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Suicide pilots would have had to be trained to hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, aviation experts say | |
| Flight Map Here | Gen. MACKENZIE on Ground Attack ->>>> Here | |
By CHARLES BREMNER
Sept 13, 2001
The aviation world is abuzz with
speculation over the psychology and flying qualifications of the terrorists
who took over four airliners, prepared to die for their cause while inflicting
mass carnage.
As a picture of the four flights emerged, pilots said Wednesday the terrorists
appeared to be skilled pilots with extensive training in flying big jets.
No pilots believed that the American Airlines and United Airlines crew could
have steered their Boeing 767 and 757 aircraft on to their targets, even under
extreme duress. The main question was at what stage of the flights the hijack
pilots slid into the pilots' seats and took control.
If, as appears likely, suicide pilots were flying the airplanes from early in
the hijacks, they must have been highly skilled. As well as hand-flying their
aircraft to their targets with precision, they would have navigated their way
through hundreds of miles of crowded airspace, managing the electronic flight
systems and descending from cruise altitude to their targets.
If the airline crew were replaced only in the last few minutes, it was just
conceivable that hijackers with only basic flying knowledge could have taken
the airliners to their destruction. Simple flying manoeuvres are relatively
straightforward in the heavily automated Boeings. However, evidence points to
an early change of pilots and a high skill level.
Telephone calls from passengers aboard the Pentagon-bound American Airlines
Boeing showed that the two crew members had been sent to the back of the aircraft
along with the passengers and cabin staff early in the flight from Washington
Dulles Airport. Radar showed that the Los Angeles-bound flight appeared to have
been taken over near Cleveland and turned back eastward to Washington.
The radar transponder was switched off, rather than set at the standard emergency
frequency for identifying hijacked aircraft. The aircraft all appear to have
maintained radio silence as they followed fairly straight courses to their targets.
The likelihood of professionals at the controls appeared to be strengthened
by Boston media reports Wednesday that the FBI had identified a United Arab
Emirates pilot as a suspect and found a car with Arabic-language flight-training
manuals in it.
Many professional pilots said that the hijackers must have possessed considerable
flying hours and knowledge of the Boeings, because of the complexity of their
coordinated missions and the difficulties of manoeuvring a 160-tonne jet on
to the right trajectory to hit a target, even as apparently big as the New York
and Washington buildings.
Video of the American Airlines 767 ploughing into the World Trade Center's south
tower in the second strike suggested that a professional was at the controls.
The aircraft approached in a coordinated descending turn that lined it up on
the building like an airliner making an approach to land.
"Only an experienced pilot could have made that turn," said French
pilot Patrick Auguin, an Air France Airbus captain. "They must have had
pretty serious training to do this.... It is not like a video game. You have
to know how to handle the momentum of the plane."
Hitting a building in a dive, as the American Airlines 757 did at the Pentagon,
was a very difficult manoeuvre for any pilot, said Augin, who is an official
with the French National Union of Airline Pilots. "These manoeuvres would
have been beyond the reach of a private pilot."
The planning behind the operation was also reflected in the choice of transcontinental
flights, which were loaded with fuel. Pilots also noted that the fine autumn
weather played a role in the terrorists' successes.
Poor visibility, which is more common in summer and winter on the eastern U.S.
seaboard, would have made it harder to spot and fly to the targets.
The Times of London