Did Passengers of Flight 11 Board A Different Plane?

An Independent Investigation

This is a follow up article to my earlier article - Did The Passengers of Flight 11 Board The Wrong Plane?

The American Airlines airplane which was officially assigned as Flight 11 had the tail number N334AA. What isn’t clear is whether or not any passengers embarked onto the airplane at Gate 32? No eyewitnesses or employee accounts confirm any of the AAL 11 passengers were at Gate 32 and embarked onto the airplane. In contrast, there are several accounts which suggest passengers did not embark onto AAL 11 airplane at Gate 32. There is evidence which suggests passengers embarked onto a different airplane identifying itself as Flight 11 at Gate 26, Terminal B.

According to David Filipov, whose father Alexander Filipov, a passenger on AAL 11, was supposed to be on a Delta flight to Los Angeles but switched to AAL 11 at the last minute. The last contact Alexander Filipov had with his family was when he called his wife from the American Airline's Admiral's Lounge at 7:45 a.m. which is directly opposite Gate 32 in Terminal B. In the Commission Report, it reports two different push back times of the airplane. AAL 11 was scheduled to push back from Gate 32 at 7:45 a.m. usually, however it pushed back at 7:46 a.m. one minute delay of its schedule.
It states in the 9/11 Commission Report that passengers boarded American Airlines “Flight 11” (AAL 11) between 7:31 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. it is alleged the airplane pushed back from the gate at 7:40 a.m. [We Have Some Planes Pg.2]. [Page 468 9/11 Commission Report].

The 7:40 a.m. push back from the gate is 6 minutes earlier than scheduled. It is also claimed, some passengers boarded the airplane after it had pushed back from the gate which highly unusual. [We Have Some Planes Pg.2] This however, is not reflected in the ground recording transcripts, which calls into question any passengers boarding after the airplane pushed back from the gate at 7:46 a.m. Moreover, Alexander Filipov could not have been on the AAL 11 airplane which left Gate 32 because the gate would have been closed preventing Alexander and any other passengers from boarding the airplane, further indicating Alexander embarked onto a different airplane identifying itself as AAL 11, most likely at at Gate 26 instead.

If so, given the time he would need to walk from the American Airline's Admiral's Club Lounge to Gate 26, it would take at least five minutes or so, perhaps longer, indicating the boarding for AAL 11 at Gate 26 was a later departure time of 7:45 a.m., being as he called his family at 7:45 a.m. from the Admiral's Lounge at 7:45 a.m., further supporting he did not board the airplane at Gate 32. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0109140361sep14,1,6527002.story?coll=chi-newsspecials-hed

Another AAL 11 passenger’s account is of Richard Ross, 58, of Newton Mass, who called his wife to inform her his flight was leaving a bit late. He was frustrated and concerned about arriving in time for a business meeting in Los Angeles, according to his son, suggesting Mr. Ross did not board the airplane AAL 11 at Gate 32, which only had a one minute delay behind its scheduled 7:45 a.m., thus departing at 7:46 a.m. after clearance to push back from the gate. http://news.globalfreepress.com/ewing/sheehy_ong_2004GFPMirror.html

The airplane was cleared to taxi to the runway at 07:50 a.m. and the airplane began its take-off run at 07:59 a.m. from runway 4R and talking off at approximately 8.00 a.m. https://www.ntsb.gov/about/Documents/Flight_Path_Study_AA11.pdf

One of the most important, but often neglected passenger accounts which supports a more significant delay than one minute is, Madeline Amy Sweeney who was a flight attendant for American Airlines. Madeline was scheduled to fly on AAL 11 on 9/11, and called her husband and told him that her flight was delayed. [Gail Sheeby “Stewardess ID’s hijackers early, transcripts show” New York Observer, February 16, 2002]. Madeline Amy Sweeney’s husband Michael Sweeney was interviewed by the FBI on September 20, 2001,  and he said in his interview, his wife’s flight was scheduled to depart at 7:45 a.m. and the flight did not depart until 7:59 a.m., inferring that the airplane did not push back from the gate until 7:59 a.m. which is confirmation of a fourteen minute delay. https://www.scribd.com/document/14094215/T7-B17-FBI-302s-of-Interest-Flight-11-Fdr-Entire-Contents

Madeline’s phone call is another indication that the airplane she embarked onto was not AAL 11 at Gate 32. It also calls into question the fact whether or not Madeline would call her husband to inform him of a one minute delay with her flight, lending weight that Madeline embarked onto the airplane at Gate 26 with the later departure time from the boarding gate. 

