Breaking: Another Terrorist Attack!

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Mini-Abdul commits suicide in small-scale copy-cat attack of WTC

Small plane crashes into Tampa skyscraper

January 5, 2002 Posted: 5:59 PM EST (2259 GMT)

TAMPA, Florid a (CNN) -- A single-engine private plane crashed Saturday into the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa, police said.

A 15-year-old student pilot was at the controls of the plane when it took off from a nearby airport in St. Petersburg, according to a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department.

There were no immediate reports on casualties or injuries as a result of the crash.

Commercial airports in both Tampa and St. Petersburg temporarily suspended operations following the crash.

The skyscraper is located on Ashley and Kennedy Boulevard, according to Katie Hughes of the Tampa Police Department. The plane struck the building, built near the banks of the Hillsborough River, about two-thirds up, she said.

The tail of the plane was hanging from the side of building, and windows on at least two stories had shattered, according to reports. The structure remained intact and no smoke or flames were immediately evident at the scene.

The plane, built in 2000, is owned by National Aviation Holdings of Clearwater, Florida, according to Landings, a Web site that tracks information on individual aircraft.

-- (teenagers@joining.al-qaeda), January 05, 2002

Answers

St. Petersburg Florida. Yep, that's the place where all those Al-Qaida dudes did their flight training.

Damn! Looks like my good-ol'-boys network was slackin off and let that one slip through. We'll have to go back to Defcon One.

-- Trigger Happy Henry (pickin off @ low. flyers), January 05, 2002.




-- (skyscrapers@easy.targets), January 05, 2002.

Small plane crashes into building in Downtown Tampa... MORE... A small plane crashed into a 42 story downtown office building shortly after 5pm est this afternoon. So far, being characterized as an accident, no flames nor wide spread damage have been seen. The plane is seen hanging from the building around the 20th floor where it hit.... MORE... a witness says the plane did not try to turn away from the building and that a coast guard helicopter was in pursuit... Plane left St. Petersburg/ Clearwater airport. Unauthorized takeoff... FBI does not believe the crash is related to terrorism but has sent agents to the scene

Cessna 172R - N2371N

$92 per hour
Year: 2000
Model: Cessna 172R
Seats: 4
seful Load: 770 lbs.
Propeller Type: Fixed PitchAvg. Airspeed: 125 knots
Fuel Burn: 9 gallons per hour
Fuel Capacity: 56 gallons, 53 useable
Notes: This new Cessna has it all! Dual King Navcom, Glideslope, IFR GPS, 2-Axis Autopilot, ADF, 4-Place Intercom



FBI AGENTS SENT TO SCENE: SMALL PLANE HITS HIGH-RISE IN DOWNTOWN TAMPA, PILOT SAID 15 YEARS OLD




-- drudge siren! (warning!@warning!.warning!), January 05, 2002.



-- drudge siren! (be scared @ be. VERY scared!), January 05, 2002.

Saturday January 5 6:48 PM ET

Plane Crashes Into Tampa Skyscraper

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A small plane with a student pilot took off without permission Saturday, did not respond to orders to land from a Coast Guard helicopter and then crashed into a skyscraper, authorities said.

A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said the FBI (news - web sites) does not believe the crash is related to terrorism but has sent agents to the scene.

The student left the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport in a Cessna 172 and then crashed into the Bank of America building, Coast Guard Lt. Lance Isakson said. It hit near the 20th floor of the 40-story building.

Air traffic controllers notified the Coast Guard helicopter that the plane had taken off without clearance, said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Charlotte Pittman.

The helicopter intercepted the plane and attempted to give the pilot visual signals to land at a small airport, but the plane did not respond, Pittman said.

She said the plane was only a few yards from the helicopter when it was signaled to land. Pittman said she has no doubt the pilot understood what the Coast Guard helicopter was indicating.

Federal Aviation Authority spokesman Scott Brenneer said the plane was flown by ``a student pilot who did not have permission to fly the aircraft.''

Tampa Police Department spokesman Joe Durkin said there was no immediate word on injuries.

Tampa Police and fire crews were on the scene of the crash, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m.

Hijacked passenger planes were used to collapse the World Trade Center towers and attack the Pentagon (news - web sites) in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania.

Some of the pilots in the hijackings had been trained at Florida flight schools.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., is the third-largest U.S. bank. It employs about 143,000 people and serves about 30 million households in 20 states.

Bank officials did not immediately return calls for comment Saturday.

-- (uh-oh@not.good), January 05, 2002.



Good, this means I can refuse to go to work until the government learns how to enforce the new security laws. I work on the 25th floor of a skyscraper and they are going to have to pay me to work from home until it is guaranteed safe.

-- (Staying home @ Staying. alive), January 05, 2002.

What happened to our government's "heightened" security since Sept. 11? They were supposed to have F-16's on that sucker within a few minutes, and shoot it down if it approached any buildings. Especially since the pilot stole the plane and took off without approval. No sign of them, total communication breakdown. It looks like things are really no different than they were before Sept. 11, which leaves us completely vulnerable again. Guess all that heightened security crap was just another typical snowjob from the Bush administration, it works well as long as the people are dumb enough to believe it.

-- (Dubya@fucking.joke), January 05, 2002.

Word is that he had olive skin, dark hair, an accent, and smelled like a camel. Figures.

-- (Gubmint @ Racial Profiling. Goon), January 06, 2002.

"She said the plane was only a few yards from the helicopter when it was signaled to land. Pittman said she has no doubt the pilot understood what the Coast Guard helicopter was indicating."

The latest news reports are saying that the pilot signaled back at the Coast Guard helicopter crew, but they could not understand what he was trying to tell them...

It's not THAT hard to understand, is it?

-- (Not happy @ with. Bank of America), January 06, 2002.


So much for the image... as you might have guessed, he was flipping them the bird. LOL!

-- (looking for @ another. shot), January 06, 2002.


The 15 year old pilot left a note expressing sympathy for UBL.

-- (Roland@hatemail.com), January 06, 2002.

So much for racial profiling:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/682652.asp?pne=msn

-- Pammy (pamela_sue57@hotmail.com), January 06, 2002.


How did the kid know the instructor would leave him alone in the plane? Since he planned this in advance, he must have had another idea in case the instructor stayed in the plane, such as konking him on the head and pushing him out.

-- (smart@little.punk), January 06, 2002.

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