United Airlines Flight 175
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 A portion of United Airlines Flight 175's fuselage on the roof of 5 WTC.
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| Summary | |
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| Date | September 11, 2001 |
| Type | Hijacking |
| Site | World Trade Center |
| Passengers | 56 (including 5 hijackers) |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 665 (all onboard aircraft, estimated 600 in tower) |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 767-222 |
| Operator | United Airlines |
| Tail number | N612UA |
| Flight origin | Logan International Airport |
| Destination | Los Angeles Int'l Airport |
United Airlines Flight 175 was a morning flight that regularly flew from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. On September 11, 2001, the United Airlines Boeing 767-222ER, registered N612UA,[1] was hijacked and crashed in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was the second plane hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center, but was the one airline crash that morning to be witnessed live on television around the world as it happened. It was preceded by American Airlines Flight 11, which had struck the top of the North Tower 17 minutes earlier. The resultant inferno drew live mass media attention on to the scene of the impending Flight 175 crash into the nearby South Tower.
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[edit] Hijackers
The five hijackers aboard Flight 175 were:[2]
- Marwan al-Shehhi (United Arab Emirates) (leader + pilot)
- Fayez Banihammad (United Arab Emirates)
- Mohand al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia)
- Hamza al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
- Ahmed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
[edit] The flight
Flight 175 was scheduled to depart at 8:00 EDT and left gate 26 at 7:59.[3] Due to routine morning taxiing times, the flight departed the runway at 8:14. Had the flight been scheduled to depart 15 minutes earlier, it most likely would have been hijacked around the same time as Flight 11.
The flight was piloted by Captain Victor Saracini, with Michael Horrocks as first officer. At 08:37:08, flight control asked the pilots of UA175 whether they could see American Airlines Flight 11 out their viewpoint, and the response was affirmative. They were ordered to maintain distance from the flight since it was now known that it had been hijacked.[4] Approximately 7 minutes later, UA175 was also hijacked.
[edit] Hijacking
The hijackers claimed they had a bomb, although this has not been substantiated. The assailants used knives and mace to subdue members of the flight crew and the pilots.
At 8:41, the pilots overheard a suspicious transmission ordering people to "stay in your seats" and reported it to air traffic control. [5]
At 8:47, air traffic control received the first indication that United Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked. The aircraft's transponder code was changed twice but was never turned off. This allowed ATC to continually track the flight and monitor flight data, including altitude.[5] In five minutes, there was no doubt of an emergency, as the plane had radically changed course and was not responding. Despite reports that one of the passengers called his mother and told her they were thinking of storming the cockpit, it appears that no such intervention took place.
By 8:58, the plane was heading towards New York City and descended from an altitude of 28,500 feet over New Jersey. From the time al-Shehhi completed the turn toward New York (approximately 8:58) to the moment of impact (9:02:40), the plane went into a sustained power dive, descending more than 24,000 feet in 4 minutes 40 seconds, for an average rate of over 5,000 feet per minute.[5] New York Center air traffic controller Dave Bottiglia reported he and his colleagues "were counting down the altitudes, and they were descending, right at the end, at 10,000 feet per minute. That is absolutely unheard of for a commercial jet."[6]
[edit] Near collision with Delta 2315
Delta Air Lines Flight 2315, operated by a Boeing 737-247Adv aircraft registered N378DL, was a flight from Hartford, Connecticut to Tampa, Florida. Flight 175 nearly collided in midair with the flight just minutes before crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.[7][8] This near-miss was dramatised in United 93.
United 175 flew within about 200 feet (60 m) of Delta 2315, as air traffic controller Dave Bottiglia frantically tried to tell the Delta pilot to take evasive action. He was the first person in the control center to realize that Flight 175 was hijacked when he gave directions for a turn. Flight 175 did not respond, it instead accelerated and headed toward Delta Air Lines Flight 2315. The controller commanded the Delta pilot, "Take any evasive action necessary. We have an airplane that we don't know what he's doing. Any action at all"[6]
When the plane passed by, the control center added Flight 175 to the list of hijacked planes.
[edit] Phone calls
Three passengers, Peter Hanson, Brian David Sweeney, and Garnet Bailey made phone calls, all from GTE airphones, from United Airlines Flight 175. Flight attendant Robert Fangman also made phone calls.[9][10]
At 8:52 a.m., Peter Hanson called his father, Lee Hanson in Easton, Connecticut, telling him of the hijacking. Hanson was travelling with his wife, Sue, and 2 1/2 year old daughter, Christine. Hanson said that the hijackers had commandeered the cockpit, that a flight attendant had been stabbed, and possibly someone else in the front of the aircraft had been killed. He also reported that the plane was flying erratically.[11]
Flight attendant Robert Fangman called a United Airlines office in San Francisco, and spoke with Marc Policastro. He reported the hijacking, and said that both pilots had been killed.[11] He also reported that a flight attendant was stabbed, and said that the hijackers were flying the plane.[11] The call was disconnected after a minute and 15 seconds.[9]
At 8:58 a.m., Brian David Sweeney tried calling his wife, Julie, and left her a message, telling her that the plane had been hijacked.[11] He then called his parents at 9:00 a.m., and spoke with his mother, Louise.[9][11] Sweeney told his mother about the hijacking, and mentioned that passengers were considering storming the cockpit and taking control of the aircraft.[11]
Peter Hanson made a second phone call to his father at 9:00 a.m.
