American Airlines Flight 77

American Airlines Flight 77
	American Airlines Flight 77
Accident summary
Accident type	kidnapping
place	Pentagon
date	September 11, 2001
Fatalities	64 + 125 (on the ground and pentagon)
Survivors	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 757-223ER
operator	American Airlines
Mark	N644AA
Surname	AA77
Passengers	58 (including 5 kidnappers)
crew	6th
	Lists of aviation accidents

American Airlines Flight 77 was scheduled as a morning flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport . The plane washijackedsoon after take-off in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 andsteeredinto the Pentagon . All 64 people on board and 125 people died on the ground.

Airplane crew

The crew consisted of the flight captain Charles Burlingame, the first officer David Charlebois and the flight attendants Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis and Renee May.

procedure

The affected machine in March 1995 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near the Pentagon

The flight from Washington to Los Angeles took off at 08:20 EDT , ten minutes later. According to radio messages and phone calls, the kidnapping must have taken place between 8:51 am and 8:54 am EDT . The kidnappers were Hani Handschur (as a pilot), Khalid al Mihdhar, Majid Moqed, Nawaf al Hazmi and Salem al Hazmi. At 08:56 EDT, the aircraft changed direction and switched off the transponder . At 09:37:44 a.m. (EDT), after 1 hour and 15 minutes of flight time, the airliner was steered into the Pentagon at 980 km / h. This impact followed 50 minutes after the first and 30 minutes after the second impact of the aircraft in the WTC in New York. There are five eyewitness accounts from car drivers on Interstate 395 or Washington Boulevard from the last segment of the flight. Another eyewitness lived nearby. With the exception of a surveillance camera, all known photographs of the hit building were only taken after the impact. A taxi was hit by a street lamp that had previously damaged the plane.

The surveillance camera recorded the impact in the building

Damage

The Pentagon after the collapse. (Photo from September 14th)

The Pentagon suffered limited damage. The fortified construction from 1941, which was reinforced for the burdens of the files, probably helped to keep the impact and the number of victims relatively low. The security windows and the sprinkler system newly installed or overhauled shortly before the attacks in 2001 also saved the lives of many people on the 1st floor and in the adjacent blocks. The first floor collapsed only 19 minutes after the impact and the fire that broke out.

The impact hole was almost impossible to make out at first, as the hijacked Boeing 757 hit an iron gate for suppliers in the middle and only exploded in a kerosene fire cloud inside the building complex.

Due to the severe damage to the building, the minor damage to the building, contradicting testimonies and the withholding of information (e.g. video recordings) by the Ministry of Defense, several conspiracy theories about the attack that differ from the so-called "official version" are circulating .

memorial

In Arlington, a memorial was set up at the Pentagon to remember those who lost their lives there.

Representation in the media

Pentagon 9/11. (Original title: Inside 9/11: The Pentagon Attack ). Mayday alarm in the cockpit [Season 16; Episode 2].

Nationalities of the victims on the plane

Passenger list of the flight

The nationality of the 53 passengers and 6 crew members included 6 different countries:

nationality	Passengers	crew	total
United States United States	47	6th	53
China People's Republic People's Republic of China	2	-	2
Australia Australia	1	-	1
Ethiopia Ethiopia	1	-	1
Korea South South Korea	1	-	1
United Kingdom United Kingdom	1	-	1
total	53	6th	59