Eyewitness accounts pentagon 9 11

Abshire,
Marc
Air Force Lt. Col. Marc Abshire, 40, a speechwriter for Air Force Secretary
James Roche, was working on several speeches this morning when he felt the
blast of the explosion at the Pentagon. His office is on the D ring, near the
eighth corridor, he said. "It shot me back in my chair. There was a huge
blast. I could feel the air shock wave of it," Abshire said. "I didn't know
exactly what it was. It didn't rumble. It was more of a direct smack. I said,
'This isn't right. Something's wrong here.'" "We all went out in the hallway.
People were yelling 'Evacuate! Evacuate!' And we found ourselves on the lawn
and looking back on our building. It was very much a surrealistic sort of
experience. It's just definitely not right to see smoke coming out of the
Pentagon. It was a very strange sight to see."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/daily/sep01/attack.html
Anderson
, Steve
I witnessed the jet hit the Pentagon on September 11. From my office on the
19th floor of the USA TODAY building in Arlington, Va., I have a view of
Arlington Cemetery, Crystal City, the Pentagon, National Airport and the
Potomac River. ... Shortly after watching the second tragedy, I heard jet
engines pass our building, which, being so close to the airport is very common.
But I thought the airport was closed. I figured it was a plane coming in for
landing. A few moments later, as I was looking down at my desk, the plane
caught my eye. It didn't register at first. I thought to myself that I couldn't
believe the pilot was flying so low. Then it dawned on me what was about to
happen. I watched in horror as the plane flew at treetop level, banked slightly
to the left, drug it's wing along the ground and slammed into the west wall of
the Pentagon exploding into a giant orange fireball. Then black smoke.
Then white smoke.
http://www.jmu.edu/alumni/tragedy%5Fresponse/read%5Fmessages.html
Anderson
, Ted
Lt. Col. Ted Anderson : "We ran to the end of our building, turned left and saw
nothing but huge, billowing black smoke, and a brilliant, brilliant explosion
of fire." (...) One of the Pentagon's two fire trucks was parked only 50 feet
from the crash site, and it was "totally engulfed in flames," Anderson says.
Nearby, tanks full of propane and aviation fuel had begun igniting, and
they soon began exploding, one by one. (...) Back in the building again,
Anderson said he began "screaming and hollering for people as secondary and
third-order explosions started going off. One of them was a fire department car
exploding-I think my right eardrum exploded at the same time, and it
unequivocally scared the heck out of me."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/635293.asp
Anlauf,
Deb &
Jeff
Mrs. Deb Anlauf, resident of Colfax, Wisconsin, was in her 14th floor of the
Sheraton Hotel [located 1.6 mile from the explosion], (immediately west of
the Navy Annex) when she heard a "loud roar": Suddenly I saw this plane right
outside my window. You felt like you could touch it; it was that close. It was
just incredible. "Then it shot straight across from where we are and flew right
into the Pentagon. It was just this huge fireball that crashed into the wall (of the
Pentagon). When it hit, the whole hotel shook. (...) Jeff didn't feel the impact
of the plane crash as directly as his wife. He was attending an environmental
meeting on the second floor of the hotel when the plane struck the Pentagon.
About five seconds before the crash, Jeff said he heard the sound of "tin being
dropped," likely as construction workers building an addition to the hotel saw

the plane and dropped their building materials. "Then, about 5 seconds later,
the whole hotel shook," Jeff recalled. "I could feel it moving. We said 'Oh,
my gosh, what's going on?' "
http://www.leadertelegram.com/specialreports/attack/storydetail.asp?ID=7
Battle Battle, an office worker at the Pentagon, was standing outside the building and
just about to enter when the aircraft struck. "It was coming down head first," he
said. "And when the impact hit, the cars and everything were just shaking."
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news01/091201_news_dcscene.shtml
Bauer,
Gary
Gary Bauer, a former Presidential candidate, happened to be driving into
Washington, D.C. that morning, to a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I was in
a massive traffic jam, hadn't moved more than a hundred yards in twenty
minutes. ... I had just passed the closest place the Pentagon is to the exit on 395
. . . when all of a sudden I heard the roar of a jet engine. I looked at the woman
sitting in the car next to me. She had this startled look on her face. We were all
thinking the same thing. We looked out the front of our windows to try to see
the plane, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that we realized the jet was
coming up behind us on that major highway. And it veered to the right into the
Pentagon. The blast literally rocked all of our cars. It was an incredible
moment." massnews.com / Amy Contrada / December 2001
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2001/dec%202001/1201bauer.htm
Bauer,
Gary
"...came from behind us and banked to the right and went into the Pentagon."
Interview with Warren Smith
http://www.thecharlotteworld.com/30%20Mins%20With/gary%20bauer/garyb
auer.html
Beans,
Michael
Anger and guilt still sear Lieutenant Colonel Michael Beans who shakes his
head ruefully and asks himself why he survived: "Why you, not them? Who
made that decision?" (...) Inside the Pentagon, the blast lifted Beans off the
floor as he crossed a huge open office toward his desk. "You heard this huge
concussion, then the room filled with this real bright light, just like
everything was encompassed within this bright light," said Beans. "As soon
as I hit the floor, all the lights went out, there was a small fire starting to
burn." His friends were not so lucky. Not far away on the same floor, Beans'
once familiar world had turned into a terrifying maze as well. Opening a door
to the outer E-ring corridor, Beans saw waves of fire rolling towards him like
surf on a beach. Turning back, he groped slowly back across the room on hands
and knees. The sprinkler came on and that kept the smoke and heat down. But
it was nervewracking and Beans was alone, listening as the building burned. "It
was so quiet," he recalled. "There was no screaming, nobody saying anything,
just nothing." He thought he might not make it out alive. He thought about his
wife, his daughter and son, his 22 years in the army. "I remember taking a
couple of breaths there, and I made up my mind: I just can't go out this way,"
he said. Suddenly out of the smoke a man ran by. "I tried to grab him, and I
tried to yell at him," Beans said. But "he just disappeared into the smoke."
Alone again, Beans crawled with his face to the floor. Then the carpet turned to
wet tile, and he looked up and saw he was in a corridor. He ran and as the
smoke cleared, he saw a guard. Beans discovered later that his head and

forearms were burned. He now wears special flesh-colored compression
sleeves on his arms. "These burns are going to heal, eventually," he said. But
the memories "will be with me for the rest of my life."
http://www.theosuobserver.com/main.cfm/include/smdetail/synid/54846.html
Begala,
Paul
Paul Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed an explosion near the
Pentagon. "It was a huge fireball, a huge, orange fireball," he said in an
interview on his mobile phone. He said another witness told him a helicopter
exploded. AP, Washington, 9/12/2001 11:45:33 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0%2C1300%2C550486%2C00.html
Bell,
Mickey
Mickey Bell : The jet came in from the south and banked left as it entered the
building, narrowly missing the Singleton Electric trailer and the on-site
foreman, Mickey Bell. Bell had just left the trailer when he heard a loud noise.
The next thing he recalled was picking himself off the floor, where he had been
thrown by the blast. Bell, who had been less than 100 feet from the initial
impact of the plane, was nearly struck by one of the plane's wings as it sped by
him. In shock, he got into his truck, which had been parked in the trailer
compound, and sped away. He wandered around Arlington in his truck and
tried to make wireless phone calls. He ended up back at Singleton's
headquarters in Gaithersburg two hours later, according to President Singleton,
not remembering much. The full impact of the closeness of the crash wasn't
realized until coworkers noticed damage to Bell's work vehicle. He had plastic
and rivets from an airplane imbedded in its sheet metal, but Bell had no idea
what had happened. During Bell's close call, other Singleton workers,
including sub-foreman Greg Cobaugh, were doing other work on the first and
third floors. The blast wasn't very loud to them. They were talking about
reports that two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New
York - not considering the noise they heard could be a similar attack.
http://www.necanet.org/whats_new/report.cfm?ID=1003
Benedett
o,
Richard
Richard Benedetto, a USA TODAY reporter, was on his way to work, driving
on the Highway parrallel to the Pentagon : "It was an American Airlines
airplane, I could see it very clearly.(...) I didn't see the impact. (...) The sound
itself sounded more like a thud rather than a bomb (...) rather than a loud
bomb explosion it sounded muffled, heavy, very deep. I didn't see any flaps,
it looked like the plane was just in normal flying mode but heading straight
down. It was straight. The only thing we saw on the ground outside there
was a piece of a ... the tail of a lamp post. (Video)
high bandwidth : http://digipressetmp3.teaser.fr/uploads/491/Benedetto2.ram
low bandwidth : http://digipressetmp3.teaser.fr/uploads/491/Benedetto.ram
Biggert,
Judy
Members of Congress have been shuttled to the site to inspect the damage.
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) made the trip on Thursday. She saw remnants of
the airplane. 'There was a seat from a plane, there was part of the tail and then
there was a part of green metal, I could not tell what it was, a part of the
outside of the plane,' she said. 'It smelled like it was still burning.'
Birdwell,
Brian
LTC Brian Birdwell. He was just heading back down the hall to his office
when the building exploded in front of him. The flash fire was immediate and
the smoke was thick. The blast had thrown him down, giving him a
concussion. He wanted to head down the hall toward the A ring...but because

