 Security Camera image of the moment that American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon
American Airlines Flight 77 was a morning flight that routinely flew from Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington DC, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California (IAD-LAX). On September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757-223, N644AA, was hijacked as part of the 9/11 attacks. The hijackers were reported to have been Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, Salem al-Hazmi, and the suicide pilot Hani Hanjour.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 8:10 AM EDT, but actually departed at 8:20. It was later determined that three of the hijackers had been stopped before boarding the flight because they failed the metal detector test, but were nonetheless allowed to enter the plane.
By 8:54, the flight had been hijacked. The assailants used knives and box-cutters to gain entrance to the cockpit. By 8:56, the flight had radically changed course, and the transponder had been disabled. The FAA was aware at this point that there was an emergency aboard the plane. (By this time, American Airlines Flight 11 had already crashed into the World Trade Center, and United Airlines flight 175 was known to have been hijacked as well.)
Barbara K. Olson, who was on board this flight, had called her husband, United States Solicitor General Theodore Olson at the Justice Department twice to tell him about the hijacking and to report that the passengers and pilots were held in the back of the plane. After the call was cut off, Theodore Olson tried unsuccessfully to contact Attorney General John Ashcroft.
According to the official version, the plane crashed into the western side of The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of Washington, DC at 9:37 AM EDT, killing all of its 58 passengers (including the hijackers) and 6 crew. The section of the Pentagon hit consisted mainly of new, unoccupied offices and was damaged by the crash and the ensuing violent fire. The crash and subsequent fire penetrated three outer ring sections of the western side. The outermost ring section was largely destroyed, and a large section collapsed. 125 people in the Pentagon died from the attack.
After the crash, the flight route designation, for future flights on the same route, was renumbered Flight 149.
Claims that the Pentagon was not hit by Flight 77
Some people have voiced doubts about whether that plane really crashed into the Pentagon, based on the lack of debris, lack of damage to the building or the lawn on the first photographs, the confiscation of footage and other factors [1] (http://911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/deceptions/vanishingplane.html). See 9/11 domestic conspiracy theory and Misinformation and rumors about the September 11, 2001 attacks for more details.
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