Wayne Kirk a three-year employee of American Airlines was interviewed by the FBI on September 22, 2001. He was assigned member of the cleaning crew which worked on Flight 11 before its take-off. After carrying out his cleaning duties Kirk recalls that “he thought it was odd that only two crew members had arrived at the airplane, because usually the entire crew are sitting around and talking when the cleaning crew have finished”. [M-INT-00034145 – Pg.1] https://www.scribd.com/document/14094215/T7-B17-FBI-302s-of-Interest-Flight-11-Fdr-Entire-Contents (Pg. 26).

In a German magazine called Der Spiegel, had a team of investigative reporters who interviewed a number of witnesses who gave accounts of passengers assembling at Gate 26 to board AAL 11. These accounts were later published in a book called – Inside 9/11, What Really Happened. In the book it describes a number of the passenger’s relatives who were there with their loved ones before they boarded the airplane, and describes at 7:36 a.m. how the flight would be slightly delayed, with estimates of fourteen minutes [Inside 9/11, What Really Happened, Pg. 36 & 37], contradicting the official account of AAL 11 at Gate 32 pushing back from the gate at 7:46 a.m. one minute behind its scheduled time of 7:45 a.m., which is hardly a delay of its schedule. This would have meant the Gate 32 doors would have been closed at 7:45 a.m. possibly slightly earlier, preventing any passengers from boarding the airplane, which is also indicated by an unidentified airport employee who claimed AAL 11 left Gate 32 at 7:45 a.m. [Stephen Kurkjian and Raphael Lewis, “Two flights from Logan are Hijacked” Boston Globe, September 11, 2001] which means it could not have been the AAL 11 airplane at Gate 26, which was delayed by fourteen minutes, and did not push back from the gate until 7:59 a.m., that’s if indeed the airplane eventually took-off?

Based on the conflicting evidence it suggests, the AAL 11 at Gate 26 which was scheduled to depart at 7:45 a.m. was delayed by fourteen minutes, meaning it would have remained at the gate until 7:59 a.m. before pushing back from the gate, which is a complete contradiction to the AAL 11 at Gate 32 which pushed back from the gate at 7:46 a.m. and was cleared for taxiing at 7:50 a.m., and took-off at 8:00 a.m. approximately. The passenger accounts indicate a longer delay of one minute, indicating a more significant delay. Further support for this comes from Madeline Amy Sweeney’s husband Michael Sweeney who was interviewed by the FBI on September 20, 2001. According to Sweeney, his wife’s flight was scheduled to depart at 7:45 a.m. and the flight did not depart until 7:59 a.m.
https://www.scribd.com/document/14094215/T7-B17-FBI-302s-of-Interest-Flight-11-Fdr-Entire-Contents (Page 59).

This indicates that the airplane did not push back from the gate until 7:59 a.m. suggesting this was not the airplane at Gate 32. It does raise the question of what time the airplane at Gate 26 took-off, that’s if indeed it did take-off? The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) data base could offer an answer to this question. 

Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) data base discrepancy

In November 2003, Australian blues musician Gerard Holmgren made an astonishing discovery when he searched the BTS data-base for information about the four hijacked airplanes on 9/11. The data-base revealed that AAL 11 and AAL 77 were not listed in the BTS data-base on 9/11. The NTSB claimed, that the data was not reported in the confusion of the day. This could be a reasonable explanation if it was in context of how BTS data is collected. The BTS data collection process is automatically generated and recorded electronically when a flight takes-off, so no human error can be attributed in the data collection process, so it remains a mystery why the two flights were not listed in the BTS data-base. Interestingly, later amendments to the BTS data-base entry for AAL 11 and AAL 77 where listed, however it lists no wheels-off time 00:00, meaning, neither AAL 11 or AAL 77 are listed as taking-off on 9/11. 