he couldn't see anything he had no idea which way to go and he didn't want to
head in the wrong direction. (...) Once they stabilized Brian, they transferred
him to George Washington Hospital where...the best, cutting edge burn doctor
in the U.S. The doctor told him that had he not gone to Georgetown first, he
probably would not have survived because of the jet fuel in his lungs.
http://www.aog.usma.edu/Class/1961/BirdwellLuncheon.htm
Birdwell,
Brian
Down the hall from Yates, Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell, 40, had been at his desk in
Room 2E486 since 6:30 a.m. (...) Birdwell walked out to the men's room in
corridor 4, a move that saved his life. He had just taken three or four steps out
of the bathroom when the building was rocked. "Bomb!" the Gulf War vet
immediately thought as he was knocked down. When he stood up, he realized
he was on fire. "Jesus, I'm coming to see you"
http://www.hjpa.org/morenews.html
Boger,
Sean
Sean Boger, Air Traffic Controller and Pentagon tower chief - "I just looked up
and I saw the big nose and the wings of the aircraft coming right at us and I just
watched it hit the building." "It exploded. I fell to the ground and covered my
head. I could actually hear the metal going through the building." The
crew, Boger and Spc. Jacqueline Kidd, air traffic controller and training
supervisor, prepared for President George W. Bush to arrive from Florida
around 12:30 p.m.
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6_46/local_news/12049-1.html
Bouchou
x, Donald
R.
Donald R. Bouchoux, 53, a retired Naval officer, a Great Falls resident, a
Vietnam veteran and former commanding officer of a Navy fighter squadron,
was driving west from Tysons Corner to the Pentagon for a 10am meeting. He
wrote: At 9:40 a.m. I was driving down Washington Boulevard (Route 27)
along the side of the Pentagon when the aircraft crossed about 200 yards
[should be more than 150 yards from the impact] in front of me and impacted
the side of the building. There was an enormous fireball, followed about two
seconds later by debris raining down. The car moved about a foot to the
right when the shock wave hit. I had what must have been an emergency
oxygen bottle from the airplane go flying down across the front of my
Explorer and then a second piece of jagged metal come down on the right
side of the car. Washington Post, Sept. 20, 2001
http://web.lexis-nexis.com...
Bowman,
John
John Bowman, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and a contractor, was in his
office in Corridor Two near the main entrance to the south parking lot.
"Everything was calm,' Bowman said. "Most people knew it was a bomb.
Everyone evacuated smartly. We have a good sprinkling of military people
who have been shot at."
Braman,
Chris
Staff Sgt. Chris Braman : The lawn was littered with twisted pieces of
aluminum. He saw one chunk painted with the letter ``A,'' another with a ``C.''
It didn't occur to Braman what the letters signified until a man in the crowd
stooped to pick up one of the smaller metal shards. He examined it for a
moment, then announced: ``This was a jet.''

Bright,
Mark
Defense Protective Service officers were the first on the scene of the terrorist
attack. One, Mark Bright, actually saw the plane hit the building. He had been
manning the guard booth at the Mall Entrance to the building. "I saw the plane
at the Navy Annex area," he said. "I knew it was going to strike the building
because it was very, very low -- at the height of the street lights. It knocked a
couple down." The plane would have been seconds from impact -- the annex is
only a few hundred yards from the Pentagon. He said he heard the plane
"power-up" just before it struck the Pentagon. "As soon as it struck the
building I just called in an attack, because I knew it couldn't be accidental,"
Bright said. He jumped into his police cruiser and headed to the area.
http://www.dcmilitary.com/marines/hendersonhall/6_39/local_news/10797-
1.html
Brown,
Ervin
At the Pentagon, employees had heard about or seen footage of the World
Trade Centre attack when they felt their own building shake. Ervin Brown,
who works at the Pentagon, said he saw pieces of what appeared to be small
aircraft on the ground, and the part of the building by the heliport had
collapsed.
Brown,
Rich
Pentagon staff raced along a wooden pathway opposite the Pentagon building,
all heading towards bridges that would take them across the Potomac River.
Grown men ran at full pace. Rich Brown was sitting at his desk and "there was
just a huge sound that shook the building for a second or two". "I don't
know what's happened. I assume it's a co-ordinated terrorist attack."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/23/1030052968648.html
Burgess,
Lisa
Lisa Burgess, a reporter for the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, said she
was walking in a corridor near the blast site and was thrown to the ground by
the force of the blast.
http://www.neurosis.org...
Burgess,
Lisa
Lisa Burgess : Stars and Stripes reporter Lisa Burgess was walking on the
Pentagon's innermost corridor, across the courtyard, when the incident
happened. "I heard two loud booms - one large, one smaller, and the shock
wave threw me against the wall," she said.Burgess, reporting by telephone
from the scene at about 4 p.m., said that five hours after the blast, still no one
was able to get into the building. After the first casualties were removed, no
one was brought out of the building, either dead or alive.
http://www.pstripes.com/01/sep01/ed091201i.html
Campo It was a passenger plane. I think an American Airways plane, Mr Campo said.
"I was cutting the grass and it came in screaming over my head. I felt the
impact. The whole ground shook and the whole area was full of fire. I could
never imagine I would see anything like that here."
Cissell,
James R.
As former Cincinnatian James R. Cissell sat in traffic on a Virginia interstate
by the Pentagon Tuesday morning, he saw the blur of a commercial jet and
wondered why it was flying so low. ''Right about the time it was crossing over
the highway, it kind of dawned on me what was happening,'' said Cissell, son
of Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Jim Cissell. In the next blink of an eye, he
realized he had a front-row seat to history, as the plane plowed into the

Pentagon, sending a fireball exploding into the air and scattering debris -
including a tire rim suspected of belonging to the airplane - past his car.
(...) In the next seconds dozens of things flashed through his mind. ''I thought,
'This isn't really happening. That is a big plane.' Then I saw the faces of some
of the passengers on board,'' Cissell said. While he remembers seeing the
crash, Cissell remembers none of the sounds. ''It came in in a perfectly straight
line,'' he said. ''It didn't slow down. I want to say it accelerated. It just shot
straight in.''
http://www.cincypost.com/attack/cissel091201.html
Clevelan
d, Allen
Allen Cleveland of Woodbridge Virginia looked out from a Metro train going
to National Airport, to see a jet heading down toward the Pentagon. "I thought,
'There's no landing strip on that side of the subway tracks,' " Before he could
process that thought, he saw "a huge mushroom cloud. A lady staThe lady next
to me was in absolute hysterics."" . . a silver pasenger jet, mid sized"
http://mfile.akamai.com/920/rm/thepost.download.akamai.com/920/nation/091
101-5s.ram
Clevelan
d, Allen
Soon after the crash (Within 30 seconds of the crash) I witnessed a military
cargo plane (Possibly a C130) fly over the crash site and circle the
mushroom cloud. My brother inlaw also witnessed the same plane
following the jet while he was on the HOV lanes in Springfield. He said
that he saw a jetliner flying low over the tree tops near Seminary RD in
Springfield, VA. and soon afterwards a military plane was seenflying
right behind it. I think this was also a reason for the false threat of another
plane about to crash which caused rescuers to have to evacuate for a short
time after the initial crash. I have done my research onthis and according to
time magazine it took 24 minutes before Norad was supposedly notified about
this particuliar jet and fighters were scrambling to intercept at that time. Isn't it
odd how there is Not a single mention of this aircraft in ANY of the articles
written about this crash? Also if you had not noticed... There is not a single
picture or live footage of the actual jet prior to its crash at the Pentagon. Nor is
there any of the one that crashed in Pennsylvania. But if Anyone who rides the
metro-rail knows, there are plenty of Video cameras all around National airport
at the parking Garages and the high level security buildings found all around
Crystal city. (3 of which I have personally found pointed directly towards
crystal city which would have given a great line of site shot of that jet prior to
the crash as well as any other plane which might have been following it. I
personally believe that the government new full well that this was about to
happen and they are hiding something a lot bigger than they are willing to let
out. I was interviewed at Washingtonpost.com and gave them my full story, but
they did not print it as I have told you. I also find it interesting that one of the
planes engines in the pennsylvania crash was supposedly found 5 miles prior to
the crash site (This information I'm unsure of). The only thing that I'm aware of
that might cause that would be a heat seeking missle. A weapon which I am
pretty familiar with form Ord.training. I'm not saying that the government new
exactly what was about to happen, but I do believe that they are definitely
hiding something here. Many of my friends in intelligence have said the same.
I work in a Gov. building in DC., but my heart is right there with you and your

team. I hope you and those who served with you are doing well. Take care.
http://www.spooky8.com/reviews.htm
Cook,
Scott P.
[We didn't know what kind of plane had hit the Pentagon, or where it had hit.
Later, we were told that] it was a 757 out of Dulles, which had come up the
river in back of our building, turned sharply over the Capitol, ran past the
White House and the Washington Monument, up the river to Rosslyn, then
dropped to treetop level and ran down Washington Boulevard to the Pentagon
(...) As we watched the black plume gather strength, less than a minute after the
explosion, we saw an odd sight that no one else has yet commented on.
Directly in back of the plume, which would place it almost due west from our
office, a four-engine propeller plane, which Ray later said resembled a C-130,
started a steepdecent towards the Pentagon. It was coming from an odd
direction (planes don't go east-west in the area), and it was descending at a
much steeper angle than most aircraft. Trailing a thin, diffuse black trail from
its engines, the plane reached the Pentagon at a low altitude and made a sharp
left turn, passing just north of the plume, and headed straight for the White
House. All the while, I was sort of talking at it: "Who the hell are you? Where
are you going? You're not headed for downtown!" Ray and Verle watched it
with me, and I was convinced it was another attack. But right over the tidal
basin, at an altitude of less than 1000 feet, it made another sharp left turn to the
north and climbed rapidly. Soon it was gone, leaving only the thin black trail.
http://www.clothmonkey.com/91101.htm
Corley "It was striking to me how little of the building was involved in the fire,"
said Dr. Corley, who has reviewed the Pentagon report. The fire, he said,
"didn't spread and and trap other people in the building. "While 125 Pentagon
workers and 59 passengers and crew members on the plane died, few if any of
the workers who died were from outside the immediate impact zone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/05/nyregion/05TOWE.html

