Template:9:43 a.m. September 11, 2001: President Bush Reaches Sarasota Airport and Boards Air Force One

9:43 a.m. September 11, 2001: President Bush Reaches Sarasota Airport and Boards Air Force One
President Bush’s motorcade arrives at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, racing across the tarmac there and pulling up close to Air Force One. Bush ascends the stairs by the left wing onto the plane. He pauses in the doorway to wave to photographers. The St. Petersburg Times will later note that this raises “further questions about security [on 9/11].” Meanwhile, 13 members of the press, and others such as congressmen Dan Miller and Adam Putnam, hurry onto the plane through its rear entrance. Secret Service agents with dogs hurriedly check people’s luggage. Even White House employees who are wearing special lapel pins identifying themselves as such have their belongings checked by the bomb-sniffing dogs. According to journalist and author Bill Sammon, the mood is “extraordinarily tense.” A military aide snaps: “We gotta hurry up and get out of here. Let’s go!” Secret Service agents are yelling, “Move it, move it, move it!” But White House chief of staff Andrew Card is reportedly “frustrated because so many guests [have] come on the plane and [are] delaying the takeoff.” Air Force One will not take off until about 9:56.