At 8:50 a.m. on September 11, 2001 Flight 77 asked for clearance to fly higher. That was the last radio message air traffic controllers received from the flight. At 8:56 a.m., over southern Ohio, Flight 77's IFF transponder stopped signaling. At this point there was no radio, no transponder and no radar contact with the plane. At 9:05 a.m. West Virginia flight control radar picked up an eastbound plane with no accompanying transponder identification, but not until 9:24 a.m. ATCs notify NORAD of its existence. At 9:25 a.m. the FAA informed the Secret Service that air raffic controllers had a no-transponder radar blip headed toward Washington D.C. At 9:26 the FAA head, Jane Garvey, issues the order forbidding all civilian, military and law-enforcement aircraft from taking off ( a restriction that remained in force until 10:31 a.m.) and for all aircraft in the air to get down as soon as reasonable. Thus ready interceptor aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base, just 15 miles away do not take off. At 9:30 a.m. Chris Stevenson is called by Secret Service and told to look for a plane heading for Washington. Stevenson finds it on the radar scope five miles to the West of him. He looks out the window and sees Flight 77 descending and turning right. This fits the description of many witnesses who saw the Boeing 757 diving at an irrecoverable angle" before the crash. But at this same time a different Dulles air traffic controller is tracking a blip headed straigt for Washington at 500 mph and she wonders if it can be Flight 77 although she remarks that the blip behaves more like that of a jet fighter. At 9:37 a.m. the radar blip was lost, ending at point indicating a position six miles from the Pentagon. . Minutes later there is a crash at the Pentagon, reports of the exact time varying from 9:37 to 9:45 a.m. Fireman Alan Wallace sees Flight 77 25 feet above the higher ground of the hill west of the Pentagon and coming at him. Sizing up the situation he turns and runs for cover under a nearby vehicle. He does not see the crash.
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