Correa,
Victor
LTC Victor Correa work at the Pentagon. (...) LTC Victor Correa's office, what
was the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, now the Army G-1, was in
the path of the Boeing 757 that crashed into the Pentagon on a sunny fall
morning. He was walking over to talk to a co-worker in the next cubicle when
he was knocked down by the impact. "I saw a fireball come over my head,"
said Correa, an Active Guard Reservist now assigned to Joint Chiefs of Staff, J-
5. "The fireball was coming like a wind-cloud of smoke trailing it. I also
noticed to my right the windows going out and coming back in. The fireball
came in and out quick - the speedof lightning. As it went back, it left a
cloud of smoke and started dropping. At that time the fire system went
up." Being knocked down turned out to be a life-saver. (...) "We thought it was
some kind of explosion. That somehow someone got in here and planted bombs
because we saw these holes."
http://www.army.mil/usar/news/2002/09-11anniv/herotellsall.html
Creed,
Dan
He and two colleagues from Oracle software were stopped in a car near the
Naval Annex, next to the Pentagon, when they saw the plane dive down and
level off. "It was no more than 30 feet off the ground, and it was screaming. It
was just screaming. It was nothing more than a guided missile at that point,"
Creed said. "I can still see the plane. I can still see it right now. It's just the
most frightening thing in the world, going full speed, going full throttle, its
wheels up," Creed recalls.
http://www.ahwatukee.com/afn/community/articles/020906a.html
Damoose Damoose said the worst part was leaving the Pentagon and walking along Fort
Meyer Drive, a bike trail, "you could see pieces of the plane."
Dave Near the Lincoln Memorial, Dave heard two booms, which sounded like the
artillery salutes on the Mall on the Fourth of July, he said. It was likely the
noise from a secondary blast at the Pentagon -
http://www.gridlockmag.com/911/
Day
Wayne T.
For one employee with Wedge One's mechanical subcontractor John J. Kirlin
Inc., Rockville MD, "lucky" is an understatement. "We had one guy who was
standing, looking out the window and saw the plane when it was coming in. He
was in front of one of the blast-resistant windows," says Kirlin President
Wayne T. Day, who believes the window structure saved the man's life.
According to Matt Hahr, Kirlin's senior project manager at the Pentagon, the
employee "was thrown about 80 ft down the hall through the air. As he was
traveling through the air, he says the ceiling was coming down from the
concussion. He got thrown into a closet, the door slammed shut and the fireball
went past him," recounts Hahr. "Jet fuel was on him and it irritated his eyes,
but he didn't get burned. Then the fireball blew over and the sprinklers came
on, and he was able to crawl out of the closet and get out of the building
through the courtyard."
http://www.designbuildmag.com/oct2001/pentagon1001.asp
DeChiaro
, Steve
Instead of following the streams of people away from the Pentagon, Steve
DeChiaro ran toward the smoke. As he reached the west side of the building he
saw a light post bent in half. "But when I looked at the site, my brain could
not resolve the fact that it was a plane because it only seemedlike a small

hole in the building," he said. "No tail. No wings. No nothing." He followed
the emergency crews that had just arrived. He saw people hanging out of
windows and others crawling from the demolished area. "These people were
covered in what I thought was powder - I don't know anything about medicine
or first aid, I'm an engineer - but it looked like powder," DeChiaro said. "Only
later did I find out that it was their skin." Civilians and soldiers joined
emergency crews who were rushing inside to pull out anyone they could. But
shortly after 10 a.m. police yelled at people to get back. "Just as we're about to
open the door, they start screaming, 'There's another inbound plane', "
DeChiaro said. "At that moment, your thoughts are: 'I go in the building, I get
killed, then I'm no help to anybody.' In hindsight, I think we should have gone
back in that building." For nearly 15 minutes, they stood watching the
Pentagon burn and periodically checked the sky for another plane. That plane
never reached Washington but fell, instead, in rural Pennsylvania. Teams of
two and three eventually were sent back in to find more victims. But as the day
grew longer, the flow of the injured stopped.
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/america_at_war/article/0,1426,MCA_945_13
00676,00.html
Defina "The only way you could tell that an aircraft was inside was that we saw
pieces of the nose gear. The devastation was horrific. It was obvious that some
of the victims we found had no time to react. The distance the firefighters had
to travel down corridors to reach the fires was a problem. With only a good 25
minutes of air in their SCBA bottles, to save air they left off their face pieces as
they walked and took in a lot of smoke," Captain Defina said. Captain Defina
was the shift commander [of an aircraft rescue firefighters crew.]
http://www.nfpa.org/NFPAJournal/OnlineExclusive/Exclusive_11_01_01/excl
usive_11.01.01.asp
DiPaula,
Michael
Michael DiPaula 41, project coordinator Pentagon Renovation Team - He left a
meeting in the Pentagon just minutes before the crash, looking for an
electrician who didn't show, in a construction trailer less than 75 feet away.
"Suddenly, an airplane roared into view, nearly shearing the roof off the trailer
before slamming into the E ring. 'It sounded like a missile,' DiPaula recalls . . .
Buried in debris and covered with airplane fuel, he was briefly listed by
authorities as missing, but eventually crawled from the flaming debris and the
shroud of black smoke unscathed.
http://www.sunspot.net/search/bal-archive-1990.htmlstory (killtown)
Dobbs,
Mike
Marine Corps officer Mike Dobbs was standing on one of the upper levels of
the outer ring of the Pentagon looking out the window when he saw an
American Airlines 737 twin-engine airliner strike the building. "It seemed to
be almost coming in slow motion," he said later Tuesday. "I didn't actually feel
it hit, but I saw it and then we all started running. They evacuated everybody
around us."
Dobbs,
Mike
"... we saw a plane coming toward us, for about 10 seconds ... It was like
watching a train wreck. I was mesmerized. ... At first I thought it was trying to
crash land, but it was coming in so deliberately, so level... Everyone said there
was a deafening explosion, but with the adrenaline, we didn't hear it."St.

Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 13, 2001 - Philip Dine
http://web.lexisnexis.com ...
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/dobbs.txt
Doughert
y, Jill
Jill Dougherty : It took your breath away, data analyst Jill Dougherty said of
the vibration. It went right through you. I didn't hear anything. I just felt it.
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2001/09/pdf/09112001EXT
RA2.pdf
Dubill,
Bob
" (...) when he saw a jetliner fly over the roadway. It filled his field of vision.
The jet was 40-feet off the ground speeding toward the Pentagon. The wheels
were up
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5425475&BRD=386&PAG=461
&dept_id=444919&rfi=6
Eberle,
Bobby
"Riding in a convertible ... I looked back and saw a jet airliner flying very low
and very fast.
http://www.gopusa.com/bobby/bobby_091201.shtml
Eiden,
Steve
Steve Eiden, a truck driver, had picked up his cargo that Tuesday morning in
Williamsburg, Va., and was en route to New York City and witnessed the
aftermath. He took the Highway 95 loop in the area of the Pentagon and
thought it odd to see a plane in restricted airspace, thinking to himself it was
odd that it was flying so low. "You could almost see the people in the
windows," he said as he watched the plane disappear behind a line of trees,
followed by a tall plume of black smoke. Then he saw the Pentagon on fire,
and an announcement came over the radio that the Pentagon had been hit.
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/ads/chronology2001/page2.html
Elgas,
Penny
Traffic was at a standstill. I heard a rumble, looked out my driver's side
window and realized that I was looking at the nose of an airplane coming
straight at us from over the road (Columbia Pike) that runs perpendicular to the
road I was on. The plane just appeared there- very low in the air, to the side of
(and not much above) the CITGO gas station that I never knew was there. My
first thought was "Oh My God, this must be World War III!" In that split
second, my brain flooded with adrenaline and I watched everything play out in
ultra slow motion, I saw the plane coming in slow motion toward my car and
then it banked in the slightest turn in front of me, toward the heliport. In the
nano-second that the plane was directly over the cars in front of my car, the
plane seemed to be not more than 80 feet off the ground and about 4-5 car
lengths in front of me. It was far enough in front of me that I saw the end of the
wing closest to me and the underside of the other wing as that other wing
rocked slightly toward the ground. I remember recognizing it as an American
Airlines plane -- I could see the windows and the color stripes. And I remember
thinking that it was just like planes in which I had flown many times but at that
point it never occurred to me that this might be a plane with passengers. In my
adrenaline-filled state of mind, I was overcome by my visual senses. The day
had started out beautiful and sunny and I had driven to work with my car's
sunroof open. I believe that I may have also had one or more car windows open
because the traffic wasn't moving anyway. At the second that I saw the plane,
my visual senses took over completely and I did not hear or feel anything --
not the roar of the plane, or wind force, or impact sounds. The plane seemed to

be floating as if it were a paper glider and I watched in horror as it gently
rocked and slowly glided straight into the Pentagon. At the point where the
fuselage hit the wall, it seemedto simply melt into the building. I saw a
smoke ring surround the fuselage as it made contact with the wall. It
appeared as a smoke ring that encircled the fuselage at the point of contact
and it seemedto be several feet thick. I later realized that it was probably
the rubble of churning bits of the plane and concrete. The churning smoke
ring started at the top of the fuselage and simultaneously wrapped down
both the right and left sides of the fuselage to the underside, where the
coiling rings crossed over each other and then coiled back up to the top.
Then it started over again -- only this next time, I also saw fire, glowing
fire in the smoke ring. At that point, the wings disappeared into the
Pentagon. And then I saw an explosion and watched the tail of the plane
slip into the building. It was here that I closed my eyes for a moment and
when I looked back, the entire area was awash in thick black smoke.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/supporting.asp?ID=30
Elliott,
Bruce
Former ammunition plant official evacuated building moments before suicide
airliner collision.Col. Bruce Elliott, former commander of the Iowa Army
Ammunition Plant who was reassigned to the Pentagon in July, watched in
horror Tuesday as a hijacked 757 airliner crashed into the nerve center of the
U.S. military command. Elliott, in a phone interview Wednesday, said he had
just left the Pentagon and was about to board a shuttle van in a south parking
lot when he saw the plane approach and slam into the west side of the structure.
"I looked to my left and saw the plane coming in," said Elliott, who watched it
for several seconds. "It was banking and garnering speed. I felt it was headed
for the Pentagon." (...) "It was like a kamikaze pilot. I felt it was going to ram
the Pentagon," he said. He said the craft clipped a utility pole guide wire,
which may have slowed it down a bit before it crashed into the building and
burst into flames. (...) Elliott said the rubble was still smoldering Wednesday
morning.
http://www.thehawkeye.com/features/911/IdxThur.html
Evey,
Walker
Lee
The plane approached the Pentagon about six feet off the ground, clipping a
light pole, a car antenna, a construction trailer and an emergency
generator before slicing into the building, said Lee Evey, the manager of the
Pentagon's ongoing billion-dollar renovation. The plane penetrated three of the
Pentagon's five rings, but was probably stopped from going farther by hundreds
of concrete columns. The plane peeled back as it entered, leaving pieces of the
front of the plane near the outside of the building and pieces from the rear
of the aircraft farther inside, Evey said. The floors just above the impact
remained intact for about 35 minutes after the crash, allowing many people in
those offices to escape, Evey said
http://detnews.com/2001/nation/0110/06/nation-312016.htm

