200 passengers got lost on Cleveland Airport

[Woody Box]

http://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=323

Inmidst the chaos breaking out in the hours after the WTC and Pentagon attacks, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m an airplane made an emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins Airport . Rumours were going around that it was hijacked or had a bomb on board. The FBI evacuated the plane and searched it with bomb-sniffing dogs after the passengers had left. It turned out to be false alarm. The plane - Delta flight1989 - was not hijacked, and there was no bomb.

However, a closer examination reveals a bunch of conflicting statements concerning Delta 1989. Neither the moment of landing, nor the number of the passengers, nor the location of the grounded plane is clear. For every aspect of the incident there are two different versions. Not one or three or four versions, but two.

This article will prove that not one, but two planes made an emergency landing in Cleveland - in close succession. The proof is based on local newspaper and radio reports from September 11th and 12th (mainly from the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer), statements of eyewitnesses and internet postings in the morning of 9/11 (people were listening to the radio and immediately submitted the breaking news to the net). One of the flights was indeed Delta 1989. We don't know the identity of the other one, so we call it "Flight X"...

.....

[NMDemDist2]

1. i dont get it

:wtf:

[I thought so.]

2. It has to be,

alien obduction. This is one for Art Bell.

[Woody Box]

3. This is not the right place for joking

There have been two emergency landings in Cleveland on 9/11.

One of the planes was Delta flight 1989 with 69 passengers.

We don't know what happened to the 200 passengers of the other plane. We don't even know which plane it was.

[MercutioATC]

4. Well, since we were landing everything in the sky, it could have been

anybody.

At the time, we were engaged in clearing the national airspace. I'm sure that quite a few planes made unscheduled stops in Cleveland (and everywhere else) that day.

Hell, we even landed some in Canadian airspace.

There's really no mystery here. There were lots of planes landing. Some did not get access to jetways and had to unload with outside stairs. The media simply confused two or more flights (as far as unloading times go).

Nasa IS on the airport, so being taken to a NASA facility and being taken to a secure facility at the airport could very well be the same thing. As far as "FAA Headquarters", who knows what's meant. The nearest official "Headquarters" would be the regional office in Chicago, and I'm pretty sure that's not what we're talking about. There are, however, plenty of spaces at the airport that the FAA could have used to interview passengers.

[Woody Box]

5. Thanks for the answer (nt)

[dinyc]

6. Have you seen this? Interesting maybe for a # of reasons

http://256.com/gray/thoughts/2001/20010912/travel_story.html
Traveling on Delta Flight 1989 on 9/11
My thoughts about the day can be found at 9/11/2001 Thoughts. A detailed timeline of the events of the day at 9/11/2001 Timeline. I've also collected some pictures of 9/11.


Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 12:19:40 EDT
Subject: A close brush with death and happy to be alive

Dear Friends,

Many of you knew that and I and many employees were on an 8 am flight from Boston to LA on Tuesday morning. I am happy to be alive and to be able to tell you of the events of our harrowing journey. Even though it has been only 48 hours since we departed Logan, it feels as though a lifetime has passed.

and I and six other fellow <...> employees were on the 8 am flight from Boston to Los Angeles on Tuesday, but we were on the Delta flight <1989>, the one out of three 8am flights departing Logan that did not get hijacked. Instead, we were forced to make an emergency landing in Cleveland because there were reports that a bomb or hijacking was taking place on our plane. The pilot had radioed that there was suspicious activity in the cabin since one of the passengers was speaking urgently on his cellphone and ignored repeated flight attendant requests to stop using his cell phone while in flight. Also, there was an irregularity in the passenger manifest because there were two people who were listed but only one aboard.

After our emergency landing, our plane was directed to go to an isolated area of the airport, and we waited for over two hours in quarantine before FBI agents and bomb sniffing dogs came out to the plane. Just after we landed, the pilot gave us permission to make one very brief telephone call before we were banned from any further telephone use. The sixty or so passengers were thus able to gather some alarming details of the unbelievable fates of the other two LA-bound planes and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, the suicide bombing of the Pentagon as well as reports of other plane crashes in PA and LA (LA proved unfounded) before we were cut off from any further communication. Unfortunately, all this information only added to the alarm and confusion we felt as we waited for over two hours far away from the gates of the airport.