"It's getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It's getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don't think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it'll be very fast....Oh My God.., oh my God, oh my God."[12]
As the call abruptly ended, Hanson's father heard a woman screaming.[12]
Then at 9:01 AM; two minutes before impact as United 175 continued its descent into Lower Manhattan, New York Center alerted another nearby Air Traffic Facility responsible for low flying aircraft. As the flight neared the World Trade Center, ATC was able to monitor the flight's impact path.
[edit] Crash
At 9:03, Flight 175 crashed into the southern facade of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center (south tower), travelling at approximately 545 mph and impacting between floors 77 and 85 with approximately 10,000 gallons of jet fuel.[13] Onboard were 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members, none of whom survived. Hundreds more were killed within the tower and from its ensuing explosion, fires, and collapse. Around 600 people were killed instantly or trapped at and above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC).
According to eyewitnesses and video footage, the aircraft appeared to execute a banking left turn in the final moments, as it appeared that the plane might have otherwise missed the building or merely clipped it with its wing. Upon crashing, the plane was banked left. Those seated on the left side of the plane would, therefore, have had a clear view of the towers approaching, with one burning, until the final moment of the flight.[12]
The image of the crash was caught on video from multiple vantage points on live television and amateur video. Video were continually replayed in news broadcasts over the next few days. A very clear photo was taken by Carmen Taylor from the top deck of the Ellis Island Ferry moored in Battery Park. [14]. The NIST collected over 200 photos and 40 videos.[13]
Some debris from the aircraft were recovered nearby, including landing gear found on top of a building on the corner of West Broadway and Park Place, an engine found at Church & Murray Street, and a section of the fuselage landed on top of 5 World Trade Center.
Unlike at the North Tower, initially, one of the three stairwells was still intact. Only 18 people passed the impact zone through the available stairway and left the South Tower safely before it collapsed. One of those 18 people, Stanley Praimnath was on the 81st floor and witnessed Flight 175 coming towards him.[12] Some people above the impact zone made their way upward toward the roof in hope of a helicopter rescue. However, access doors to the roof were locked. In any case, thick smoke and intense heat prevented rescue helicopters from landing.
At 9:59:04 the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, viewed, and heard by a vast television and radio audience. It stood for 56 minutes and 10 seconds after the impact of Flight 175.
- Further information: Collapse of the World Trade Center
[edit] Current flight
Flight 175 also operated as a code-share flight with Air New Zealand under NZ 9051.[15]
Shortly after the crash, the flight number for future flights on the same route was changed from Flight 175 to Flight 1525 "out of respect for those who died in the attack".[16] Since then, United Airlines has renumbered and rescheduled all flights from Boston to Los Angeles, and none of its morning flights depart at 8:00 AM EDT.[17] As of September 2007, this flight has now been redesignated as Flight 163, which now operates as a Boeing 757-200.
[edit] References
- ^ NTSB Brief. NTSB. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
- ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 7", 9-11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office.
- ^ "A September morning, four flights, a collision course with tragedy", Associated Press, September 12, 2001.
- ^ Ellison, Michael. "'We have planes. Stay quiet' - Then silence", The Guardian, 2001-10-17. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ a b c NTSB Report for Flight 175. NTSB (2002-02-19). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ a b Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary). The Learning Channel (December 2005).
- ^ A Loss of Control. Newsday, Inc. (2002-09-10). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
- ^ Report: hijacked plane nearly hit flight from Bradley. The Associated Press (2002-09-12). Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
- ^ a b c Exhibit #P200018, United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui. United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.
- ^ The Four Flights - Staff Statement No. 4. 9/11 Commission.
- ^ a b c d e f National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 1", 9-11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b c d Flight 175: As the World Watched (TLC documentary). The Learning Channel (December 2005).
- ^ a b NIST NCSTAR 1-5: Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers. National Institute of Standards and Technology (October 2005).
- ^ Carmen Taylor, amateur photographer from Lavaca... She then took the photo of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the south tower.
- ^ United Airlines provides further update on UA Flights 93 and 175. PR Newswire Europe Ltd. (2001-09-11). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ Logan Airport bears memory of its fateful role with silence. Boston Globe (2002-09-12). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
- ^ United Airlines Worldwide Timetable. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
[edit] External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- CNN September 11 Memorial page, with passenger and crew lists
- 9-11 NTSB Report
- Picture of aircraft Pre 9/11
- September 11, 2001 archive of United Airlines site with condolences for deceased
- United Flight 175 victims at a glance
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