Evey,
Walker
Lee
Internally, the Wedge One project included: complete demolition of existing
facilities; significant abatement of hazardous materials (most notably, 28
million lbs. of asbestos-contaminated material was removed); installation of all
new electrical, mechanical, plumbing and telecommunication systems within
the existing floorplan; structural steel reinforcement; and replacement of all
1,282 windows in the section, including 386 blast-resistant units on the
outermost "E Ring" and innermost "A Ring" of the building. All-new office
space was created with an open space plan aimed at enhancing flexibility (...)
Amazingly, the plane pushed through the outermost "E Ring", and drove deep
into the interior, its nose coming to rest just inside the "C Ring."
http://www.designbuildmag.com/oct2001/pentagon1001.asp
Evey,
Walker
Lee
We've learned -- this is wedge one, okay, the newly-renovated area. The path
of the airplane seems to have taken it along this route, so it entered the building
slightly, on this photo, slightly to the left of what we call corridor four. There
are 10 radial corridors in the building that extend from A ring out through E
ring, and this is the fourth of those radial corridors. So it impacted the building
in an area that had been renovated, but its path was at a -- it appears to be at a
diagonal, so that it entered in wedge one but passed through into areas of
wedge two, an unrenovated portion of the building. And, of course, you all
know it's got rings A through E, five stories tall, et cetera. QUESTION: That
seems to indicate that it came to rest in ring C, the nose cone. EVEY: Let me
talk to that, because you've asked a number of questions already about the
extent of penetration, et cetera. This is an overhead of the building. The point
of penetration was right here, and we blocked that out to show that's the area of
collapse. The plane actually penetrated through the E ring, C ring -- excuse me
-- E ring, D ring, C ring. This area right here is what we call A-E Drive. And
unlike other rings in the building, it's actually a driveway that circles the
building inside, between the B and the C ring. The nose of the plane just barely
broke through the inside of the C ring, so it was extending into A-E Drive a
little bit. So that's the extent of penetration of the aircraft. The rings are E, D,
C, B and A. Between B and C is a driveway that goes around the Pentagon. It's
called A-E Drive. The airplane traveled in a path about like this, and the nose
of the aircraft broke through this innermost wall of C ring into A-E Drive.
QUESTION: One thing that's confusing -- if it came in the way you described,
at an angle, why then are not the wings outside? I mean, the wings would have
shorn off. The tail would have shorn off. And yet there's apparently no
evidence of the aircraft outside the E ring. EVEY: Actually, there's
considerable evidence of the aircraft outside the E ring. It's just not very
visible. When you get up close -- actually, one of my people happened to be
walking on this sidewalk and was right about here as the aircraft approached. It
came in. It clipped a couple of light poles on the way in. He happened to hear
this terrible noise behind him, looked back, and he actually -- he's a Vietnam
veteran -- jumped prone onto the ground so the aircraft would not actually -- he
thinks it (would have) hit him; it was that low. On its way in, the wing clipped.
Our guess is an engine clipped a generator. We had an emergency
temporary generator to provide life-safety emergency electrical power,
should the power go off in the building. The wing actually clipped that
generator, and portions of it broke off. There are other parts of the plane that
are scattered about outside the building. None of those parts are very large,

however. You don't see big pieces of the airplane sitting there extending up
into the air. But there are many small pieces. And the few larger pieces there
look like they are veins out of the aircraft engine. They're circular.
QUESTION: Would you say that the plane, since it had a lot of fuel on it at the
impact, and the fact that there are very small pieces, virtually exploded in
flames when it tore into the building? I mean, since there are not large pieces of
the wings laying outside, did it virtually explode? EVEY: I didn't see it. My
people who did see it enter the building describe it as entering the building
and then there being flames coming out immediately afterwards. Whether
you describe it as an explosion or not, people I talk to who were there, some
called it an explosion. Others called it a large fire. I'm not sure. I wasn't there,
sir. It's just a guess on my part.
http://www.patriotresource.com/wtc/federal/0915/DoD.html
Evey,
Walker
Lee
Walker Lee Evey, program manager of the Pentagon restoration project : The
fire was so hot, Evey said, that it turned window glass to liquid and sent it
spilling down walls into puddles on the ground. The impact cracked massive
concrete columns far beyond the impact site, destabilizing a broader section of
the building than contractors had originally thought.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/07/attack/main503257.shtml
On Sept. 11, Flight 77 sliced through the outermost three of the Pentagon's five
concentric rings. Fires from the plane's 20,000 gallons of fuel melted windows
into pools of liquid glass. The impact of the crash fractured concrete pillars
well beyond the incisions in the three outer rings.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/2821782.htm
Faram,
Mark
I hate to disappoint anyone, but here is the story behind the photograph. At the
time, I was a senior writer with Navy Times newspaper. It is an independent
weekly that is owned by the Gannett Corporation (same owners as USA
Today). I was at the Navy Annex, up the hill from the Pentagon when I heard
the explosion. I always keep a digital camera in my backpack briefcase just as a
matter of habit. When the explosion happened I ran down the hill to the site
and arrived there approximately 10 minutes after the explosion. I saw the piece,
that was near the heliport pad and had to work around to get a shot if it with the
building in the background. Because the situation was still fluid, I was able to
get in close and make that image within fifteen minutes of the explosion
because security had yet to shut off the area. I photographed it twice, with the
newly arrived fire trucks pouring water into the building in the background.
The collapse of the building above area happened long after I left the scene. I
was not even aware that that had happened until that evening when I watched
the news. My photos were on the wire by noon. That was the only piece of
wreckage of any SIZE that I saw, but was by no means the ONLY piece. Right
after photographing that piece of wreckage, I also photographed a triage area
where medical personnel were tending to a seriously burned man. A priest
knelt in the middle of the area and started to pray. I took that image and left
immediately. As I stepped onto the highway next to the triage area, I knelt
down to tie my shoe and all over the highway were small pieces of aircraft
skin, none bigger than a half-dollar. Anyone familiar with aircraft has seen
the greenish primer paint that covers many interior metal surfaces - that is what

these shards were covered with. I was out of the immediate area photographing
other things within 20 minutes of the crash.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frameup/message/1254
Flyler,
Kim
Kim Flyler was trying to sneak into a parking space near to the building when
she saw the plane: "At that moment I heard a plane and then a loud cracking
noise.... Right before the plane hit the building, you could see the silhouettes
of people in the back two rows. You couldn't see if they were male or female,
but you could tell there was a human being in there."
The Observer, Sept. 8, 2002
Ford,
Ken
Ken Ford : One eyewitness, State Department employee Ken Ford, said he
watched from the 15th floor of the State Department Annex, just across the
PotomacRiver from the Pentagon. We were watching the airport through
binoculars, Ford said, referring to Reagan National Airport, a short distance
away. The plane was a two-engine turbo prop that flew up the river from
National. Then it turned back toward the Pentagon. We thought it had been
waved off and then it hit the building.
RA2.pdf
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2001/0912/wor5.htm
Fortunato
, Don
"Traffic was at a standstill, so I parked on the shoulder, not far from the scene
and ran to the site. Next to me was a cab from D.C., its windshield smashed
out by pieces of lampposts. There were pieces of the plane all over the
highway, pieces of wing, I think. (...) "There were a lot of people with severe
burns, severe contusions, severe lacerations, in shock and emotional distress"
Fowler,
Charles
Navy Capt. Charles Fowler : Navy Capt. Charles Fowler, assigned to the Joint
Chiefs, was working on a speech for Gen. Henry Shelton, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs, when he heard the explosion. "You could feel the building
shake," said Fowler. "You knew it was a major explosion. I grabbed all my
gear and grabbed the laptop and headed out." "The interesting part was we
didn't hear the alarm go off, but word got around very fast. It was an orderly
evacuation" Fowler's office, on the river side, appeared to be on the
opposite side from the explosion, he said. "Tons of smoke was coming up
from the wedge-lots of black and gray smoke."
Fraunfelt
er, Dan
Dan Fraunfelter : After the meeting, just before 9:30 a.m., the young engineer
grabbed a subcontractor to help him repair a damaged ceiling grid on the third
floor of the Pentagon's E-Ring. The two were in the middle of the job when a
strange sound ripped through the room. It lasted just a split second, says
Fraunfelter, "A strange sucking, whirring sound, like a loud vacuum
cleaner." Then the sound stopped, the building shook violently, and the lights
went out.
Frost,
Stephen
S.
Captain Stephen S. Frost, Medical Corps : We saw many blast injuries
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq87-7b.htm

Gaines,
Kat
Kat Gaines, heading south on Route 110, approached the parking lots, saw a
low-flying jetliner strike the top of nearby telephone poles. "
http://www.fccc.org/News/valor.htm
Goff, Dr Dr Goff :"We used every aspect of our medical training that day to treat
victims suffering from injuries ranging from inhalation and blast injuries to all
levels of burns to emotional trauma,"
http://www.aoa-net.org/Publications/DO/pentagon1101.pdf
Goldsmit
h, Gilah
Gilah Goldsmith, personnel attorney at the Pentagon. When she got to her
office sometime around 9, she phoned her daughter and heard "an incredible
whomp noise." It didn't seem so unusual since her office is situated near a
narrow area where trucks sometimes come by and hit the wall. Goldsmith was
told to evacuate. "We saw a huge black cloud of smoke," she said, saying it
smelled like cordite, or gun smoke.
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk010921/usp14a.shtml
Hagos,
Afework
Afework Hagos, a computer programmer, was on his way to work but stuck in
a traffic jam near the Pentagon when the plane flew over. "There was a huge
screaming noise and I got out of the car as the plane came over. Everybody was
running away in different directions. It was tilting its wings up and down like
it was trying to balance. It hit some lampposts on the way in."
Hagos,
Asework
Asework Hagos, 26, of Arlington, was driving on Columbia Pike on his way to
work as a consultant for Nextel. He saw a plane flying very low and close to
nearby buildings. "I thought something was coming down on me. I know this
plane is going to crash. I've never seen a plane like this so low." He said he
looked at it and saw American Airline insignia and when it made impact with
the Pentagon initially he saw smoke, then flames.
Harringto
n, Joe
Harrington was working on the installation of new furniture in Wedge One,
when he was called out to the parking lot to talk about security with his
customer moments before the crash. "About two minutes later one of my guys
pointed to an American Airlines airplane 20 feet high over Washington Blvd.,"
Harrington said. "It seemedlike it made impact just before the wedge. It
was like a Hollywood movie or something.
Haubold,
Art
At about 9:20 a.m., Lt. Col. Art Haubold, a public affairs officer with air force,
was in his office on the opposite side of the complex when the plane struck.
"We were sitting there watching the reports on the World Trade Center. All of
a sudden, the windows blew in," he said. "We could see a fireball out our
window."
Hemphill
, Albert
From the view of the Navy Annex : After a few moments, Lt Gen Ron Kadish,
Director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization entered the Secure
Conference Room to pursue the day's activities and do real work. This office,
with two nice windows and a great view of the monuments, the Capitol and the
Pentagon was "good digs" by any Pentagon standard. I walked in the office and
stood peering out of the window looking at the Pentagon. As I stood there, I
instinctively ducked at the extremely loud roar and whine of a jet engine