Finally, a caravan of cars bearing FBI and Treasury agents and bomb sniffing dogs approached our airplane. About twenty or so armed FBI agents and police officers boarded the plane and said there were concerns about our flight and that they were taking precautions to rule out any further danger. We finally were allowed off the plane, told to take all of our personal items and leave everything at the edge of the tarmac. While our personal effects were examined we were taken to a secure building at the airport where for three hours we were interrogated at length about any unusual or suspicious activities we observed at Logan that morning or during our flight. We were all alarmed and distraught about the dribs and drabs of information we were slowly getting from our telephone calls (none of us was able to see a TV or listen to a radio) and feeling unbelievably lucky to be alive.

The agents interrogated two of the passengers at length and we later learned that one of them had an expired drivers' license and that the social security number on his license did not match the one he gave. Despite these unusual circumstances, we were all eventually released and went back to the airplane to gather our belongings. We were then escorted out of the airport without going through the main terminal to avoid what the FBI called a "media circus" because the mayor of Cleveland was holding a press conference stating that there was a bomb on our plane and a hijacker in the cabin. Fortunately we were unaware of these goings-on at the time or it would only have increased our alarm. (By the way, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper the next morning confirmed all of this and reported that the mayor retracted his comments later that afternoon.)

Because we were in protective custody or detention at the Cleveland airport for so many hours I was not able to make phone calls to let our children know we were okay, and daughter <...> spent a couple of extremely distraught hours after her school assembly announced the horrific events of the morning. She knew and I were on an 8 am flight from Boston to LA and when she learned that the two airplanes that crashed into the two WTC towers were 8am flights from Boston she feared the worst. She called home but there was no one to take the call. She had to wait a couple of agonizing hours before we were finally able to call her school to let her know we were shaken but alive. Fortunately, I was able to reach school and they pulled her out of class to reassure her that we were safe before making the announcement of what had happened that day. We were also able to relay information to that we were safe before he learned what had happened.

Eight other of our employees, including my sister <...>, left earlier that morning on another flight to LA, a Sun Air flight that made a connecting stop in Minneapolis. is feeling fortunate that the terrorists did not target their plane because it probably did not have the full load of fuel that a direct flight to LA would have, and it seems they targeted only nonstop flights filled to capacity with fuel. In all, there were 16 employees on two flights to LA leaving at or around 8 am Tuesday heading for semi-annual training in LA. The statistical odds of all of us escaping injury and harm are mind-boggling.

My brother <...>, a computer executive at , works frequently out of an office in the World Trade Center and we were unable to reach him because the telephone circuits to NYC were jammed. I knew he and his wife <...> had vacation plans sometime in September, but I couldn't remember when they were supposed to be back in NYC. We later learned that he and his wife were just returning from a vacation to Paris and were over the Atlantic when the disaster struck and their plane was turned around to return to Paris, where they remain until they are able to get back home.

These have been the most devastating hours and days. Although it is only two days ago, I feel that a lifetime has passed by. So many people's lives are forever altered. Yesterday while I was watching Good Morning America I was stunned to see three members of family from Onset/Wareham on the television and learned that their brother <...>, whom I knew as a child, was on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the WTC. He was supposed to fly out on Monday, but events changed and he was delayed until Tuesday.

Our brush with death was frighteningly close. When our company made the travel arrangements for our trip to LA two months ago, told the staff to book us on the American flight 11, the flight we usually take to LA, but in the day it took for the travel agent to get back to us, the price of the flight had gone up several hundred dollars, and for economic reasons only, instructed the staff to look for a less expensive flight. Fortunately, Delta Airlines had a lower fare. With gallows humor we have all been expressing how grateful we are that is so economy-minded when it comes to travel expenses. Humor aside, though, we are all shaken by how close a call this was, and humbled by the realization that with all of these coincidences, Someone Above must be looking out for us.

