U.S. Military Response During The September 11 Attacks - Flight 175

Flight 175

At 8:41 at the New York en route center in Islip, Long Island, United Flight 175 entered controllers Dave Bottiglia and Curt Applegate's airspace. The aircraft's transponder was at that time transmitting the assigned code. Its last radio transmission was at 8:42. As Bottiglia and other controllers searched the radar, looking for American 11, he suddenly noticed that United Flight 175, which moments before helped him locate American 11, had changed its transponder code twice at 8:47. He asked another controller to take over all of his other planes.

Bottiglia tried six times to contact flight 175 between 8:51 and 8:55, with no response. The aircraft deviated from its assigned altitude at 8:51, and began its turn toward New York City at 8:52. At 8:55 Bottiglia told a manager at FAA New York Center that he thought Flight 175 had been hijacked. According to the 9/11 Commission report, this manager then "tried to contact regional managers but was told that they were discussing hijacked aircraft (presumably American 11) and refused to be disturbed." At around this time, United Flight 175 flew within about 200 feet of Delta Flight 2315, bound from Bradley to Tampa, Florida.

In the final moments before impact, according to eyewitness and Newark air traffic controller Rick Tepper, the plane executed ".. a hard right bank, diving very steeply and very fast. As he was coming up the Hudson River, he made another hard left turn..." One or two minutes before it crashed into the World Trade Center, Flight 175 narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with Midwest Airlines Flight 7 (Midex 7). At 9:01, a New York Center manager called FAA Command Center at Herndon. NEADS was notified at 9:03, when the New York Center manager called them directly, at about the time that Flight 175 hit the South Tower. The F-15s were still 71 miles away from Manhattan when United Airlines Flight 175 smashed into the WTC's south tower.

Although NORAD knew of no other hijacked aircraft, a precautionary measure was taken by ordering fighters at Langley Air Force Base to battle stations.