Where was Flight 77 after 8:56 ?

An Independent Investigation

It is alleged, the blip of AAL 77 vanished from the radar screens of Indianapolis Center, and the Air Traffic Control facility responsible for AAL 77, and at the same time radio communication was lost. The 9/11 Commission Report acknowledges that AAL 77 was completely lost from radar as early as 8:56 a.m. On page 8-9 they write:

At 8:51, American 77 transmitted its last routine radio communication. At 8:54, the aircraft deviated from its assigned course, turning south. Two minutes later the transponder was turned off and even primary radar contact with the aircraft was lost. The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center repeatedly tried and failed to contact the aircraft. American Airlines dispatchers also tried, without success. https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf

The controllers thought it had crashed and submitted their assessment to other ATC centers, FAA headquarters and American Airlines. This caused the top American Airlines management to believe that AAL 77 crashed into the South Tower – which they believed until the Pentagon strike. There were also rumours circulating that an airplane crashed near the Ohio-Kentucky border (as confirmed in Richard Clarke's "Against all enemies"), which is exactly the area where AAL 77 vanished, which is depicted 9/11 Commission Sensitive document below:

Controllers activated primary radar as soon as they lost AAL 77, but this measure was "allegedly" unsuccessful. Apparently for 8 minutes and 13 seconds, between 8:56 a.m. and 9:05 a.m., this primary radar information on AAL 77 was not displayed to controllers at Indianapolis Center.142. According to the radar reconstruction, AAL 77 reemerged as a primary target on Indianapolis Center radar scopes at 9:05 a.m., east of its last known position. The target remained in Indianapolis Center's airspace for another six minutes, then crossed into the western portion of Washington Center's airspace at 9:10 a.m. As Indianapolis Center continued searching for the aircraft, two managers and the controller responsible for AAL 77 looked to the west and southwest along the flight's projected path, not east-where the aircraft was now heading. Managers did not instruct other controllers at Indianapolis Center to turn on their primary radar coverage to join in the search for AAL 77.

Furthermore, there was poor primary radar coverage where AAL77 was flying. AAL 77 was picked up at 9:32 a.m. by Dulles TRACON controllers. The only man who “allegedly” knew its position at 9:25 a.m. was Norman Mineta.

According to Air Traffic Controller - Robinson, he stated that AAL 77 had been isolated on an appropriate desk. So they isolated a flight considered "at risk", yet no Aircraft Communication Addressing Radio System (ACARS) uplinks were sent to the aircraft to ask for acknowledgement from the crew? Even if American Airlines had suspected it had crashed, but since they had no confirmation yet, it is amazing that no ACARS uplinks were sent during nearly an hour. Again, a comparison with AAL 11 and UAL 93 helps understand how strange this is.

Also, there had been no rejected messages from AAL 77 before 9:05 a.m. so we would expect that American Airlines would send a series of ACARS uplink messages desperately trying to make a contact with the cockpit, however this wasn’t the case. If we look at the communication before 9:05 a.m. we see that American Airlines sent ACARS uplink messages on a regular basis, and what makes it even more amazing is the fact that they had not tried to do same after 9:05 a.m. when the airplane had been lost from radar and a hijack or a crash was suspected.

The question is, does turning off a transponder make a plane invisible to radar? The answer is No. It means that that the airplane shows up as a "primary radar return", hence a blip, on the radar screen rather than reporting detailed information (known as a data block) about the airplane's identity, altitude, and destination. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/03/are-transponders-the-main-problem-in-a-word-no/284473/

So the 9/11 Commission thinks that at first, AAL 77 disappears into a radar hole and was therefore not visible to controllers. This raises the question why the controllers, who surely were familiar with the position and extent of this alleged radar hole, were so quickly convinced that AAL 77 had crashed?

In a Freedom of Information request made to the FAA in 2007, the FAA made available data in their response on 12th September, 2008. https://www.thepentacon.com/FAAcover.pdf

In the batch of data files released by FAA it included the following radar tracking data for each of the 4 airplane flights.

