Exposing The 9/11 Cover-Up | TMZ Investigates: The Fifth Plane

Exposing The 9/11 Cover-Up | TMZ Investigates: The Fifth Plane

[Music] I definitely think flight 23 was the fifth plane. Four commercial airliners hijacked on 911. Nearly 3,000 people perished. But that’s not the end of the story. The crew aboard another plane, United Flight 23, believes they were also targeted. There’s a good chance that somebody was plotting to try to use our airplane as a weapon of mass destruction. Flight 23 was called back from the runway at JFK. The plane was fully evacuated and locked. People on the ground saw people running in the aircraft. The FBI told the crew that night. Authorities made a shocking discovery. The first thing they asked me was why the floor hatches were open on the airplane. They had to be opened after everyone had gone off the aircraft. Something was going on there that should not have been going on. The FBI was concerned enough to take the crew to a lineup. The FBI asked us if we could identify any of the people that were behind the window. There’s very little doubt in my mind that United 23 was the fifth airplane. [Music] I had one [Music] It’s 8:52 here in New York. I’m Bryant Gumble. We understand that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. We have no idea how many were on board or what the extent of the injuries. Oh my goodness. Oh god, there’s another one. The second plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. Horrific. Not just damage but surely loss of [Music] life. Something hit the Pentagon on the outside of the fifth corridor. The dimensions of this catastrophe are growing. We are told now a plane has crashed into the Pentagon. [Music] West Morland 911 dispatch had received a cell phone call who called out, “We are being hijacked. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.” And then there was an explosion and dead air. A hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. This is one of the four planes hijacked during this morning’s attack. I definitely think that flight 23 from JFK to LAX was the fifth plane. And that’s what scares haunts me to this day. In my mind, there was no doubt that that we were a target of a plan that would have taken us um to our end. [Music] My name is uh Captain Tom Manelo. I was flying a 767 on September 11th uh 2001 for United Airlines. The flight was originating at Kennedy Airport in New York and destination was Los Angeles. The takeoff time was [Music] 9:00. It was a beautiful day, a blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Thought it’s going to be a nice day. When I got to operations, I met my co-pilot, Carol. We got on our crew bus, uh, went to the airport. Everything seemed perfectly normal. We got on our [Music] airplane. I have to brief the uh cabin crew, which I did. Everybody was in a good mood. Everybody was happy. It was going to be a fun [Music] day. My name is Barbara Brocky Smaldino. I was a flight attendant on flight 23 on September 11th, 2001. My position that day was to be working in economy setting up the galley. It was a beautiful day in New York. Our crew was all ready to go. There were seven of us. We did our normal safety checks. And when I did my checks, I realized that the printout that we had for our special meals was incorrect. I had to go up to first class several times to meet with the dining service rep so we could solve this problem. The first flight attendant or the purser also had some meal issues to discuss with him. [Music] My name is Deborah and I was a purser on flight 23 September 11th 2001. [Music] I had four people board the aircraft in first class. I knew that the people did not eat meat. So I spent a great deal of time trying to get these four people fruit plates. The plane was not full. Relatively few people in business and economy and only four people in first. It was a taller, well-built gentleman in a tan suit, a young boy about 6 to 7 years old, a woman in a nijab, and a gentleman that appeared to be a type of bodyguard. My name is Sandy Thornrren. I was a flight attendant on flight 23 on September 11th, 2001. I was working in the business galley. [Music] I had gotten out, walked down the aisleway going up to first class and I noticed there were uh four people in first class. What struck me at that time was there was a woman wearing a burka. I figured it was a woman cuz that’s who wears that. The opening of the headdress was very tight and you could barely see his eyes. I did explain to our purser that I thought that that wasn’t a woman. It was actually a man. I was absolutely convinced it was a man. Absolutely. There was no doubt in my mind it was a man. And I could tell by the size of his hands. [Music] He had hair on his hands. It was definitely a male underneath that burka. I went back through the uh business section and I looked around and I saw a gentleman sitting just sweating profusely. Had a yellow t-shirt on. It was odd because it was 8:00 in the morning and airplanes are cold anyway, but it was it was a cool morning. He wasn’t jittery or anything, but I could see his face sweating, his body, his t-shirt was wet under his arms. This was all happening sometime after 8:30 a.m. before the first plane hit the World Trade Center. The flight attendants on United 23 saw things that seemed innocent enough then, but may have been