Were more planes ready to be taken over?

September 18, 2001 8:32 PM

Were more planes ready to be taken over? This doesn't appear to have been posted yet, so here it is. "The [Chicago] Tribune reported that one source said the FBI was "very interested" in passengers whose names appeared on the manifests of several other flights that were already in the air when the first attacks occurred. None of the passengers in which investigators have expressed interest reappeared when flights resumed late last week, the Tribune reported."
posted by krisjohn (6 comments total)

I assume the guys they are looking for had arabic names. If you were middle eastern, would you want to be getting on a plane right now?
posted by phatboy at 8:58 PM on September 18, 2001

Here is another article with much more detail. Apparently more attacks were (are?) planned for this saturday, and United has cancelled all flights.
posted by phatboy at 10:23 PM on September 18, 2001

Sorry for the double post. I hit post before I was finished. : (

Here is another article with much more detail. Apparently more attacks were (are?) planned for this saturday, and United has cancelled all flights for the 22nd.

UAL.com does not list all flights cancelled for the 22nd however.
posted by phatboy at 10:26 PM on September 18, 2001

It makes sense to me that there were more than 4 planes targeted. If the hijackers were even 50% successful, that would have been a surprisingly high percentage. I figure 10 planes were targeted: 3 hit targets, 1 was hijacked but crashed, 2 teams got through security but the planes didn't leave for various reasons (mechanical, etc), another 2 teams probably didn't even get through security or bailed at the last second, 1 team might not have made the connection or even made it to the airport, and at least 1 was probably in the air but the attempt was aborted for one reason or another.
I just find it very hard to believe that only 4 planes were targeted and all 4 successfully hijacked.
posted by Bones423 at 6:22 AM on September 19, 2001

I really hate my damned intuition.

This thing is not over...
posted by fooljay at 1:19 PM on September 19, 2001

Um, hardly anyone "reappeared when flights resumed late last week." Nobody's flying. That's why the airlines are asking to be bailed out.
posted by sarap at 2:42 PM on September 19, 2001