Jump to content

United Airlines Flight 175: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Crash: Sentence was inaccurate. Added accurate statements.
rv further inaccurate statements; Undid revision 186913367 by 124.197.2.220 (talk)
(2 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 75: Line 75:
According to eyewitnesses and video footage, the aircraft appeared to execute a banking left turn in the final moments, as it appeared that the plane might have otherwise missed the building or merely clipped it with its wing. Upon crashing, the plane was banked left. Those seated on the left side of the plane would, therefore, have had a clear view of the towers approaching, with one burning, until the final moment of the flight.<ref name="LearningChannel">{{cite web |url=http://times.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=141.13743.55526.0.0|title=Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary)|publisher=The Learning Channel|date=December 2005}}</ref>
According to eyewitnesses and video footage, the aircraft appeared to execute a banking left turn in the final moments, as it appeared that the plane might have otherwise missed the building or merely clipped it with its wing. Upon crashing, the plane was banked left. Those seated on the left side of the plane would, therefore, have had a clear view of the towers approaching, with one burning, until the final moment of the flight.<ref name="LearningChannel">{{cite web |url=http://times.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=141.13743.55526.0.0|title=Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary)|publisher=The Learning Channel|date=December 2005}}</ref>


The image of the crash was caught on video from multiple vantage points on [[live television]] and amateur video. Video were continually replayed in news broadcasts over the next few days. A film sequence of the jet visibly melting into the tower without notable disintegration was taken from [[Battery Park]] by Michael Hezarkhani (video, shown first on [[CNN]]) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://wtc.nist.gov/NISTNCSTAR1-2.pdf|title=NIST report (58mB pdf) table 6-1: "Video file V4, footage taken at ground level near the Castle Clinton National Monument" ... Appendix E (end of the report) = still images from the video with the Michael Hezarkhani name on it (quick preview: http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8219/nisthezpicdw9.jpg)}}</ref>. A very clear photo was taken by Carmen Taylor from the top deck of the Ellis Island Ferry moored in Battery Park. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uafortsmith.edu/News/Index?storyid=1511|title=Carmen Taylor, amateur photographer from Lavaca... She then took the photo of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the south tower}}</ref>. The NIST collected over 200 photos and 40 videos.<ref name="NIST" />
The image of the crash was caught on video from multiple vantage points on [[live television]] and amateur video. Video were continually replayed in news broadcasts over the next few days. The clearest images of the jet visibly disintegrating upon impact with the tower were taken from [[Battery Park]] by Carmen Taylor (still photograph)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uafortsmith.edu/News/Index?storyid=1511|title=Carmen Taylor, amateur photographer from Lavaca... She then took the photo of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the south tower}}</ref> and Michael Hezarkhani (video, shown first on [[CNN]]) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://wtc.nist.gov/NISTNCSTAR1-2.pdf|title=NIST report (58mB pdf) table 6-1: "Video file V4, footage taken at ground level near the Castle Clinton National Monument" ... Appendix E (end of the report) = still images from the video with the Michael Hezarkhani name on it (quick preview: http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8219/nisthezpicdw9.jpg)}}</ref>. The NIST collected over 200 photos and 40 videos.<ref name="NIST" />


Some debris from the aircraft were recovered nearby, including [[landing gear]] found on top of a building on the corner of West Broadway and Park Place, an engine found at Church & Murray Street, and a section of the [[fuselage]] landed on top of [[5 World Trade Center]].
Some debris from the aircraft were recovered nearby, including [[landing gear]] found on top of a building on the corner of West Broadway and Park Place, an engine found at Church & Murray Street, and a section of the [[fuselage]] landed on top of [[5 World Trade Center]].

Revision as of 17:45, 26 January 2008

United Airlines Flight 175
File:Wtcdebris.jpg
A portion of the fuselage from United Airlines Flight 175 on the roof of 5 WTC.
Occurrence
DateSeptember 11 2001
SummaryHijacking
SiteWorld Trade Center
Aircraft typeBoeing 767-222
OperatorUnited Airlines
RegistrationN612UA[1]
Flight originLogan International Airport
DestinationLos Angeles International Airport
Passengers56 (incl. 5 hijackers)
Crew9
Fatalities665 (65 in aircraft and 600 Estimated, in Tower 2)
Survivors0

United Airlines Flight 175 was a morning flight that regularly flew from Logan International Airport in East Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. On September 11, 2001, the United Airlines Boeing 767-222, registered N612UA,[2] was hijacked and crashed in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was the second plane hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center, but was the single airline crash that morning to be witnessed live on television around the world as it happened. It was preceded by American Airlines Flight 11, which had struck the top of the North Tower 17 minutes earlier. The resultant inferno drew live mass media attention on to the scene of the impending Flight 175 crash into the nearby South Tower.

