More re: missile threat (PHPG related)-
Here is a link to an Air Traffic Control recording of the event I found at dailypundit.com - NOTE - scroll forward to about 28:30 or so to start listening (following text is not authored by me).
liveatc.net
This is about a half hour of air traffic control radio. At about the 28:39 point you can hear the controller ask "...a flare or a rocket?" and the reply "Looked more like a rocke[cut off]." A few seconds later you can hear the controller ask American 612 "How far away was it from your location, which the pilot places at "Halfway between us and the coastline..."
Posted by: Doug Essex on December 6, 2005 09:50 AM
See also:
homelandsecurityus.com
Passenger Air Travel - At Risk From Missiles?
5 December 2005: As we approach the busiest air travel season of the year, there appears to be a "growing private concern" over the safety of air travel, especially in the wake of a surface-to-air missile reported by the pilot of a passenger aircraft departing LAX the day after Thanksgiving. Federal officials have attempted to explain that a plume of smoke passing by the cockpit of a passenger jet traveling over the Santa Monica Bay at approximately 5,000 feet was "a flare or bottle rocket," and definitely not any form of missile. In fact, "rumor control" is already in progress on a variety of levels to avoid alerting the public to any potential threats to our airlines as we enter into the busy Christmas travel season.
Despite the denials of this incident, today's issue of the HQ INTEL-ALERT Investigative Report & Newsletter offers first-hand accounts of incidents that relate to possible surface to air missile incidents, including a possible "practice run" involving boats in the Santa Monica Bay just days before the flight from LAX:
On Tuesday night, November 22nd, 2005 around 9 PM, I was standing at the very end of the pier looking out directly west, when I noticed something unusual . A small speed boat with headlights on was zipping by at a very high rate of speed from the Santa Monica area southward about a 1/4 mile west of pier. As it came directly in front of the Venice pier the boat (still 1/4 mile out) stopped suddenly and turned off its lights. Then a couple minutes later the lights came back on and the boat proceeded very slowly southward toward the Marina Del Rey area, while staying about the same distance out to sea. When the boat came within proximity to the LAX departure zone it stopped, and the boats lights extinguished.
I kept watching to see what was happening. About a minute later, I noticed off further to the south and west there was another boat and it flashed its lights, as if it was signaling the first boat. The first boat then flashed it lights. Then even further south, I noticed there was a THIRD boat. That boat flashed a green light a couple times. It al most looked like the 3 boats were setting up a triangulation and it made me a little suspicious because 9 PM seems to be a peak time for aircraft take off at LAX.
My immediate thought was- what if these were terrorists setting up for a boat missile launch attack on a plane? After watching for about 15 to 20 more minutes, nothing happened and the boats didn’t light up or move, so I went back home. I seriously contemplated contacting the authorities about the boats- but didn’t because... I didn’t want to be seen as an “ alarmist.”
But when I heard your report last night [on Coast to Coast AM] from Douglas Hagmann, I was in my car and nearly drove off the freeway!
Also, this past Tuesday and Wednesday evenings the Los Angeles County Life Guards at Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey, and the Santa Monica Harbor patrol conducted a major plane crash drill in the Santa Monica Bay .
NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT
Yet another report - this time from a pilot - indicates that this is no isolated incident:
I am an airplane mechanic for a major U.S. carrier with over 35 years of service and work as the shift supervisor at a major hub on the east coast. On September 15, 2005 at approximately 8:00 PM, I was listening to the company radio on the frequency that our pilots t al k to the company dispatchers when I heard the following di al og between one of our pilots and the dispatcher:
PILOT: “I just heard an America West crew report that they had been ‘just missed’ by a surface to air missile."
DISPATCHER: “I'll check and get back to you.”
This is first hand from me, not hearsay, and I know what I heard and that it is correct. Although I am unsure of the approximate location of the airplane at the time of the incident, I am reasonably certain that it was east of the Mississippi and very probably in the northeast section of the country.
I told a few other people about what I heard over the radio, but after time, you get tired of the crazy looks and ridicule, and just want keep your mouth shut.
A FULL REPORT on this incident and the potential threat to passenger air travel is contained in our Premium Newsletter.
|
