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Pittsburgh & the Attack on America

Updated: 9/13/01

Recent Developments:

• A new debris site has been found this morning (Thursday) about 6 miles north of the crater where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Considering that the majority of the debris at the primary crash site is confined to a 100 yard radius, it was a surprise to investigators when they found the second area. Debris from that secondary scene is small, but has been confirmed to come from the same airplane. Basically, this means that something fell off of the airplane before it crashed. Researchers are being careful not to speculate on what this secondary debris area may mean, but one of the possibilities includes a small explosion. At least two passengers on the plane are said to have mentioned a bomb when contacting relatives from the plane via cell phone, and there are also reports of a transmission from the cockpit which mentioned a bomb. Other possibilities include something falling off the airplane during a violent maneuver (such as an engine) or the chance that a passenger may have opened an emergency door in an attempt to thwart the hijackers from reaching their destination (the rapid decompression would have made it nearly impossible for the plane to fly for long).
  Further Details: CNN
   
• Investigators at the PA crash scene are still searching for the black box and are frustrated that they have not yet been able to find it. Considering that the other three hijacked flights crashed into buildings, the greatest hopes of finding a black box intact have been pinned on this particular crash scene.
  Further Details: CBS News
   
• Federal agents searched the Lawrence County apartment of Basem Moustafa Hussein on Tuesday and Wednesday and questioned his former neighbors, apparently a part of the nationwide investigation into Tuesday's terrorist attacks. Mr. Hussein, a former radiology fellow at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, recently moved to suburban New Castle.
  Further Details: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
   
• The Pittsburgh International Airport has officially reopened according to the FAA (thank goodness, since I was one of the thousands stranded across the country when air service was shut down), but there have been some major changes. The new security precautions are unprecedented in the nine years the new airport terminal has been open, and in many cases go against the original design of the facility. Major changes are as follows:
   
  • In order to meet the higher security mandates of the FAA, only passengers and employees will be allowed in the boarding terminal. The only exception is that one adult may accompany a child traveling alone to the gate area. This new restriction is for the safety of all passengers, but it is bound to have a great impact on the popular Pittsburgh AirMall. Many area residents actually visit the airport for the sole purpose of shopping or dining, and this will no longer be possible.
     
  • Another extraordinary change involves procedures for dropping off and picking up passengers. The new FAA restrictions no longer allow vehicles within 300 feet of the building, which has necessitated a closure of part of the short-term parking garage as well as preventing normal drop-offs and pickups. People arriving at the airport to drop off or pick up passengers will now have to drive to the side doors of the moving walkways in the long-term parking lot. Traffic patterns in the long-term lot have been adjusted to minimize the impacts of this change, and the Airport Authority will provide a half-hour of free parking. Buses and airport courtesy vans will now drop off passengers at the far end of the parking garage's lower level, requiring passengers to walk through the garage to get to the terminal. Additional porters will be available to help people get their luggage to the terminal. Taxis service will now be available near the Hyatt Regency Hotel, along the moving walkways in the airport parking lot. Curbside check-in will no longer be available and all passengers will have to check in for their flights at the ticket counters in the main terminal. No one will be allowed past security without a valid boarding pass.

  Further Details: Allegheny County Airport Authority

   

Dateline: Tuesday, September 11, 2001

As people across southwestern Pennsylvania were learning about the horrifying attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, people aboard United Airlines Flight 93 were experiencing their final terrifying moments in the skies over Pittsburgh.  The Boeing 757 took off from Newark Airport at 8:01am with 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants bound for San Francisco. It apparently got as far as Cleveland, OH and then, for some unconfirmed reason, turned back toward the East Coast before slamming into a grassy field in a rural area of Somerset County, 83 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The plane gouged a huge crater in the earth and disintegrated into a pile of charcoal and rubble. There were no survivors.

Rumors are rampant concerning the intended destination of hijacked flight 93, but analysts seem to think it was headed for a target in the Washington D.C. area - possibly Camp David, the White House or the U.S. Capitol building. At least two passengers on the flight were able to get through on cell phones, and reported that the plane had been hijacked. One young man told his mother that several of the passengers planned to try and overpower the terrorists. Minutes later the plane crashed outside of Shanksville, PA.

The immediate reaction of people in the area was that Pittsburgh was possibly the intended target. Many office buildings in downtown Pittsburgh were evacuated, as was the Pittsburgh International Airport. Other area businesses either closed or allowed their employees to leave. By 1pm, Pittsburgh was a ghost town. At 1:25pm the Coast Guard closed Pittsburgh's rivers to all water traffic. The subway system was shut down at 3pm, all four Allegheny regional malls shut down around mid-day, and events across the area were cancelled.

The terror and sadness of today will be felt across this nation for years to come. Our nation suffered a great loss and the crash near Pittsburgh brought the great tragedy a little closer to home. Pittsburgh Mayor, Michael Murphy, says it best. "It will change the way we live in Pittsburgh. All we can do is pray."

http://pittsburgh.about.com/library/weekly/aa091101a.htm

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