Hijackers

There were a total five hijackers aboard Flight 175, they were:[3]

The Flight

Template:Sep11

UA 175 flight path from Boston to New York City

Flight 175 was scheduled to depart at 8:00 EDT and left gate 26 at 7:59.[4] Due to routine morning taxiing times, the flight departed the runway at 8:14. Had the flight been scheduled to depart 15 minutes earlier, it most likely would have been hijacked around the same time as Flight 11.

The flight was piloted by Captain Victor Saracini, with Michael Horrocks as first officer. At 08:37:08, flight control asked the pilots of UA175 whether they could see American Airlines Flight 11 out their viewpoint, and the response was affirmative. They were ordered to maintain distance from the flight since it was now known that it had been hijacked.[5] Approximately 7 minutes later, UA175 was also hijacked.

Hijacking

The hijackers claimed they had a bomb, though this is not substantiated. The assailants used knives and mace to subdue members of the flight crew and the pilots.

At 8:41, the pilots overheard suspicious transmission ordering people to "stay in your seats" and reported to air traffic control. [6]

At 8:47, air traffic control received the first indications that the plane was hijacked. The transponder code was changed twice but was never turned off. This allowed ATC to continually track the flight and monitor flight data, including altitude.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In five minutes, there was no doubt of an emergency, as the plane had radically changed course and was not responding. Despite reports that one of the passengers called his mother and told her they were thinking of storming the cockpit, it appears that no such intervention took place.

By 8:58, the plane was heading towards New York City and descended from an altitude of 28,500 feet over New Jersey. From the time al-Shehhi completed the turn toward New York (approximately 8:58) to the moment of impact (9:02:40), the plane went into a sustained power dive, descending more than 24,000 feet in 4 minutes 40 seconds, for an average rate of over 5,000 feet per minute.[6] New York Center air traffic controller Dave Bottiglia reported he and his colleagues "were counting down the altitudes, and they were descending, right at the end, at 10,000 feet per minute. That is absolutely unheard of for a commercial jet."[7]

Near collision with Delta 2315

Delta Air Lines Flight 2315 was a flight from Hartford, Connecticut to Tampa, Florida. Flight 175 nearly collided in midair with the flight just minutes before crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.[8][9] This near-miss was dramatised in United 93.

United 175 flew within about Template:Ft to m of Delta 2315, as air traffic controller Dave Bottiglia frantically tried to tell the Delta pilot to take evasive action. He was the first person in the control center to realize that Flight 175 was hijacked when he gave directions for a turn. Flight 175 didn't respond, it instead accelerated and headed toward Delta Air Lines Flight 2315. The controller commanded the Delta pilot, "Take any evasive action necessary. We have an airplane that we don't know what he's doing. Any action at all"[7]

When the plane passed by, the control center added Flight 175 to the list of hijacked planes.

Phone Calls

Three passengers, Peter Hanson, Brian David Sweeney, and Garnet Bailey made phone calls, all from GTE airphones, from United Airlines Flight 175. Flight attendant Robert Fangman also made phone calls.[10][11]

At 8:52 a.m., Peter Hanson called his father, Lee Hanson in Easton, Connecticut, telling him of the hijacking. Pete was travelling with his wife, Sue, and 2 1/2 year old daughter, Christine. Pete said that the hijackers had taken over the cockpit, that a flight attendant had been stabbed, and possibly someone else in the front of the aircraft had been killed. He also reported that the plane was flying erratically.[12]

Flight attendant Robert Fangman called a United Airlines office in San Francisco, and spoke with Marc Policastro. He reported the hijacking, and said that both pilots had been killed.[12] He also reported that a flight attendant was stabbed, and said that the hijackers were flying the plane.[12] The call was disconnected after a minute and 15 seconds.[10]

At 8:58 a.m., Brian David Sweeney tried calling his wife, Julie, and left her a message, telling her that the plane had been hijacked.[12] He then called his parents at 9:00 a.m., and spoke with his mother, Louise.[10][12] Sweeney told his mother about the hijacking, and mentioned that passengers were considering storming the cockpit and taking control of the aircraft.[12]

Peter Hanson made a second phone call to his father at 9:00 a.m.

"It's getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It's getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don't think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it'll be very fast....Oh My God.., oh my God, oh my God."[13]

As the call abruptly ended, Hanson's father heard a woman screaming.[13]

Then at 9:01 AM; two minutes before impact as United 175 continued its descent into Lower Manhattan, New York Center alerted another nearby Air Traffic Facility responsible for low flying aircraft. As the flight neared the World Trade Center, ATC was able to monitor the flight's impact path.

Crash

File:Story.crash.sequence.jpg
A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center

At 9:03, Flight 175 crashed into the southern facade of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center (south tower), travelling at approximately 545 mph and impacting between floors 77 and 85 with approximately 10,000 gallons of jet fuel.[14] Onboard were 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members, none of whom survived. Hundreds more were killed within the tower and from its ensuing explosion, fires, and collapse. Around 600 people were killed instantly or trapped at and above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC).

