[GeoSTL] Re: 911 and GPS's
- From: "Jim Bensman" <jbensman1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 15:05:49 -0500
If they were using a GPS and flying straight toward the towers instead of a
normal flight path, after the first plane struck, why did not they figure
out the second plane was heading straight for the towers and evacuate the
towers?
-----Original Message-----
From: geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of GC-RGS
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 12:39 PM
To: GC-maillist
Subject: [GeoSTL] 911 and GPS's
Did everyone see this in todays Post dispatch?
Atta visited NY days before attack to set coordinates, officials believe
New York Daily News
NEW YORK - The leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers visited the World Trade
Center days before the attack to obtain coordinates for a navigation device,
law enforcement officials now believe.
Mohamed Atta, who led the 19 hijackers that morning, was in New York on
Sept. 10 and perhaps Sept. 9, according to a law enforcement source familiar
with the investigation.
The FBI found transactions that show Atta used a credit card in Manhattan
the day before the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Until
recently, law enforcement officials could not figure out why he was there.
New evidence has emerged that leads investigators to believe that Atta
made a last-minute visit to double-check coordinates of the twin towers and
plug them into a sophisticated Global Positioning System device bought by
the hijackers, the source said.
Investigators suspect Atta's trip to the trade center was necessary
because, they believe, the hijackers were too inexperienced to handle the
jumbo jets without help. They know the hijackers bought GPS devices in the
months leading up to the attack.
The FBI's New York office declined to comment on what the bureau knows
about Atta's final hours.
The unusual flight paths of American Airlines Flight 11 and United
Airlines Flight 175 - which traveled from Boston and into the twin towers -
indicates the hijackers used the devices to guide them as they flew across
the country toward what was about to become known as ground zero, the source
said.
Federal prosecutors say that on Aug. 25 - 17 days before the attack - one
of Atta's co-conspirators, hijacker Ziad Jarrah, bought GPS components.
Atta himself bought flight deck videos for jumbo jets and several unnamed
items from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Ohio in November 2000. Sporty's owners
said FBI agents investigating the attacks asked about a Garmin GPS III
Pilot, a hand-held device that simplifies aeronautical navigation.
And Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged "20th hijacker" now indicted on
terrorism charges in the Sept. 11 plot, also tried to buy a GPS receiver,
prosecutors have said.
With the coordinates of the twin towers entered as the desired
destination, the devices would tell the hijackers when they were off course
as they flew thousands of feet above the ground.
Experts noted that the hijackers could have obtained coordinates of the
towers from available maps, but visiting the site with the device would
ensure that the specific data were pinpoint accurate.
It's not clear how long Atta was in Manhattan before the attack. The
source would not discuss the credit card transactions in the city except to
say they took place in Manhattan.
Published in A-section on Wednesday, May 22, 2002.
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