anything but. The gentleman in the tan suit, he asked the purser that he show his young son the cockpit and passengers were just not allowed in the cockpit anymore. I walked up to first class again and there was a child with one of the men and they were just looking into the [Music] cockpit. In first class we have a choice of meals but usually only two food plates. So, I was trying to get catering to bring more fruit plates. Trying to do that while people are boarding and getting settled was just a mess. As the purser was trying to discuss this with the gentleman in the tan suit, he finally said, “It doesn’t really matter.” The people that were in first class, they wanted to take off. They didn’t want to eat. Our purser was determined that they get food because we had an extra long flight and nothing on our menu in first class was going to let them eat because she said everything has meat on it. They were arguing with her that they didn’t want to eat. They wanted to take off. They didn’t want to eat. And I could hear them say, “We do not want to eat. We don’t need food. We want to take off. We don’t need food. We just want to go. [Music] The first inkling I had of anything being different was the tug driver or the gentleman who’s going to push the airplane back said, “Hey, did you guys hear anything about a fire in the World Trade Center?” And I said, “No, we have no way of hearing anything about it.” And uh we started our [Music] flight. We taxied out about a quarter of the way around the airport and that was the second unusual thing I saw at that time. 9:00 in the morning was a very very quiet time. So, as I taxied around the corner and noticed almost like 10 or 11 airplanes in front of me, which I thought was highly unusual. I’d never seen it. I’d flown that flight a number of times and never seen more than two airplanes in front of me. So, had there only been a few planes waiting for takeoff, Flight 23 may well have been airborne and [Applause] quickly. And then we heard over the radio, hey, an airplane had flown into World Trade Centers. As a pilot, the assumption was this has got to be something somebody in a small airplane fooling around trying to do something stupid like maybe fly between them or something and and he hit one. [Music] Then a few minutes later, we heard again somebody made a radio call saying no, there was actually an airliner that flew into one of the World Trade Centers. That was staggering. [Music] I made another uh PA announcement to the passengers uh that there would be an extensive delay and I’d keep them posted. Even before the first plane hit the tower, people in charge of monitoring aircraft at United and American knew there were hijackings. As United 23 moved toward the runway, United Dispatch sounded the alarm. The next thing that happened was probably the important thing for the day. I got a message from our dispatch controllers that kind kind of shook us up a [Music] bit. My name’s Edward Ballinger. I’m an aircraft flight dispatcher for United Airlines. So, my job was to get the airplanes for my company safely to their destination. [Music] I sent a group message to all my flights in the air. Beware, cockpit intrusion. And every airplane got that message. Carol and I looked at each other and that’s when we started getting a sense that something was seriously wrong and that somebody might be making a threat against the airplane. We used our suitcases and wedged them between the uh door into the cockpit in a bulkhead so that basically the only way anybody can get in the cockpit from that point out would be literally to break the door down. We have a couple items in the cockpit that we could use as [Music] weapons. One is a fire extinguisher which I gave to Carol and I said if somebody does break through that door, hit him in the face with it. We also have a crash axe for ripping out panels in case of a fire. And I was going to take care of anybody that made it through the door. The next thing I remember was my first flight attendant call me, you know, on our intercom and say, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I just want to let you know we have four guys sitting in first class, and it just seems a little strange.” By this time, passengers and crew were frantically dialing family members, telling them they were okay and desperately seeking information. I got my phone and I spoke to my husband and he said that was one of you guys. That was a commercial airplane that has just crashed into the building. And I spoke to the captain and he said, “Everyone get in your seats. Make sure this cockpit, no one comes near it. It’s got to be secure. [Music] And then a couple minutes later, I described to people what I thought was the most unusual radio call I heard in my career, which was the Kennedy ground controllers. So you followed their instruction. Kennedy ground control came on and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the airport is officially closed and we’ve been ordered to evacuate this facility. You are on your own.” The captain announced that they were closing the airport. There seemed to have been another airplane that had hit another building in New York. Carol and I looked at each other and shook our heads as I guess we’re going back to our terminal. And um it was disbelief. It was a organized pandemonium. We