spooling up. Immediately, the large silver cylinder of an aircraft appeared in
my window, coming over my right shoulder as I faced the Westside of the
Pentagon directly towards the heliport. The aircraft, looking to be either a 757
or Airbus, seemed to come directly over the annex, as if it had been following
Columbia Pike - an Arlington road leading to Pentagon. The aircraft was
moving fast, at what I could only be estimate as between 250 to 300 knots. All
in all, I probably only had the aircraft in my field of view for approximately 3
seconds. The aircraft was at a sharp downward angle of attack, on a direct
course for the Pentagon. It was "clean", in as much as, there were no flaps
applied and no apparent landing gear deployed. He was slightly left wing
down as he appeared in my line of sight, as if he'd just "jinked" to avoid
something. As he crossed Route 110 he appeared to level his wings, making a
slight right wing slow adjustment as he impacted low on the Westside of the
building to the right of the helo, tower and fire vehicle around corridor 5. What
instantly followed was a large yellow fireball accompanied by an extremely
bass sounding, deep thunderous boom. The yellow fireball rose quickly as
black smoke engulfed the entire Westside of the Pentagon, obscuring the whole
of the heliport. I could feel the concussion and felt the shockwave of the blast
impact the window of the Annex, knocking me against the desk.
http://lists.travellercentral.com/pipermail/tml/2001-September/013153.html
http://www.ournetfamily.com/WarOnTerror/emails/pentagonwitness.shtml
Henson,
Jerry
Pinned in his chair and wrapped in a shroud of thick smoke and darkness, Jerry
Henson had almost given up hope. He could feel all his limbs, but they
wouldn't move. It was as if he were frozen at his desk by forces he couldn't
battle. Through the smoke, he mustered some pleas for help. His mind still
raced to figure out what happened and whether this was real. It was 9:40 a.m.,
Sept. 11. (...) airliner (...) slammed into the Pentagon. "The impact was quite
clear," Henson said. "But it wasn't what you would think. It was just a loud
kathump. Just a loud noise." Then all his senses failed him. The plane had
sliced through the emergency lighting generators leaving everything in
blackness. Books and computer monitors tumbled from the shelves behind him.
Then his head throbbed. Pain shot through his legs. He couldn't move. All he
could taste was smoke and dust. "I knew I was wounded some place because
you can tell the difference between water and blood," he said. "Blood is sticky
and tacky and warm. But I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from." For
15 minutes he and two of his staff who also were trapped in the office yelled
for help. They yelled for Punches, Henson's deputy. They yelled for other
survivors. They yelled for anyone at all.
00676,00.html
Henson,
Jerry
Inside the hell that was once his office, Jerry Henson freed his hands enough to
move rubble off of his shoulders. He dislodged his head. But he couldn't move
the heavy desktop from his lap. It had been 15, maybe 20 minutes since
everything turned dark and painful. Still no answer from Capt. Punches. Now
fires were burning closer as deposits of jet fuel ignited. "You could hear
them lighting off," Henson said. "They would go 'poof,' kind of like when you
light a furnace. You could hear these getting closer." The two other men in the
office couldn't get to Henson, but they found a hole in the wall to crawl

through. And they found help. Minutes passed slowly as Henson remained
trapped in the dark and more conscious of every breath. He heard rubble
crumbling and splashes like footsteps in puddles. Then he saw a slice of light.
"I'm a doctor, I'm here to help you," said a voice. Navy Lt. Cmdr. David
Tarantino, the doctor, and Capt. David M. Thomas Jr. had dodged slithering
electrical wires and dripping solder to reach Henson. Tarantino, realizing
Henson was pinned, got on his back and lifted the table top with his feet
enough for Henson to slide out. Thomas and Tarantino pulled him back out
through the maze. With a blur of light and a rush of fresh air, Henson knew he
was safe. Jerry Henson, now 65, spent four days at nearby Arlington Hospital
Center. Doctors sewed up the gash in the back of his head and on his chin. His
neck was sprained, his back was sore, and he still needed treatment for smoke
inhalation. "I was eager to get out," he said. "I thought the sooner I was able to
get walking and breathing, the better I'd avoid pneumonia and things like that."
00676,00.html
Holland,
Nicholas
Nicholas Holland, an engineer with AMEC Construction Management of
Bethesda, Md., had spent the last two years working to reinforce the walls.
Two summers ago, a blast wall of reinforced steel and concrete was installed
right where the plane hit. It stood for 25 minutes after it was hit before
collapsing, long enough for people to escape, Holland said.
http://www.detnews.com/2001/nation/0109/11/nation-291261.htm
Hovis,
Tom
Being a former transport type (60's era) I cannot understand how that plane
hit where it did giving the direction the aircraft was taking at the time. As
most know, the Pentagon lies at the bottom of two hills from the west with the
east side being next to the river at 14th street bridge. One hill is at the Navy
Annex and the other is Arlington Cemetery. The plane came up I-395 also
known as Shirley Hwy. (most likely used as a reference point.) The plane had
been seen making a lazy pattern in the no fly zone over the White House and
US Cap. Why the plane did not hit incoming traffic coming down the river
from the north to ReaganNat'l. is beyond me . Strangely, no one at the
Reagan Tower noticed the aircraft. Andrews AFB radar should have also
picked up the aircraft I would think. Nevertheless, the aircarft went southwest
near Springfield and then veered left over Arlington and then put the nose
down coming over Ft Myer picking off trees and light poles near the helicopter
pad next to building. It was as if he leveledout at the last minute and put it
square into the building. The wings came off as if it went through an arch way
leaving a hole in the side of the building it seems a little larger than the wide
body of the aircraft. The entry point was so clean that the roof (shown in
news photo) fell in on the wreckage. They are just now getting to the
passengers today. The nosewheel I understand is in the grass near the second
ring. Right now it is estimated that it will take two years to repair the damage.
Ironcally, the area had just been remodeled with most of the area was still
blocked off and some offices were empty. I know a young Army Major who
went to a planned staff meeting at 8:30 am sharp. He left his office and
attended the meeting, there was something he needed. He called his friend also
a major near his office on his cell phone. As they were talking his friend said,
My God a plane has just came through near your office "(which was not part of

the new area, but near it ). Fire rolled down the hallway, somehow his friend on
the phone ducked down another hallway. Four of the Major's friends did not
make it. Incidently, the fireball also went along the outside of the building as
shown by the blackend side of the building to left of the impact point. The
reason the fire took so long to put out was because the attic was filled with
"horse hair" for insulation put there in 1942 when the building was built.
http://www.beanerbanner.com/a_father____.htm
Hunt,
Bob
office when the explosion at the Pentagon occurred. "About a third of the sky
was blacked with smoke", He said. Hunt was in contact with this office via e-
mail on September 11 until he left work and decided to walk, rather than catch
a crowded subway. "I talked to a number of average people in route who said
they saw the plane hovering over the Washington Mall Area at an altitude
lower that the height of the Washington Monument" Hunt stated. He said they
reported to him they could clearly see the markings of an American Airlines
airliner and some even said they could make out faces of passengers in the
aircraft windows. Again, this is what Bob Hunt heard from witnesses on the
street in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001.
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/03/15/arjj031502.htm
Jarvis,
Will
From time spent on military aircraft as part of his job at the Pentagon, Will
Jarvis (who graduated with a bachelor of applied science in 1987 while
attending New College) knows what aviation fuel smells like. That smell was
his only clue that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, where he works as an
operations research analyst for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Jarvis,
who was around the corner from the disaster, tried but failed to see the plane
when he left the building. "There was just nothing left. It was incinerated.
We couldn't see a tail or a wing or anything," he says. "Just a big black hole
in the building with smoke pouring out of it." For someone sitting only 300
metres away from the carnage of American Airlines Flight 77, Jarvis and his
officemates were surprisingly well insulated from it. "We thought the plane
was a dump truck backing into the building, because there was a lot of
construction going on," he says. The group noticed that the sky was darker than
normal, but still didn't think much of it. "Then I saw little bits of silver falling
from the sky," says Jarvis.
http://www.magazine.utoronto.ca/02winter/f02.htm#jarvis
Joyce,
Tom
Tom Joyce, a Navy captain, was reading at his desk on the fifth floor in the
building's fifth wing, when the plane hit. The impact knocked him out of his
chair. "The whole building shook," Captain Joyce said. "Smoke started coming
into the building."
http://www.americanmemorials.com/memorial/tribute.asp?idMemorial=1316&
idContributor=7466
Kean,
Terrance
Terrance Kean, 35, who lives in a 14-story building nearby, heard the loud jet
engines and glanced out his window. "I saw this very, very large passenger
jet," said the architect, who had been packing for a move. "It just plowed right
into the side of the Pentagon. The nose penetrated into the portico. And then
it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. . . . It was
very sort of surreal."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A13766-2001Sep11
Khavkin,
D. S.
from an 8th floor high-rise: "At first, we thought it was the jets that sometimes
fly overhead. However, it appeared to be a small commercial aircraft..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/newsid_1540000/1540586.stm
Kirk,
Mark
Steven
Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.), a Naval Reserve intelligence officer.
''Apparently, the fire killed everybody in there,'' said Kirk, shortly after he
learned that two friends perished in the center. Kirk also went to the site. ''The
first thing you smell is the burning. And then you can smell the aviation
fuel. And then you can smell this sickly, rotten-meat smell,'' he said.
Kizildrgli
, Aydan
Kizildrgli, while driving by the Pentagon, "saw the jetliner bank slightly"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/attack-usat.htm
Krohn,
Charles
H.
One of the aircraft's engines somehow ricocheted out of the building and
arched into the Pentagon's mall parking area between the main building and
the new loading dock facility, said Charles H. Krohn, the Army's deputy chief
of public affairs. Those fleeing the building heard a loud secondary explosion
about 10 min. after the initial impact.
http://www.aviationnow.com/content/publication/awst/20010917/aw48.htm
Lagasse,
William
Sgt. William Lagasse, a pentagon police dog handler, the son of an aviation
instructor, was filling up his patrol car at a gas station near the Pentagon when
he noticed a jet fly in low. He watched as the plane plowed into the Pentagon.
Initially, he thought the plane was about to drop on top of him -- it was that
close. Lagasse knew something was wrong. The 757's flaps were not
deployed and the landing gear was retracted.
http://206.181.245.163/ebird/e20011108vivid.htm
Lagasse,
William
I saw the aircraft above my head about 80 feet above the ground, 400 miles an
hour. The reason, I have some experience as a pilot and I looked at the plane.
Didn't see any landing gear. Didn't see any flaps down. I realized it wasn't
going to land. . . . It was close enough that I could see the windows and the
blinds had been pulled down. I read American Airlines on it. . . .I got on the
radio and broadcast. I said a plane is, is heading toward the heliport side of the
building.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com...
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/lagasse1.txt
Liebner,
Lincoln
"I saw this large American Airlines passenger jet coming in fast and low," said
Army Captain Lincoln Liebner. "My first thought was I've never seen one that
high. Before it hit I realised what was happening."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/23/1030052968648.html
Liebner,
Lincoln
After the second plane hit the World Trade Center, Major Lincoln Leibner
jumped in his pickup truck and raced to the Pentagon. As he ran to an entrance,
he heard jet engines and turned in time to see the American Airlines plane
diving toward the building. "I was close enough that I could see through the
windows of the airplane, and watch as it as it hit," he said. "There was no
doubt in my mind what I was watching. Not for a second. It was

