(10:55 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Air Force One Takes Evasive Action from False Alarm

Colonel Mark Tillman in the cockpit of Air Force One. [Source: CBS News]Col. Mark Tillman, pilot of Air Force One, is told there is a threat to President Bush’s plane. Tillman has an armed guard placed at his cockpit door while the Secret Service double-checks the identity of everyone on board. Air traffic controllers warn that a suspect airliner is dead ahead, according to Tillman: “Coming out of Sarasota there was one call that said there was an airliner off our nose that they did not have contact with.” Tillman takes evasive action, pulling his plane high above normal traffic. [CBS News, 9/11/2002] Reporters on board notice the rise in elevation. [Salon, 9/11/2001; Dallas Morning News, 8/28/2002] The report is apparently a false alarm.