Mystery C-130 over Pentagon at time of Attack

“…Then the plane — it looked like a C-130 cargo plane — started turning away from the Pentagon, it did a complete turnaround.”[i] 

                                                                                                                           — John O’Keefe

Eyewitnesses spot a C-130 following an airliner over Fairfax County.

            Numerous eyewitnesses identified a C-130 cargo aircraft flying above and behind a jet.

C-130 Cargo aircraft (Photo: USAF).

Kelly Knowles, who lives in an apartment a few miles from the Pentagon in Fairfax County, says she saw a second plane in the air over the Pentagon, she said some sort of plane followed the first jet toward the Pentagon, “… when a low-flying, high-speed plane buzzed the high-rise, she jumped up, ran to the windows and saw the rear of a jet heading toward Washington, D.C.  A few seconds later, a second plane that seemed to be chasing the first passed over at a slightly different angle.”[ii]  This also coincided with what Keith Wheelhouse, her brother and who was ex-Army, saw: “The second plane looked similar to a C-130 transport plane…  He believes it flew directly above the American Airlines jet, as if to prevent two planes from appearing on radar while at the same time guiding the jet toward the Pentagon.”  Then, “… the second plane banked off to the west.”  His sister, Pam Young, and at least one other person, collaborated the story but weren’t sure what type of aircraft it was.¹⁹⁹

 FBI agents interviewed both Knowles and Keith Wheelhouse.  A Pentagon official denied that another plane was flying with the jetliner, but admitted “it was possible a military plane was in the area at the time of the attack.”¹⁹⁹

In an almost identical account, Allen Cleveland stated, “My brother-in-law also witnessed the same plane following the jet while he was on the HOV lanes in Springfield.  He said that he saw a jetliner flying low over the treetops near Seminary RD in Springfield, VA.  And soon afterwards a military plane was seen flying right behind it.” [iii]

A C-130 Cargo plane following a “jet”, approached from the Southwest (Map: Expedia.com).

Eyewitnesses saw the C-130 veer off from the “jet” then circle above the Pentagon when it was attacked.

The C-130 not only guided the “jet” to the Pentagon, but made a full circle above it, then made a course due west.  Kelly Knowles noted that as the first plane “descends toward the Pentagon, the second plane veers off west.”¹⁹⁹ An Arlington National Cemetery worker claimed, “ that a mysterious second plane was circling the area when the first one attacked the Pentagon.” [iv]  And Scott P. Cook “ ...As we watched the black plume gather strength, less than a minute after the explosion …  Directly in back of the plume, which would place it almost due west from our office, a four-engine propeller plane, which Ray later said resembled a C-130, started a steep decent towards the Pentagon.”[v]  And, Joel Sucherman noticed that, “Off to the west…[he] saw another plane climb steeply and make a sharp turn.”[vi] And another witnesses, Allen Cleveland, identified the plane as a C-130, “Soon after the crash (Within 30 seconds of the crash) I witnessed a military cargo plane (Possibly a C-130) fly over the crash site and circle the mushroom cloud.”[vii]  Ex-marine Phillip Thompson, stated, “…Then a gray C-130 flew overhead, setting off a new round of panic…”[viii]

The media failed to report or follow-up on the C-130 sightings.  Allen Cleveland stressed, “…I was interviewed at Washingtonpost.com and gave them my full story, but they did not print it as I have told you …I’m not saying that the government new exactly what was about to happen, but I do believe that they are definitely hiding something here…”[ix] His remarks indicate that he believes there is some time of cover-up going on and possibly the media — complacently involved.

An Air Force man, Albert Hemphill, specifically identified the aircraft as an electronic warfare aircraft (EC-130), he noted, “The only large fixed wing aircraft to appear was a gray C-130, which appeared to be a Navy electronic warfare aircraft, he seemed to survey the area and depart in on a westerly heading.”[x]

After initially denying witness reports, the government reverses its position…

Official Confirms a C-130 crew did see the Pentagon strike.

Witnesses to the Pentagon attack were troubled that Pentagon had denied the presence of the C-130.  However, almost a month and a half later, the Daily Press reported on the (dubbed) October 17^th Surprise:

A C-130 cargo plane had departed Andrews Air Force Base en route to Minnesota that morning… said Lt. Col. Kenneth McClellan, a Pentagon spokesman.  In the days immediately following the Sept. 11 hijackings, the Pentagon claimed it had no knowledge of the C-130’s encounter, because all reports were classified by the Air National Guard…[!][xi]

So their excuse for deceiving us was “We didn’t know because — it was classified!” ²⁰⁸ It’s a bad lie because NORAD and NMCC obviously would have been tracking the C-130, unless it has some type of top-secret Klingon “cloaking technology”.

