9/11 Cell Phone Calls - How did they do it?

by Maryjane 7 Replies latest social current

• 

  Maryjane

  So How Were Those
  911 Cell Calls Made?

  QUALCOMM Press Release
  12-23-5

  "Today, American Airlines and QUALCOMM showcased their strength as technology pioneers and market leaders in their respective industries," said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing for American Airlines. "American is committed to researching and providing innovative, cutting-edge products and services that enhance our passengers' traveling experience and give our customers what they value. Even though commercial availability of cell phone use in flight is approximately 24 months away, American Airlines knows that our customers want to stay connected and this proof-of-concept event is an important step in bringing in-cabin wireless services to our customers." American Airlines and QUALCOMM Complete Test Flight to Evaluate In-Cabin Mobile Phone Use FORT WORTH, Texas and SAN DIEGO - July 15, 2004 - QUALCOMM Incorporated http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2004/040715_aa_testflight.html The Strange Case Of The 911 Cell Phone Calls September 2004 Last month, Qualcomm Corporation issued a press release stating that they had developed a new technology that would finally make it possible to make cellular phone calls from commercial airliners. Using a technology called "Pico Cells", the system will work as a link between the airliner and ground towers. According to the press release, it is currently impossible to connect by cell phone in a plane that is above 4,000 feet. During the Republican National Convention in New York City last month, Deena Burnett, widow of Flight 93 victim Tom Burnett, spoke of the four telephone calls she received from her husband aboard the doomed airliner on September 11th, all of which were received from his cell phone, one of which lasted 13 minutes. With the FAA statement that Flight 93 never went below 29,000 feet until its' sudden fatal plunge, these two stories seem to be mutually exclusive. Either it is possible to make cell phone calls from a commercial jetliner in flight at cruising altitude - or it isn't. If it is already possible to use a cell phone on a plane, why is Qualcomm so excited about their Pico chip? If it is not possible to do so, there's an even bigger problem. Because there are no survivors of any of the 911 planes, the only "eyewitness" testimony we have is the paraphrased transcripts of phone calls made to family members. This is where we get the descriptions of "Arab looking men" with knives and box cutters, talking about "Allah". It is from these calls we hear the immortal and heroic "Let's roll!". (for the rest of the story...) http://gatorpress.com/badsam/page5.html
• 

  Crumpet

  Are you saying that they couldnt have made them because the technology isnt in place yet to use them? If so how did the passengers on the Nigerian flight a few months back where they froze to death as the plane lost altitude and the oxygen malfunctioned and crashed manage to call their families. I remember reading at least one of them did describing what was happening on the plane and saying goodbye.

  Maybe phones do work but they currently interefere with the plane's navighational systems and thats why you can;t use them and these newly developed ones dont interfere with the navs. Just a theory - probably all wrong!
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  serendipity

  I thought Tom Burnett used airphone, not cell phone. Airphones are embedded in the back of the headrest in the middle seat of the row. I don't know the technology that the airphones use.
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  Maryjane

  I'm just one of those people who has problems believing the official story. This is just one of the anomolies that always bothered me (one of the least...there are more troubling anomolies as well)
• 

  sinis

  I thought Tom Burnett used airphone, not cell phone. Airphones are embedded in the back of the headrest in the middle seat of the row. I don't know the technology that the airphones use.

  I find that hard to believe. I mean those phones are credit card only acitivated. I can't see this guy telling a terrorist, "Can you hold on a second while I reach into my wallet for my credit card, so that I can make a call?".
• 

  serendipity

  Here's one link, with an excerpt below:

  http://www.wisinfo.com/sheboyganpress/news/911/911_5754624.shtml

  Aboard another hijacked jet, United Flight 93, at least four passengers — Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett Jr. and Jeremy Glick — after their plane has been taken, learn what the fate was of the other hijacked planes through phone calls to loved ones or an airphone operator. Determined not to become an instrument of destruction for an unknown target and uncounted numbers of innocent victims, they storm the hijackers and battle them for control of the plan, which crashes in a field in Pennsylvania far short of whatever the hijackers intended target might have been.

  The last words GTE airphone operator Lisa Jefferson heard from Beamer was him asking someone, “Are you ready?” The last words she heard from became a rallying cry and a catch phrase for Americans in their continuing fight against terrorism — “Let's roll.”
• 

  Elsewhere

  They just used the air phones that have been installed on aircraft for many years now. No big deal... just an expensive call.
• 

  Elsewhere

  I find that hard to believe. I mean those phones are credit card only acitivated. I can't see this guy telling a terrorist, "Can you hold on a second while I reach into my wallet for my credit card, so that I can make a call?".

  What is so hard about swiping a CC into an air phone? Its not like every passenger had a terrorist guarding him. There were only one or two terrorists guarding all of the passengers while the rest were working on the crew and flying the aircraft. It would not be at all difficult to make a phone call.