Flight 77 - Window Shades

[physicist]

I believe Sargeant William Lagasse, of the Pentagon police, has reported seeing an American Airlines Boeing 757 when he was at a gas pump at the Citgo gas station on 9/11.

Since he could see its starboard windows and it was not in his line of site of the canopy, it must have been a little way north of the Citgo station, as we know in contradiction to the official version of events.

Lagasse reported that it was so close he could see that the shades were pulled down, meaning he couldn't see any passengers.

Now, a Boeing 757 can carry about 228 passengers but there were only 58 passengers on board (if it were Flight 77), including the supposed hijackers.

First of all, why would the passengers pull down the shades? I can't see it being a priority to make them do it. Secondly, most of the seats were unoccupied and so why would the shades be down?

Unless something else was going on...

[Micpsi]

Well, what could have been going on that would have needed the window screens to be kept down? It was not as if anyone on the ground could have noticed anything inside a plane flying at several hundred miles per hour 100 feet above the ground. A few faces might have been seen had the screens been up. But so what? The plotters wanted people to think that this was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. To achieve that end, it hardly seems crucial to me whether the window screens were kept down or not. Unless you can provide a convincing reason for this, I do not see anything in that proving that this was not a hijacked plane. I should add that I tend to believe that Flight 77 was never hijacked but was under remote-control, as this technology has been available for some time.

[Samantha J Fox]

IMO, if the "plane" was flying past at the speeds reported shortly before impact then there is no chance whatsoever that he would have been able to see anything of note even if the windows were open.

The plane would have been going just too quickly, and bearing in mind when it was supposed to have ploughed in to the Pentagon it was flying horizontally about 5 ft off the floor, this would have meant the plane was already very close to the ground.

Not that I believe for one minute this guy is telling the truth, but the speeds and height involved would render the guy in a state of shock, he wouldnt have the chance to look up and observe what was going on in the windows.

Sounds like complete nonsense to me.

[physicist]

Yes, good point.

At least he would be able to tell north from south and starboard from port.

[Micpsi]

[Samantha J Fox]

[telecasterisation]

There are several issues here, however, some of the responses are based upon speculation though.

The relative subject to aircraft distance would have a significant influence over what could actually be seen and assimiliated. The gas station was very close to the flight path whichever side the aircraft passed on.

The aircraft in question was travelling in excess of 400mph - try standing on the hard shoulder of a motorway and see if you can register details of the vehicles in the fast lane as they pass. For those cars going 80mph, multiply that speed by 5x for the relative passing speed of the aircraft - it is indisputable that details about windows would be very very unlikely to be visible.

On the other side of the coin - why would the blinds be pulled down if indeed they were? This has several possible answers;

Covering the windows would reduce potential panic as you get nearer the ground.

Also, it would be expected that telephones would be used and if the transponders were turned off for the purposes of eluding tracking, then any passenger spotting landmarks may simply tell someone on the phone that they are approaching The Pentagon. Would you want this to hamper your plans?

Of course, this is pure conjecture. Were there passengers, were there terrorists, was there even an aircraft?

We have rafts of assorted testimony, statements, photos, DNA samples, flight data and video, but nothing is remotely conclusive when you factor in that any of it can be manipulated.

Perhaps we will never know.