United Cooperation With War Games Options

[kawika]

I want to explore the probability that both UA's and AA's corporate structure were aware of the War Games (WG) exercises that were going on around/during 9/11.

Do they have real-time monitoring of their own flights?

Wouldn't they be the first to know when their plane drops a transponder or deviates from a scheduled course?

Do the airlines get their data second hand from ATC? or third hand from NEADS?

Can someone please explain the pecking order?

Thank you.

[amazed!]

Good questions all! I wish I could help (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[kelana]

kawika if you are still looking for a reply, this is my take:

As far as I know the main system of communications aircraft / airline is by ACARS* which is a real-time datalink. Position reports are possible with ACARS (see Air France 447 accident for example). I have no idea if transponder information is also available. I would think that the airline would not require any data from ATC in the normal course of events. If there was a problem / incident then ATC data would come into play, however the airline would never normally need ATC data. Likewise NEADS (or NORAD generally) data would never be needed unless there was an incident (specifically where military intervention is required). So the airline would normally only rely on ACARS for communicating with its aircraft. Typically the airline will only really be interested in getting a heads-up on such things as revised ETA, technical issues and the like.

ATC would be the first to know of a course deviation and / or loss of transponder since, in any event, the ATC information is presented immediately and graphically rather than by text for ACARS.

As far as UA's and AA's corporate structure being aware of the exercises going on - I would imagine that if either were involved in providing aircraft for the exercises then they would have to be aware. If not then there would be no need for them to be aware. See this DoD news article from 04 June 2002 talking about today's multiagency, bilateral air security exercise sponsored by the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The article goes on to say:

This year's hijacking scenario is not a prediction of possible events, Snyder emphasized. About 1,500 people are taking part, including the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transport Canada, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Vancouver Airport Authority, and Delta Airlines.

Snyder said a Delta plane from Utah and a Navy C-9 from Washington State are among aircraft being used in the exercise. "Hijackers" and "law enforcement role players" are part of the scenario, he added. The Delta plane will fly to Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base, he noted, and the Navy C-9 will travel to Vancouver, Canada.

My bold in the above - it looks like, in this case (June 2002) the live-fly aircraft was provided by Delta and their corporate people would be sure to be aware. As regards to which airline(s) provided the aircraft (one or more) for the 9/11 exercise(s), I am not sure if this information is known.

I hope this is of some help.

Keith

* I know Wikipedia is not the most reliable source of information but, in this instance, I think the info is solid enough.

This post has been edited by kelana: May 17 2010, 12:25 PM