Does fate, coincidence, or divine intervention steer us to the major events in our lives? Even as a little boy, I had always wanted to fly. My earliest dreams were about flying like Superman, jetting around just using my arms as wings. I eventually got a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and the USAF taught me how to fly airplanes. Later, at the airlines, I became a Captain, occupying the "left seat." I had created my dream job.
On 9/11, I could have been piloting a "transcon" flying trip, most likely including a trip from Boston to Los Angeles, or from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. The 9/11 terrorist hijackings were my routes and my aircraft, the Boeing 757 and 767. The terrorists could have chosen one of my flights. Instead, I was on vacation with my family, standing across the street from the White House when the attacks took place. We felt and heard American Airlines Flight 77 as it crashed into the Pentagon, forever changing my perspective.
Less than one month after flying was resumed following 9/11, a deranged passenger broke down my cockpit door with the intent to kill the "terrorist pilots" he thought were flying the airplane. While attempting to land, I later found out we were almost shot down by two F-16's. This is my story, but what about 9/11 itself? How could it have happened in the first place? On our soil? How could this happen to the most powerful country the world has ever known? To the country with its intelligence community, with its military, with our decades of combating adversaries around the world? We were sitting ducks! Was 9/11 a hoax? Was 9/11 a government conspiracy like some think the moon landings were faked by the U.S. government?
Seen through the prism of the 9/11 Commission findings, we can examine the failures of the intelligence community, the military, the lack of a clear government policy, and the mismanagement of the policies that were in place, all of which led to the 9/11 attacks. Will another 9/11 happen again? Have we learned the hard lessons to insure that it will not happen again?
This book answers these critical questions and offers my perspective of 9/11 from a pilot's point of view.
About the Author: Dean Weber Graduated college in 1971 with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and then was a Vietnam era Air Force pilot for 6+ years. Worked at the Boeing Company as an engineer for 3 years before being hired as an airline pilot in 1981. Flew as an airline pilot for 27 years, 21 as a Captain. Retired in 2007 with over 25,000 hours of flight experience. During the 9/11/2001 time frame, based in Los Angeles and flew the Boeing 757 & 767 airplanes for American Airlines. A typical route was from Los Angeles to Boston, New York, Washington DC, or Miami, then back to Los Angeles...some of the exact flights used by the terrorist hijackers. In Washington DC on 9/11, and then had cockpit attacked by a deranged passenger less than a month later. Dean Weber's background and experience as both a pilot and aeronautical engineer has given him a unique viewpoint on the events surrounding 9/11.