eventually got back to the gate and we told the passengers that the airport was being evacuated. They were to get their belongings and leave immediately. And of course, they didn’t need any encouragement. They open the door to let everybody out. And as I’m handing out jackets to passengers in the business class, one passenger asked me, “Did they get the White House?” I said, “I would have no idea.” We moved the bags out of the way and there was a little peepphole. Uh I looked through and the airplane was completely empty. All I saw was a United mechanic waiting for me. And when I opened the door, he says, “All right, guys. You’ll have to get off the airplane. Um, I’ve been ordered to lock up the airplane.” So, we did just [Music] that. As we depained, we made sure lavatories were clear, every row is clear. There was not a person left on that plane. [Music] So the plane was empty and locked. The airport was being evacuated. No one knew if Kennedy Airport itself would become a target. So people were scrambling. And that’s what made an observation from below extremely suspicious. people on the ground, baggage people or somebody that worked on on the ground there saw people running in the [Music] aircraft. By this time, the United 23 crew was connecting dots. The person in first class disguised as a woman. The passengers who argued with the flight attendant about taking off quickly without food. The person profusely persspiring in business. The request to enter the cockpit. The reference to terrorists hitting the White House. The two mysterious people who were seen in the cabin after the plane was fully empty and the door locked. There were a lot of dots. So, I marched off in into our chief pilot’s office and I described what had happened with the four people that had had gotten off the airplane. And I think shortly after I left, um, he called the FBI. The flight crew was shuttled to a nearby hotel where they spent the night shaken by the terrorist attack and what could have happened had United 23 taken off. The day after, we were all called by FBI telling us that they needed to interview us regarding the incidents of what had happened on the airplane. [Music] We ended up getting interviewed by the FBI and they came to our hotel rooms and individually talked to us. I did tell them that I felt there were some suspicious people on the airplane. And I pointed out exactly the four people in first class and two gentlemen in business, but the one that had the t-shirt on that had uncontrollable perspiration. I did tell them that the first thing they asked me was why the floor hatches were open on the airplane. I know there was a hatch in the floor forward of my seat at door one left. I know that hatch led down to the electronics for the cockpit. And the hatch is big enough for a large person to work down in there. About 20 minutes after we left, the agents saw something funny going on on the inside of the aircraft. And they’d had somebody board the aircraft and they found the hatches open in the floors. If the hatches were open, the people could not have gotten off the aircraft because the hatches were just too big to get around. They had to be opened after everyone had gone off the aircraft. They’d asked questions like if I noticed the rug had been turned up around the the hatch by the cockpit. When the SWAT team had come and opened the door, they found that the hatch that goes down into the area where all the equipment is, the electronics and all that, the hatch had been open. When I was talking to the FBI and they told me those floor hatches were open, I couldn’t breathe. I tried to figure out how those hatches could be opened unless there was somebody down in the electronics area and they opened it after we left the aircraft. Maybe somebody was trying to get on the airplane without being noticed. And it could possibly be that there was evidence on the airplane they wanted to get rid of. Whether it be box cutters in the seats or knives or weapons, I I have no idea. But somebody could have entered the airplane uh through the electronics bay up into the cabin and removed whatever evidence they wanted to and then simply left the airplane. My name is Steve Jordano. I’m a pilot for the Nomadic Aviation Group. We do aircraft flight test and repositioning. Uh this is a Boeing 767 aircraft, the same aircraft as United Flight 23. We’re in the front of the aircraft here in the 767. Um, and this is the uh access to the E and E compartment. The E and E compartment is accessible really easily from the ramp. It’s as simple as pulling down the handle and then retracting the door here and then basically just hoist yourself up into the airplane like so. So now I’m in the uh electronics compartment here, the E& compartment which is forward to the cargo pit. This is where all the aircraft radios and electrical equipment is located. And then right here is the hatch that gets us right onto the main deck of the aircraft. This is normally covered, but if there’s a carpet, the carpet is always movable here because this is the way that we get in and out of an aircraft if we don’t have ground support equipment with stairs. So, it’s a it’s a pretty easy process. Really simple. There’s actually a ladder and uh makes it real easy. You just climb right up inside. And uh now we’re here in the uh main cabin. Here’s the main