Question for Aviation Professionals Options

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How was it possible for FlightExplorer to track 3 of the 4 hijacked airliners from takeoff
to impact when the 9/11 Commission reported the transponders were turned off?


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/5...ts?page=108#108

Virginia company tracks terror flights

15:26 EDT Tuesday Taylor Lincoln

Potomac Tech Journal

A Fairfax, Va., company that tracks and records the flight paths of airplanes has released dramatic animated illustrations of the flight path of the Boston-Los Angeles American Airlines flight that is believed to be the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning.

The recording by Flight Explorer, a Fairfax-based subsidiary of Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Dimensions International Inc., shows the path of American Airlines Flight 11 heading west from Boston, then making an abrupt left turn in the vicinity of Albany, N.Y., and heading due south to New York City.

The plane crashed into the World Trade Center at about 8:45 a.m., about 15 minutes before a separate commercial plane crashed into the other World Trade Center tower.

The illustrations were depicted through a series of digital radar images that play back in a computer browser. Flight Explorer planned later Tuesday to distribute animated illustrations of the three other commercial flights that crashed Tuesday morning, said Jeff Krawczyk, chief operating officer of Flight Explorer.

Flight Explorer, which received requests for the illustrations from about 12 news agencies including all the major networks, also has learned that a United Airlines plane bound from Newark to San Francisco that crashed near Pittsburgh, Pa., at 10:10 a.m. had its flight path diverted. The flight was changed to arrive at Reagan National Airport, in Northern Virginia, Krawczyk said.

"When it got outside of Pittsburgh, it actually had a flight plan change to DCA," said Krawczyk said. "We hardly ever get a flight plan change. Very unusual."

Until the past few years, Flight Explorer was the only company that recorded flight paths and received frequent requests from the Federal Aviation Administration for recordings of flights, Krawczyk said.

After the death of golfer Payne Stewart in 1999, the FAA began recording flight paths, Krwczyk said. The company had not heard from the FAA by Tuesday afternoon.

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http://www.aviationnow.com/media/images/ne.../ual93final.gif

United 93

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http://www.avweb.com/other/ual175_aal11.gif

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AA Flight 11

http://www.avweb.com/other/aal11.gif

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"When it got outside of Pittsburgh, it actually had a flight plan change to DCA," said Krawczyk said. "We hardly ever get a flight plan change. Very unusual."[QUOTE]


Can any aviation professionals think of any reasonable explanation for this occurrence
concerning United 93?

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AA Flight 77

http://www.avweb.com/other/aal77_3.gif

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http://www.flightexplorer.com/profaq.aspx#001

Flight Explorer

What is Flight Explorer?

Flight Explorer is a PC based, real-time, graphical aircraft situation display (ASD). Flight Explorer uses your PC and a standard Internet connection (dial-up or dedicated) to display real-time aircraft and weather information from our data center. to top

What type of data is supplied? Flight Explorer provides the most accurate and reliable stream of air traffic data available in the industry. The data is based upon radar, satellite and other tracking information supplied by the FAA and other sources. Once Flight Explorer receives this data, it is processed and sent to the Flight Explorer client software via the Internet.

For subscribers to Honeywell GDC, Blue Sky Network, Sky Connect, Wingspeed or ACARS, additional flight tracking data outside our normal coverage area is sent to authorized users only.

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