Reagan National Airport

“…My only memories really were that it looked like a plane coming in for a landing.”

                                            — Stephen McGraw

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, (DCA) is the closest airport to the center of Washington, D.C.  It is located due south of the city on the other side of the Potomac River, in Arlington, VA.  It is located just south of the Pentagon.  The federal government owns Reagan National Airport and nearby Dulles International Airport, which the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates under lease.

Even the Feds concurred that aircraft over the Pentagon could have been confused for aircraft landing at Reagan.

During a conversation with an eyewitness, Norfolk-based FBI agent claimed, “A possible explanation for the second plane could be a plane landing at nearby Ronald Reagan National Airport.”¹⁹⁹ And, Mary Lyman said, “I saw a plane coming what I thought was toward National Airport, which is very close.  You see that all the time…”[i]

The Pentagon sits on the north approach to Reagan National Airport

(Photo: Rafal Szczypek/Airliners.net).

Wouldn’t there have been numerous aircraft approaching from the north or west directions (prior to 9/11, approaches from south and east were not allowed) for a landing at Reagan National?  Or in “holding patterns” — circling above, waiting for clearance to land?  There is no record of air traffic controllers (ATC) directing aircraft away from the “rogue aircraft,” no ATC warnings, no requests for other aircraft to look for the “lost” aircraft, no continuous calls from ATC continuously attempting to establish contact — on any frequency.  There were no Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alarms, with aircraft in a busy terminal area scattering for clear airspace.  Very interesting, isn’t it?  All this evidence points to the apparent conclusion that what came over the Pentagon, that is claimed to be an American Airliner 757 or similar, was not a surprise event.

Runway 19 is lined up with the Potomac — just to the east of the Pentagon.

As per the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority:

DCA is located due south of the National Mall, and The Mall happens to be restricted airspace up to 18,000 feet.  So, to avoid the real possibility of being shot down by military SAMs, pilots aren’t allowed to fly straight in on a southbound approach to Runway 19: instead, they have to manually fly the plane down the Potomac and line it up with the runway [1] at the last minute…This approach was discontinued after September 11, 2001.[ii]

Potomac river approach was discontinued after 9/11 (Image: FAA).

Runway 15 lies just south of the Pentagon!

Runway 15 of Reagan National Airport (DCA) sits less than a mile south of the Pentagon and is directly under the flight path of runway 15.

Sean Boger, a Pentagon heliport controller, remarked to a co-worker that day,” ‘I’m surprised no one has ever flown into the Pentagon,’ … referring to the fact that so many planes fly around the Pentagon daily.”[iii]  Div Devlin remarked, “…John aged 12, pointed out the window yelling, “Dad look how low that plane is!”  I looked but saw nothing and was sure it was just another of the myriad of low flights on their final approach into the airport.”[iv]

Approach to Runway 15 is directly over the Pentagon! (Image: FAA)

FAA grounding was just minutes prior to the attack on the Pentagon.

Since at 9:26 a.m., the FAA instructed all aircraft to make landings at nearby airports and all scheduled flight were to be grounded, the controllers at Reagan were obviously quite busy directing aircraft landings.  At the end of this unprecedented grounding there were more than 120 aircraft stranded at the airport! [v]  There would have been numerous airliners making hurried landings starting from 9:26 a.m.  Coincidentally, this is roughly the same time as the Pentagon attack.  Most of the flights that landed were not entered in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) database (www.bts.com) as they usually are.

Last scheduled plane to land at Reagan was an American Airlines jet!

The last scheduled flight to arrive that day, as per the BTS database was American Airlines Flight 684 (N3ATAA) from Miami; it arrived at 9:29 a.m., just prior to the Pentagon’s explosion.  Could this flight have landed on runway 15?  Did this American Airlines jet approach over the Pentagon or fly over appear as if it crashed and exploded, if it disappeared behind a billowing smoke cloud?  Also, a low flying aircraft, like one coming in for a landing would not show on primary radar since it is below the tracking limit of the radar.[vi] 

Did the Pentagon attack coincide with an American Airlines “fly over” or a landing at Reagan National Airport?

 Alfred S. Regnery stated, “On the freeway with the Pentagon not yet in view, heard a jetliner “not more than 200 yards above the ground” passed overhead, disappearing “behind black cloud of smoke” was pouring from a “gaping hole.”  And Master Sergeant Noel Sepulveda “...was on assignment at the Pentagon as a Medic [interesting].  He was standing in the parking lot at the Pentagon when he noticed a jetliner lower its landing gear as if to make a landing and then he realized that the airplane was actually heading towards the southwest wall of the Pentagon…”[vii] Mike Ryan had been in his barracks at Fort Myer (which is on the approach to Reagan National Airport), “when a plane flew very low over his base…”[viii]

Sgt. Andrew Myers noted: “…I saw a second plane in the sky and then an F-16 flew right over the Pentagon.  It was just a few minutes too late.  The F-16 got behind the second plane and made it land at Reagan National [Airport].”[ix]