Mystery second plane in Cleveland identified!

[Woody Box]

In an extra edition, the Akron Beacon Journal reported on 9/11:

The mind-numbing chaos that descended with the terrorist attacks on the Northeast United States spread this morning to Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Mayor Michael White said at a news conference this morning that a Boeing 767 out of Boston made an emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport because of fears a bomb was aboard.

He reported that air traffic controllers could hear screaming aboard the plane.

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.

http://de.geocities.com/woody_box2000/akronbeacon911.html

Associated Press reports about the same plane on 9/11:

A Boeing 767 out of Boston made an emergency landing Tuesday at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport because of concerns that it may have a bomb aboard, said Mayor Michael R. White.

The plane was sitting on a runway at the airport's west end with approximately 200 passengers on board. The mayor had said earlier that the plane was being evacuated, but an airport spokeswoman said the passengers remained inside. It was unclear whether any passengers had been taken off the plane.

A SWAT team and bomb unit were at the scene. However, White said, "As of this moment we do not know that this plane is in stress or duress."

The airplane landed at about 10:45 a.m., but the airport released no information about the plane's intended destination. Normally, planes of this size do not land at Hopkins.

...

White said air traffic controllers said they could hear screaming within the Boeing 767. Additional details were not available.


http://de.geocities.com/woody_box2000/ap911.html

I have shown here that this plane is not identical to Delta Flight 1989 which landed at 10:10, was evacuated at 12:30, and carried only 69 passengers. So the identity of the mystery plane was unclear until now. An AP message which has become famous now (via Loose Change) claimed it was United 93.

But finally someone has come forward and speaks out: it was a KC-135...

Vernon "Bill" Wessel is the director of safety and mission assurance at NASA Glenn. He was in his office the morning of 9/11 when an employee called him from home. "He says, "Bill, I don't know if this is a hoax or what, but I just saw a plane crash into the World Trade Center.'" Wessel says he hung up and raced downstairs to a conference room. Center Director Don Campbell joined him. A projector beamed the television's image onto a large screen just as United Airlines flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

An emergency meeting of directors was called, and an order to evacuate NASA was issued. When Wessel learned that Delta 1989 was stuck on the tarmac at Hopkins and that it might contain explosives, he decided it would be unwise to use the front gate, closest to the airport, to evacuate the 3,500 NASA Glenn employees under his watch. E-mails and phone calls were sent out to different departments at the research facility, informing everyone to leave via the back gate. "It took about an hour and a half to evacuate everybody," Wessel recalls.

So what about the so-called Flight X?

"A KC-135 had to come back to the hangar," says Wessel, as if realizing for the first time that this aircraft may have caused some undue confusion. A team of scientists from the Johnson Space Center in Houston had flown to Cleveland on this KC-135 to conduct micro-gravity experiments. (Also known as "the vomit comet," KC-135's are used to simulate weightlessness. The plane soars to high altitudes, then falls back toward the ground, giving passengers a few seconds of zero-G experience. Scenes for the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13 were filmed in one.)

The visiting scientists could not return to Houston as scheduled on 9/11 once the FAA ordered all planes to land. "After the facility closed, we had to take those scientists to a hotel." The scientists, dressed as civilians, were boarded onto shuttle buses.

http://www.freetimes.com/story/681

Okay. Now we know. A KC-135 with 200 scientists from Houston, with the pilots (or whoever) yelling and screaming in the cockpit, lands irregularly at 10:45 in Cleveland, a full hour after receiving the FAA grounding order to land at the nearest airport. :sarcasm:

Questions, anyone?

[slaveplanet]

1. All I know is it would be extremely difficult to verify this

As they had the whole facility evacuated and on lockdown. On the south end of Hopkins is a facility called the IX jet center, This is where private charter carriers come in, say if you were a jet ferrying U2 or some other rock group for a tour date, this is also the place where the president would come in. There is also mail and shipping facilities over there, as well as an exposition center where they have the Auto show. On the far northwest side of Hopkins is a NASA research facility (was Lewis now John Glenn I believe). Reports I've heard were that this mystery plane was off-loading people into this NASA hangar. It would be extremely difficult to get accurate reports from this area. If you know the topography, there would be literally no where for someone to witness this save for someone driving past, as there's not really many structures adjacent, there's a long bridge and lots of trees. I believe that section of road may have also been closed, long term parking is also over there. The jet center would also be potentially difficult to view if there was a lockdown situation.

If there were a bomb you'd want it over by the NASA facility it is the most isolated.

[Woody Box]

15. Interesting...

...I found also private messages saying that the surrounding of the northern NASA area was evacuated, too.

It looks like something really sinister was going on there.

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. This is going to make

the space beam people go crazy.

Makes you wonder?

[philb]

2. doesn't sound like a KC-135 with scientists would be confused with X

Who said their were 200 scientists, that would be highly unusal for such a plane.
The KC-135 may exist, but I've seen not any evidence so far that it would be
consistent with Flight X as that was described.
Mystery unsolved.

