Amateur Radio Op Records Attack Calls
[Source: Associated Press]

By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer

October 3, 2001, 3:25 PM EDT


SAUSALITO, Calif. -- Like many on the West Coast, amateur radio operator Robert Sanford was roused from bed around 6 a.m. on Sept. 11.

"My friend, Mike, called me. He said, `You gotta get up. The World Trade Center's been hit by a plane,"' recalled Sanford, a New York City native.

The 44-year-old radio enthusiast immediately went to his den, or "command center" as he calls it, and turned on his computer and television. Another East Coast friend used the Internet to feed Sanford radio transmissions between police and fire officials and dispatchers.

Sanford started listening -- and then he started recording, capturing more than two hours of wrenching exchanges.

Just after the first tower collapsed, a fire dispatcher responded to a voice calling for help.

"I'm beneath the north pedestrian bridge," the voice said. "I don't have much air. There was a building collapse. I was on the street. I don't have much air. Please send somebody."

"Listen to me," the dispatcher responded. "You need to calm down and relax. We do have somebody on the way over to you. Get off the air. Remain calm."

In those first hours after the towers collapsed, the dispatcher called for a unit and often got only silence in return.

After the second tower collapsed, a police dispatcher tracked perhaps a dozen reports of officers trapped. In an emotional exchange, he tried to pinpoint the location of a seriously injured officer who could barely speak.

"Try to talk into your radio," the dispatcher said. "What was your last location? What was your last location? Talk to us."

"Help me," was all the trapped officer could utter.

Sanford was stunned by what he heard.

"These guys are the best of the best. They can handle anything that's thrown at them, but this was too much even for them," Sanford said. "The bedlam on the radio -- everyone was kind of losing it."


Robert Sanfords radio room

posted by Tracy Justus at 10/3/2001  

Air-Defense Patrols Used Nuclear-War Procedures
[Source: Defense Week unconfirmed]

On the heels of terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, U.S. combat air patrols used a modified version of the procedures the armed forces would use to clear U.S. skies in the event of a nuclear war.

The Pentagon last week confirmed it was flying "combat air patrols" over several major U.S. cities. But they didn't discuss how the procedures had been developed for a Cold War nuclear exchange and had never before been put into practice-except for a brief false warning 22 years ago.

A reporter listening to air-traffic communications on a scanner minutes after the attack on Sept. 11 heard normal communications with aircraft from Continental Airlines, United, TWA and USAir slowly go silent. In their stead came two-way communications with call signs such as Wild, Bully, Angry, Angel, Huntress and hundreds more, as U.S. warplanes scrambled into the air.


Approximately five hours after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the U.S. strategic defense command in Colorado Springs, Colo., issued a military "notice to airmen" that said U.S. forces "will follow SCATANA procedures." The NORAD commander was referring to Security Control of Air Traffic and Navigation Aids-the command's rules for emptying the air so nuclear bombers and missiles can fly.

"In the event of a confirmed warning of nuclear attack, NORAD, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), would order the immediate grounding of all commercial aircraft in U.S. airspace and off the U.S. coast," according to a 1998 Brookings Institution report, "Atomic Audit."

"Developed in the 1960s, this little known plan- Security Control of Air Traffic and Navigation Aids (SCATANA)-authorizes NORAD, the FAA and the FCC to impose these restrictions in order to clear the skies for bomber and missile operations," the report said. The procedures had never been implemented, just simulated, except for a
six-minute-long false alarm in 1979 that was triggered when a NORAD technician accidently inserted a tape simulating a nuclear attack in NORAD's on-line warning system, the Brookings report said.

On Tuesday, the NORAD chief implemented "modified" SCATANA procedures, his notice to airmen said. "This was a modified SCANTANA, not a full," said FAA spokesman William Shumann. During a full SCATANA, ground navigation aids would be turned off. This was not the case for the modified SCATANA put in effect Sept. 11-12, he said.

'Black smoke on the horizon'

The Washington, D.C., area saw an unprecedented force of mostly D.C. Air National Guard (ANG), Air Force and Navy jet fighters flying combat air patrols under the control of NORAD. At one point, "Wild One," a D.C. Air National Guard F-16, based at Andrews AFB, Md., advised forces that there were "about 12 fighters over the D.C. area,"
according to air-to-air communications monitored by Defense Week.

Davison Army Airfield, Va., a few miles south of Washington, advised its aircraft in the local area to get on the ground as soon as possible after the attack. Pilots questioned Davison air traffic control tower about black smoke visible on the horizon from the airfield. "There is black smoke on the horizon up near Washington National, do you know anything about that?" one pilot questioned the tower during landing. "Sir, I can't talk about this over the radio," the tower responded.

All fighter aircraft were "fully configured" with live munitions and were detecting, intercepting, identifying and classifying unknown aircraft in the area.

On Sept. 11, a reporter heard pilots who came across unknown contacts aloft on several occasions report "nose hot," a term experts say indicates weapons are armed and ready, and later "nose cold," meaning the opposite.

"Wild One is locked to a contact heading 300, 30 [nautical miles] from bullseye at 1,000 feet," said one pilot, reflecting the radio transmissions that a reporter heard via a scanner on Tuesday and Wednesday. Pilots said "bullseye" referred to Washington Reagan National Airport. The fighters were grouped as pairs and stationed
over different areas and altitudes to cover as much territory as possible, according to the transmissions.

posted by Tracy Justus at 9/30/2001