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U.S. Department 800 Independence Ave., S.W.

Of Transportation Washington, DC 20591
Federal Aviation
Administration

September 28, 2001

Terrorist Attack on U.S.

Situation Report #18
Asof1:OOPMEDT
(Changes in bold)

1. Background. Terrorists commandeered commercial aircraft, crashing two into

the World Trade Center in New York, and one into the Pentagon in Washington DC. A
fourth aircraft crashed south of Pittsburgh after reporting a hijack. American and United
airlines each lost two flights in the air crashes. The four flights carried a total of 266
people ~ 233 passengers, 25 crewmembers and eight pilots. Domestic and
international flights in U.S. airspace have resumed under more stringent airport and air
carrier security procedures.

2. Operational status. NAS facilities are all fully operational

• There were 127,426 Center Controller Operations yesterday, 9% less than
the Thursday average for the previous year.
• All FAA facilities are at Security Condition (SECON) CHARLIE. No FAA-wide
Readiness Level has been set.
• The FAA continues to restrict visitors at FAA facilities. See GENOT issued Sep
162001.
• The FAA HQ CRWG is coordinating revisions to the COOP Cadre list and the
development of a COOP Advance Team.
• The FAA ATCSCC and ACS officials are continuing to coordinate the resumption
of international commercial passenger, cargo, and Foreign Part 91 flights in the
U.S. The FAA is also coordinating international humanitarian flights issues that
are restricted in operating into the U.S. under the current restriction on foreign
Part 91 operations. Non-Canadian foreign air carriers are permitted to overfly the
territorial airspace of the U.S. only after affirming in writing to their FAA Principal
Security Inspector that they will implement the emergency measures required for
overflight authorization. To date, 39 Part 129 (Foreign) air carriers have been
approved for overflight of U.S. territorial airspace.
• Flight Restrictions and authorizations are as follows: Except for the operations
listed below, Part 91 VFR operations are permitted within the territorial airspace
of the U.S., for U.S. registered aircraft, provided that those operations are
conducted outside "Enhanced Class B airspace."
• The following operations are authorized IFR only:
• News reporting operations
• Civil aircraft banner towing operations

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• Sight seeing flight operations (in rotorcraft and airplanes)

conducted for compensation or hire (under Part 91, pursuant to the
exception in 119.1(e)(2))
• Traffic watch flight operations
• Airship/blimp operations
• Examples of authorized VFR operations, outside "Enhanced Class B
airspace" include:
Aircraft maintenance repositioning.
Airshows.
Balloon flights-both commercial and noncommercial.
Civil Air Patrol.
Gliders.
Manufacturer production flight tests.
Mapping/photography missions.
Pipeline/powerline inspections.
Seaplanes.
Skydiving.
Ultralights.
Wildlife management operations.
• The following Part 91 IFR operations are authorized within the territorial
airspace of the U.S.
• Foreign registered aircraft departing the U.S. With no intermediate
stops within the U.S.
• Foreign registered aircraft overflying the U.S. With a maximum
certificated takeoff gross weight less than 95,000 pounds.
• VFR-on-top operations.
• Other authorized operations:
• All part 91 IFR/VFR operations in Alaskan airspace.
• All part 91 IFR/VFR operations in Hawaiian airspace outside
"enhanced class b airspace".
• Within "enhanced class b airspace," all military, medivac,
rescue/recovery, fire fighting, law enforcement, and emergency
evacuation aircraft can conduct IFR or VFR operations using an
ATC-assigned discrete beacon code.
• Commercial space operations are authorized and must be
approved in accordance with established procedures.
• FAA Flight Service Stations are providing continual updates on authorization
status via their 800-number at 1-800-WXBRIEF (1-800-994-7433).
• FAA Order 7110.263 has been revised to assure immediate notification to
NORAD, ROC, and ATCSCC of a possible hijacking.