entry door of the aircraft. And the first class cabin’s right here. So it’s real easy to just have full access to the aircraft right from the E and E compartment. So from the first class cabinet, you just walk right through the uh entry here and get back onto the ladder and uh right back into the E& compartment. And from the electronics compartment here again, it’s just as simple as going back to the hatch in order to get out. Just like that. Then I’m back right onto the tarmac and I can walk away and blend in with the crowd. The airplane was locked and sealed uh when I left the airplane. So something else was going on that that I cannot explain. Something was going on there that should not have been going on. You raise a theory that there may have been people in uniform of some sort, catering, baggage, whatever. who came up through that hatch into the cabin possibly to remove weapons or box cutters, whatever. Can you think of another rational theory possibility? Honestly, no. I I I uh I I can’t think of another reason why somebody would do that. The FBI wanted to take us to show us a lineup of people at the uh Port [Music] Authority. They got us all in a van, windowless van. I felt like we were getting snuck into this van and driven over to the Port Authority offices where everyone I mean gates were locked and guarded with armored military that had machine guns or whatever rifles they were using. We were escorted into one room where there were those double um windows that you could see in but not out and asked us if we could identify any of the people that were behind the window. I could not identify any one. After Kennedy Airport was shut down, authorities searched various airplanes, including the one parked next to United 23, another 767 that was not scheduled to take off during that critical time period. The chief pilot reported to me that they had found box cutters on on the airplane and it was coincidentally just one number off mine. He asked me the the uh tail number of the airplane I was flying, the nose number we call. I gave it to him and he said, “Well, I just want to let you know that we found two box cutters in the in the seat pockets in first class on the airplane next, which was the tail number was one digit off.” If somebody was on the ground cooperating with them, they just simply made a mistake and put the box cutters on the wrong airplane. My name is Lynn Spencer. I’m a former airline pilot and a flight instructor and an aviation safety investigator. am an author of a book about the air events of September 11th. During my research, it was made very evident to me from the highest levels of our government, members of the FBI, senior federal aviation officials, that there were more than just the four planes. They also shared with me some of the items that were found on other airplanes that didn’t get off the ground on that day. The items that I was told had been found on planes were box cutters. Um, specifically, I believe that it’s a reasonable assumption to think that those box cutters were meant for my airplane, not the one next to me. You have people that clean the airplane, uh, people that load food on the airplane that have access to the airplane. If somebody was in cooperation with the group, uh, they could have been put there. There are a host of people that have access to the airplane. It wouldn’t be uh the hardest thing in the world to get on an airplane like that. It’s the one thing that makes me think that there’s a ch a good chance that uh somebody was plotting to try to use our airplane as a weapon of mass destruction. The United would have become airborne right about the time of the other hijacked aircraft on September 11th. And there’s very little doubt in my mind that United 23 was the fifth airplane. [Music] So where did the United 23 passengers go? The ones who aroused suspicion on the part of the flight crew. The FBI told the pilot there were seven passengers on its radar. The only thing they really said to me was uh the fact there were seven people on the airplane. Um and then wanted to know everything I did, everything I said everywhere I went. There were the things I related to them, the gentleman, his wife, and and a a small baby. The FBI didn’t go into any length about the four gentlemen on the flight. They simply were described as Arabs. Uh, and I I’m assuming he was he meant Saudis, but I think he indicated they were going to be questioned. As for whether they were questioned, we don’t know. The pilot doesn’t know. The crew doesn’t know. The FBI wasn’t telling them, and they certainly weren’t telling us. We have requested information about Flight 23. We even filed a Freedom of Information request. We did not get a reply. Nobody is forthcoming with what I think is a simple statement. No, these these were innocent people on the flight. Forget about it. I don’t I don’t know why that information can’t be released. Uh if they were involved, then I could understand why that information isn’t being released. Did the 9/11 commission ever contact you? No. No one in the government uh has contacted me about the event outside of that one interview from the FBI. The 9/11 Commission was unprecedented in scope and resources, taking nearly 3 years to write a report that was nearly 600 pages long. The staff poured through a half million pages of documents