In another ironic twist, I had not planned to go on the trip to LA because of my very full schedule of conservation work and the usual back-to-school activities at this time of year. has been very patient and supportive of all the work I've been doing even though it has interfered with our personal lives and was understanding but very disappointed that I would not be joining him on the trip to LA. So, I decided two weeks ago that I would surprise him and meet him in LA by taking another flight. Everyone at was in on the secret. His assistant <...> helped me explore other flights, and since I had a lot of frequent flier miles on American Airlines we were trying to book a flight on American. She got flight information, but was unable to reach me by telephone to finalize arrangement and e-mailed me. I mistakenly wrote back to her at her home email to tell her to book the flight, and our communications missed each other for a critical one day period. So she and <...>, operations director, decided in the meantime to use the Delta Airlines miles the company had accrued, since they had just enough for my ticket. Without that missed telephone call and e-mail, I very well might have been using my frequent flier miles on the fated American flight.

I can't tell you how many people on our flight had a similar story. One woman on our flight was an employee of TJ Maxx, and her 15 or so co-workers were on the American flight. She had been furious that her employer wouldn't let her fly with the others because the price of the flight had gone up so much before she booked it. That is how she ended up on our Delta flight <1989>.

Delta was very accommodating to us during our ordeal. They put us up in a hotel for the night and kept us updated on events. Unable, and frankly unwilling to fly back to Boston, we rented cars in Cleveland yesterday and arrived home in Boston at 3 am this morning. I am trying to contact all of my friends to let them know that we are okay.

Thanks for your many calls and your e-mails. We are extremely fortunate to be alive. Say prayers for the thousands of unfortunate people who have been lost in this senseless tragedy, and for their families and children.

With love and extreme gratitude,

[MercutioATC]

7. It's a good first-hand account

...if it's accurate, which I have no reason to doubt.

Why interesting, though? Am I missing something?

[dinyc]

8. Interesting to me, but perhaps it's nothing.

1. I thought in-flight cell phone calls were impossible. (hehe)

2. Prior to 9-11 there was always unruly behavior on airplanes. Obviously someone who refuses to listen to flight attendants fits that profile. How did that get turned into a hijacking or bomb threat?
I think if the guy on the phone had said something about a bomb, even as a joke, he would have been charged wouldn't he? But according to this account everyone is released. If there was a bomb on Flight 93, and people say there was, does this have anything to do with Flight 1989?

3. If there was concern there was a bomb or hijacking taking place, why let the plane sit for over two hours? I know law enforcement was having a busy day, but not necessarily in Cleveland. If there had been another team of real hijackers on this plane, they could've done the same thing they did on the other flights couldn't they? Passengers could've been hurt etc. By this person's timeline, this wait occurs after the towers have collapsed so I would think a threat would have to be taken pretty seriously.

4. The fact that these passengers are interrogated about what they might have seen at Logan is interesting. Obviously there was nothing suspicious going on during this flight--they let everyone go. Are the Delta gates anywhere near the UA, AA gates?

5. Are you aware of this press conference the mayor was holding at the airport? Seems a little odd that an elected official would be creating a media circus at an airport. At this point everyone is scrambling to figure out what the hell happened back on the east coast and who did it. Wouldn't the FBI have either muzzled him or made sure he had accurate information?

I'm not trying to imply anything ultra-spooky and certainly the author's recollection could be a little fuzzy on the details. These things I've listed jumped out however.

[MercutioATC]

9. Understood. My take:

1) We've contacted pilots by cellphone when we lost contact with them. Sure, it's anecdotal, but it still happened...I really don't even consider the "cellphones are unusable inflight" argument.

2) On 9/11, any unusual behavior was probably scrutinized.

3) It was an FBI team that searched the plane, according to reports. With all that was going on, it could have easily taken 2 hours to assemble and brief an FBI team (and the canine units).

4) SOP as I see it. They boarded at Logan and some of the hijackers were at Logan.

5) You'd have to know our mayor. Of COURSE he'd turn it into a media circus. That's what White was like.

Honestly, very reasonable questions to ask, but while I enjoyed reading a first-hand account of a DAL1989 passenger, I don't think there's anything amiss.

