Phone calls off all planes according to the FBI

[KJF]

You can download a presentation about it here:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/flights/P200055.html

I'm going through it at the moment. Two things stand out:
(1) The FBI admits some of the calls were from cell phones, for example the one by Edward Felt.
(2) There are recordings of some of them, for example from Betty Ong and CeeeCee Lyles.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Flight 93 is interesting

All of the passengers in first class were able to make phone calls but none from their original seats. All of them except for Felt, who ended up in the bathroom, used the airplanes phones from seats in the back of the plane. That would mean that the hijackers already had control of the plane and had already herded the passengers out of first class.

Second, no one from the 13th Row back made any phone calls.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Well so much for accuracy

They show Barbara Olsen on Flight 77 making 1 phone call to the DOJ for 0 seconds.

[Andre II]

3. Complete crap!

Olson also has the seat assignment 3E although she said in her calls (!) she had been herded to the back.

Burnett has only three calls though his wife recalls four and the discussion of the calls has been published.

And many many more things that makes NO sense!

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Nice interface though

and it's a good resource for who was on which plane and their seat assignments.

However, with the phone call info so screwed up, it is just more misinformation from the government to contribute to the confusion.

[Generarth]

5. Flight 93 seating

[Andre II]

13. Yeah

anybody around here who challenges that Burnett did a fourth phone call at 9:54 as reported everywhere?
So, how do you explain the evidence only gives three calls?

[Jazz2006]

8. I'm not sure that's evidence of inaccuracy.

In fact, if they were making it up, wouldn't they be sure to include the calls that Ms. Olson's husband talked about?

It seems to me that by only including calls that they deem properly verifiable, they look more honest, not less.

Also, couldn't the calls from Ms. Olson to her spouse be included in the 5 "unknown" calls shown on that same flight?

[KJF]

10. That puzzled me too

I think what they're saying is that this is a call that didn't get connected and then she made two/four more calls. The 9/11 CR says:

"The records available for the phone calls from American 77 do not allow for a determination of which of four "connected calls to unknown numbers" represent the two between Barbara and Ted Olson, although the FBI and DOJ believe that all four represent communications between Barbara Olson and her husband's office (all family members of the Flight 77 passengers and crew were canvassed to see if they had received any phone calls from the hijacked flight, and only Renee May's parents and Ted Olson indicated that they had received such calls). The four calls were at 9:15:34 for 1 minute, 42 seconds; 9:20:15 for 4 minutes, 34 seconds; 9:25:48 for 2 minutes, 34
seconds; and 9:30:56 for 4 minutes, 20 seconds. FBI report, "American Airlines Airphone Usage," Sept. 20, 2001; FBI report of investigation, interview of Theodore Olson, Sept. 11, 2001; FBI report of investigation, interview of Helen Voss, Sept. 14, 2001; AAL response to the Commission's supplemental document request, Jan. 20, 2004." (p. 455)

[savemefromdumbya]

6. probably calling form someone's living room not Flight 93

[wildbilln864]

7. Hey guys, I was wondering...

does anyone remember awhile back a news story about how you can get online and pay and get anyone's cell phone records for a certain month? I think you had to know their number though.
Someone should have gotten the records for those victims for comparison.

[Jazz2006]

9. Thanks, Kevin.

It's an interesting presentation that will, no doubt, engender much more discussion.

Thanks for posting the link.

[KJF]

11. Atta and Jarrah speaking

If you go to the American 11 section and click on Atta's name, then you can play two recordings of him speaking on the plane, including the famous "We have some planes" snippet. Four minutes of Betty Ong's call are also available.

If you go to the United 93 section and click on one of the hijacker's names, you can also hear 4 short recordings from the cockpit.

[Andre II]

12. How do they know

that this was Jarrah and Atta?
The Commission is much more cautious.
For the calls from AA 11 they say "one of the hijackers" (p.6) and for UA 93 "probably Jarrah" (P. 12)

[KJF]

14. I think they're just guessing

There was some talk of getting an acquaintance of Jarrah (flight student at FFTC) to identify his voice in court, but AFAIK it never happened at the Moussaoui trial.