Originally Posted by Matt_in_VA

I was on a United 767 bound for Denver at Dulles Airport that morning. We never got off of the ground due to a problem with the rudder. I was able to upgrade to first class (using miles), so I was in seat 3D. The technician made several trips passed me on his way to the cockpit. The person sitting across the aisle from me called his office to have them call the people that he was meeting in Denver to tell them that our flight was delayed. A few minutes later his phone rang and he said: "Is tjhat so!" Then after he hung up he said out loud (too no one in particular) "Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center".

The person sitting in front of me, who looked Middle Eastern (dark complexion and short dark hair got very agitated, jumped up and went into his bag in the overhead and pulled out a small book. Which I later discovered is published by the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (at Dulles Airport KIAD). It is a master list of every airline flight in the U.S.. Minutes later the Captain came on the PA and instructed us to de-plane. The person sitting to my right asked me if I was a member of the Red Carpet Club, which I was not. Bob said to me why don't you come with me as my guest.

As we entered the club Bob walked up to the woman behind the reception desk and asked "Do we know what is going on? (meaning with our flight). She just burst into tears and ran off. Her co-worker stepped over and said: " We just found out that one of the planes was ours". She said that the TV was around the corner. CNN was showing the second plane hitting the WTC.. After several minutes they evacuated the airport. And I went home.

For years I wondered about the guy in front of me and why he got so agitated. Then at Spring Fling in 2009 in Cape May, NJ I was talking with Les (screen name MD Rocket) along with a few others and somehow the subject of 9-11 came up. I mentioned that I was on United flight 1235 that never got off of the ground due to a problem with the rudder. Les yelled to his Wife Vera "Matt was on Sherry's airplane!" She came running over to me and gave me a big HUG. Her bast friend was the purser on that flight. When the FBI went over the passenger manifest they identified four people on my plane. Her friend resigned from United after learning that we were on the fifth plane.

I have raad the 9-11 report and there is no mention of a fifth plane. However, two years ago a woman that I know at the American Legion Post that I frequent mentioned 9-11. Her husband is a U.S. Marshal that works at the jail in Alexandria, VA where Musari (spelling ?) was held. He confirmed that there was a fifth plane. I have also been told that Fox did a documentary that mentioned my flight.

Originally Posted by zeroptzero

I've heard the reports about other terrorists being on other planes that did not fly that morning, so if they existed then they apparently disappeared and went into hiding when they disembarked the plane(s). They could not have caught a flight back to their homeland as everything was closed down for a long time. You think more would have been made of this if their names and identities were known, but there was no mention of them on terror watch lists etc. It seems like one of our members here could have been on such a flight, lucky for Matt in VA to have gotten off the plane that morning, but there could have been other planes involved.

I suspect the shear amount of confusion that day allowed any grounded terrorist to escape into the crowds of people, and the communication failures between all of the Federal departments didn't help either. They may have hid out long enough to eventually get out of the country, and perhaps with the help of others helping within the country ?

CNN.com - Box cutters found on other September 11 flights - September 24, 2001

Originally Posted by zeroptzero

I don't know what would be worse for a passenger, crashing into a building or being shot down by a missile. I suspect death would be equally quick with either scenario ? I dunno.