[Abe Linkman]

10. mercutio: you're an expert in a lot more than ATC stuff.

"Honestly, very reasonable questions to ask, but while I enjoyed reading a first-hand account of a DAL1989 passenger, I don't think there's anything amiss."

I thought you only claimed to be an expert in ATC matters. You shouldn't be so modest. You deserve more popcorn.

[Bolo Boffin]

12. Abe, while you're avoiding questions...

...here's another to add to the list:

Where in the statement, "Honestly, very reasonable questions to ask, but while I enjoyed reading a first-hand account of a DAL1989 passenger, I don't think there's anything amiss," does MercutioATC claim to be an expert in any subject whatsoever?

This is a simple one, Abe. Just italicize the words in that statement which make a claim of expertise on the part of MercutioATC in any subject whatsoever.

:-)

[Abe Linkman]

14. bolo: do you still support Ted's lies? Yes...or No?

It's a simple question, bolo. Please, no spinning this time. Just give us a "yes" or a "no".

[Bolo Boffin]

15. Now THAT'S funny...

Acid reflux?

[MercutioATC]

18. See, Abe, there's a difference between fact and opinion...

When I said "I don't THINK there's anything amiss.", it was a statement of opinion. I don't think that too many people failed to undersatnd that.

You don't seem to have an issue with posting your opinions. Out of curiousity, what specialized knowledge or training do you have on any of the 9/11-related subjects?

[dinyc]

11. Thanks.

3) It was an FBI team that searched the plane, according to reports. With all that was going on, it could have easily taken 2 hours to assemble and brief an FBI team (and the canine units).

Wow. I'm not doubting your answer but that doesn't seem very good as a response time. (To put it in perspective— in 2 hours 4 planes were hijacked and impacted into their targets)

Unless they weren't seriously worried about the plane, which is perhaps the case--by that I mean there were no reports of actual demands or other behavior that is typically terrorist in nature.

Still gotta wonder where the idea of a bomb came from tho.

5) You'd have to know our mayor. Of COURSE he'd turn it into a media circus. That's what White was like.

So was/is it common knowledge to folks in the Cleveland area that there was this plane that might have a bomb aboard on 9-11? I'd never heard about it until I read this account...another reason I found it interesting.

[MercutioATC]

17. My responses to #3 and #5:

#3) I agree that the response time was long, but the plane had been isolated and I'm betting that the FBI probably had its hands full that morning. There really wasn't any danger to those outside the plane.

#5 As I've stated, I was out of town on 9/11, but the idea of Mike White fueling a media flame would be no surprise to me. Ask anybody in Cleveland. White was a showman.

[meppie-meppie not]

35. I think the stuff about Mike White ("showman") is a red herring

clearly he was alerted to something going down in the airport and that information had to have come from some element within the FBI, CIA so some such as well as from the airport personnel. He conducts a press conference and gives details that pertain to flight X and then the next day comes out with revised details that do pertain to DA 1989. To me it reeks of cover-up. JMO

[Woody Box]

16. Delta flights in Logan

depart from Concourse C, so does United, as opposed to American flights which start from concourse B.

[dinyc]

19. Delta departs --gotcha

Btw Woody that is some heavy duty research. Whether it is a bonafide mystery or not, I found out things I didn't know before.

:thumbsup: Good job!

[Woody Box]

20. Thanks, dinyc - and you're right in your 5 points

These are basically the same questions coming into my brain after I stumbled across this passenger's story.

If I would be not allowed to leave an airplane with a bomb aboard for more than two hours because the police is not able to organize bomb-sniffing dogs or what else is necessary - I would be very angry.

I think the passengers of Delta 1989 were not angry because they were highly scared. Maybe they thought their plane was supposed to fly in a building (Sears Towers, for example). (They knew everything about the NY and pentagon attacks because they were allowed to make a phone call).

[frankly_fedup2]

21. I enjoyed hearing a story from someone who was actually

flying that day.

You are a very lucky person as well as the others on the flights. I'm sure you were in a state of shock to say the least when the planes crashed into the WTC AND they were flights from Boston to LA.

