Thad Ballinger News Today

Else . Whats more to the point than beware. Is that american 11 tracking the call . They are the people who awoke september 11th leading ordinary lives. I was in my office sitting in that chair. Suddenly thrust into one of the most horrific days many this nations history. He said we have some planes. Try to make any more. We have planes. We clearly had a hijack in progress. They said be prepared to shoot down the next hijack track. I said roger. There were ten miles away. Nine miles, eight miles...

They decided to do, which is amazing and shows a huge amount of courage, is when they know that the end is near, but they said, hey, you know, were not going give up. i think we should never forget that. >> when did you find out they didnt make it? >> well, we could see the faa had it on, and we could tell it was 93. the thought of it crashing and -- that was the drawing line. >> when his shift ended, so did ballingers 44-year long career. he tried to go back to work, but became so overly cautio...

>> for years ed has been sailing away from his memory. his refuge? this boat named the great old broad where he has been afloat with his wife trying to escape the memory of a few brief words. beware cockpit intrusion. >> lock the so and so door. i said hijacking alert. hijacking. should i said a possible hijacking? >> ballinger is footnote 69. on september 11 he was a dispatcher for united airlines in chicago handling 16 flights leaving the east coast and heading west. including united flight 17...

Star 349, spelling fix on the key pad. flaepts asking about coffee makers that didnt work or entertainment systems that needed fixing. at 9:36 a.m. the call belme answered was chilling. it was from flight 93. >> then a female voice comes on the line and goes, a flight attendant has been killed. theres two guys. one guy in the cockpit. one guy is at first class behind the curtain, and extremely calm. i was trying to act calm. as a controller we always want to be calm in & in control. she had me b...

Think that 9/11 is why i was here. >> the united airlines dispatcher ed ballinger left the airline after 44 years. he has thought about but has not talked to the relatives of those who died on united flight 93. the flight he tried to warn. to say he was sorry. 9/11 commission investigators say there was nothing more ballinger or any of the footnotes in the story could have done. still, ballinger remains haunted by the what ifs still trying to put 9/11 in his wake. when we left him, he and his wi...