Hijacked jets nearly collided -- The Washington Times

NASHUA, N.H., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Two hijacked passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center nearly collided with each other before reaching New York City, the Nashua Telegraph reported Thursday.

Quoting an unnamed Federal Aviation Administration employee at the Nashua control facility, the newspaper said it was told, "The two aircraft got too close to each other down by Stewart" International Airport in New Windsor, N.Y.

Both Boeing 767s, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 had taken off from Boston’s Logan International Airport on Tuesday morning within 15 minutes of each other.

Heading west to Los Angeles, both planes turned south toward New York City where they crashed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in massive fireballs.

One air traffic controller in Nashua, along with an assistant, monitored the flight patterns of both jets.

It appears that hijackers gained control of Flight 11 around Gardner, Mass. The employee said the aircraft “was just flying around, doing what it wanted."

The employee said Flight 175 remained in the hands of its pilots until Albany, N.Y.

The air traffic controller then noticed that the American Airlines plane had encountered difficulties when its transponder was shut off, the employee told the Telegraph. At that point, the plane veered from its course west.

Soon after, the controller realized a hijacker was in Flight 11’s cockpit because the plane's captain -- John Ogonowski of Dracut, Mass. -- turned on his microphone, the employee said. Ogonowski activated the microphone so the Federal Aviation Administration could hear the terrorists' threats, the employee said.

The controller heard someone instruct, " 'Nobody do anything stupid,'" and no one would get hurt, the employee said. After that, the controller heard no more conversations, the employee said.

"That's all that was heard," the employee said. When it became apparent the plane had fallen into the hands of hijackers, a third controller began helping the controller and his assistant and notified appropriate government agencies.

The controller spoke with Flight 175 for quite some time after terrorists took command of Flight 11, the employee said. FAA controllers never expected Flight 175 to hit the second World Trade Center tower because of that sustained contact with the crew, the employee said.

"It's not in anyone's mind they're hitting a target," the employee said. "When somebody takes a plane over, they try to negotiate a release with money," the employee said.

"After the first plane hit, nobody imagined it would happen again," the employee said. "We all thought that was it. It (the crash by the second jet) totally caught everybody off guard."

The controller is "pretty disturbed" that he lost both planes, the employee said. He handled both flights because they shared similar routes on their intended journey to Los Angeles, the employee said.

The employee also told the newspaper that FAA air traffic controllers in Nashua learned through discussions with other controllers that an F-16 fighter stayed in hot pursuit of another hijacked commercial airliner until it crashed in Pennsylvania.

By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the military had taken control of U.S. airspace, the employee said. Hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:37 a.m.

Although controllers don't have complete details of the Air Force's chase of the Boeing 757, they have learned the F-16 made 360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial jet, the employee said.