The Cleveland Airport Mystery

by Woody Box
Exclusive for INN Report -May 30

from GeorgeWBush-TerroristInTheWhiteHouse Website
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_911_26.htm
 

In midst the chaos breaking out in the hours after the WTC and Pentagon attacks, between 10 a.m. and 11 am. an airplane made an emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins Airport . Rumors were going around that it was hijacked or had a bomb on board. The FBI evacuated the plane and search it with bomb-sniffing dogs after the passengers had left. It turned out to be false alarm. The plane - Delta flight1989 - was not hijacked, and there was no bomb.

However, a closer examination reveals a bunch of conflicting statements concerning Delta 1989. Neither the moment of landing, nor the number of the passengers, nor the location of the grounded plane is clear. For every aspect of the incident there are two different versions. Not one or three or four versions, but two.

This article will prove that not one, but two planes made an emergency landing in Cleveland - in close succession. The proof is based on local newspaper and radio reports from September 11th and 12th (mainly from the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer), statements of eyewitnesses and internet postings in the morning of 9/11 (people were listening to the radio and immediately submitted the breaking news to the net).

One of the flights was indeed Delta 1989. We don’t know the identity of the other one, so we call it “Flight X”... We start with a short summary of the events in Cleveland. At 10 a.m., the airport was evacuated. Without doubt, this had to do with the rumors that a hijacked plane was going to land. The passengers had to leave the airport but were not allowed to take their car. They had to walk or got a ride at the highway. Busses were not allowed to leave the airport. People around the airport were to to go home. It was a very tense situation.

These facts are undisputed. Cleveland Mayor Michael White held a televised news conference at 11 a.m., after the emergency landing. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he said there was an unconfirmed report that the plane might have been hijacked or was carrying a bomb. But in the middle of the news conference, he reported that it had not been hijacked, and later in the day he said no bomb had been found. This was not the only detail that changed in the course of the day. In the morning, White said that air controllers could hear screaming on the plane. In the afternoon, he didn’t mention the screams anymore.

We will now examine several parameters of the emergency landing:

1) The moment of landing
2) The begin of the evacuation of the passengers
3) The number of passengers
4) The place the passengers were interviewed after the evacuation
5) The exact location of the grounded plane

We will see that there are two different data for every parameter, suggesting that we are dealing wit two different planes. We will omit the “a.m.” because it’s clear that everything is happening in the morning.

1) The moment of landing

AP and two Ohio newspapers report a landing at 10:45 (1ª). However, Delta Airlines has registered 10:10 as the landing time and Cleveland firefighters can confirm that the landing took place before 10:30 (1^b). Because Delta Airlines did not loose the track of its plane, the 10:10 plane was surely Delta 1989. So the 10:45 plane is - by definition - Flight X.

 

2) The begin of the evacuation of the passengers

The Akron Beacon Journal writes in an extra edition from 9/11 that the passengers were released from the plane at 11:15. This is confirmed by internet postings describing the events in real-time (2ª). However, a passenger from Delta 1989 relates that she had to stay more than two hours in the plane before the FBI started to search it and took the passengers away for questioning.

 

The Plain Dealer has learned about a evacuation time of 12:30, confirming the witness’ statement. (2^b). Thanks to the most valuable statement of the passenger, we can conclude that Delta 1989 landed at 10:10 and was evacuated at 12:30. Flight X landed at 10:45 and was evacuated at 11:15.

 

3) The number of passengers
The first press reports tell us that the plane carried 200 passengers. Mayor White mentioned this number on his 11 o’clock conference (3ª). He did not say how he got the number. The passenger o Delta 1989 however, she must know it, made an estimation of “sixty or so” passengers. This is confirmed by later reports - the story changed quickly.

 

Now, 69 passengers have been released from the plane, going well with the “sixty or so” (3^b).
We can conclude that Delta 1989 landed at 10:10, the 69 passengers being evacuated at 12:30. Flight X landed at 10:45, the 200 passengers being released at 11:15.

 

4) The place the passengers were interviewed after the evacuation

The most reports say that the passengers were brought into a nearby NASA facility (4ª). This is the NASA Glenn Research Center, located near the west end of the airport. It was already evacuated. The passenger of delta 1989 however tells us that she was taken into a “secure building at the airport”. This is confirmed by a report that the Delta 1989 passengers were interviewed in the FAA headquarter (4^b).

 

Surely the FAA headquarter is not located in the NASA facility. We can conclude that Delta 1989 landed at 10:10, and at 12:30 the 69 passengers were taken into the FAA headquarter. Flight X landed at 10:45, and at 11:15 the 200 passengers were taken into the evacuated NASA Center.

