Delta 1989
Three flights were scheduled to leave Boston Logan International Airport on 9/11: American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and Delta Air Lines Flight 1989. After the first two planes flew into the World Trade Center, suspicions arose that Delta 1989 may also be hijacked, and these appeared to be confirmed when the sounds of a struggle and the claim that a "bomb" was on board were overheard by air traffic controllers. They soon realised that they had heard the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, but officials still weren't sure that Delta 1989 was unaffected. The plane landed in Cleveland at around 10:45, SWAT teams were reportedly called, and the FBI interviewed all passengers to confirm that they had no connection to the other hijackings.
Reports
The following news pieces shed more light on the events surrounding Delta 1989.
Media
The Enquirer, August 2002:
During tense moments that morning at Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, the first guess was that Delta Flight 1989 was hijacked, not United Airlines Flight 93.
“We knew right away we had a problem. The first thought was, "Is that Delta 1989?' ” said Rick Kettell, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's busiest regional center.
Mr. Kettell talked Tuesday about the drama of the day for the air traffic controllers who had the last contact with United Flight 93 before it crashed in Pennsylvania.
The center, about 35 miles southwest of Cleveland, guides planes at high altitude as they fly over portions of seven states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.
The center's controllers were concerned about the Delta flight because it had departed Boston five minutes behind United Flight 175, which crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
"We knew the magnitude of what we were dealing with,” Mr. Kettell said. “We knew what happened in New York before our involvement became very keen.”
Shortly after Delta Flight 1989 checked in with the Cleveland Center while over Syracuse, N.Y., the center's controllers heard two transmissions that sounded like a cockpit struggle.
Meanwhile, Flight 93 had climbed to 41,000 feet over the Cleveland Center, and then over nearby Elyria turned 120 degrees to the southeast, a move that surprised controllers.
“We were finally able to deduce by the airplanes talking back to us which was the airplane not talking to us, and that was Flight 93,” Mr. Kettell said.
While there was still no confirmed problem with the Delta flight, the center expressed concerns to Delta's headquarters in Atlanta, which instructed the plane to land at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. It was brought in moments before the Cleveland Center received an order to ground all planes.
Meanwhile, two more transmissions came in with a terrorist's voice speaking to passengers. By then, controllers knew for sure that it was the United flight that had been hijacked.
“What we don't know was whether one of the pilots keyed the frequency so we could hear it or if (terrorists) hit the wrong button not knowing the equipment,” Mr. Kettell said. “My thoughts are that probably the pilot was trying to help us.”
Later that tense day, after most planes had landed, Oberlin police warned the center of a small plane still flying and headed toward the center. That warning resulted in a brief evacuation except for essential employees. Mr. Kettell said that plane simply flew past and was never identified.
In June, the center dedicated a memorial on its grounds to recall those who died when the hijacked plane crashed. Etched in stone are the words: “In honor of the men and women of the Cleveland Center and those aboard Flight 93 for their heroic actions on September 11, 2001.”http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/08/15/loc_sept_11_tension.html
CNN, September 2002:
KETELL: The first transmission that sounded like struggle in the cockpit. It was pretty clear. And then we had a second transmission, also, that was a struggle in the cockpit, and you could hear the pilots -- what appeared to be the pilots yelling, "get out, get out." And a lot of other noise that appeared to be a struggle.
O'BRIEN: At first, they suspected it was Delta 1989, and their fears grew when it asked to land in Cleveland. As it turns out, the crew was ordered to land by the airline.
Before controllers could check, though, their radar screens pointed them in a different direction. It was United 93 that had abruptly descended and then climbed to 41,000 feet without approval.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/08/sm.09.html
USA Today, September 2002:
Controllers there had already been watching.
Like the FBI, they realized that the Delta flight had taken off from Boston just minutes after American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 — the two jets that crashed into the Trade Center towers. The similarities didn't end there.
All three jets were Boeing 767s.
All were bound for Los Angeles.
All were heavy with fuel.
On this day, as Werner flies west over Pennsylvania, the similarities can't be dismissed.
Now around 9:30 a.m., controllers hear words that seem to confirm their worst fears. They hear shouting as Flight 1989 approaches the Ohio border. Then they hear a voice: "Get out of there!" Then what sounds like a scuffle.
Minutes later, a new voice, this one with a heavy accent: "Ladies and gentlemen, here it's the captain. Please sit down. Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb aboard."
No one who hears those words believes they are coming from Werner. Not with such a heavy accent. No way. Rather, the transmission seems to be from a hijacker who unwittingly spoke over the radio when he meant to address passengers.
Officials at Cleveland Center rush word to Washington: Hijackers have another flight.
At the Federal Aviation Administration's command center in Herndon, Va., Delta Flight 1989 joins a growing list of suspicious jets. Some of their flight numbers will be scrawled on a white dry-erase board throughout the morning. Eventually, the list will grow to 11. ... Controllers at Cleveland Center can't raise United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 flying over Ohio.
