lt. Col. Jeff latas, u.s. Air force (ret) – former combat fighter pilot. Aerospace engineer. Currently captain at a major airline. combat experience includes desert storm and four tours of duty in northern and southern watch. Aircraft flown: Mcdonnell douglas f-15e strike eagle and general dynamics f-111 aardvark fighter/bomber.
former president, u.s. Air force accident investigation board. also served as pentagon weapons requirement officer and as a member of the pentagon's quadrennial defence review.
awarded distinguish flying cross for heroism , four air medals, four meritorious service medals, and nine aerial achievement medals. 20-year air force career.
Audio interview with rob balsamo 6/25/07: Regarding the 9/11 commission's account of the impact of flight 77 at the pentagon and discrepancies with the actual flight data recorder information:
"after i did my own analysis of it, it's obvious that there's discrepancies between the two stories; between the 9/11 commission and the flight data recorder information. and i think that's where we really need to focus a lot of our attention to get the help that we need in order to put pressure on government agencies to actually do a real investigation of 9/11. And not just from a security standpoint, but from even an aviation standpoint, like any accident investigation would actually help the aviators out by finding reasons for things happening. ...
The things that really got my attention were the amount of descent rate that you had to have at the end of the flight, of flight 77, that would have made it practically impossible to hit the light poles.
patriots question 9/11 - responsible criticism of the 9/11 commission report