Twenty-four years after September 11, we’re still learning the full scope of that horrific day.
New evidence suggests the terrorist plot was even bigger than we knew.
And a United Airlines pilot just exposed one terrifying 9/11 detail that will leave you stunned.
United Flight 23 pilot reveals chilling near-miss on September 11
Captain Tom Mannello was moments away from takeoff at JFK airport on the morning of September 11, 2001, when he received what he called "the strangest radio call" of his career.
All flights were ordered to evacuate immediately and JFK was shut down completely.
United Flight 23 had been scheduled to depart at 9:00 AM – right in the middle of the terrorist attacks that claimed 2,977 American lives.
Now, 24 years later, Mannello believes his aircraft was intended to be the fifth plane in the 9/11 attacks.
"I now believe that it is more likely than not that we were the fifth airplane," Mannello revealed in a Channel 5 documentary. "There’s a good chance that somebody was planning to try to use our airplane as a weapon of mass destruction."
The evidence that supports his theory is absolutely chilling.
After the attacks, Mannello learned that box cutters – the same weapons used by the hijackers on the other four flights – had been discovered on an aircraft parked directly next to his plane that morning.
But here’s the part that will make your blood run cold.
The neighboring aircraft had a "nose number" or identification code that was just one digit different from Flight 23.
"The chief pilot reported to me that they had found two box cutters in the seat pockets in first class in the plane next to it, which had a tail number one digit off," Mannello explained.
Flight attendants noticed suspicious passengers before takeoff
The pilot wasn’t the only one who sensed something was wrong that morning.
Flight attendants on board Flight 23 reported multiple red flags about passengers in first class – exactly where the box cutters were found on the neighboring plane.
Flight attendant Sandy Thorngren recalled spotting an individual dressed in a hijab who the crew was convinced was "really a man."
"It was a man, and you could tell by the size of his hands. He had hair on his hands. There was definitely a male underneath that burka," another flight attendant stated.
Another passenger in business class was wearing a t-shirt and "sweating profusely" despite it being only 8:00 in the morning and the plane being fully cooled.
One man even asked if he could bring his son into the cockpit to look around – something that’s strictly forbidden on commercial flights.
Flight attendant Sandy Thorngren said she identified six suspicious people on the plane, including "four people in first class and two gentlemen in business."
The flight attendants also noted that the four first-class passengers told them they didn’t eat meat, but then demanded to take off without receiving their fruit plates.
That’s not normal behavior for passengers who paid premium prices for first-class service.
One small mistake may have saved hundreds of lives
Look, here’s what Mannello thinks really happened that morning.
The terrorists had an inside accomplice who was supposed to plant the box cutters on Flight 23 before takeoff.
But that person made a critical error and put the weapons on the wrong plane – one with an identification number just one digit off from the intended target.
"I think it’s a reasonable assumption to think that those box cutters were meant for my airplane, not the one next to me," Mannello stated.
"If somebody was on the ground cooperating with them, they just simply made a mistake and put the box cutters on the wrong airplane."
The captain pointed out that multiple people have access to aircraft before departure.
"You have people who clean the airplane, people who load food on the airplane, who have access to the airplane," he explained.
That one-digit mistake in the plane’s identification number may have been the only thing standing between Flight 23’s passengers and certain death.
The timing fits the terrorist timeline perfectly
Here’s why this theory makes so much sense.
Flight 23 was scheduled to take off at 9:00 AM on September 11 – right when the other attacks were happening.
American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 AM.
United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03 AM.
If Flight 23 had taken off on schedule, it would have been climbing to cruising altitude right when the hijackers were seizing control of the other planes.
These weren’t random attacks – they were timed to create maximum chaos.
Look at the pattern: multiple planes, multiple targets, all designed to overwhelm our response capabilities and create nationwide panic.
American Airlines Flight 77 didn’t crash into the Pentagon until 9:37 AM, and United Flight 93 went down in Pennsylvania at 10:02 AM after passengers fought back.
Flight 23 could easily have been part of this coordinated wave of destruction.
Federal authorities have stayed mysteriously silent
You want to know what’s really telling about this whole situation?
The 9/11 Commission never included Flight 23 in their official report.
The FBI interviewed all the flight attendants the day after the attacks and took them to a lineup at the Port Authority to see if they could identify the four first-class passengers whose behavior drew their suspicion.
However, no arrests were ever made.
U.S. officials have refused to comment on years of speculation about Flight 23 being a possible fifth plane.
Why won’t they talk?
Look, when you’ve got federal agencies clammed up about something this big, you know there’s more they’re not telling us.
We’re talking about potential mass murder here, and they act like it never happened.
Captain Mannello and his crew saved lives that day
Here’s what really happened on Flight 23.
Mannello heard that radio call and knew something was dead wrong.
He didn’t hesitate – he turned that plane around and got everyone off.
The flight attendants spotted trouble before anyone else did.
They saw those suspicious passengers and trusted their gut instincts.
Sandy Thorngren and her fellow crew members did exactly what they were trained to do.
They stayed alert, they reported what they saw, and they helped prevent what could have been catastrophic.
You don’t hear about heroes like this anymore.
These were regular working Americans who showed up, did their jobs, and may have saved hundreds of lives without even knowing it.
We’re still finding out just how bad September 11 could have been.
One wrong digit on a plane’s tail number might be the only reason Flight 23 wasn’t turned into another weapon that morning.
¹ Alice Wade, "Mystery of ‘fifth’ 9/11 plane: United Airlines pilot claims his flight was intended to be hijacked in the attacks -but terrorists were foiled by one small error," Daily Mail, September 11, 2025.
