after which Policastro and a colleague tried unsuccessfully to contact the
flight.
been hijacked. He then called his mother, Louise Sweeney, told her the flight
had been hijacked, and added that the passengers were thinking about storm-
ing the cockpit to take control of the plane away from the hijackers.
knives and Mace--They said they have a bomb--It's getting very bad
on the plane--Passengers are throwing up and getting sick--The
plane is making jerky movements--I don't think the pilot is flying the
plane--I think we are going down--I think they intend to go to
Chicago or someplace and fly into a building--Don't worry, Dad--
If it happens, it'll be very fast--My God, my God.
Both then saw the second aircraft hit the World Trade Center.
American Airlines Flight 77 was scheduled to depart from Washington Dulles
for Los Angeles at 8:10. The aircraft was a Boeing 757 piloted by Captain
Charles F. Burlingame and First Officer David Charlebois. There were four
flight attendants. On September 11, the flight carried 58 passengers.
would have begun. At 8:51, American 77 transmitted its last routine radio com-
munication.The hijacking began between 8:51 and 8:54. As on American 11
and United 175, the hijackers used knives (reported by one passenger) and
moved all the passengers (and possibly crew) to the rear of the aircraft (reported
by one flight attendant and one passenger). Unlike the earlier flights, the Flight
77 hijackers were reported by a passenger to have box cutters. Finally, a pas-
senger reported that an announcement had been made by the "pilot" that the
plane had been hijacked. Neither of the firsthand accounts mentioned any stab-
bings or the threat or use of either a bomb or Mace,though both witnesses began
the flight in the first-class cabin.