Primary Target Radar Suggests Flight 77 Targeted Pentagon, Not White House FBI Takes Over At Site, Making Way For Intensified Investigation 189 Dead Or Missing From Pentagon Attack THE PENTAGON, Sept. 21, 2001 AP Workers shore up part of the Pentagon (CBS) New radar evidence obtained by CBS News strongly suggests that the hijacked jetliner which crashed into the Pentagon hit its intended target. Top government officials have suggested that American Airlines Flight 77 was originally headed for the White House and possibly circled the Capitol building. CBS News Transportation Correspondent Bob Orr reports that's not what the recorded flight path shows. Eight minutes before the crash, at 9:30 a.m. EDT, radar tracked the plane as it closed to within 30 miles of Washington. Sources say the hijacked jet continued east at a high speed toward the city, but flew several miles south of the restricted airspace around the White House. At 9:33 the plane crossed the Capitol Beltway and took aim on its military target. But the jet, flying at more than 400 mph, was too fast and too high when it neared the Pentagon at 9:35. The hijacker-pilots were then forced to execute a difficult high-speed descending turn. Radar shows Flight 77 did a downward spiral, turning almost a complete circle and dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes. The steep turn was so smooth, the sources say, it's clear there was no fight for control going on. And the complex maneuver suggests the hijackers had better flying skills than many investigators first believed. The jetliner disappeared from radar at 9:37 and less than a minute later it clipped the tops of street lights and plowed into the Pentagon at 460 mph. Some eyewitnesses believe the plane actually hit the ground at the base of the Pentagon first, and then skidded into the building. Investigators say that's a possibility, which if true, crash experts say may well have saved some lives. At the White House Friday, spokesman Ari Fleischer saw it a different way. "That is not the radar data that we have seen," Fleischer said, adding, "The plane was headed toward the White House." Ten days after the hijacked airliner slammed into the Pentagon, leaving 189 people dead or missing including those on the plane, and gouging a giant smoky slice out of the world's biggest office building, some 300 people were looking for clues. Officials said no survivors had been taken out of the building since the day of the crash and 104 people have been identified. Rescue crews have turned over the operational control of the crash site to the FBI. The transfer clears the way for the criminal investigation to intensify. Additional human remains are expected to be recovered during the criminal investigation at the site, which could last for a month. The fire chief in Arlington County, Va., says all areas of the Pentagon (with the exception of the fourth- and fifth-floor corridors of the three outer rings) have been released to the Department of Defense. The last civilian urban search-and-rescue team was leaving the site Friday. Military engineers from the Army's Fort Belvoir completed their work Friday morning. � MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report.
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Pentagon hit by aircraft, section of building gives way

September 11, 2001 Posted: 3:38 PM EDT (1938 GMT)

The explosion from the plane crash forced the evacuation of the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon was a scene of devastation Tuesday after a Boeing 757 crashed into the huge military office building, setting it ablaze and forcing thousands of employees to evacuate.

Witnesses said the jetliner hit the nation's military nerve center, and casualties were expected to be high in what appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Pentagon officials refused to say where military officials were, but reported that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was uninjured.

"A plane hit the building," David Cook, director of Administration and Management at the Pentagon, the world's biggest office building.

President Bush, outside Washington at the time of the attack, said the nation's military had been placed on "high-alert status."

Fighter jets scrambled to intercept what was reported to be second aircraft headed toward the area, but that second plane never appeared.

The plane reportedly hit the Pentagon at about 9:45 a.m. EDT.

A huge plume of smoke was seen rising from the Pentagon grounds, and part of the building collapsed. Federal workers, some weeping, poured out of buildings. Traffic was congested in city streets as the workers headed home.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre reported that numerous emergency personnel were on the scene, dousing the burning building in water and assisting people with medical attention.

McIntyre also said that the area struck by the plane was recently being renovated, which may have helped reduce the number of causalities.

Army section of Pentagon struck

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The more than 20,000 civilians and military men and women who work in the Pentagon streamed into the surrounding car parks, driven by blue and white strobe alarm lights and wailing signs.

All federal office buildings were ordered closed, and helicopters patrolled the air space over the nation's capital. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was reported uninjured.

"The leadership of the Defense Department is OK. The secretary is OK," said Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood.

After the crash, Rumsfeld ran from his office and assisted some victims onto stretchers.

Pentagon officials said that the national military command center deep inside the Pentagon remained intact, but refused to say where Rumsfeld and other military leaders were.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former supreme NATO commander, said the aircraft appeared to hit the southwestern side, or the Army side of the building, the area responsible for planning and logistics.

"We've known for some time that some group has been planning this," he said, adding that "obviously, we didn't do enough" to prepare for such an attack.

'Billowing black smoke'

Bush calls for a moment of silence following the reports of attacks in New York City and Washington.

Eyewitnesses reported either a commercial jet or a helicopter had smashed into the side of the building, which is near the Potomac River running through Washington and close to Washington National Airport.

"I saw the tail of a large airliner. ... It plowed right into the Pentagon," said an Associated Press Radio reporter. "There is billowing black smoke."

One witness told CNN she saw a commercial jet flying "too fast, too low" and then she saw an explosion at the building.

Earlier, another witness said he saw what appeared to be a military helicopter hovering above the building before going down behind the building. He then saw the top of a fireball from the other side of the building.

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.

Sirens wailed as the whole building was evacuated.

Hospitals begin treating casualties

As the casualty figures began coming in Tuesday afternoon, the city's hospitals reported more than 50 injured, including:

-- Twenty-six victims at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. A spokeswoman said "more are expected." Some of the injuries were severe, she said.

-- Seven severely burned victims at the Washington Hospital Center. Six were brought from the Pentagon area by helicopter; one was brought by ambulance. A source said doctors were struggling to save two of the victims who were seriously injured. The hospital has established a triage center outside the building, to assist any firefighters who may have been exposed to toxic chemicals.

-- Two victims -- a mother and her baby -- at George Washington University Hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening, a doctor said.

-- Ten victims at Alexandria Hospital in Virginia with a variety of head injuries and upper body burns.

-- Three victims being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. No details were available on their conditions.

-- One male victim in serious condition at Georgetown University Hospital in D.C.

-- From CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, The Associated Press and Reuters.

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