PLANE DISASTERS REVISITED

The following news story describing how the militaries of USA and Canada have been practising together in the shooting down of passenger aircraft is very interesting. Especially to people who suspected all along that the downing of TWA-800 (and others) could have happened in just such a manner - either intentionally or "by mistake". oops.

Websites have been created and books have been written on the subject. A book I suggest people read is THE DOWNING OF TWA FLIGHT 800, by James Sanders.

The news story also points out that the military has been practicising with remote-control planes. This is another 9/11 coincidence in that some people believe the planes that hit the towers were remote-controlled and the pilots over-ridden. This is food for thought for hungry minds.~ Jackie Jura

Air Defense to Be Tested Tonight
Pentagon's 90-Minute Drill Not Tied to a Specific Threat
By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, June 4, 2003; Page A09

Many Washington area residents may find their sleep interrupted by the roar of Air Force F-16 fighters tonight as the Pentagon conducts a 90-minute air patrol exercise to test federal procedures for identifying and confronting hostile aircraft, defense officials said yesterday. In the drill, which will start at 10:30 p.m., two F-16s will intercept two Cessna 172 civilian airplanes in a scenario designed to test pilots, antiaircraft missile crews and civilian and military commanders. A spokesman said the jets will take off from Andrews Air Force Base but declined to provide further details on the affected airspace. He said that the exercise was scheduled for the period when civilian air traffic is lowest and that flight paths were adjusted to reduce the noise level. "We've changed some of the flight profiles to minimize the noise as much as possible, but people still will be able to hear some of these things," said Major Don Arias, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). He added that the F-16s would not use afterburners below a certain altitude. The drill, dubbed Falcon Virgo, is the latest test of a U.S. air defense system that was overhauled after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. military now maintains irregular air patrols over Washington, New York and other cities and deploys Avenger artillery batteries equipped with Stinger missiles at various locations, including President Bush's retreat in Crawford, Tex.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the number of NORAD aircraft dedicated to patrolling the continental United States has increased from 14 to more than 100 at peak times, and the number of bases involved has grown from seven to 26. Military personnel have responded to more than 1,050 in-flight incidents since the attacks. The military also has corrected NORAD's lack of direct radar coverage over the mainland United States and improved radio communications with its pilots.

Tonight's drill is not tied to a specific threat, and similar drills held May 21 and May 29 were unrelated to the elevation of the nation's terrorism threat level from yellow to orange between May 20 and May 30, Arias said. He declined to specify the troops or units involved in tonight's exercise but said it will be coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Secret Service and the Army, among other agencies. The military has run other drills involving cruise missiles, unmanned craft and remotely piloted vehicles launched against the continental United States. Last year, 1,500 U.S. and Canadian military personnel participated in the mock downing of a hijacked civilian jet in the Northwest. That exercise, called Amalgam Virgo, had been planned before hijackers flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The authority to declare a civilian aircraft a hostile target and to shoot it down -- which has been delegated in an emergency to NORAD regional commanders -- is tested "probably between eight and 15 times a week," Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the Continental United States Region of NORAD, told a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks last month.

In tonight's exercise, Civil Air Patrol pilots will be cast in the role of intruders, or "red air" team members. Several civilian and military agencies will monitor the exercise, which will be controlled by NORAD. Also involved will be the government's new national capital region air defense coordination center at the FAA building in Herndon, which includes military personnel, the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service and other agencies.


Human pilots no longer needed (CIA & Pentagon use remote control). Reuters, Nov 23, 2003. Go to 13.Weapons & 9/11 HI-JACKS OR HI-JINKS? & JFK BROTHER FLEW DRONE

TWA FLIGHT 800 (considering the hypothesis that a USA Navy missile brought down TWA Flight 800)

9/11 WAS COLCHESTER BOMB

WORLD TRADE CENTER BEFORE & AFTER

WAS GRASSY KNOLL CULPRIT BEHIND 9/11 TOO?

28.Reality Control and 36.Hate Week

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~
website: www.orwelltoday.com & email: orwelltoday@orwelltoday.com

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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