio by the North East Air Defense Sector of NORAD if he can confirm the Pentagon is burning. He confirms it. The F-16's are then ordered to set up a defensive perimeter above Washington. [The book Among the Heroes, 8/02, p. 76] This certainly fits the timeline much better than NORAD story which has the F-16's traveling 130 mph. [Back]