Perhaps the strange radio transmissions — the reference to a bomb and the heavy accent of a "captain" — hadn't come from the Delta flight. Maybe Capt. Werner's Flight 1989 is fine after all.
At least, that's the way it seems to the controllers. The United flight had been just 25 miles ahead of the Delta flight when the radio transmissions came through — close enough to account for the confusion.
Then, at 9:35 a.m., the United jet had climbed unexpectedly and turned back toward the Delta flight. Then...
Silence. The United flight stopped talking.
It must be United that's hijacked.
When controllers ordered Werner to change course to avoid Flight 93, he had complied quickly. Yes, Delta Flight 1989 must be fine.
But now... what's this?
The Delta flight wants to land in Cleveland? And the captain's request comes before he can know that the FAA wants every flight down. On this day, the fact that the pilot requests to be rerouted before he is ordered to land seems suspicious. Why the urgency?
Controllers don't know that Delta officials, also concerned about the flight, have ordered Werner to land in Cleveland. They continue to send messages to Werner. In code, they ask him if all is OK. Yes, he responds time and again. He doesn't know why they're so worried.
And now, preparing for landing, Werner has more important things to worry about. He was too close to Cleveland when he got the order to land. So he loops back, over Michigan, and heads toward the city.
As the jet begins its descent, another message comes through. Busy, Werner fails to respond.
On the ground, controllers in Cleveland Center grow alarmed. Why didn't he respond? Have both jets — the United and the Delta flights — been hijacked?
As a SWAT team gathers on the tarmac in Cleveland, controllers and airline dispatchers around the nation continue to contact hundreds of flights.http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002-08-12-hijacker-daytwo_x.htm
Vanity Fair, August 2006:
9:40:57 ROUNTREE: Delta 89, that's the hijack. They think it's possible hijack. DOOLEY: Fuck! ROUNTREE: South of Cleveland. We have a code on him now. DOOLEY: Good. Pick it up! Find it!
They quickly find the plane on radar-it's just south of Toledo-and begin alerting other F.A.A. centers. They're not sure where the plane is headed. If it's Chicago, they're in big trouble, because they don't have any planes close enough to cut it off. Marr and Nasypany order troops to call Air National Guard bases in that area to see if anyone can launch fighters. A base in Selfridge, Michigan, offers up two unarmed fighters that are already flying, on their way back from a training mission.
But NEADS is victim again to an increasingly long information lag. Even before Rountree gets the urgent call that Delta 1989 is hijacked, a civilian air-traffic controller in Cleveland in contact with the pilot has determined that the flight is fine-that Delta 1989 isn't a hijacking after all.http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/08/norad200608?currentPage=8
CBS, September 2006:
In the middle of the chaos of September 11th, 2001, authorities were convinced that more than four airliners had actually been hijacked. One flight in particular was suspected as the perfect target for terrorist, which made for a harrowing morning for its crew. "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric got an exclusive with the pilot and the co-pilot of Delta Flight 1989, which was not taken over but still had a wild ride.
KATIE COURIC reporting: It's just after 9:03 AM and New York City is under siege. The terrorists who commandeered American Flight 11 and United 175 just hit their targets. American Airlines Flight 11 was a 767, fully-fueled, bound for LA.
Captain PAUL WERNER (Was Flying on September 11, 2001): Correct.
COURIC: United Airlines 175, again, a 767 fully loaded, bound for LAX as well. And your plane was...
Capt. WERNER: Seven sixty-seven, fully loaded, bound for Los Angeles.
COURIC: Captain Paul Werner's plane, Delta Flight 1989, had also taken off from Boston's Logan Airport just minutes after the other two ill-fated flights. And by the time his plane was flying over Cleveland, the FAA, scrambling to identify other hijackings, thought Delta 1989 was a dead ringer.
Capt. WERNER: And I kept saying, `We're fine, we're fine.'
Offscreen Voice: (Unintelligible)
Capt. WERNER: I mean, based upon what the flight attendants were telling me, I felt that we were perfectly fine.
COURIC: But Werner's co-pilot Dave Dunlap wasn't so sure. On the ground, the entire city was put on full alert, buildings were evacuated, and as 1989 began its descent, Dunlap was contemplating the worst.
First Officer DAVE DUNLAP (Was Flying on September 11, 2001): At the time, I had kind of a, `Oh, this is what it's like to die in an airplane' feeling.
COURIC: What happened when you landed?
Mr. DUNLAP: They took us to some little remote corner of the airport and stuck us there. And they wouldn't let us off the plane. And sitting there listening to the towers fall on the radio and starting to do the math on where we had come from and where they had come from, it was surreal.
COURIC: You must often think, `There but for the grace of God go I.'
Capt. WERNER: (Nods)
Mr. DUNLAP: I don't know why they didn't hijack our plane. It makes, sense, you know, from a logistics point of view that they would have, so...
