Creative Speculation

At 08:54, Flight 77 began to deviate from its normal, assigned flight path and turned south. The hijackers set the flight's autopilot heading for Washington, D.C. By 08:56, the flight was turned around, and the transponder had been disabled.

The FAA was aware at this point that there was an emergency on board the airplane. By this time, American Airlines Flight 11 had already crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and United Airlines Flight 175 was known to have been hijacked and was within minutes of striking the South Tower. After learning of this second hijacking involving an American Airlines aircraft and the hijacking involving United Airlines, American Airlines' Executive Vice President Gerard Arpey ordered a nationwide ground stop for the airline. The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center, as well as American Airlines dispatchers, made several failed attempts to contact the aircraft