According to eyewitnesses and video footage, the aircraft appeared to execute a banking left turn in the final moments, as it appeared that the plane might have otherwise missed the building or merely clipped it with its wing. Upon crashing, the plane was banked left. Those seated on the left side of the plane would, therefore, have had a clear view of the towers approaching, with one burning, until the final moment of the flight.[13]

The image of the crash was caught on video from multiple vantage points on live television and amateur video. Video were continually replayed in news broadcasts over the next few days. The clearest images of the jet visibly disintegrating upon impact with the tower were taken from Battery Park by Carmen Taylor (still photograph)[15] and Michael Hezarkhani (video, shown first on CNN) [16]. The NIST collected over 200 photos and 40 videos.[14]

Some debris from the aircraft were recovered nearby, including landing gear found on top of a building on the corner of West Broadway and Park Place, an engine found at Church & Murray Street, and a section of the fuselage landed on top of 5 World Trade Center.

Unlike at the North Tower, initially, one of the three stairwells was still intact. Only 18 people passed the impact zone through the available stairway and left the South Tower safely before it collapsed. One of those 18 people, Stanley Praimnath was on the 81st floor and witnessed Flight 175 coming towards him.[13] Some people above the impact zone made their way upward toward the roof in hope of a helicopter rescue. However, access doors to the roof were locked. In any case, thick smoke and intense heat prevented rescue helicopters from landing.

At 9:59:04 the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, viewed, and heard by a vast television and radio audience. It stood for 56 minutes and 10 seconds after the impact of Flight 175.

Further information: Collapse of the World Trade Center

Current Flight

Flight 175 also operated as a code-share flight with Air New Zealand under NZ 9051.[17]

Shortly after the crash, the flight number for future flights on the same route was changed from Flight 175 to Flight 1525 "out of respect for those who died in the attack".[18] Since then, United Airlines has renumbered and rescheduled all flights from Boston to Los Angeles, and none of its morning flights depart at 8:00 AM EDT.[19] As of September 2007, this flight has now been redesignated as Flight 163.

Two previous United Airlines flights with the same number made national news prior to 2001. On March 2, 1972, ITT lobbyist Dita Beard was excused from a U.S. Senate investigation because she "was afflicted with chest pains in the aisle of United Airlines Flight 175" while flying from Washington to Denver [20]. On August 6, 1988, "United Flight 175, with 245 passengers and 11 crew members, had reached 22,000 feet," when the DC-10 suddenly lost cabin pressure. All aboard used oxygen masks, and the flight safely returned to Denver. [21]

References

  1. ^ "FAA Registry (N612UA)". Federal Aviation Administration.
  2. ^ "NTSB Brief". NTSB. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  3. ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 7", 9-11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office.
  4. ^ "A September morning, four flights, a collision course with tragedy". Associated Press. September 12, 2001.
  5. ^ "Special Report: Attack on America". Guardian Report. 2001-10-17. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  6. ^ a b "NTSB Report for Flight 175" (PDF). NTSB. 2002-02-19. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  7. ^ a b "Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary)". The Learning Channel. December 2005.
  8. ^ "A Loss of Control". Newsday, Inc. 2002-09-10. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  9. ^ "Report: hijacked plane nearly hit flight from Bradley". The Associated Press. 2002-09-12. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  10. ^ a b c "Exhibit #P200018, United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui". United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.
  11. ^ "The Four Flights - Staff Statement No. 4" (PDF). 9/11 Commission.
  12. ^ a b c d e f National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 1". 9-11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office.
  13. ^ a b c d "Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary)". The Learning Channel. December 2005.
  14. ^ a b "NIST NCSTAR 1-5: Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers" (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. October 2005.
  15. ^ "Carmen Taylor, amateur photographer from Lavaca... She then took the photo of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the south tower".
  16. ^ "NIST report (58mB pdf) table 6-1: "Video file V4, footage taken at ground level near the Castle Clinton National Monument" ... Appendix E (end of the report) = still images from the video with the Michael Hezarkhani name on it (quick preview: http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8219/nisthezpicdw9.jpg)" (PDF). {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  17. ^ "United Airlines provides further update on UA Flights 93 and 175". PR Newswire Europe Ltd. 2001-09-11. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  18. ^ "Logan Airport bears memory of its fateful role with silence". Boston Globe. 2002-09-12. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  19. ^ "United Airlines Worldwide Timetable" (PDF). p. 16. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  20. ^ "Surprise Senate speedup in ITT, Kleindienst case," The Independent (Long Beach, Ca.), Mar. 6, 1972, pA-1, A-4
  21. ^ "Airliner returns safely offer losing cabin pressure," European Stars and Stripes, August 8, 1988, p5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Airlines_Flight_175&oldid=187061974"