Early researchers in the case believe this was proof AAL 11 never existed, or were not scheduled to fly on 9/11, but does the data suggests either of these explanations to be correct. If we are to take the data at face-value, the data reveals that AAL 11 existed but did not take-off. For instance, the wheels-off data is recorded automatically and electronically, the fact that the entry exists shows that AAL 11 was scheduled to fly on 9/11, the fact that the data shows the time as 00:00, strongly indicates the airplane did not leave the ground. Again, this is in conflict with flight ground control communications recording and transcript, showing ALL 11 took-off at approximately 8:00 a.m. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/national/transcripts-of-flight-11-and-flight-175.html

This is further proof there were two airplanes identified as AAL 11, but at different gates, where the airplane at Gate 32 pushed back from the gate at 7:46 a.m. and took-off at 8:00 a.m. approximately, whereas the airplane identifying itself as AAL 11 at Gate 26 with the passengers on board did not take-off. Interestingly, no airplane tail registration number is identified in the data base, yet AAL 11 did have an assigned tail registration number of N334AA, which is also identified in the flight ground control communications recording and transcript. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/national/transcripts-of-flight-11-and-flight-175.html

The BTS data base listing has baffled researchers for many years. However, with the airplane’s tail number for AAL 11 at Gate 32 being identified (N334AA), and based on the conflicting eyewitness accounts and data evidence I have cited earlier, the inference I am adopting is, instead of favouring one airplane and trying to hopelessly invalidate the evidence for the other airplane, the evidence indicates there were two airplanes assigned as Flight 11 at both gates. One airplane remained grounded at Gate 26 with its passengers and crew aboard, while the other airplane took-off from Gate 32 without any passengers on board, and with limited flight crew. I base the lack of crew members on American Airlines cleaning crew member, Wayne Kirk, who said there was only a couple flight crew members on board the airplane when he had finished cleaning the airplane, which he found unusual. The duplication of airplane flights explains the BTS discrepancy, and explains why the airplane’s identification registration number was cited as “unknown” in the data base. According to Jeff Hill a Canadian researcher who phoned the BTS, he was informed that the data means the flight was cancelled, which also implies the airplane did not take off on 9/11, further strengthening the duplicate airplane hypothesis. 

According to Myra Jackson in an interview on September 25, 2001, Jackson stated she was working Gate 32 with Liset Frometa. Jackson said, she was at the gate from first call all the way through boarding. According to Jackson, she took the tickets from Flight 11 to Karen Martin, whereby the tickets were deposited in a safe. [M-INT-00066758, Pg.1] https://www.scribd.com/document/14094215/T7-B17-FBI-302s-of-Interest-Flight-11-Fdr-Entire-Contents (Page 52).

Strangely though, on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, there still seemed to be some question as to what gate AAL 11 had departed from. The Boston Globe, who had originally reported Gate 32 wrote a story that began: Sylvio Amorino, just off a flight yesterday morning, simply stood there in front of Gate 26, Terminal B, Logan Airport. It was 7:55 a.m. The 70-year-old realized that, one year ago, American Airlines Flight 11 had idled here. http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/globe_stories/091202_solemn.htm

Meanwhile, another Boston paper reported that:

At 7:40 a.m. today, about 200 American Airlines employees gathered at Gate 32 at Logan Airport, the point of departure for Flight 11 exactly one year before. They observed the anniversary with a memorial service for the crew and passengers aboard the hijacked flight, which crashed into the World Trade Center in New York at 8:46. http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2002/09/11/news/export25738.txt

In 2003 another article on a Boston news website states that: Captain was John Ogonowski, a 52-year-old man from Dracut. His first officer was Thomas McGuinness, 42, of Portsmouth, N.H. Also aboard were nine flight attendants and 81 passengers, for a total of 92 people on the flight manifest when the plane pushed back from Gate 26 at Logan International Airport.
https://cache.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/planes_reconstruction.htm

It is strange, that in the February 19, 2002, NTSB Flight Path Study document for American Airlines ‘Flight 11’, does not specify which gate AAL 11 departed from. Again, I consider this a missed opportunity to officially clarify the correct gate which AAL 11 departed. https://www.ntsb.gov/about/Documents/Flight_Path_Study_AA11.pdf

For reasons of clarity and to dispel any discrepancies, one would expect the NTSB to have included the gate information in their report. They do NOT. WHY?

Thanks for reading and caring!