Large Jetliner
Eyewitness Accounts Describe Jetliner Approaching and Striking Pentagon
Of the more than 100 eyewitness accounts in
Eric Bart's compilation,
most refer to a jet aircraft approaching the Pentagon
in the moments before the explosion.
Of the accounts that indicate the type of aircraft observed,
the majority describe a large twin-engine jetliner,
consistent with a Boeing 757, which
Flight 77 was,
or a Boeing 737.
Far fewer witnesses recalled a small aircraft approaching the Pentagon.
Following are accounts organized into two categories.
The two accounts that describe a commuter jet were both by observers who were
at considerable distances from the scene.
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Large Jetliner
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Alan Wallace -- firefighter with safety crew at Pentagon's heliport
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We have had a commercial carrier crash into the west side of the Pentagon
at the heliport, Washington Boulevard side.
The crew is OK. The airplane was a 757 Boeing or a 320 Airbus.
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Albert Hemphill -- from inside the Naval Annex
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Immediately, the large silver cylinder of an aircraft
appeared in my window, coming over my right shoulder
as I faced the Westside of the Pentagon directly towards the heliport.
The aircraft, looking to be either a 757 or Airbus,
seemed to come directly over the annex
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James S. Robbins -- Robbins, a national-security analyst and 'nationalreviewonline' contributor, watched from his 6th story office window in Arlington
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The Pentagon is about a mile and half distant in
the center of the tableau. I was looking directly at it when the aircraft
struck. The sight of the 757 diving in at an unrecoverable angle is
frozen in my memory, ...
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Tim Timmerman --
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... said it had been an American Airways 757.
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Tim Timmerman -- from 16th floor apartment near National Airport
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It was a Boeing 757, American Airlines, no question.
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Mike Dobbs -- observed from upper level of outer ring of Pentagon
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... looking out the window when he saw
an American Airlines 737 twin-engine airliner strike the building.
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Terry Morin -- watched from 5th wing of BMDO offices at the old Navy Annex
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The plane had a silver body with red and blue stripes down the fuselage.
I believed at the time that it belonged to American Airlines, but I
couldn't be sure. It looked like a 737 and I so reported to authorities.
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Jim Sutherland -- from his car
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... saw ... a white 737 twin-engine plane with multicolored trim
fly 50 feet over I-395 in a straight line, striking the side of the Pentagon.
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Noel Sepulveda --
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... saw a commercial airliner coming from the
direction of Henderson Hall the Marine Corps headquarters.
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Madelyn Zakhem --
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... she heard what she thought was a jet fighter
directly overhead. It wasn't. It was an airliner coming straight up
Columbia Pike at tree-top level. It was huge! It was silver. It was
low -- unbelievable! I could see the cockpit.
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Joel Sucherman --
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Do you know how many engines? - I did not see the engines, I saw the
body and the tail; it was a silver jet with the markings along the windows
that spoke to me as an American Airlines jet, it was not a commercial,
excuse me, a business jet, it was not a Lear jet, ... it was a bigger
plane than that.
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Dave Winslow -- Winslow is an AP reporter
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I saw the tail of a large airliner ... It ploughed right into the Pentagon.
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Small Jet
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Steve Patterson -- watched from 14th-floor apartment in Pentagon City
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... it appeared to him that a commuter jet swooped over Arlington National Cemetery
and headed for the Pentagon ...
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Don Wright -- watched from the 12th floor, 1600 Wilson Boulevard, in Rosslyn
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I watched this ...it looked like a commuter plane, two engined
... come down from the south real low ...
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