Do we know for sure where the fourth plane was headed?

Factual Questions
1

I’m referring of course to the aircraft that crashed into a field in PA after passengers rebelled against the hijackers on 9/11/01.

I’ve heard a lot of speculation that this plane was destined for the Whitehouse; has this been confirmed in any official, or at least convincing, manner?

2

Nope.

3

No. We do not know where the “fourth plane” was headed. All you’ve heard so far has been guesses and speculations.

Barring the capture of someone involved in the planning of the attacks, and getting the [expletive deleted] to sing like a stool pigeon, we will never know for sure.

4

Interesting question. I heard on MSNBC “Abrams Report” that neither plane in DC hit the original target. The best “Guess” is one was meant for the White House and the other one for the Capitol Building. Now that would have been a sight a big hole in the dome.

Experts think the Pentagon was not the orignal target for the plane but the inexperience pilots missed either the Capitol or the White House and chose the Pentagon by sight.

This is a concern because Al Qudea(sp?) has a history of coming back to finish what they failed to get. As they came back for the WTC after failing in '94 to bring it down.

5

One of the cell phone recordings reportedly had a hijacker saying, “We’re going to Disney Woooooorrrrrrrllld!” :wink:

OK. That’s my sick joke for the week. Tissues all around for the weepers. For the outrage folks: “Yeah, yeah.”

6

The best speculation I heard was that the plane that hit the Pentagon was originally targeted for the White House. The problem they had is that the White House does not have any distinctive features that are obvious from the air. There’s not much to distinguish it from a bunch of other buildings from that angle.

When they couldn’t readily identify the White House, they looked around for an alternative target that was easily identified. The Capitol with its dome would have been a good one, but the other plane was targeted for that. So they chose the Pentagon.

7

I would think the large amount of green space surrounding the White House, and the fact that the Washington Monument is in front of the White House, would make it obvious from the air.

8

The way my lucks been going, Probably towards my house :eek:

9

As a pilot myself, I don’t buy that. The area around the White House is quite distinctive, which would make locating it a simple matter. My own home is much smaller, of quite mundane shape, and colored in earth tones which blend into the surronding area, yet I can and have identified it easily from 6,000 feet. Ditto for a lot of other small landmarks.

If this is anywhere close to reality, I’d think it was more a matter of the hijackers not having as fine a control over the airplane as they needed and just plain missing the target. That low to the ground, they were already flirting with disaster and may not have been able to turn around for another go. So if the Pentagon only required a minor course correction maybe they went for that.

But I don’t know why there’s this insistance that somehow the Pentagon wasn’t the target. I mean, why not?

10

Abu Zubaydah said it was the White House

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/flight.93/?related

Add me to those who think the pilot of Flight 77 (Pentagon hit), which was flown by pilot who executed a tight pivot and hit a target on the ground at full throttle – not simply “steering” easy things to do — could easily have found the Capitol and with more difficulty the White House