I am finding it interesting that this discussion seems to focus on the anomalies in Boger’s account (
NEIT 299), forgetting that he was not alone at the time of the impact. To take his statement(s) out-of-context and not considering the cumulative accounts of the other persons present is a significant error. In addition to Boger, three other people were present at the helipad.
Jacqueline Kidd (
NEIT 295)
Alan Wallace (
NEIT 218)
Mark Skipper (
NEIT 209)
There are multiple media accounts from all of these individuals, but I will focus on the CMH interviews because they were taken within months of the event and in a low-pressure environment where they had time to elaborate beyond media “sound bites”. What follows is a compilation of these interviews in context of what is known regarding the minutes just prior to the event.
Boger and Kidd were both assigned as controllers in the tower. They were aware of the attacks in NYC and according to Kidd; Boger was in a very heightened state of mind and very much aware that the Pentagon was a potential target.
So, Mr. (sp?) started getting a little nervous. And he was like -- I won't say panicking or freaking out, but you could tell he was a little on edge. Like, "Oh my goodness." And, myself, I was -- I guess, in a way, like in a denial. (Kidd, page 5)
After some discussion, she went downstairs to get her lunch out of her car, but fortunately stopped to use the restroom. Prior to her leaving, at some point she and Boger had noted a sound that later made him think the plane had flown over and circled around.
So we would actually be sitting up there and working, and hear a helicopter fly past, and we look at, and we say okay, that guy is talking to Washington.
But this particular day, we heard something. We heard a roooooooah, and so [redacted] was like what was that, and we both looked out the window, but we didn't see anything.
And that was the airplane, and he had flown past us, but we didn't see him, but we heard it. And so had we had seen that aircraft sooner or maybe realized how low he was, we could have probably called Washington and asked them if they were talking to him, and I don't know if we would have had enough time to do that. (Boger, page 22)
This had to occur prior to Kidd leaving to go downstairs and incidentally, a helicopter out of Andrews AFB did fly past the helipad area at around 8-9 minutes prior to impact. It was captured on the Doubletree video at around 10 minutes prior as it passed the south side and according to eyewitnesses reported by CNN, circled around to the helipad area (confirmed with DCA radar data). There is no mention of the helicopter in any of the CMH interviews, but considering Boger’s heightened state-of-awareness, this is very likely the source of the noise he is reporting since no other aircraft flew near the helipad in the 30 minutes prior to the event. After Kidd left the controller area, Boger was on the phone with his supervisor at Davidson Army Airfield up until a few minutes prior to the event.
And he was telling me - that how worried he was about that, that an aircraft can just easily do that. And he was telling me he remembered -- he was telling me that, I don't know what I'm going to do if I see a plane coming like that towards -- towards us. (
NEIT 321, page 16)
You know, just normal conversation like, if something like that happens, you know, you get out of there, don't wait.
And I remember telling him also that, you know, all you guys make fun of me because I'm - look what's going on right now. I'll bet that has something to do with -- somebody is doing that intentionally.
And it was just talk between him and me. At the same time Washington National starts calling our facility and they're saying to recall all our traffic. (NEIT 321, page 18)
Meanwhile, two firefighters, Wallace and Skipper were outside the helipad tower towards the impact area at the fire truck. Skipper had pulled the truck out of its garage in the helipad tower to position it for the President’s expected arrival later in the day. He was examining some foam metering equipment on the fire truck with Wallace just prior to the event.
And I was just looking out the window and just looking out at the ground to see if everything was okay, because I knew that my boss was coming back up there that day, and I knew that because the planes had hit the World Trade Center that the DPS guys at the Pentagon were going to shut down everything. (Boger, page 10)
According to Boger, he was looking for the number to call his boss. According to his boss, he must have found the number because he was on the phone with him as Reagan began reacting to the approach of AAL77. At this time, Kidd is finishing up in the restroom while Wallace and Skipper have just cleared the front of the fire truck headed back to the tower.
And so I am looking out at the road, and I see the traffic has liked stop, and I look out the window and I just hear a -- I just see like the nose and the wing of an aircraft just like coming right at us, and he didn’t veer. (Boger, page 11)
In the meantime, Wallace looks to his left and sees the plane.
And somewhere in that area in front of the truck I just happened to look up to my left and see the airplane right there just a couple hundred yards away. (Wallace, page 8)
Wallace also drew a sketch of where he saw the plane, placing it at the area of the downed light poles and Lloyd England’s taxicab on Route 27.
And then you just heard the noise, and then he just smacked into the building, and when it hit the building, I am watching the plane go all the way into the building. (Boger, page 11)
Boger watches the plane crash into the building as Wallace and Skipper are running for their lives. But Skipper offers a similar statement in regards to the noise.
Didn't sound like anything until you actually hear it (Inaudible) I just remember starting to run. Heard the horrible crash behind me. Saw the next big orange glow (inaudible) on the ground. Getting myself up from the blast, and got our gear on, and started to go to work. (Skipper, page 4)
Boger reacts to the event by diving to the floor just after impact.
So once the plane went into the building, it exploded, and once it exploded, I hit the floor and just covered up my head. It was like glass shattering and ceilingtile was falling, and – (Boger, page 11)
At the time, Kidd was still in the building and only hears the plane and the impact event. However, Skipper is in agreement that first there was the sound of the impact event, then the fireball, validating Boger’s perception and reacting post-impact to the fireball.
Taken collectively and in-context, Boger’s account is perfectly harmonious with AAL77 impacting the Pentagon and a SoC flight path. I should also add that there is nothing to in them to support a NoC approach what-so-ever. As such, his later statement is either out-of-context or suffering from recall degradation in regards to NoC.