-Caveat Lector- "Everybody's seen this thing in the sky, but no one can tell us what it is."
Copyright 2001 Bergen Record Corporation The Record (Bergen County, NJ) September 14, 2001 Friday All Editions SECTION: NEWS; Pg. a18 LENGTH: 900 words HEADLINE: IN RURAL HAMLET, THE MYSTERY MOUNTS; 5 REPORT SECOND PLANE AT PA. CRASH SITE; THE INVESTIGATION SOURCE: The Record BYLINE: JEFF PILLETS, Staff Writer DATELINE: SHANKSVILLE, Pa. BODY: As investigators continued to search for clues to the crash of United Flight 93, people in this Allegheny Mountains hamlet were talking about a parallel mystery that one man called "the damndest darn thing" he'd ever seen. In separate interviews Thursday, five residents who live and work less than four miles from the crash site said they saw a second plane flying erratically within minutes of the crash of the Boeing 757 that took off from Newark two hours earlier Tuesday morning. Susan Mcelwain of Stonycreek Township said a small white jet with rear engines and no discernible markings swooped low over her minivan near an intersection and disappeared over a hilltop, nearly clipping the tops of trees lining the ridge. It was less than a minute later, Mcelwain said, that the ground shook and a white plume of smoke appeared over the ridge. "It was so close to me I ducked," Mcelwain said. "I heard it hit and saw the smoke. All I could think of was how close I came to dying. " About a mile north on Buckstown Road, Dennis Decker and Rick Chaney were at work making wooden pallets when they heard an explosion and came running outside to watch a large mushroom cloud spreading over the ridge. "As soon as we looked up, we saw a midsized jet flying low and fast," Decker said. "It appeared to make a loop or part of a circle, and then it turned fast and headed out. " Decker and Chaney described the plane as a Lear-jet type, with engines mounted near the tail and painted white with no identifying markings. "If you were here to see it, you'd have no doubt," Decker said. "It was a jet plane, and it had to be flying real close when that 757 went down. If I was the FBI, I'd find out who was driving that plane. " Late Thursday afternoon, federal agents who spoke to reporters at the crash site said "there was no evidence as of yet" that a second plane was nearby when Flight 93 plunged into a strip mine. Earlier Thursday, FBI Special Agent William Crowley said investigators could not rule out that a second plane was nearby during the crash. He later said he had misspoken. He dismissed rumors that a U.S. military jet had intercepted the plane before it could strike a target in Washington, D.C. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, President Bush's nominee for chairman of the joint chiefs of staff rejected rumors that the military had shot down the hijacked plane. "The armed forces did not shoot down any aircraft," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said. An official at the Cleveland Air Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, Ohio, which tracked Flight 93 as it turned in the sky and tracked eastward from the Cleveland area, said "no comment" when asked if there was any record of a second plane over the crash site. "That's something that the FBI is working on and I cannot talk about," said Richard Kettel, head of tower operations at the Cleveland center. He spoke shortly before the FBI announced it had no evidence of a second jet. About 16 miles north of the crash site, at the Cambria County Airport near Johnstown, officials said they had seen neither Flight 93 nor a second plane Tuesday morning despite perfect visibility. Tower Chief Dennis Fritz said he began searching the horizon for any signs of the 757 around 9:20 a.m. when the Cleveland Control Center radioed that Flight 93 was headed in their direction and was apparently out of control. Fritz says Cleveland control was urging him to evacuate the tower. "On the first call from Cleveland, they said a 757 was heading in our direction at about 6,000 feet and descending," Fritz said. "They were repeatedly trying to raise the pilot on the radio, but there was no answer. " Within minutes, Fritz said, he began to move people from the tower but hesitated to abandon it completely because he felt the incoming plane might be in distress and need to make an emergency landing. Shortly after 10 a.m., Fritz said, Cleveland control called back and said the 757 had veered sharply south and was no longer headed for the Cambria airport. Because the airport has no radar, Fritz said, he could not track the movements of Flight 93. Around Shanksville, news that investigators found the flight data recorder -- one of two black boxes aboard the plane -- did little to abate a growing sense of mystery over the sighting of a second jet. Susan Custer said she saw a small white jet streaking overhead. "Then I heard the boom and saw the mushroom cloud. " Robin Doppstadt was working inside her family food-and-supply store when she heard the crash. When she went outside, she said, she saw a small white jet that looked like it was making a single circle over the crash site. "Then it climbed very quickly and took off. " "It's the damndest darn thing," said Dale Browning, a farmer. "Everybody's seen this thing in the sky, but no one can tell us what it is. " Meanwhile, at least one New Jersey family that lost a loved on in the crash traveled Thursday to a resort about 30 miles from the crash site. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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