accelerating," he said. "It was wheels up, flaps up, engines full throttle. "
http://www.theosuobserver.com/main.cfm/include/smdetail/synid/54846.html
Liebner,
Lincoln
Maj. Leibner drove in and made it as far as the south parking lot, where he got
out on foot. "I heard the plane first," he said. "I thought it was a flyover
Arlington cemetery." From his vantage point, Maj. Leibner looked up and saw
the plane come in. "I was about 100 yards away," he said. "You could see
through the windows of the aircraft. I saw it hit." The plane came in hard
and level and was flown full throttle into the building, dead center mass,
Maj. Leibner said. "The plane completely entered the building," he said. "I got
a little repercussion, from the sound, the blast. I've heard artillery, and that
was louder than the loudest has to offer. I started running toward the site. I
jumped over a fence. I was probably the first person on the scene." A tree and
the backend of a crash truck at the heliport near the crash site were on fire
and the ground was scorched, Maj. Leibner recounted. "The plane went into
the building like a toy into a birthday cake," he said. "The aircraft went in
between the second and third floors." At that point, no one was outside.
Spotting a Pentagon door that had been blown off its hinges, Maj. Leibner went
in and out several times, helping rescue several people. "The very first person
was right there," he said. "She could walk. I walked her out onto the grass."
Maj. Leibner said a police officer pulled up onto the grass and began to help.
"Everybody was hurt," Maj. Leibner said. "They were all civilian females.
Everybody was burned on their hands and faces.
http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=384&issueID=38
Leibner,
Lincoln
Captain Lincoln Leibner says the aircraft struck a helicopter on the helipad,
setting fire to a fire truck. We got one guy out of the cab," he said, adding he
could hear people crying inside the wreckage. Captain Liebner, who had cuts
on his hands from the debris, says he has been parking his car in the car park
when the crash occurred."
http://abc.net.au/news/2001/09/item20010911230953_1.htm
M. K. It was so shocking, I was listening to the news on what had happened in New
York, and just happened to look out the window because I heard a low flying
plane and then I saw it hit the Pentagon. It happened so fast... it was in the air
one moment and in the building the next... I still have a hard time
believing it, but every time I look out the window, it seems to be more real
than it did the time before... K.M., Pentagon City, USA
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking%5Fpoint/newsid%5F1537000/153
7530.stm
Marra,
David
David Marra, 23, an information-technology specialist, had turned his BMW
off an I-395 exit to the highway just west of the Pentagon when he saw an
American Airlines jet swooping in, its wings wobbly, looking like it was going
to slam right into the Pentagon: "It was 50 ft. off the deck when he came in. It
sounded like the pilot had the throttle completely floored. The plane rolled
left and then rolled right. Then he caught an edge of his wing on the ground."
There is a helicopter pad right in front of the side of the Pentagon. The
wing touched there, then the plane cartwheeled into the building.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,174655-4,00.html

Martinez,
Oscar
``I saw a big jet flying close to the building coming at full speed. There was a
big noise when it hit the building,'' said Oscar Martinez, who witnessed the
attack. Extrait article : Away from the Pentagon, unexplained explosions were
reported in the vicinity of the State Department and the Capitol.
http://www.firehouse.com/terrorist/11_APdc.html
McAdam
s
Daniel and his wife Cynthia McAdams : Two other witnesses, Daniel
McAdams and his wife, Cynthia, said they were sitting in their kitchen
drinking coffee in their third-floor condominium in Arlington, Va., just two
miles from the Pentagon when they heard a plane fly directly overhead
around 9:45 a.m. It was unusually loud and low. Seconds later, they heard a
big boom and felt the doors and windows of their three-story building
shake. From their window, they could see a plume of black smoke coming
from the Pentagon. I said, Oh my God, ... I can t even come to grips. It s just a
shock, said Daniel McAdams, a freelance journalist. It s scary to just be so
close .... Who knows if there's another one being hijacked that could miss the
target? I feel like a target here. Soon after, military planes including F-15s were
circling the Pentagon. Traffic clogged McAdams street as workers fled.
RA2.pdf
McClain,
Tom
Lt Col (ret) Tom McClain : I saw the remains of the engines in the North
parking lot of the Pentagon as well as melted aluminum and other debris left
from the aircraft.
[email] http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/pentagon/pentagon-
email_20020316.html
McCuske
r, Elaine
Traffic is normally slow right around the Pentagon as the road winds and we
line up to cross the 14th Street bridge heading into the District of Columbia. I
don't know what made me look up, but I did and I saw a very low-flying
American Airlines plane that seemed to be accelerating. My first thought was
just 'No, no, no, no,' because it was obvious the plane was not heading to
nearby Reagan National Airport. It was going to crash.
http://depts.washington.edu/uweek/archives/2001.10.OCT_04/_article9.html
McGraw,
Stephen
Father Stephen McGraw was driving to a graveside service at Arlington
National Cemetery the morning of Sept. 11, when he mistakenly took the
Pentagon exit onto Washington Boulevard, putting him in a position to witness
American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon. "The traffic was very
slow moving, and at one point just about at a standstill," said McGraw, a
Catholic priest at St. Anthony Parish in Falls Church. "I was in the left hand
lane with my windows closed. I did not hear anything at all until the plane was
just right above our cars." McGraw estimates that the plane passed about 20
feet over his car, as he waited in the left hand lane of the road, on the side
closest to the Pentagon. "The plane clipped the top of a light pole just before it
got to us, injuring a taxi driver, whose taxi was just a few feet away from my
car. "I saw it crash into the building," he said. "My only memories really were
that it looked like a plane coming in for a landing. I mean in the sense that it
was controlled and sort of straight. That was my impression," he said. "There
was an explosion and a loud noise and I felt the impact. I remember seeing
a fireball come out of two windows (of the Pentagon). I saw an explosion of

fire billowing through those two windows. "He literally had the stole in one
hand and a prayer book in the other and in one fluid motion crossed the
guardrail," said Mark Faram, a reporter from the Navy Times who witnessed
McGraw in the first moments after the crash.
http://www.mdw.army.mil/news/Pentagon%5Fcrash%5Feyewitness%5Fcomfo
rted%5Fvictims.html
McClella
n,
Kenneth
The crew of a military cargo plane watched helplessly on Sept. 11 as a hijacked
airliner plunged into the Pentagon, a defense official confirmed Tuesday. The
report confirms the eyewitness account of two Hampton Roads residents who
were near the Pentagon that day and said they saw a second plane flying near
the doomed passenger jet. A C-130 cargo plane had departed Andrews Air
Force Base en route to Minnesota that morning and reported seeing an airliner
heading into Washington 'at an unusual angle,' said Lt. Col. Kenneth
McClellan, a Pentagon spokesman. Air-traffic control officials instructed the
propeller-powered cargo plane 'to let us know where it's going,' McClellan
said. But, he said, there was no attempt to intercept the hijacked airliner. 'A C-
130 obviously goes slower than a jet,' McClellan said. 'There was no way he
was going to intercept anything.' The C-130 pilot 'followed the aircraft and
reported it was heading into the Pentagon,' he said. 'He saw it crash into the
building. He saw the fireball. In the days immediately following the Sept. 11
hijackings, the Pentagon had no knowledge of the C-130's encounter, because
all reports were classified by the Air National Guard, the Pentagon spokesman
said. 'It was very hard to get any information out,' McClellan said. ("C-130
crew saw Pentagon strike, official confirms", Terry Scanlon et David Lerman,
Daily Press, 17 octobre 2001) -
http://dailypress.com
McNair,
Phil
Crawling, McNair turned toward the E Ring. The heat grew even fiercer, and
as he neared the door to the corridor he saw bright orange through the crack
along its bottom. He reversed course, yelling, ``We've got to get out the other
way.''
http://www.pilotonline.com/special/911/pentagon2.html
Mencl,
Peggy
Inside a courtyard deep inside the Pentagon, program analyst Peggy Mencl (cq)
heard the blast. "The doors blew out and debris just came flying out from
the doors," Mencl said. "It blew me 10 feet." She was uninjured but still had
debris in her hair.
http://www.detnews.com/2001/nation/0109/11/nation-291261.htm
http://maninut.com/patriotic_sites/tribute.htm
Middleto
n,
William
Sr.
The worker, William Middleton Sr., was running his street sweeper through the
cemetery when he heard a harsh whistling sound overhead. Middleton looked
up and spotted a commercial jet whose pilot seemed to be fighting with his
own craft. Middleton said the plane was no higher than the tops of telephone
poles as it lurched toward the Pentagon. The jet accelerated in the final few
hundred yards before it tore into the building.
http://www.s-t.com/daily/12-01/12-20-01/a02wn018.htm

