- U.S. Navy `Top Gun' pilot, Commander Ralph Kolstad, started
questioning the official account of 9/11 within days of the event. "It
just didn't make any sense to me," he said. And now 6 years after
9/11 he says, "When one starts using his own mind, and not what one
was told, there is very little to believe in the official story."
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- Now retired, Commander Kolstad was a top-rated fighter
pilot during his 20-year Navy career. Early in his career, he was accorded
the honor of being selected to participate in the Navy's `Top Gun' air
combat school, officially known as the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School.
The Tom Cruise movie, "Top Gun" reflects the experience of the
young Navy pilots at the school. Eleven years later, Commander Kolstad
was further honored by being selected to become a `Top Gun' adversary instructor.
While in the Navy, he flew F-4 Phantoms, A-4 Skyhawks, and F-14 Tomcats
and completed 250 aircraft carrier landings.
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- Commander Kolstad had a second career after his 20 years
of Navy active and reserve service and served as a commercial airline pilot
for 27 years, flying for American Airlines and other domestic and international
careers. He flew Boeing 727, 757 and 767, McDonnell Douglas MD-80, and
Fokker F-100 airliners. He has flown a total of over 23,000 hours in his
career.
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- Commander Kolstad is especially critical of the account
of American Airlines Flight 77 that allegedly crashed into the Pentagon.
He says, "At the Pentagon, the pilot of the Boeing 757 did quite a
feat of flying. I have 6,000 hours of flight time in Boeing 757's and 767's
and I could not have flown it the way the flight path was described."
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- Commander Kolstad adds, "I was also a Navy fighter
pilot and Air Combat Instructor and have experience flying low altitude,
high speed aircraft. I could not have done what these beginners did. Something
stinks to high heaven!"
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- He points to the physical evidence at the Pentagon impact
site and asks in exasperation, "Where is the damage to the wall of
the Pentagon from the wings? Where are the big pieces that always break
away in an accident? Where is all the luggage? Where are the miles and
miles of wire, cable, and lines that are part and parcel of any large aircraft?
Where are the steel engine parts? Where is the steel landing gear? Where
is the tail section that would have broken into large pieces?"
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- But no major element of the official account of 9/11
is spared from Commander Kolstad's criticism. Regarding the alleged impact
site of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, PA, he asks, "Where
is any of the wreckage? Of all the pictures I have seen, there is only
a hole! Where is any piece of a crashed airplane? Why was the area cordoned
off, and no inspection allowed by the normal accident personnel? Where
is any evidence at all?"
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- Commander Kolstad also questions many aspects of the
attack on the World Trade Center. "How could a steel and concrete
building collapse after being hit by a Boeing 767? Didn't the engineers
design it to withstand a direct hit from a Boeing 707, approximately the
same size and weight of the 767? The evidence just doesn't add up."
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- "Why did the second building collapse before the
first one, which had been burning for 20 minutes longer after a direct
hit, especially when the second one hit was just a glancing blow? If the
fire was so hot, then why were people looking out the windows and in the
destroyed areas? Why have so many members of the New York Fire Department
reported seeing or hearing many `explosions' before the buildings collapsed?"
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- Commander Kolstad summarized his frustration with the
investigation and disbelief of the official account of 9/11, "If one
were to act as an accident investigator, one would look at the evidence,
and then construct a plausible scenario as to what led to the accident.
In this case, we were told the story and then the evidence was built to
support the story. What happened to any intelligent investigation? Every
question leads to another question that has not been answered by anyone
in authority. This is just the beginning as to why I don't believe the
official `story' and why I want the truth to be told."
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- Commander Kolstad is just one of the many military and
commercial pilots who have publicly expressed serious concerns about the
official account of 9/11. Statements from more than 30 other pilots are
available at http://PatriotsQuestion911.com
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- http://www.opednews.com
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