[mirandapriestly]

3. "Mary from Boston" sure convinced me!

after all a doctor friend of hers was on one of the planes and now he's dead!!!
What I think is weird, is why none of these Plane x people have ever spoken in public. So are these scientists supposed to be in addition to another plane? 200 scientist packed onto a plane eh? hmm, that makes me think of all the scientists that were on flight 77...there were a lot of people with NASA connections on that flight.

I really liked his "proof" that the phone calls existed, basically because he read it happened. How does he explain Brian Sweeney leaving a message for his wife when the plane was in a "power dive" according to the atc for 175?

He never checks the backgrounds or credibility of the people he interviews, like Lee Purbaugh, hadn't he just moved to the area?

[seatnineb]

4. Great and very important find Woody! n/t

[RedSock]

5. wait a minnit

Vernon "Bill" Wessel is the director of safety and mission assurance at NASA Glenn. He was in his office the morning of 9/11 when an employee called him from home. "He says, "Bill, I don't know if this is a hoax or what, but I just saw a plane crash into the World Trade Center.'" Wessel says he hung up and raced downstairs to a conference room. Center Director Don Campbell joined him. A projector beamed the television's image onto a large screen just as United Airlines flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

So this employee "saw" the first crash and called Wessel?

[seatnineb]

6. Could be a journalistic mistake or bad recollection....

But there are a few people out there who claim to have seen the 1st plane hit on TV......

"For some unknown reason, I got
bored with 'Washington Journal' that morning and
started dialing into the other news stations.
When I got to CNN, I saw the first plane hit the
tower and thought "what movie are they advertis-
ing"? Well, the next thing I see is the second
plane aiming at the other tower. My mind just
snapped into reality......."
http://www.astroworld.us/archives/000375.html.

[Grateful for Hope]

7. I was watching CNN that AM

The very first image I saw was one after the plane had hit the first tower. At that time, CNN did not know what type of plane it was, and it was suggested that it was a "small plane".

[seatnineb]

11. Can you remember the angle it was shown from? n/t

[Grateful for Hope]

12. the plane was shown to the right of the tower

It looked like it was half in and half out in the shot.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Grateful for Hope]

19. No it wasn't

It was a closeup of the towers (picture was in the background as the journalist was speaking). It was weird because there was no explanation for the picture - it just suddenly appeared. The journalist expressed surprise and said she didn't know what to make of it.

[RedSock]

8. same channel

... must have been the same channel that shit-for-brains was watching in florida.

[savemefromdumbya]

24. Bush said he saw the first plane hit the tower?

[jschurchin]

9. Very Interesting.

However, according to the Air Force the maximum passenger load is 37.
http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=110

[seatnineb]

10. Good point.

Is there a possiblity NASA modified the inside to accommodate more passengers?

BTW here is a foto of the beast.

[jschurchin]

13. I checked NASA's

website to try and find any info. So far no luck. I am sure, like any aircraft, modifications can be made, i.e. seat's installed. However, it appears NASA only keeps one "Vomit Comet" at a time, retiring one when a new one is delivered. And it appears it is the only KC-135 in their inventory.

[Woody Box]

14. thanks for the info /nT

nT

[Ezlivin]

18. Hey, there's a pod on that plane!

:)

[longship]

17. FYI: KC-135 is a Boeing 707... Same plane.

nt

[jschurchin]

20. They are based on the same platform.

However, a 707 is strictly a commercial, passenger transporting platform. While a KC-135 is a modified, to military specification, platform, most notably as a aerial refueling aircraft.
Although the KC-135 can carry passengers, up to 37, it is not it's primary purpose.

[Woody Box]

21. Okay. The debunking of the Cleveland mystery debunked finally

Thanks to arrival data obtained by Devvy Kidd thru a FOIA request

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd232.htm

it is now clear that Mr. Vessel's KC-135 landed at 10:08, not 10:45.

http://www.devvy.com/pdf/2006_November/CLE_0911_Arrivals.pdf

Here are the data:

NASA931 189807 11-Sep-01 CLE 13:25 20010911 9:25 CLE 14:08 20010911 10:08 KC35 Northeast Aviation Services

"NASA931" is the flight number of the aircraft, "KC35" the (abbreviated) type. So this is certainly a KC-135 from NASA.

There is no other KC-135 listed on 9/11.

So Vessel just picked up a "random" flight that has nothing in common with the mystery plane landing at 10:45.

[btrains]

23. More info on the plane...

Back in 2001, I was heavily into the aviation hobby, wanted to be a pilot, and went to the Cleveland airport's outdoor spectator deck quite often to just watch and take pictures of the planes. I had read about the "Vomit Comet" and asked NASA what dates the plane would be in town to conduct the research. I received an email back and was told several weeks throughout the spring and into the summer, including the week in which 9/11 occured, so the "Vomit Comet" wasn't just "randomly" in town.

Here is a picture of the real "Vomit Comet." http://www1.airliners.net/open.file/0970347/L/

[Woody Box]

25. good to know

...but the plane on your picture doesn't have any significance for the Cleveland Airport Mystery as it doesn't match the data for the mysterious "Flight X" in one point.

It didn't land at 10:45, was not evacuated at 11:15, didn't carry 200 passengers, and the passengers were NOT taken to the evacuated NASA facility.