COURIC: Though their passengers escaped disaster, Dave Dunlap did not emerge unscathed. Consumed with the thoughts of his fellow pilots who perished, climbing back into a cockpit became too difficult a maneuver, and Dunlap quit flying for good.
Mr. DUNLAP: I realized that, you know, there was somebody that was not coming home, who was basically me. Had a little kid, I found out later, and I just felt so bad. I've had a lot of people ask me if they thought I--they--the terrorists won. `Did they win because you quit flying?' you know? Which, I don't know, I guess they pushed me out of the business, but I'm a much better person now for having gone through this thing.
STORM: Mm. All in all, the FAA believed that up to 11 planes had been hijacked on 9/11. Now here are Rene and Harry.
RENE SYLER, co-host:
Wow. All right, thanks, Hannah.The Early Show 7:00 AM EST CBS, September 12, 2006 Tuesday
Associated Content, September 2007:
For two hours, federal investigators cautiously talked to Capt. Paul Werner through an open cockpit window. Finally, federal agents boarded the plane and interviewed the passengers and crew.
What Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) had heard earlier coming from the cockpit, someone shouting "Get out of there," and then a scuffle, made them fear the worst. Minutes later, they had heard a new voice, with a heavy accent: "Ladies and gentlemen, here it's the captain. Please sit down. Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb aboard."
All who knew Capt. Paul Werner, knew it was not his voice nor his accent. Apparently, hijackers who meant to address the passengers, inadvertently left the communication line to the air traffic controllers open.
This was Delta Flight 1989, one of only three flights to leave Logan International Airport on September 11th, 2001, at 8 a.m. The other two -- American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 -- had already crashed into the World Trade Center.
When Flight 1989 responded promptly to orders to land at Hopkins, controllers realized they had made a mistake. Flight 1989 had been only 25 miles behind United Flight 175. Controllers were communicating with both planes at the same time. What controllers heard was Flight 175 being taken over by hijackers, but somehow they mistook it as coming from Flight 1989.
Only after finally being allowed to disembark at Hopkins, did the passengers realized how lucky they were. The suspicion that their flight might still be in danger upon landing, came from the pilot missing one of the controller's instructions because he was busy maneuvering for an emergency landing. Had he missed several instructions, the plane might have been shot down.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/375169/a_look_at_airline_tsa_and_government.html
Cuttings
The following Delta 1989 news clippings were originally posted by Gray Watson as a part of his Scrapbook From Passenger on Delta Flight 1989 on 9/11 page. Go check it out, along with the story of a friend who was a passenger on the flight.
9/11 Commission
Col Alan Scott spoke about Delta 1989 in his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. However, he referred to the flight as Delta 89 for some reason, and talks of it landing around an hour before it actually did, which has led some to speculate that this was an entirely different plane:
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....
...9:47 is when Delta 89 clears the system by landing in Cleveland. So he is not a hijack...http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing2/9-11Commission_Hearing_2003-05-23.htm
The 9/11 Commission Report commented on the issue here:
[A footnote to the last point added:] FAA air traffic control tapes indicate that at 9:19 the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon ordered controllers to send a cockpit warning to Delta 1989 because, like American 11 and United 175, it was a transcontinental flight departing Boston’s Logan Airport.
...Right after the Pentagon was hit, NEADS learned of another possible hijacked aircraft. It was an aircraft that in fact had not been hijacked at all. After the second WorldTrade Center crash,Boston Center managers recognized that both aircraft were transcontinental 767 jetliners that had departed Logan Airport. Remembering the “we have some planes” remark, Boston Center guessed that Delta 1989 might also be hijacked. Boston Center called NEADS at 9:41 and identified Delta 1989, a 767 jet that had left Logan Airport for Las Vegas, as a possible hijack. NEADS warned the FAA’s Cleveland Center to watch Delta 1989. The Command Center and FAA headquarters watched it too. During the course of the morning, there were multiple erroneous reports of hijacked aircraft. The report of American 11 heading south was the first; Delta 1989 was the second.
NEADS never lost track of Delta 1989, and even ordered fighter aircraft from Ohio and Michigan to intercept it. The flight never turned off its transponder. NEADS soon learned that the aircraft was not hijacked, and tracked Delta 1989 as it reversed course over Toledo, headed east, and landed in Cleveland. But another aircraft was heading toward Washington, an aircraft about which NORAD had heard nothing: United 93...
At 9:44,NORAD briefed the conference on the possible hijacking of Delta 1989.Two minutes later, staff reported that they were still trying to locate Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice Chairman Myers. The Vice Chairman joined the conference shortly before 10:00; the Secretary, shortly before 10:30. The Chairman was out of the country.
At 9:48, a representative from the White House shelter asked if there were any indications of another hijacked aircraft.The deputy director for operations mentioned the Delta flight and concluded that “that would be the fourth possible hijack.”At 9:49, the commander of NORAD directed all air sovereignty aircraft to battle stations, fully armed.9/11 Commission Report
BTS record
The following Delta 1989 departure details for 9/11 were retrieved from the BTS site.