• 1 DCC 1739 Radar Track Data AAL77 Radar Track.pdf

• 2 DCC 1738 Radar Track Data UAL93 Radar Track.pdf

• 3 DCC 1740 Radar Track Data AAL11 Radar Track.pdf

• 4 DCC 1737 Radar Track Data UAL175 Radar Track.pdf

Vincent Moreau of - 9/11 Maps, plotted the 4 PDF files for each airplane and in process revealed an anomaly with AAL 77 flight path in the 1 DCC 1739 Radar Track Data AAL77 Radar Track. https://911maps.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/new-dcc-radar-track-data/  Also, the source file: AAL 77 - (d) Radar - 1 DCC 1739 Radar Track Data AAL77 Radar Track. PDF file can also be found here: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7595913

The anomaly revealed AAL 77 did not make a U-turn near the border of Kentucky and Ohio to head back to Washington, D.C. as asserted in the official narrative. Moreover, it continued over Indianapolis Center instead, where AAL 77 continues in flight over Missouri. In the ATC transcripts, at 10:31 a.m. (14:31 UTC) there is a reference made about tracking AAL 77 over Missouri. This again contradicts the notion that the airplane blip was not picked up on radar.  

The DCC radar data is was also confirmed on CNN on 12th September 2001. Where they showed a Flight Explorer of AAL 77, which showed the aircraft not making the turn, but continuing on its original flight route. See screen shot below:

Indianapolis Center never saw AAL 77 turn around By the time it reappeared in primary radar coverage, controllers had either stopped looking for the aircraft because they thought it had crashed. We are meant to believe AAL 77 traveled undetected for 36 minutes on a course heading due east for Washington, D.C.

However, in the ATC transcripts, at 10:31 a.m. (14:31 UTC) there is a reference made about tracking AAL 77 over Missouri, which is consistent with DCC radar data, showing AAL 77 did not turn around, but carried on its planned flight path. This again contradicts the notion that the airplane blip was not picked up on radar.  See below:

By 10:38 a.m. they knew that AAL was in Kansas, which is revealed in the 9/11 Commission files investigation documents. See below:

By 11:17 a.m. it also revealed in ATC transcripts that then Secret Service we not convinced it was an aircraft that had hit the Pentagon. It also revealed in side notes written by hand, that the FAA still didn’t know what hit the Pentagon also.

The 9/11 Commission continued with the claim that AAL 77 crossed the border to Washington Center at 9:10 a.m. heading eastwards. But the Washington controllers didn't detect the plane either, because they were "not told to look for primary targets”. This is a breathtaking claim. Of course, Washington Center was informed by Indianapolis pretty early about the loss of AAL 77. Did the controllers expect it to reappear with full transponder data, and did they refrain from activating the primary radar routine for this reason?

This claim is not only an insult to the intelligence of the controllers, it is also wrong. Here is a transcript snippet between Washington Center and NEADS which proves that they were indeed looking for AAL 77 for a long time:

09:34:01

WASHINGTON CENTER: Now, let me tell you this. I—I'll—we've been looking. We're—also lost American 77—

WATSON: American 77?

DOOLEY: American 77's lost—

WATSON: Where was it proposed to head, sir?

WASHINGTON CENTER: Okay, he was going to L.A. also—

WATSON: From where, sir?

WASHINGTON CENTER: I think he was from Boston also. Now let me tell you this story here. Indianapolis Center was working this guy—

WATSON: What guy?

WASHINGTON CENTER: American 77, at flight level 3-5-0 [35,000 feet]. However, they lost radar with him. They lost contact with him. They lost everything. And they don't have any idea where he is or what happened.

Conclusion:

Whatever happened to AAL 77, it's official flight path after 8:56 a.m. is pure speculation, and the evidence suggests that it did not fly back to Washington D.C. at all, but continued on its original planned flight path, which is confirmed by the DCC radar data, and also on CNN, 12th September by Flight Explorer, which shows AAL 77 continuing in its flight path, and not making the turn back towards Washington D.C. Moreover, ATC transcripts reveals that AAL 77 was indeed flying West towards Missouri and over Kansas.

To those who say that AAL 77 hit the Pentagon or are agnostic on this question, this is another serious blow.

Thanks for reading and caring!