Template:(8:42 a.m.-8:46 a.m.) September 11, 2001: New York Center Controller

(8:42 a.m.-8:46 a.m.) September 11, 2001: New York Center Controller Informed Flight 11 Is Suspected Hijack, Then Follows It on Radar
After Flight 11 appears on his radar screen, Dave Bottiglia, an air traffic controller at New York Center, is informed that this aircraft is suspected of having been hijacked. Flight 175 entered Bottiglia’s airspace not long before this. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002;

Its pilot has just told Bottiglia about the “suspicious transmission” (presumably from Flight 11) he heard while departing Boston airport. [GREGOR, 12/21/2001 ]

Seconds later, Flight 11 also enters the area Bottiglia is monitoring and it appears on his radar screen. The controller sitting next to Bottiglia gets up and points to the radar blip. He says: “You see this target here? This is American 11. Boston Center thinks it’s a hijack.” Bottiglia will later recall that his initial thought about Flight 11, based on this information, is that the hijackers “were probably going to Cuba.” As its transponder has been turned off, he has no altitude information for Flight 11, but can tell from the radar scope that it appears to be descending. According to author Lynn Spencer: "“Even without a transponder, controller radars calculate ground speed for all radar targets, and when a plane is descending, the ground speed decreases. The flight had been ‘grounding’ 600 knots, and now it has decreased to 320.”"

Bottiglia follows Flight 11’s target on his radar screen until it disappears over New York City. [MSNBC, 9/11/2002; Because he is focused on Flight 11, Bottiglia will not notice when Flight 175’s transponder code changes at 8:47.

The New York Center was first notified of Flight 11’s hijacking at 8:25 a.m., though this information was not passed on to Bottiglia. [FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, 9/17/2001 ;