# The WTC Rumor mill has started... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900 "2001-09-11T19:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/41 "2001-09-13T04:39:58Z")
I think the “five jets” thing was a bit of confusion. During the morning, I was watching NBC’s coverage and talking to my Mom long-distance. I’d heard about 1) the first plane that hit the WTC 2) the second plane that hit the WTC 3) the plane that hit the Pentagon and 4) the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Mom had heard about one that crashed “headed toward Camp David.” She asked me where Camp David was. I said it was in Maryland. So we both assumed this plane crashed in Maryland, and that there were five. Later I found out that the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania and the one “near Camp David” were the same plane. ---
**Author:** ![Demise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Demise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demise)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/42 "2001-09-13T04:53:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rossarian \* > **But…This plane did not scatter over miles of ground like it would if it had been blown up at a high altitude.** A plane as large as a 757 would probably not explode like a fighter might if it were hit with an air-to-air missile. The first thing that I thought when I heard that the 4th plane crashed in PA was that our F14s or F16s had shot it down. This kind of action is one that must be made in this type of situation. Who knows how many people could have been killed if it had made it to its target? I prefer to believe that the courageous passengers aboard Flight 93 made the ultimate sacrifice and downed the plane themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Rossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@Rossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/43 "2001-09-13T05:00:17Z")
Possibly. It was loaded with a lot of jet fuel, but a lot would depend on whether it was a direct hit or proximity damage, number of missiles fired, etc… If it was shot down, I would have no problem. It would have been the right decision. I would commend the fighter pilot for being able to carry out such a morally difficult action. I just think it’s stupid for people to keep bringing up government-conspiracy viewpoints without a single shread of evidence. We do have some evidence about the plane, and it looks like the passengers took the plane down themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/44 "2001-09-13T13:20:52Z")
Yes, and that would explain the erratic maneuvers that witnesses saw. I have the horrible vision of the passengers, after incapacitating the terrorists, with the pilots dead or unconscious, struggling frantically to fly a plane… Heroes, one and all. ---
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/45 "2001-09-13T16:09:16Z")
It was just reported that a second debris site was located in Pa 6 to 8 miles from the main crash site. Fits with the shoot down theory though I have a tough time believing that the military would feel it necessary to lie about taking that action. Perhaps overstressed during the eratic flight. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/46 "2001-09-13T17:39:05Z")
Well the FBI hasn’t ruled out that it may have been shot down. This one is from Yahoo, I also saw it on ABC News. [http://us.news2.yimg.com/f/42/31/7m/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010913/ts/attack\_pennsylvania\_dc\_3.html](http://us.news2.yimg.com/f/42/31/7m/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010913/ts/attack_pennsylvania_dc_3.html) It’s a far cry from claiming it was, but it is still an option. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/47 "2001-09-13T17:45:43Z")
Well crap… can someone fix the link… it decided to stick %20 in between dc and \_3. If you delete that out it works fine. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/48 "2001-09-13T17:58:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maximum Override \* > \*\*Don’t panic… > > I am chatting with a friend who is, at this moment, chatting with a friend of her’s who is a cop in NY. > > He just finished telling her that the plane that crashed over PA was actually shot down by F14’s.\*\* Wouldn’t it be something to have a plane hundreds of miles inland shot down by a U.S. NAVY fighter? You don’t often see Navy aircraft carriers plowing through the farmlands of southern Pennsylvania. Do you think they do that by just steaming into land really fast and sliding all the way across the continent, or do they fit big wheels to them and roll them down Interstates? It would certainly cut transit time thru the Panama Canal. This has all the fittings of an urban legend that will haunt us for decades to come. I’m sure Pierre Salinger will soon write a story about how the entire thing was orchestrated by the CIA. ---
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/49 "2001-09-13T18:12:06Z")
[http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=220355](http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=220355) The employee also told the newspaper that FAA air traffic controllers in Nashua learned through discussions with other controllers that an F-16 fighter stayed in hot pursuit of another hijacked commercial airliner until it crashed in Pennsylvania. By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the military had taken control of U.S. airspace, the employee said. Hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:37 a.m. Although controllers don’t have complete details of the Air Force’s chase of the Boeing 757, they have learned the F-16 made 360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial jet, the employee said. “He must’ve seen the whole thing,” the employee said of the F-16 pilot’s view of Flight 93’s crash. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900/50 "2001-09-16T23:05:24Z")
While they are still denying military intervention in the crash of flight 93 (which I certainly believe, given reports of the heroic actions of the passengers on that flight), Vice President Cheney has admitted today that “President Bush authorized the military to shoot down any unauthorized civilian aircraft that might have been heading toward the White House or the Capitol…” > [@](#): > > “The president made the decision. … I concurred … that if the plane would not divert, if they wouldn’t pay any attention to instructions to move away from the city, as a last resort, our pilots were authorized to take them out,” Cheney said. (Source: [http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/cheney.terror/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/cheney.terror/index.html) ) I guess that answers the question as to whether or not they _would_ shoot down a passenger plane if it became necessary. Also, there’s an interesting timeline of events [here](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.hijack.warning/). * * * Jeg elsker dig, Thomas [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wtc-rumor-mill-has-started/80900.md?page=2)