and interviewed 1,200 people in 10 countries. Yet, United 23 was never mentioned, not even once in the official report. I really can’t speak to why the 911 commission didn’t pursue information on uh Flight 23. When I looked at what they covered and what they didn’t cover, it seemed to me as if when they had something they really couldn’t explain. They didn’t dig deeper. They just kind of left it alone. I’m Bob Kerry, former senator from Nebraska and former member of the 911 commission. We didn’t identify the possibility of a fifth plane as your documentary suggests, but we identified a number of other things that uh were worthy of investigation. We thought that we just simply didn’t have time to get it done. We just didn’t have the time, for example, to find out precisely the involvement of the Saudis or precisely the involvements of Iranian. And most of those things were identified in the report itself as things that Congress should follow up on. My name is Carolyn Maloney. I’m a former member of Congress. I represented mainly the east side of Manhattan between uh 1993 to 2023. I’m deeply concerned that there could be the fifth plane. I would say that the intelligence committee in uh Congress should look at the intelligence reports that came out from this investigation that took place. As for United, well, as pilots say, radio silence. [Music] The only communication I have from United, official communication were from the flight manager and the chief pilot. There’s been nothing that United Airlines has said to me. I understand that there are significant forces uh going on with the government of our government, foreign governments, the Saudis that might make it better for them not to release any information. We also asked United for comment about the seven passengers the FBI honed in on, about the hatch being opened, all of it. United had no comment. I now believe that it is more likely than not that we were the fifth airplane. The individuals on this plane were obviously terribly traumatized by it. They thought they were uh going to be the fifth plane. Whether they were not, I I I simply don’t know. United wasn’t going to let us fly home just to fly home. United wanted us to work the flight and if we were good enough to fly on their airplane, we were good enough to work their airplane. And I told them I was in no condition physically or mentally to be able to be a flight attendant. Most of the flight attendants suffered deep emotional scars and couldn’t do their jobs. They filed for disability and say the airline fought them tooth and nail. They sent us to numerous doctors diagnosed with PTSD. They still fought. Doctors looked in my eye and told me I was not telling the truth. I was lying. That this wasn’t that big of a deal. We had to get lawyers to get any compensation if we wanted to stay off on a sick leave. I felt um that nobody had my back. I am Bruce Gelber and I represented a number of the flight attendants on flight 23 on 911. United took the position that their stress was no different than everybody’s. So that if everybody in the world who watched what happened that day was allowed to file a claim against their employer for workers’s comp that it would break the system and I had to proceed under the theory that their stress was unique different than the general public and I prevailed on that and so after a number of years of litigation adversary medical examinations and the like uh we prevailed obtaining permanent disability awards and in signing the paperwork for the $4,000 settlement for my medical bills. I could no longer work for United or its subsidiaries again. I was basically fired. I had flown for them for 31 years and I probably would have stayed with them longer. I loved my job, but I wasn’t given the choice. It’s been 21 years, and it still stays with me. The terrifying, horrific events and the way I was treated by a company that I was loyal to for 30 years. And I decided I just said couldn’t do anymore. And I had retired in 2003. the uh indifference and the way that we were treated was abominable. So, it was time to leave that job that I worked so hard for. I think it’s the trauma that you’ve done a very good job of showing that continues. People have not gotten over this who were here e either on that day or in a plane or somehow directly associated with lost a loved one. it doesn’t really matter. Uh there’s a wide amount of trauma that still exists uh in the United States as a consequence of these attacks. [Music] I want you all to know this nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. I can hear you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. As a symbol of America’s resolve, we will rebuild New York City. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

More than two decades after the September 11th attacks, chilling new claims are surfacing about a possible fifth plane intended to strike. While four hijacked planes carried out the devastating attacks, new information suggests another aircraft may have been part of the original plot — one that never reached its target. Was it grounded in time? Covered up? Or simply forgotten? This investigation digs into government documents, eyewitness accounts, and hidden details that may point to a fifth plane… and a deeper conspiracy.

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