Milburn,
Kirk
I was right underneath the plane, said Kirk Milburn, a construction supervisor
for Atlantis Co., who was on the Arlington National Cemetery exit of Interstate
395 when he said he saw the plane heading for the Pentagon. "I heard a plane. I
saw it. I saw debris flying. I guess it was hitting light poles," said Milburn. "It
was like a WHOOOSH whoosh, then there was fire and smoke, then I heard
a second explosion." - (Washington Post, September 11, 2001) -
http:// www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/daily/sep01/attack.html
Mitchell,
Terry
This is a hole in -- there was a punch-out. They suspect that this was where a
part of the aircraft came through this hole, although I didn't see any evidence
of the aircraft down there. (...) This pile here is all Pentagon metal. None of
that is aircraft whatsoever. As you can see, they've punched a hole in here.
This was punched by the rescue workers to clean it out. You can see this is the
-- some of the unrenovated areas where the windows have blown out.
http://www.patriotresource.com/wtc/federal/0915/DoD.html
Moody,
Sheila
Sheila Moody, in Room 472, heard a whoosh and a whistle and she
wondered where all this air was coming from. Then a blast of fire that left
as fast as it came. She looked down and saw her hands aflame, so she shook
them. She saw some light from a window but could not reach it and could not
find anything to break it with in any case. Then she heard a voice. "Hello!" a
man called out. "I can't see you." Hello, she called back, and clapped her hands.
She heard him approach and sensed the shoosh of a fire extinguisher and then
saw him through a cloud of smoke, the rescuer who would bring her out and
ease her fear that she would never get to see her grandchildren.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A38407-2001Sep15
Morin,
Terry
Terry Morin, a former USMC aviator, Program Manager for SPARTA, Inc was
working as a contractor at the BMDO offices at the old Navy Annex. Having
just reached the elevator in the 5th Wing of BMDO Federal Office Building
(FOB) # 2. He heard "an increasingly loud rumbling" One to two seconds later
the airliner came into my field of view. By that time the noise was absolutely
deafening. The aircraft was essentially right over the top of me and the outer
portion of the FOB (flight path parallel the outer edge of the FOB). Everything
was shaking and vibrating, including the ground. I estimate that the aircraft was
no more than 100 feet above me (30 to 50 feet above the FOB) in a slight nose
down attitude. The plane had a silver body with red and blue stripes down the
fuselage. I believed at the time that it belonged to American Airlines, but I
couldn't be sure. It looked like a 737 and I so reported to authorities. Within
seconds the plane cleared the 8th Wing of BMDO and was heading directly
towards the Pentagon. Engines were at a steady high-pitched whine, indicating
to me that the throttles were steady and full. I estimated the aircraft speed at
between 350 and 400 knots. The flight path appeared to be deliberate, smooth,
and controlled. As the aircraft approached the Pentagon, I saw a minor flash
(later found out that the aircraft had sheared off a portion of a highway light
pole down on Hwy 110). As the aircraft flew ever lower I started to lose sight
of the actual airframe as a row of trees to the Northeast of the FOB blocked my
view. I could now only see the tail of the aircraft. I believe I saw the tail dip
slightly to the right indicating a minor turn in that direction. The tail was barely
visible when I saw the flash and subsequent fireball rise approximately 200
feet above the Pentagon. There was a large explosion noise and the low

frequency sound echo that comes with this type of sound. Associated with that
was the increase in air pressure, momentarily, like a small gust of wind.
For those formerly in the military, it sounded like a 2000lb bomb going off
roughly 1/2 mile in front of you. At once there was a huge cloud of black
smoke that rose several hundred feet up. Elapsed time from hearing the
initial noise to when I saw the impact flash was between 12 and 15 seconds.
(...) the aircraft had been flown directly into the Pentagon without hitting the
ground first or skipping into the building. (...) The firemen were
appreciative, as the heat inside the building generated from the 8,500
gallons of jet fuel was, in their words, "unbelievable." It was reported that
at least three of the fireman had to be given IV fluids due to the extreme
heat.
http://www.coping.org/911/survivor/pentagon.htm
Mosley,
James
James Mosley, four stories up on a scaffold at the Navy Annex, "`... I looked
over and saw this big silver plane run into the side of the Pentagon"
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/admin_dept/ext_affairs/loeb/finalists/entry/septe
mber11-2.pdf
Munsey,
Christoph
er
A silver, twin-engine American Airlines jetliner gliding almost noiselessly over
the Navy Annex, fast, low and straight toward the Pentagon, just hundreds of
yards away. It was a nightmare coming to life. The plane, with red and blue
markings, hurtled by and within moments exploded in a ground-shaking
"whoomp" as it appeared to hit the side of the Pentagon. A huge flash of
orange flame and black smoke poured into the sky. Smoke seemedto change
from black to white, forming a billowing column in the sky.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-467181.php
Murphy,
Peter M.
Mr. Peter M. Murphy : No Marine Corps offices were closer to the impact
point than those of Mr. Peter M. Murphy, the Counsel for the Commandant of
the Marine Corps and the most senior civilian working for the Marine Corps.
Mr. Murphy and Major Joe D. Baker were having a discussion in Mr. Murphy's
office on the fourth floor of the Pentagon's outermost ring, the E-Ring,
overlooking the helo-pad. With CNN on a TV monitor across the room, they
stopped their discussion when the news of the World Trade Center attacks
came on. After watching awhile, Mr. Murphy asked Mr. Robert D. Hogue, his
Deputy Counsel, to check with their administrative clerk, Corporal Timothy J.
Garofola, on the current security status of the Pentagon. Garofola had just
received an e-mail from the security manager to all Department of Defense
employees that the threat condition remained "normal." He passed this
information to Hogue, who stepped back into the doorway of Mr. Murphy's
office to relay the message. At that instant, a tremendous explosion with what
Mr. Murphy said was a noise "louder than any noise he had ever heard"
shook the room. Mr. Murphy, who had been standing with his back to the
window, was knocked entirely across the room, while Hogue was jolted into
his office. Garofola's desk literally rose straight up several inches then
slammed down. The airplane had crashed almost directly below Mr.
Murphy's offices. The floor buckled at the expansion joint that ran between
the two offices and created a discernible step up between the two rooms. The
air was filled with dust particles, and the ceiling tiles fell, leaving the lights
dangling from their electrical connections; the building was crumbling.The

men did not know what had hit them, but they did know that it was time to get
out. There was no panic, just a shock-hazed determination to survive. Hogue
went to Garofola and told him to "get us out of here." The corporal attempted
to open the heavy magnetized door, but it had been jammed and did not budge.
Then, Mr. Murphy saw the "Marine" come out in Garofola. He yanked the door
as hard as he could and it came open.
http://www.mca-marines.org/Leatherneck/nov01pentagonarch.htm
Myers,
Richard
General Richard Myers, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that
before the crash into the Pentagon, military officials had been notified that
another hijacked plane had been heading from the New York area to
Washington.
Narayana
n, Vin
"The plane exploded after it hit, the tail came off and it began burning
immediately. Within five minutes, police and emergency vehicles began
arriving," said Vin Narayanan, a reporter at USA TODAY.com, who was
driving near the Pentagon when the plane hit.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/washscene.htm
Narayana
n, Vin
At 9:35 a.m., I pulled alongside the Pentagon. With traffic at a standstill, my
eyes wandered around the road, looking for the cause of the traffic jam. Then I
looked up to my left and saw an American Airlines jet flying right at me. The
jet roared over my head, clearing my car by about 25 feet. The tail of the plane
clipped the overhanging exit sign above me as it headed straight at the
Pentagon. The windows were dark on American Airlines Flight 77 as it
streaked toward its target, only 50 yards away. The hijacked jet slammed into
the Pentagon at a ferocious speed. But the Pentagon's wall held up like a
champ. It barely budged as the nose of the plane curled upwards and
crumpled before exploding into a massive fireball. The people who built that
wall should be proud. Its ability to withstand the initial impact of the jet
probably saved thousands of lives. I hopped out of my car after the jet
exploded, nearly oblivious to a second jet hovering in the skies. Hands shaking,
I borrowed a cell phone to call my mom and tell her I was safe. Then I called
into work, to let them know what happened. But not once was I able to take my
eyes off the inferno in front of me. I think I saw the bodies of passengers
burning. But I'm not sure. It could have been Pentagon workers. It could have
been my mind playing tricks on me. I hope it was my mind playing tricks on
me. The highway was filled with shocked commuters, walking around in a
daze.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/17/first-person.htm
O'Brien At the Dulles tower, O'Brien saw the TV pictures from New York and headed
back to her post to help other planes quickly land. "We started moving the
planes as quickly as we could," she says. "Then I noticed the aircraft. It was an
unidentified plane to the southwest of Dulles, moving at a very high rate of
speed ... I had literally a blip and nothing more." O'Brien asked the controller
sitting next to her, Tom Howell, if he saw it too. "I said, 'Oh my God, it looks
like he's headed to the White House,'" recalls Howell. "I was yelling ... 'We've
got a target headed right for the White House!'" At a speed of about 500 miles
an hour, the plane was headed straight for what is known as P-56, protected air

space 56, which covers the White House and the Capitol. "The speed, the
maneuverability, the way that he turned, we all thought in the radar room,
all of us experienced air traffic controllers, that that was a military plane,"
says O'Brien. "You don't fly a 757 in that manner. It's unsafe." The plane was
between 12 and 14 miles away, says O'Brien, "and it was just a countdown.
Ten miles west. Nine miles west ... Our supervisor picked up our line to the
White House and started relaying to them the information, [that] we have an
unidentified very fast-moving aircraft inbound toward your vicinity, 8 miles
west." Vice President Cheney was rushed to a special basement bunker. White
House staff members were told to run away from the building. "And it went
six, five, four. And I had it in my mouth to say, three, and all of a sudden the
plane turned away. In the room, it was almost a sense of relief. This must be a
fighter. This must be one of our guys sent in, scrambled to patrol our capital,
and to protect our president, and we sat back in our chairs and breathed for just
a second," says O'Brien. But the plane continued to turn right until it had
made a 360-degree maneuver. "We lost radar contact with that aircraft. And
we waited. And we waited. And your heart is just beating out of your chest
waiting to hear what's happened," says O'Brien. "And then the Washington
National [Airport] controllers came over our speakers in our room and said,
'Dulles, hold all of our inbound traffic. The Pentagon's been hit.'"
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020_011024_atc_feature.ht
ml
O'Keefe,
John
Northern Virginia resident John O'Keefe was one of the commuters who
witnessed the attack on the Pentagon. 'I was going up 395, up Washington
Blvd., listening to the the news, to WTOP, and from my left side-I don't know
whether I saw or heard it first- I saw a silver plane I immediately recognized it
as an American Airlines jet,' said the 25-year-old O'Keefe, managing editor of
Influence, an American Lawyer Media publication about lobbying. 'It came
swooping in over the highway, over my left shoulder, straight across where my
car was heading. I'd just heard them saying on the radio that National Airport
was closing, and I thought, That's not going to make it to National Airport."
And then I realized where I was, and that it was going to hit the Pentagon.
There was a burst of orange flame that shot out that I could see through the
highway overpass. Then it was just black. Just black, thick smoke.'"
http://www.lexisone.com/news/nlibrary/b091201a.html
O'Keefe,
John
"I don't know whether I saw or heard it first -- this silver plane; I immediately
recognized it as an American Airlines jet," said the 25-year-old O'Keefe,
managing editor of Influence, an American Lawyer Media publication about
lobbying. "It came swooping in over the highway, over my left shoulder,
straight across where my car was heading. "The eeriest thing about it, was that
it was like you were watching a movie. There was no huge explosion, no huge
rumbling on ground, it just went 'pfff'. It wasn't what I would have
expected for a plane that was not much more than a football field away
from me. "The first thing I did was pull over onto the shoulder, and when I got
out of the car I saw another plane flying over my head, and it scared ...me,
because I knew there had been two planes that hit the World Trade
Center. And I started jogging up the ramp to get as far away as possible.
"Then the plane -- it looked like a C-130 cargo plane -- started turning

