Until now I, and a number of others in Scientists for 9/11 Truth, have maintained, that the evidence supports the theory that the Pentagon was hit by a large plane, consistent with a Boeing 757. New evidence that emerged in connection with the Denver Conference on the Pentagon Evidence adds significant support to the theory that the impacting plane was actually AA Flight 77.
The logic of making this specific identification is:
- The data from the flight data recorder (FDR) recovered in the Pentagon shows a remarkable correspondence with actual “facts on the ground,” leading us to conclude this is an authentic record of the plane that entered the Pentagon.
- Concern that the FDR data does not include certain ID information in the header, asserted by some to be required in all flight data recorders, has been shown to be unfounded. Warren Stutt, who decoded the FDR data, has shown that the ID information is embedded in the body of the data file, not the header, and that data released for a number of other crashes also do not include the ID numbers in the headers. See his presentation at the Denver Conference.
- The internal data in the FDR “identifies” the plane in terms of its recent history. It contains the entire last flight, from Dulles International Airport to the Pentagon crash site, plus 11 prior flights for the same plane in the days leading up to 9/11. Those flights are a matter of public record. It is the total record in the FDR that identifies the plane as the one used for Flight 77, and we consider this identification to be reliable.
- If this were a faked “propaganda version” of the FDR (as some have asserted) designed to portray a plane that wasn’t really there, why wouldn’t they have included an ID number to make it obvious? Why would they have made the last frame unreadable so it does not show the flight to its completion at the hole in the Pentagon? Why would they have programmed in the data drift rather than having the path aim right for the hole? The bottom line is a highly motivated individual with special talents (i.e. Warren Stutt) had to do a significant amount of work to pull the data out of a data set for a plane that went through a crash in which the FDR itself was dismembered and the last two frames were corrupted. This does not even remotely resemble a propaganda effort. On internal evidence the FDR appears to be authentic.
- An implication of this finding is that there is little reason to question that the extensive effort to recover and identify the DNA of the victims at the Pentagon is authentic. (All but one passenger were identified.) The suggestion that the plane was somehow diverted and the passengers disposed of in some unknown way is not only more horrific than the actual plane crash, this idea has no evidence to support it. There would also be no motive to attempt a stunt like this. (What could go wrong?) Postulating this kind of scenario is also irresponsible, tantamount to emotional abuse, denying the families of the victims closure. It does nothing but discredit the 9/11 Truth Movement for wild, unsupported assertions like this to be made in its name.