Reply #19: calls [View All]

[Woody Box]

You're right, Elizabeth Wainio's call lasted ten minutes, but there are many oddities with this call, too. Her stepmother didn't hear any crying or screaming people (like other people being called); Elizabeth doesn't report the uprising at 9:58; instead, after a period of silence, just past ten, she says abruptly: "They're getting ready to break into the cockpit. I have to go. I love you. Good-bye." A bit late, isn't it? For me, this call is a good candidate for a faked call.


/// The red bandana comment was repeated in other calls even on other planes ///

Is that true? Which calls? The only one I know is Glick's call.


/// You don't need to mention mace, bombs, and so on to make the hijackings plausible. The general public has been perfectly happy with the box cutters only theory until now, haven't they? ///

I disagree. In the case of UA 93, the "man with the bomb" keeping the passengers in the coach off the first class is essential for the plot. Do you think Burnett, Beamer & co could have been deterred by box cutters only? No, the bomb threat was necessary to keep the passengers back. Glick and Burnett discuss the "man with the bomb" problem with their wives. Burnett thinks the man is bluffing, so they decide to take the risk to overthrow him.


The cell phone question is neither fishy nor partisan - it is a physical question easy to answer by experiment. I asked some people in the German forum telepolis last year:

http://www.heise.de/tp/foren/go.shtml?read=1&msg_id=4245301&forum_id=47533

Although not representative, a pattern emerges in this poll: cellphones do work in planes only during the start and landing phase. The probability of a succesful call goes down rapidly when the plane climbs. At 35000 ft, the probability is virtually zero.