Despite numerous terrorist attacks and a FAA grounding Andrews AFB launches a routine C-130 across the nation!

Was it a routine flight?  The C-130 (call sign: Golfer 06) was at both the Pentagon and Shanksville at the time of each attack.  It was highly classified. (Since when is a routine ANG flight so classified that nobody at the Pentagon or NORAD knows!)  And most importantly, we know that the government tried to cover it up for as long as they could, 36 days.  Was it an EC-130 (electronic warfare version of C-130) on a sinister highly classified mission?  How was this C-130 able to take off from Andrews AFB when the FAA issued a ground stop for all planes, including military, five minutes before?

At 9:25, The FAA in collaboration from the White House, initiated a national ground stop, which forbids takeoffs and requires planes in the air to get down as soon as reasonable.  The order...applied to virtually every single kind of machine that can takeoff — civilian, military, [and] law enforcement.¹⁷⁸

And so the fable began:

About 9:30 a.m., O’Brien throttled the lumbering plane down a runway at Andrews Air Force Base, just southeast of the District of Columbia …[xii]

Even though his account is rather immature and laced with inconsistencies, it was a clever ploy to turn an embarrassing and incriminating incident into something rather contrary.  Since the government seemed to be coming up short of good evidence in substantiating it’s story, it appears that they elected to craft this “I saw the plane” tale.  The tale would, like others before him (Donald “Tim” Timmerman  — who fell on his face on CNN), attempt to unequivocally state that it was an American Airlines 757 — Flight 77.  More on Steve O’Brien and the C-130 in the “Witnesses” chapter.

This of course was just spin, while the real questions were being circumvented.  For one, why was the C-130 following and guiding a jet toward the Pentagon?  Why was it circling above the Pentagon just prior to the attack?  And why was this exact plane spotted, and even confirmed by the military, over Shanksville during Flight 93’s crash?  And most importantly, how was the government promptly able to launch a transport plane, but unable to launch any high-speed fighters?

The flight path of the C-130.

We can reconstruct the flight paths of the jet and the C-130, which followed it by a few seconds.  Witnesses claimed it was flying “on top of and behind” of a jet “and guiding it toward the Pentagon” as “to prevent two planes from appearing on radar”.  At the time of the attack it was seen diving down and then circling the Pentagon.  Later, it was seen heading in a westerly direction. 

Routes of C-130 Cargo plane and the jet (Map: Expedia.com).

A military commander identified the aircraft as an EC-130, which is a C-130 modified for radar “jamming” or drone control.

An electronic warfare aircraft (EC-130) over the Pentagon?

Articles from Harvard academic Elaine Scarry’s shows that the Air Force and the Pentagon have conducted extensive research on “electronic warfare applications” with the possible capacity to intentionally disrupt the mechanisms of an aircraft in such a way as to provoke, for example, an uncontrollable dive.  Scarry also reported that US Customs aircraft are already equipped with such weaponry, as are some C-130 Air Force transport planes.  According to the Scarry findings, in 1995 the Air Force installed “electronic suites” in at least 28 of its C-130s — capable, among other things, of emitting lethal jamming signals.

Why might an EC-130H be used?

EC-130H Compass Call, jamming and PsyOps aircraft at Andrews AFB

(Photo: USAF).

Crew at work in an EC-130H jamming and PsyOps aircraft

(Photo: USAF).

Just what can an “electronic warfare” EC-130H do?

• “Jamming” and manipulating of radar signals.
• Broadcast signals or “blackout” most communication devices (radio bands, TV, and military bands thus, disrupt commercial military radio systems).
• Disrupt Command and control, navigation aids and air traffic control.
• Electromechanical “jamming” could disable cell phone and other digital transmissions. 
• Drone control.

[Information researched from Gobalsecurity.org]

 The presence of an electronic warfare EC-130H would explain many particularities of the Pentagon Attack:

• Why radar operators were confused despite explicit warnings.
• Why some telecommunications were reported inoperative.
• Phone calls allegedly made from the airliner (done from the EC-130).
• “Jam” SAM’s radar from potentially locking on to aircraft.
• The EC-130H could hide an aircraft by “jamming” the radar.
• Airborne “command and control” for the operation.
• Remote control a drone with the DC-130 variant.

PART II The Government Attempt to Explain

[178] Sally Donnelly, “The Day the FAA Stopped the World,” Time, 14 September 2001.

[199] Terry Scanlon, “Hampton Roads Woman Says She Too, Saw Plane Following Jet That Hit Pentagon,” Daily Press-Newport News, 15 September 2001.

[208] Terry Scanlon and David Lerman, “C-130 crew saw Pentagon strike, official confirms,” Daily Press, 17 October 2001, <www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/linkscopy/C130sawF772P.html>