In summary, NEADS received notice of the hijacking nine minutes before
it struck the North Tower. That nine minutes' notice before impact was the
most the military would receive of any of the four hijackings.
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United Airlines Flight 175
FAA Awareness.
One of the last transmissions from United Airlines Flight
175 is, in retrospect, chilling. By 8:40, controllers at the FAA's New York Cen-
ter were seeking information on American 11. At approximately 8:42, shortly
after entering New York Center's airspace, the pilot of United 175 broke in
with the following transmission:
UAL 175:
New York UAL 175 heavy.
FAA:
UAL 175 go ahead.
UAL 175:
Yeah.We figured we'd wait to go to your center.Ah, we heard
a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston, ah, with
someone, ah, it sounded like someone keyed the mikes and said ah
everyone ah stay in your seats.
FAA:
Oh, okay. I'll pass that along over here.
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Minutes later, United 175 turned southwest without clearance from air traf-
fic control. At 8:47, seconds after the impact of American 11, United 175's
transponder code changed, and then changed again. These changes were not
noticed for several minutes, however, because the same New York Center con-
troller was assigned to both American 11 and United 175.The controller knew
American 11 was hijacked; he was focused on searching for it after the aircraft
disappeared at 8:46.
123
At 8:48, while the controller was still trying to locate American 11, a New
York Center manager provided the following report on a Command Center
teleconference about American 11:
Manager, New York Center:
Okay. This is New York Center. We're
watching the airplane. I also had conversation with American Air-
lines, and they've told us that they believe that one of their stew-
ardesses was stabbed and that there are people in the cockpit that
have control of the aircraft, and that's all the information they have
right now.
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The New York Center controller and manager were unaware that American
11 had already crashed.
At 8:51, the controller noticed the transponder change from United 175 and
tried to contact the aircraft.There was no response. Beginning at 8:52, the con-
troller made repeated attempts to reach the crew of United 175. Still no
response.The controller checked his radio equipment and contacted another
"WE HAVE SOME PLANES"
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