error in 9-11 Commission report

[winterbadger]

All the hijacked aircraft were in one of NORAD’s Continental U.S. sectors, the Northeast Air Defense Sector (also known as NEADS). NEADS is based in Rome, New York. On 9/11, it could call on two alert sites, each with one pair of ready fighters. These were the Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Langley Air Force Base in Langley, Virginia.

This is a common error, but it is nonetheless incorrect, and I'm surprised they would make it in a report of this importance. Langley AFB is in Hampton, VA (southeastern VA, near Norfolk), not Langley, VA (northeastern VA, near Washington, DC). The two are 180 miles apart (by road, probably a little less by air).

Comments

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

let's hope this is only the sort of error it will have, tho any will surely becoem a basis for criticism of any recommendations or inductive conclusions, as well.

[winterbadger]

I read the rest of it and it looked fine, though I didn't do anything like cross-check the times or anything.

One of the more chilling observations was that while UA93 was on its way to DC and hadn't yet crashed, the only fighters over DC had no authorization to shoot. That is to say, they did, but they didn't know it. Interesting too that there's only a brief mention of the fact that the a/c that did get scambled over DC with an order to shoot went up because the commander at Andrews took an order from the USSS who gave a verbal relay of the VP's shootdown order.

I mean, think about it. At 8.46, the first plane hits the WTC. At 9.03, the second plane hits the WTC. At 9.38, the third plane hits the Pentagon. At 9.59, the White House requests CAP on the air defense conference call. Just after 10.00, the Langley AFB fighters arrive over DC. But not until 10.42, are fighters launched from Andrews AFB, right across the river from Washington and the Pentagon, and then only because their wing commander *called* the USSS because he had heard they wanted airborne protection for the White House, and the only instructions he gets are from someone (a USSS agent) who is not only not in the military but is not anywhere in his chain of command.

[robbysmom.livejournal.com]

yes, that was all in the news report I both watched last nigth and read this a.m. I have not yet read the report online. (I actually couldn't link yesterday to do so: kept timing out.)

If such obvious homeland defense matters have not yet been fixed, too, then I really want to know why not.

We've got folks picking out colors for the walls, but not fixing the water leaks *in* the walls?

[winterbadger]

Well, keep in mind that this was all pre-9/11...