Cleveland Hopkins Airport

Note that the blue runways were in planning yet on 9/11.

The big black-rectangle in the South is the I-X Center

 

5) The exact location of the plane
This is the final proof that we have to do with two different planes. Both planes were sitting on a runway, but miles away from each other. One plane was at the west end of runway 28/10 near the NASA center (point 10 in the map). This is confirmed by Associated Press and an eyewitness (5ª).

 

The other plane was sitting at the south end of runway 18/36 near the I-X-Center (point 36), also confirmed by two eyewitnesses (5^b). The geographic conditions on the airport suggest that the passengers at the West end were taken to the NASA Center and the passengers at the South end to the FAA headquarter.

We summarize our findings:

The 69 passengers of Delta 1989 are (hopefully) alive and well. Questions remain:

Where did Flight X come from, who were the 200 passengers, and what happened to them?

Sources

(1ª) Landing at 10:45
The airplane landed at about 10:45 a.m., but the airport released no information about the plane’s intended destination.

Associated Press 9/11/01

 

The flight to Los Angeles landed at Hopkins at 10:45 a.m., and was directed to a secure area of the airport.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/12/01

 

Delta Flight 1989 made an emergency landing at Hopkins about 10:45 a.m., nearly two hours after the World Trade Center towers were hit by two hijacked planes.

Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/12/01

 

 

(1^b) Landing at 10:10 10:30 a.m.

Flight quarantined. On a remote taxiway at Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland Delta Flight 1989 is quarantined. Since early reports that a bomb, then hijackers, might be aboard, Delta CEO Leo Mullin, 58, had nervously tracked the flight from the company’s headquarters in Atlanta. Every five minutes, a new report came in. None seemed clear. Still, the flight landed uneventfully in Cleveland at 10:10 a.m.

USA Today, 8/12/02

After treatment and transport to the hospital, reports over our radio confirmed the south tower had collapsed. ... My chief put out an order to return to quarters. He received reports there was a plane sequestered on the runway of Cleveland Hopkins Airport, because of a possible hijacking or a bomb on board.

 

Responding back to our firehouse my heart started pounding faster as we became closer our station, which is only a few hundred yards from the south side of the airport. The second tower now had collapsed. There it was a huge plane standing eerily still. Police, EMS and fire are positioned in the distance.

Scott Boulton, Cleveland firefighter

 

The reports of the suspicious plane on the runway obviously came in BEFORE the WTC North Tower collapsed (10:28). A 10:10 landing time fits very well into Boulton’s chronology (set between the first and second WTC collapse), while a 10:45 landing time contradicts it.

 

(2ª) Evacuation at 11:15
The 200 passengers were reportedly released from the plane at 11:15 a.m., though White said the pilot was still concerned that a bomb remained.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/11/01

 

A Boeing 767 out of Boston made an emergency landing Tuesday at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport due to concerns that it may have a bomb aboard, said Mayor Michael R. White. White said the plane had been moved to a secure area of the airport, and was evacuated.

WCPO-TV, Cincinna 9/11/01, 11:43:57.

So at 11.43, the evacuation was already finished.

 

“We have lost track of a number of planes,” quote from FAA. From Scott P at PTE - Just heard an unconfirmed report that a plane on the ground at Cleveland-Hopkins Airport has a bomb on board with approximately 200 people on board.

PT Cruiser Club Forum Posted by Cruisin in Calgary at Sept?11,?2001,?8:14?AM PST (=11:14 EST)

The plane at Hopkins has been deplaned and they are going to search it for a bomb now.

PT Cruise Login Club Forum Posted by Terry J at Sep?11,?2001,?8:41?AM PST (=11:41 EST) .

 

So there were no passengers on the plane anymore at 11:41.

 

(2^b) Evacuation at 12:30
After our emergency landing, our plane was directed to go to an isolated area of the airport, and waited for over two hours in quarantine before FBI agents and bomb sniffing dogs came out to the plane.

Delta 1989 passenger’s story

About 12:30 p.m. baggage cars and shuttle buses approached the plane. The 69 passengers and nine
crew members then walked down a portable staircase and onto the buses, which took them to FAA
headquarters nearby.

Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/12/01

 

(3ª) 200 passengers
The 200 passengers were reportedly released from the plane at 11:15 a.m., though White said the pilot was still concerned that a bomb remained.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/11/01

 

The plane was sitting on a runway at the airport’s west end with approximately 200 passengers on board.

Associated Press, 9/11/01

 

About 200 passengers were aboard the plane. It will be checked for a bomb.

News Channel 5, Cleveland-Akron,9/11/01

 

A few hours after Mayor White’s first news conference, FBI Special Agent Mark Bullock confirmed that the Delta jet with 200 people aboard had landed safely and had not been in danger.

