Debunked: MH370 call exposing 9/11 cover-up?

[Mick West]

This article from Iran's state run PressTV claim that the reported difficulty of getting a cell phone connection from a high altitude plane proves that the calls made by passengers on 9/11 could not have happened:
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/04/14/358474/mh370-call-exposing-911-coverup/

Unless the plane has special equipment developed during the past few years (and MH370 did not) it is impossible to have a cell phone conversation from an airliner at even a few thousand feet of elevation. Below 7,000 feet, one could dial a number and, with luck, get a brief connection to a cell tower – but that connection would drop before the call could be put through and answered.

That is what happened to Fariq Abdul Hamid’s attempt to make a cell phone call from missing Flight MH370.

And yet we were told that on September 11, 2001, passengers on hijacked flights also made “desperate calls” and somehow engaged in long cell phone conversations with people on the ground!

For many years, the US government and mainstream media reported that at least fifteen cell phone calls had been placed from the allegedly hijacked airliners flying at over 30,000 feet. These reports began with the claims of Bush administration Solicitor General Ted Olson, who told CNN that his wife, right-wing commentator Barbara Olson, had “called twice on a cell phone” from allegedly-hijacked Flight 77 – the flight that supposedly hit the Pentagon. Olson said the first call from his wife lasted “about one minute” and the second call “two or three or four minutes.”

Content from external source

The key bunk here is that the vast majority of the calls from planes on 9/11 were not made from cell phones, they were made from air phones - the expensive telephones in the seats that you can use with a credit card. These are much less popular now (being phased out due to cost and lack of use), but were quite common in 2001. There were two types in operation, Airfone, and Air One, both of which were used on 9/11




There are records of many of the airfone calls, depending on how they were placed: For example this one from Renee May.


Ted Olson ultimately did not know if the call came from a cell phone or an air phone.




Presumably the writers at PressTV know all this, and are simply trying to spin up an old debunked story for propaganda reasons.

More info here:
http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/evidence/calldetail.html - shows the seat number of the air phone used by each caller, where known.
http://www.911myths.com/index.php/Barbara_Olson_calls

 

[jaydeehess]

In addition of course, the 9/11 aircraft were over land at all times and therefore presumably over a cell tower, whereas there are no cell towers on the sea over which MH370 spent most of its time.

 

[cjnewson88]

From memory there were only two cell phone calls placed on 9/11. Both were from UAL93. Both were when the aircraft was below 7,000ft. Both did not last longer than a minute or so. Both took several attempts before the calls were connected due to poor reception.

 

[Hot Wing Conspiracy]

Impressive. Finally some 911 debunking with a shred of credibility here.

 

[Simon Gunson]

This article from Iran's state run PressTV claim that the reported difficulty of getting a cell phone connection from a high altitude plane proves that the calls made by passengers on 9/11 could not have happened:
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/04/14/358474/mh370-call-exposing-911-coverup/

Unless the plane has special equipment developed during the past few years (and MH370 did not) it is impossible to have a cell phone conversation from an airliner at even a few thousand feet of elevation. Below 7,000 feet, one could dial a number and, with luck, get a brief connection to a cell tower – but that connection would drop before the call could be put through and answered.

That is what happened to Fariq Abdul Hamid’s attempt to make a cell phone call from missing Flight MH370.

And yet we were told that on September 11, 2001, passengers on hijacked flights also made “desperate calls” and somehow engaged in long cell phone conversations with people on the ground!

For many years, the US government and mainstream media reported that at least fifteen cell phone calls had been placed from the allegedly hijacked airliners flying at over 30,000 feet. These reports began with the claims of Bush administration Solicitor General Ted Olson, who told CNN that his wife, right-wing commentator Barbara Olson, had “called twice on a cell phone” from allegedly-hijacked Flight 77 – the flight that supposedly hit the Pentagon. Olson said the first call from his wife lasted “about one minute” and the second call “two or three or four minutes.”

Content from external source

The key bunk here is that the vast majority of the calls from planes on 9/11 were not made from cell phones, they were made from air phones - the expensive telephones in the seats that you can use with a credit card. These are much less popular now (being phased out due to cost and lack of use), but were quite common in 2001. There were two types in operation, Airfone, and Air One, both of which were used on 9/11.

There are records of many of the airfone calls, depending on how they were placed: For example this one from Renee May....

Presumably the writers at PressTV know all this, and are simply trying to spin up an old debunked story for propaganda reasons.

More info here:
http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/evidence/calldetail.html - shows the seat number of the air phone used by each caller, where known.
http://www.911myths.com/index.php/Barbara_Olson_calls

Ordinarily Mick, I would agree with you...

...and you are correct that yes, the vast majority were from airphones, but there were some genuine cell calls. In certain circumstances there is evidence that calls were made from airliners. This for example is a chart of calls made from United Flight 93 during the 9/11 tragedy:



As a rule cell connections are impossible from above 10,000ft, but on United Flight 93 two cell calls were made at an altitude of 5,000ft. Whilst it is claimed that a cell phone cannot make a cell tower connection at more than 150kt, there are obviously some peculiar situations when it has happened. One suspects at altitudes below 10,000ft if an aircraft flies an oblique path towards a tower the relative speed can be less than 150 kt.

Evidence of this arises from Ansett NZ Flight 703 in New Zealand during 1995:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansett_New_Zealand_Flight_703

Police charged the captain with Manslaughter and after the acquittal it was revealead by local TV station TV3 that NZ Police concealed the fact a successful cell phone call was made by a passenger whilst the aircraft was on IFR approach to complain to the airline call centre about the late arrival of the plane. A woman with the surname Cauldwell at the airline call centre reported this call to NZ Police. The cell call terminated at the exact same instant when the aircraft's GPWS gave pilots just 4 seconds warning.

The Captain's defence was that the radio altimeter suddenly lost 1,000ft at the same instant that the GPWS sounded an inadequate terrain warning. NZ crash investigators were either unaware of the cell phone call, or NZ Police did not share what they knew with crash investigators.

There is some possibility that a cell phone call connected with the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737, flight 1951, causing the autopilot to disconnect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_1951

Given that cell phone calls can connect at low altitudes had MH370 flown low over Kota Bharu then we should have detected some calls by passengers.

The fact there were no such calls suggests MH370 flew at high altitude and remained over the ocean.

 

[Mick West]

Ordinarily Mick, I would agree with you...

Interesting information, but I'm not entirely sure what you are disagreeing with.