PENTAGON RESEARCH

FLIGHT 77

Flight 77 was the aircraft also known as tail number N644AA. This aircraft had the Rolls Royce RB-211 engines. This as well as the aircraft's status as "destroyed" can be confirmed at the FAA Registry here.

For the purpose of consistency on this website I will use 345 mph (506 feet per second) as the impact speed based on the following quote, "Meanwhile, investigators tell Fox News they are getting "good, solid readings" from American Airlines Flight 77's data recorder .....According to data on the recorder, the plane was going 345 miles per hour when it crashed."
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34412,00.html - Copy & Paste). Local Copy

This aircraft was designed to accommodate approximately 200 passengers and 1,670 cu ft. of cargo. The flight had 64 people on board, 6 crew and 58 passengers. A load of 58 passengers would leave about 3 out of four seats empty.

The aircraft had on board approximately 36,200 lbs. (5,300 gal) of fuel at the time of impact.

No radio MAYDAY or emergency signal was broadcast by an experienced military pilot. In fact, no evasive maneuver, emergency transponder signal or MAYDAY was broadcast by any of the four aircraft except for Flight 93 reporting a bomb on board before its transponder was shut off.

8:20 AM Flight 77 departed Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles.

8:50 AM the last radio contact is made with Flight 77.

8:54 AM Flight 77 veers off course toward the southwest.

8:56 AM Flight 77's transponder is turned off.

9:00 AM Flight 77 is reported missing and a search is initiated. The Pentagon increased its alert status. A flight attendant called her mother via cell phone and reported a hijacking.

9:10 AM Washington control notices an incoming plane on radar with no radio contact and no transponder.

9:24 AM the FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 77 may be headed towards Washington. There was no attempt to evacuate the Pentagon.

9:25 AM Barbara Olson reportedly made a phone call to her husband. There are varying accounts of this call but it is where the information about box cutters and knives allegedly came from.

9:27 AM VP Cheney and National Security Advisor Rice are notified in the safety of their security bunker that a plane is headed to Washington.

9:30 AM Flight 77 is tracked on radar 30 miles from Washington.

9:35 Flight 77 is reported at 7000 feet flying more than 400 mph. The plane makes a high-speed descending turn to the right dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes.*

9:37 Flight 77 disappears from radar 6 miles from Washington.

9:38 AM Flight 77 is reported to have crashed into the Pentagon.

In summary, Flight 77 was airborne for 78 minutes, 48 of them without radio contact, 42 without a transponder signal, 38 minutes officially reported missing, 7 minutes seen on radar until it disappeared again, and 14 minutes with knowledge that it was headed towards Washington. Keep in mind that during this whole time-frame the attacks were taking place at the WTC and being reported on every news channel. Also consider that military intercept aircraft sat 10 minutes away from the Pentagon without being dispatched until it was too late.

* This statement conflicts with the statement that the transponder was turned off. Primary radar alone does not detect altitude.