Do you believe in fate, and if you do, do you believe you and others on the flights that were not hijacked were saved for a reason? Do you believe you were saved for a reason? If you do, do you know what it could be? Why were you and others saved while others were flown to their horrible deaths.

I was just wondering how someone would feel about this.

[DulceDecorum]

13. The BTS database confirms

that two Delta Airlines planes did indeed land at Cleveland Hopkins International.
But the times and Flight numbers are different.

**** **** **** ****
Arrival Statistic(s): Wheels-on Time
Airport: Cleveland, OH - Cleveland-Hopkins International (CLE)
DL 09/11/2001 1242 N986DL CVG 8:41
DL 09/11/2001 1492 N917DL ATL 9:30

Arrival Statistic(s): Taxi-in Time
Airport: Cleveland, OH - Cleveland-Hopkins International (CLE)
DL 09/11/2001 1242 N986DL CVG 0005
DL 09/11/2001 1492 N917DL ATL 0009

Arrival Statistic(s): Actual Arrival Time
Airport: Cleveland, OH - Cleveland-Hopkins International (CLE)
DL 09/11/2001 1242 N986DL CVG 8:46
DL 09/11/2001 1492 N917DL ATL 9:39

It tallies.
Apparently,
those are the only two Delta Airlines flights
that landed in Cleveland that entire day.

**** **** **** ****
Flight 1242, an MD-88 serial number 53313, originated from CVG
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Cincinnati, OH.
Flight 1492, an MD-88 serial number 49573, originated from ATL
Hartsfield International, Atlanta, GA.

Departure Statistic(s): Actual Departure Time
Airport: Cincinnati, OH - Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG)
DL 09/11/2001 1242 N986DL CLE 7:46

Departure Statistic(s): Actual Departure Time
Airport: Atlanta, GA - Hartsfield International (ATL)
DL 09/11/2001 1492 N917DL CLE 8:03

**** **** **** ****
On the other hand,
Delta Airlines Flight 1989
a Boeing 767-332 serial number 25990,
did actually leave Boston, but it vanished along the way.

Departure Statistic(s): Actual Departure Time
Airport: Boston, MA - Logan International (BOS)
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN LAX 8:05

Departure Statistic(s): Taxi-out Time
Airport: Boston, MA - Logan International (BOS)
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN LAX 0020

Departure Statistic(s): Wheels-off Time
Airport: Boston, MA - Logan International (BOS)
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN LAX 8:25

Departure Statistic(s): Actual Elapsed Time
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN LAX 0000

Arrival Statistic(s): Actual Arrival Time
Airport: Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles International (LAX)
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN BOS 0:00

**** **** **** ****
Apparently,
five Delta Airlines flights out of Boston were diverted on September 11.

Airport: Boston, MA - Logan International (BOS)
DL 09/11/2001 0565 N394DA SLC Yes
DL 09/11/2001 1989 N189DN LAX Yes
DL 09/11/2001 2351 N316DL MCO Yes
DL 09/11/2001 2433 N380DL RSW Yes
DL 09/11/2001 2435 N382DL PBI Yes

Lord knows where they went.

[Woody Box]

22. kick

for a better understanding of the Delta1989 issue...

[John Doe II]

23. Kick

Certainly in order to understand the importance of the Delta flight one should have a close look at the oddities and contradiction surrounding the actual flight (see Thread: Delta 1989) and the strange "contradictions" in the very well-researched article about the "Cleveland Airport Mystery".

Then lets ask the Commission:

Why no word why Delta was considered a "fourth hijacking"?
Why no word about the bomb threat?
Why no word about the evacuation?
Why no word about the two completely different account of whats happening after the Delta flight landed at Cleveland?

Why does the Commission present Delta 1989's flight and landing as it have been the most natural thing on earth and just a minor mistake nothing else?

[Old and In the Way]

24. I wonder if Delta 1989 was part of the Vigilant Guardian exercise?

Just throwing it out there....

