September 11, 2001 Research & Archives

One of the ID technicians at NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) calls the FAA's Boston Center, and learns that there have been "threats in the cockpit" of Flight 11. The communications team at NEADS is currently trying to quickly find out all they can about the hijacked plane, such as its flight number, tail number, and where it is. ID tech Shelley Watson calls the management desk at the Boston Center, which had alerted NEADS to the hijacking minutes earlier (see (8:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001), wanting to make sure she has all the information that is available on Flight 11. Her call is answered by Boston Center's military liaison, Colin Scoggins. Scoggins tells Watson: "He's being hijacked. The pilot's having a hard time talking to the... I mean, we don't know. We don't know where he's goin'. He's heading towards Kennedy [International Airport in New York City]. He's... 35 miles north of Kennedy now at 367 knots. We have no idea where he's goin' or what his intentions are." Scoggins says, "I guess there's been some threats in the cockpit," and adds, "We'll call you right back as soon as we know more info." Master Sergeant Maureen Dooley is standing over Watson, relaying any pertinent information she hears to Major Kevin Nasypany. She calls to him, "Okay, he said threat to the cockpit!" [Vanity Fair, 8/1/2006; Spencer, 2008, pp. 34]