CURRENT NOTAMS AFFECTING U.S. AIRSPACE

• FDC 9952 - Flight Restrictions - New York
• FDC 0100 - Flight Restrictions - Washington, DC
• FDC 0298 - Flight Restrictions - Professional/Collegiate Sporting Events/Major
Open Air Assemblies

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FDC 0345 - Emergency Air Traffic Rules - Part 91

FDC 0347 - Emergency Air Traffic Rules- Parts 91,121,125, 129,133,135
FDC 0356 - Emergency Air Traffic Rules - Part 91
FDC 0356 - Emergency Air Traffic Rules - Part 91
FDC 0523 - Powerline/pipeline patrols
FDC 0530 - Nuclear Powerplants
FDC 0532 - Post Maintenance Flight Test, Production, And Acceptance Flights

Special Exemptions
• Electronic News Gathering operations requesting exemptions to conduct
VFR operations and expand IFR operations within Enhanced Class B
Airspace are being reviewed and coordinated with FBI, DoD, ATS and ACS
prior to approval.
• US Government contracted aircraft operations (e.g. USDA-contracted
Medfly spray operations in S California and Miami) are being reviewed and
coordinated with FBI prior to approval.

3. Part 139 airport status. Airports are being approved for operation upon
certification that new security requirements have been implemented. A list of these
airports is posted on the FAA Intranet at:
http://atcscc.faa.gov/ois/

• Temporary flight restrictions are in force for GA (Part 91) operations for the
airspace around New York's JFK Airport and Washington's Reagan National out
to a radius of 25 miles. In the New York vicinity, all major airports are open to
traffic.
• SFAR No. 90 - Prohibition Against Certain Flights Within the Territory and
Airspace of Afghanistan - has been issued by the FAA. This emergency SFAR
has been issued by NOTAM.
• At the time of this report, of the 455 Part 107 U.S. airports, 454 have been
certified as complying with the emergency security directives. Washington's
Reagan National (DCA) has yet to be certified.
• To date, 98% of the foreign air carrier stations and 95% of commercial flights to
the U.S. are certified to the new security directives. The remaining uncertified air
carrier stations consist primarily of the smaller carriers and those with infrequent
flight schedules. Additional certifications continue to be received.

4. Personnel. AHR is tracking information on casualties to FAA employees and

families resulting from the attacks. Numerous FAA employees/families have been
affected.

• AHR has issued guidance on relaxed travel policies to assist for onward
movement of employees. A toll-free hotline that was established to assist
stranded FAA employees has been discontinued. Further questions can be
directed to the Travel Policy Help Desk at 1-800-482-4044 or 202- 267-9056.

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5. Supplemental information.
• AGO Operations Watch (OPSWATCH) is now monitoring a 24/7
communications net that includes the 21 ARTCCs and is managed by
NORAD. This net provides immediate feedback for any intercept missions;
related to aviation.
• DOTs Crisis Management Center (CMC) has reduced daily operations from
0600-2400 to 0600-2000 Monday through Friday. There will be no weekend
staffing of the CMC unless further activation is required.
• FAA is providing domestic and international premium and non-premium war risk
insurance for U.S. carriers that request it. This is the first time domestic war risk
insurance has ever been issued.
• FEMA's Washington-based Emergency Response Team (EST) has fully
activated and on 24-hour operations. All 10 of the FEMA regions - headquartered
in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Denton, TX, Denver,
San Francisco and Bothell, Wash. - are also fully activated.
• FEMA has activated the Federal Response Plan.
• FEMA has activated its operations center, and is working closely with the FBI's
Strategic Operation Information Center (SOIC). FEMA's SIOC liaison has been
activated.
• CAPTURING IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS: The Office of Research and
Acquisition (ARA) has established a system for employees and others to offer
suggestions on improving safety and security. The system has e-mail, fax, as
well as telephone capability. The e-mail address is 9-AWA.TELLFAA@faa.gov.
The fax number is 202-267-5091. The telephone number, which will be staffed
Mondays - Fridays, 8:30 a.m. is 1-866-289-9673. E-mail and fax are preferred.
• ACS is coordinating with NRC officials the monitoring of suspicious aircraft
activity in the vicinity of nuclear power plants. See NOTAM FDC 0530.
• DOT has informed all modal administrations that DOT's Crisis Management
Center will remain active for an additional 30 days.

Sources: FAA HQ WOC, ACC, ATCSCC, ANE ROC, AEA ROC, ASO ROC,
DOT/OET, FEMA, NOAA, Media

Authorized for Release:

Dan Noel
Manager, Emergency Operations Staff

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