[Polly Glot]

25. A (former) corporate travel agent's perspective...

From woodyb's article above:

"When our company made the travel arrangements for our trip to LA two months ago, told the staff to book us on the American flight 11, the flight we usually take to LA, but in the day it took for the travel agent to get back to us, the price of the flight had gone up several hundred dollars, and for economic reasons only, instructed the staff to look for a less expensive flight. Fortunately, Delta Airlines had a lower fare."

From 911timeline.net:

"There are supposed to be 92 victims on board American Airlines Flight 11, yet when you add up the official death manifest list that was published on CNN.com, there are only 86 victims."-


The fact that the AA #11 fare jumped so high approximately two months before the flight almost invariably means that it was SOLD OUT, or even oversold, at that point in time. But only 86-92 people were ostensibly on board when the maximum capacity would have been 181 passengers ...

When I worked as a travel agent I would see flights all the time that were sold out well in advance of the flight but you could still book a "these seats are extremely limited" cheapo excursion fare on them. Apparently not for AA #11 departing 9/11/01, however.

I don't know what all this means but thought someone could find the information useful?!

[John Doe II]

26. Interesting!

Thanks a lot. Information from people working in concerned areas is always very much appreciated!

:)

The hijackers bought their tickets around August 28, 2001.
See Paul Thompson's timeline.

[Sweet Pea]

29. Couldn't have happened...

According to the experts here, Flt 11 was never even SCHEDULED to fly on that day so how could someone purchase a ticket at all much less 2 weeks in advance?

Unless......*gasp* *fist into hand* *stern look off into the horizon the experts were WRONG, Batman, and the DATABASE was just screwed up!

Try another one

[John Doe II]

30. Just for your information

If you haven't realized this thread is about Cleveland and not the BTS.
And btw there seems to me a big difference between purchasing tickets and a plane actually taking off...

[Sweet Pea]

31. From YOUR post #26...

The hijackers bought their tickets around August 28, 2001.

How could someone purchase a ticket for a flight that was not scheduled?

Is all I'm asking.

Some here have claimed that the flights in question were never even SCHEDULED to fly that day - based on the Super Accurate Double Doppler BTS.

Someone is *way* off base here. Was there....or was there not...a scheduled flight for someone...ANYONE....to purchase tickets for?

And if you don't want someone responding to something you mention that is off topic, don't include it in your post.

[Woody Box]

33. Who is "someone"?

Some here have claimed that the flights in question were never even SCHEDULED to fly that day - based on the Super Accurate Double Doppler BTS.

I'm not interested in being confronted with a claim I never established.

Your posting is completely unsubstantiated.

[dlaliberte]

34. Compare with other flights

Can we find out the prices of the other Flight 11s scheduled for the days and weeks before and after 9/11? If there is a big difference in the price just for 9/11, and the fact that there were few passengers, that might suggest they were trying to reduce the number of passengers to reduce the likelihood of trouble.

How about the prices for tickets on the other 9/11 flights that crashed. How about the prices for tickets on the Delta flight that didn't crash. Are there other airlines that might have crashed, had they decided to let them do so? Looking for price anomalies or passenger anomalies might suggest possibilities.

[John Doe II]

27. Woody's analysis still unchallened

Reading through all the posts here I'm surprised that nobody actually tried to challenge Woody's analysis.
Does anybody have a different explanation for the following contradictions than to conclude that their have been actually two emergency landinigs both believed to have been Delta 1989?

Quoting from his article:

"We will now examine several parameters of the emergency landing:

1) The moment of landing

2) The begin of the evacuation of the passengers

3) The number of passengers

4) The place the passengers were interviewed after the evacuation

5) The exact location of the grounded plane

We will see that there are two different data for every parameter"

[John Doe II]

28. Time to kick!

:kick:

In view of the new ongoing discussion of Delta 1989 its doppelganger and the evacuation of Cleveland Tower, Airport and downtown I think it's really time to kick this thread.
No one - as far as I can see - has come up with an explanation for Woody's finding.

[Woody Box]

32. Doppelpass

that's how they call that in Germany, don't they?

Thanks, Johnny! :-)

[John Doe II]

36. Yes,

on a fait le Zidane!:)