WCPN radio, 9/12/01

 

The mayor of Cleveland has announced that an airplane containing 200 passengers has been sequestered at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport. They believe there may be a bomb on the plane.

Metafilter.com forum posted by turaho at 8:37 a.m. PST (=11:37 EST)

 

(3^b) 69 passengers
The sixty or so passengers were thus able to gather some alarming details of the unbelievable fates the other two LA-bound planes.

Delta 1989 passenger’s story

 

The 69 passengers and nine crew members then walked down a portable staircase and onto the bus which took them to FAA headquarters nearby.

Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/12/01

 

The plane was evacuated of its 78 passengers shortly before 1 p.m.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/12/01

( 78 = 69 passengers + 9 crew members)

 

(4ª) Interview in NASA Center

They (the passengers) were taken to NASA Glenn Research Center to be interviewed by FBI agents The center had been evacuated about an hour before.)

Akron Beacon Journal 9/12/01

 

The Boeing 767 was evacuated and searched, said Della Homenik, spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. White. Passengers were taken to a nearby NASA facility.

The Post, Athens, Ohio, 9/11/01

 

I thought the target could also have be NASA’s Glen/Lewis Research Center that is right next to the Cleveland Airport. The news reported that the plane landed because of a suspected bomb on board but they haven’t released anyone that was on that plane. The closed NASA and transported everyone that was on the plane there for questioning.

E-Mail Repository, posted by “Connie”, time unknown

 

 

(4^b) Interview in FAA/Airport building

While our personal effects were examined we were taken to a secure building at the airport where for three hours we were interrogated at length.

Delta 1989 passenger’s story

 

The 69 passengers and nine crew members then walked down a portable staircase and onto the buses, which took them to FAA headquarters nearby.

Cleveland Plain Dealer 9/12/01

 

 

(5ª) Plane at West end near NASA Center

The plane was sitting on a runway at the airport’s west end with approximately 200 passengers on board.

Associated Press, 9/11/01

 

At the same time that we passed the Cleveland airport, the radio was reporting that a plane had been quarantined at the airport and forced to stay away from the terminal. There was some concern that bomb might be aboard. As we went by, we say the plane with a number of vehicles surrounding it. Lights were flashing. We wondered if there were hijackers aboard that very plane.

Rudy K, persona report.

 

Rudy K was on the way home from Toledo to Rochester, N.Y., taking Interstate 480. This highway runs parallel to runway 28/10, a few hundred yards more to the North. The I-X-Center is three miles away - too far away for Rudy K’s eyes to recognize vehicles. He was watching a plane near the northern boundary of the airport. His report confirms the existence of a plane near the NASA Center.

 

Thanks to his precise description, we can also conclude that he passed the airport at about 1 o’clock as he began his ride at 9:30 in Toledo and arrived at 4 p.m. in Rochester (with a little stop). Flight X was already there at 11 o’clock.

 

(5^b) Plane at South end near I-X Center
Kurt Voelkel, 18, of Parma watched as the Delta sat on a remote area of the Hopkins tarmac near the I-X Center.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/12/01

 

He received reports there was a plane sequestered on the runway of Cleveland Hopkins Airport, because of a possible hijacking or a bomb on board. Responding back to our firehouse my heart started pounding faster as we became closer to our station, which is only a few hundred yards from the south side of the airport. The second tower now had collapsed. There it was a huge plane standing eerily still. Police, EMS and fire are positioned in the distance.

Scott Boulton, Cleveland firefighter.

 

Boulton works with the fire department of Brookmark, a small city south-east of Hopkins Airport. His station is on Holland Street, just opposite the end of runway 18/36 (“only a few hundred yards from the south-side of the airport”). So he is talking of the plane near the I-X Center, too.

Footnotes

The 10 factual data presented in the text are each supported by at least two independent sources. Everybody who denies the occurring of two emergency landings should be able to provide us with clear answers to these five questions: When did the plane land, when was it evacuated, how many passengers did it carry, where were they interviewed, where was the plan sitting at the airport. For every answer, he should also be able to disprove the contradicting two (or more) sources. I think this is very hard work. Good luck.

There are many rumors and uncorroborated messages around the events in Cleveland. I want to present them here, but I endorse careful handling as they are not independently verified.

Flight X = United Airlines Flight?

White said the plane had been moved to a secure area of the airport, and was evacuated. United identified the plane as Flight 93. The airline did say how many people were aboard the flight.

WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, 9/11/01, 11:43:57 (Mirror)

This message, submitted at 11:43 in the morning, is nowhere else to find. It’s the only hint that Flight X might be United Airlines 93, but you have to wonder about the differing passenger numbers (UA 93: 33 passengers; Flight X: 200 passengers). Very obscure the last sentence: If United Airlines told the reporters the number of the passengers, why don’t they submit this news to the public?

Did the airline tell them the number but on the condition not to publish it?

• [11:01] (temas) there was an emergency landing safely completed in Cleveland

• [11:02] (temas) potential bomb on the plane

• [11:02] (temas) and it might be the missing UA flight

This jabber obviously followed the radio or TV news. He refers to what he’s hearing, so it’s not his own, but the radio’s guessing that the plane in Cleveland might be the “missing UA flight”. Very likely temas is talking about Flight X because Delta 1989’s identity never was in question. Note that the time of the posting 11:01 points to a landing of 10:45, too.
 

The Toledo Plane

White reported that another plane was diverted from Hopkins toward Toledo.

Akron Beacon Journal 9/11/01

He said airport officials reported that a second airplane in distress had passed through Cleveland airspace earlier Tuesday morning before being handed off to Toledo. Officials at Toledo Express Airport did not immediately have any information about a plane headed from Cleveland.

Associate Press, 9/11/01

So we have another obscure plane in an emergency situation, and in the light of the new evidence, we might ask if the Toledo Plane is identical to Flight X. It seems that Mayor White was not the being informed person in Cleveland since he changed his statements a couple of times during the day.

Virginia Buckingham’s statement

A disturbing first-hand statement comes from Virginia Buckingham. She was not only security chief of Boston Airport on 9/11, but also CEO of MA Port Authority.

By 9:30, the FAA had grounded all flights out of Boston and New York.

 

By 9:40, all US flight operations were halted. As we tried to account for all Boston-originating flights already in the air, we received word that a Delta flight out of Logan, bound for the West Coast, had lost radio contact with air traffic control.

When exactly did Delta 1989 loose radio contact? At 9:36, Cleveland Center warned the plane to stay away from UA 93, and this USA Today report confirms that the pilot asked the controllers to land in Cleveland shortly before 9:45 when the FAA released an order to ground all planes. So until about 9:40-9:45 Delta 1989 was in contact with Air Traffic Control.

Victoria Buckingham: I felt sick to my stomach. It would be more than an hour before we received word that the flight had landed safely in Cleveland.

So it took more than an hour after the lost radio contact that Mrs. Buckingham learned of the safe landing of the flight. This must have happened at about 10:45-11:00 and perfectly fits the landing time of Flight X. Did she refer to Flight X? Delta 1989 landed at 10:10 in Cleveland, and it is unbelievable that the pilot allowed the passengers to make phone calls but didn’t inform his airline about the safe landing. If Mrs. Buckingham was talking about Delta 1989, why did she had to wait more than half an hour to get the reassuring message that the plane and the passengers were okay?

Col. Alan Scott’s statement

Col. Scott testified to the 9-11 commission on 5/23/03:

MR. SCOTT:

9:27, Boston FAA reports a fifth aircraft missing, Delta Flight 89 -- and many people have never heard of Delta Flight 89. We call that the first red herring of the day, because there were a number of reported possible hijackings that unfolded over the hours immediately following the actual attacks. Delta 89 was not hijacked, enters the system, increases the fog and friction if you will, as we begin to look for that. But he lands about seven of eight minutes later and clears out of the system.
At 9:49, FAA reports that Delta 89, which had been reported as missing, is now reported as a possible hijacking. So again he is—
 

MR.: That’s 9:41, sir.
 

MR. SCOTT: I’m sorry, 9:41. Again, he is in the system. He is kind of a red herring for us.

Now, the only thing that I would point out on this chart is this says 9:43, American Airlines 77 impacts the Pentagon. The timeline on the impact of the Pentagon was changed to 9:37 -- 9:43 is the time that was reported that day, it was the time we used. And it took about two weeks to discover in the parking lot of the Pentagon this entry camera for the parking lot, which happened to be oriented towards the Pentagon at the time of impact, and the recorded time is 9:37.

And that’s why the timeline went from 9:43 to 9:37, because it is the best documented evidence for the impact time that we have. Getting toward the end now, 9:47 is when Delta 89 clears the system by landing in Cleveland. So he is not a hijack.

Mr. Scott’s statement is even more astonishing. His memory doesn’t seem to work very good. As I have already outlined, nothing unusual happened to Delta 1989 until about 9:40, when the pilot stopped talking with Air Traffic Control. So it was not reported missing at 9:27. And Scott’s version of the landing of Delta 1989 - at 9:47 - contradicts all sources gathered in this article. The airport was not even closed at this time.