A TWA pilot needed to take “evasive action” on September 11, 2001, to “dodge” a hijacked airliner that crashed into the World Trade Center, according to a new report. An alleged resurfaced video shows the pilot and passengers talking about how close they were to crashing into one of the planes used in the 9/11 attacks in New York City that killed 2,977 people.
The New York Post recently reported, “The pilot on TWA Flight 3 took ‘evasive action’ twice before safely landing — first to avoid colliding with United Flight 175, which struck the World Trade Center, and then Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, according to a New York-based flight attendant who was on the crew.”
The hero pilot – only identified as “George” – is purportedly seen on video giving an interview to “ABC World News Tonight” the day after the world-changing terror attacks of Sept. 11.
ABC News national correspondent Dean Reynolds asked the pilot, “You dodged one of the aircraft that hit the tower?”
“Yeah. Well, he was up there when we were coming from New York. So what we had to do was — they (flight control) were not talking to him, and he was changing his heading and his altitude, so they cleared us to deviate; however we had to stay away from him.”
The pilot added, “We had him in sight — it was a nice day in New York. We were out of the clouds, which helped a lot. We just, you know, dodged him.”
Passengers were also interviewed for the news segment about the near-miss on 9/11.
“I thought we were going to crash,” a TWA passenger told the news outlet. “I thought the plane was going to crash.”
The horrified passenger noted that the near-collision happened right after taking off, and the plane was “shaking” after it “went down and came back up.”
“But it wasn’t your normal taking off routine,” he said. “And then you could just see a plane just bypass us really close, and I thought maybe it was a near-miss.”
Passengers could see the World Trade Center on fire from the hijacked plane crashing into it.
The TWA Boeing 767 took off on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, from John F. Kennedy International Airport – just 14 miles from the World Trade Center.
The hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m.
After learning that United Airlines Flight 175 had smashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, TWA flight attendants reportedly “pushed food carts up against the cockpit door to guard against a possible hijacking.”
A TWA flight attendant told the New York Post that the pilot had warned the crew that “he’d be standing behind the door with an ax.”
The flight attendant recounted the chilling announcement on the plane’s speakers: “This is a national emergency. By order of the federal government, any plane still in the sky in 20 minutes will be shot down by friendly fire.”
The TWA flight was bound for St. Louis, but was rerouted to Dayton, Ohio, following the terrorist takeover of four commercial airliners on 9/11.
Retired FDNY Lt. Charlie Hubbard was on the TWA Flight 3, and said the pilot “saved our lives, without a doubt.”
Hubbard recently recalled the gut-wrenching experience on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter.
“About twenty to thirty minutes later, we nearly had a mid-air collision with one of the hijacked planes,” Hubbard tweeted leading up to the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “After the frightening, dramatic maneuver our flight crew executed to avoid the other aircraft, we were grounded in Dayton, OH.”
The flight attendant told the Post that the TWA plane had a second near-collision with a hijacked 9/11 plane. The unnamed crew member said the TWA plane missed the tail of doomed United Airlines Flight 93 “by 500 feet.”
Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Terrorists reportedly planned to crash Flight 93 into a government building in Washington, D.C., but courageous passengers foiled their wicked plot. The plane ended up crashing in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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Flight 175 near mid-air collision before WTC impact w/TWA Flight 3, pilot & passengers interviewedwww.youtube.com