away from the Pentagon, it did a complete turnaround.
http://www.nylawyer.com/news/01/09/091201l.html
O'Keefe,
John
"There was a burst of orange flame that shot out that I could see through the
highway overpass. Then it was just black. Just black thick smoke. "The eeriest
thing about it, was that it was like you were watching a movie. There was no
huge explosion, no huge rumbling on ground, it just went 'pfff'. It wasn't what I
would have expected for a plane that was not much more than a football field
away from me.
http://www.nylawyer.com/news/01/09/091201l.html
Owens,
Mary
Ann
Mary Ann Owens, a journalist with Gannett News Service - was driving along
by the side of the Pentagon. Here, she recalls the events of that horrific day and
her feelings about the tragedy 12 months on. The sound of sudden and certain
death roared in my ears as I sat lodged in gridlock on Washington Boulevard,
next to the Pentagon on September 11. Up to that moment I had only
experienced shock by the news coming from New York City and frustration
with the worse-than-normal traffic snarl ... but it wasn't until I heard the demon
screaming of that engine that I expected to die. Between the Pentagon's
helicopter pad, which sits next to the road, and Reagan Washington National
Airport a couple of miles south, aviation noise is common along my commute
to the silver office towers in Rosslyn where Gannett Co Inc. were housed last
autumn. But this engine noise was different. It was too sudden, too loud, too
encompassing. Looking up didn't tell me what type of plane it was because it
was so close I could only see the bottom. Realising the Pentagon was its target,
I didn't think the careering, full-throttled craft would get that far. Its downward
angle was too sharp, its elevation of maybe 50 feet, too low. Street lights
toppled as the plane barely cleared the Interstate 395 overpass. Gripping the
steering wheel of my vibrating car, I involuntarily ducked as the wobbling
plane thundered over my head. Once it passed, I raised slightly and grimaced as
the left wing dipped and scraped the helicopter area just before the nose
crashed into the southwest wall of the Pentagon. Still gripping the wheel, I
could feel both the car and my heart jolt at the moment of impact. An
instant inferno blazed about 125 yards from me. The plane, the wall and the
victims disappeared under coal-black smoke, three-storey tall flames and
intense heat. As the thudding stopped, screams of horror and hysteria rose from
the line of cars (...) The full impact of actually being alive overwhelmed me. A
mere 125 yards had made me a witness instead of a casualty. Survival wasn't a
miracle, it was luck ... pure luck.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/display.var.624436.Top+Stories.0.ht
ml
Owens,
Mary
Ann
Gannett News Service employee Mary Ann Owens was stopped in traffic on
the road that runs past the Pentagon, listening on the radio to the news of the
World Trade Center attacks, when she heard a loud roar overhead and looked
up as the plane barely cleared the highway. "Instantly I knew what was
happening, and I involuntarily ducked as the plane passed perhaps 50 to 75 feet
above the roof of my car at great speed," Owens said. "The plane slammed into
the west wall of the Pentagon. The impact was deafening. The fuselage hit
the ground and blew up."

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2001/09/12terrorspreadsto.h
tml
Patterson
, Steve
Steve Patterson, who lives in Pentagon City, said it appeared to him that a
commuter jet swooped over Arlington National Cemetery and headed for the
Pentagon "at a frightening rate ... just slicing into that building." Steve
Patterson, 43, said he was watching television reports of the World Trade
Center being hit when he saw a silver commuter jet fly past the window of his
14th-floor apartment in Pentagon City. The plane was about 150 yards away,
approaching from the west about 20 feet off the ground, Patterson said. He
said the plane, which sounded like the high-pitched squeal of a fighter jet, flew
over Arlington cemetary so low that he thought it was going to land on I-395.
He said it was flying so fast that he couldn't read any writing on the side.
The plane, which appeared to hold about eight to 12 people, headed straight
for the Pentagon but was flying as if coming in for a landing on a nonexistent
runway, Patterson said. "At first I thought 'Oh my God, there's a plane truly
misrouted from National,'" Patterson said. "Then this thing just became part of
the Pentagon ... I was watching the World Trade Center go and then this. It was
like Oh my God, what's next?" He said the plane, which approached the
Pentagon below treetop level, seemed to be flying normally for a plane coming
in for a landing other than going very fast for being so low. Then, he said, he
saw the Pentagon "envelope" the plane and bright orange flames shoot out
the back of the building. "It looked like a normal landing, as if someone knew
exactly what they were doing," said Patterson, a graphics artist who works at
home. "This looked intentional.".
Barbara Vobejda - Washington Post Staff Writer - Sept. 11, 4:59 PM
Perkal,
Don
The airliner crashed between two and three hundred feet from my office in the
Pentagon, just around a corner from where I work. I'm the deputy General
Counsel, Washington Headquarters Services, Office of the Secretary of
Defense. (...) My colleagues felt the impact, which reminded them of an
earthquake. People shouted in the corridor outside that a bomb had gone off
upstairs on the main concourse in the building. No alarms sounded. I walked to
my office, shut down my computer, and headed out. Even before stepping
outside I could smell the cordite. Then I knew explosives had been set off
somewhere. I looked to my right and saw a raging fire and smoke careening
off the facade to the sky. (...) Two explosions, a few minutes apart, prompted
me to start walking.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2001/09/19perkal.html
Peterson,
Christine
October 18, 2001 - Christine Peterson, '73 found herself in the thick of last
month's terrorist tragedy, and submitted this report. It offers a personal
perspective on the events in Washington, D.C., which have perhaps been
overshadowed in the media by the scope of the horrors in New York. It was
9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11th, and traffic was terrible. For all of my
twenty-eight years living in the Washington, D.C. area, terrible traffic was a
constant. I'd been in Boston the day before and gotten home late. That morning
I repacked my suitcase because I was heading out to San Francisco on the 3:20
p.m. flight. I just needed a few hours in the office first, and now I was officially
late for work. I was at a complete stop on the road in front of the helipad at the

Pentagon; what I had thought would be a shortcut was as slow as the other
routes I had taken that morning. I looked idly out my window to the left -- and
saw a plane flying so low I said, "holy cow, that plane is going to hit my car"
(not my actual words). The car shook as the plane flew over. It was so close
that I could read the numbers under the wing. And then the plane crashed. My
mind could not comprehend what had happened. Where did the plane go? For
some reason I expected it to bounce off the Pentagon wall in pieces. But
there was no plane visible, only huge billows of smoke and torrents of fire.
(...) A few minutes later a second, much smaller explosion got the attention of
the police arriving on the scene.
http://www.naualumni.com/News/News.cfm?ID=613&c=4
Pfeilstuc
ker,
Daniel C.
Jr
Daniel C. Pfeilstucker Jr., caught in the flying debris, didn't know if he was
going to make it out alive. The Pentagon was on fire. "It was horrifying," Mr.
Pfeilstucker says (...) Danny Pfeilstucker is a commissioning agent for John J.
Kirlin Inc., a Maryland-based mechanical contracting company that worked on
the Pentagon renovation project that was nearing completion September 11.
(...) Kirlin Inc., among many companies involved in renovating the Pentagon
since the early 1990s, was in charge of updating plumbing and heating units.
Around 9:30 a.m., Mr. Pfeilstucker and a co-worker got orders to check a hot-
water leak in a third-floor office on the western side. After doing so, he stepped
off an elevator on the second floor in Corridor 4, ladder in hand. Suddenly the
walls and the ceiling began to collapse around him. The lights went out. "It
went from light to dark to orange to complete black," Mr. Pfeilstucker says. "It
was so dark I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face."Within seconds,
his left leg buckled. Unable to grab on to anything, he was thrust 70 feet down
the corridor and into a tiny telephone closet halfway down the hallway
connecting E Ring and A Ring. All I know is that the blast must have pushed
open the steel door to the closet," says Mr. Pfeilstucker, who had been 40 feet
away from the plane's point of impact.He remembers shutting the door and
trying to stand up, not understanding what had just happened. "I thought it was
some sort of a construction blast," Mr. Pfeilstucker says. "Or maybe there was
a helicopter accident." His hard hat and work goggles were blown away. His
ladder also had disappeared. (...) The fire sprinklers came on as the temperature
shot up.Then he smelled jet fuel and smoke. The putrid odor was seeping
into the closet."It was this odor that I can't describe, but one that I'll never
forget, that's for sure," Mr. Pfeilstucker says. "It was so hard to breathe. I
didn't think I was going to make it out."
http://www.washtimes.com/september11/heaven.htm
Plaisted Plaisted, an artist, was sitting at her desk at home less than one mile from the
Pentagon ... I jumped up from my chair as the screeching and whining of the
engine got even louder and I looked out the window to the West just in time to
see the belly of that aircraft and the tail section fly directly over my house at
treetop height. It was utterly sickening to see, knowing that this plane was
going to crash. The sound was so incredibly piercing and shrill- the engines
were straining to keep the plane aloft. It is a sound I will never stop hearing-
and I now imagine the screams of the innocent passengers were commingled
with the sounds of the engines and I am haunted. I was unaware at this time
that the World Trade center had been attacked so I thought this was just" a

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