Flight 3407 Victim, Beverly Eckert, Was Actually a 9/11 Activist

A 2003 editorial:

"My Silence Cannot Be Bought" by Beverly Eckert

I've chosen to go to court rather than accept a payoff from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Instead, I want to know what went so wrong with our intelligence and security systems that a band of religious fanatics was able to turn four U.S passenger jets into an enemy force, attack our cities and kill 3,000 civilians with terrifying ease. I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited.

I am suing because unlike other investigative avenues, including congressional hearings and the 9/11 commission, my lawsuit requires all testimony be given under oath and fully uses powers to compel evidence.

The victims fund was not created in a spirit of compassion. Rather, it was a tacit acknowledgement by Congress that it tampered with our civil justice system in an unprecedented way. Lawmakers capped the liability of the airlines at the behest of lobbyists who descended on Washington while the Sept. 11 fires still smoldered.

And this liability cap protects not just the airlines, but also World Trade Center builders, safety engineers and other defendants.

The caps on liability have consequences for those who want to sue to shed light on the mistakes of 9/11. It means the playing field is tilted steeply in favor of those who need to be held accountable. With the financial consequences other than insurance proceeds removed, there is no incentive for those whose negligence contributed to the death toll to acknowledge their failings or implement reforms. They can afford to deny culpability and play a waiting game.

By suing, I've forfeited the "$1.8 million average award" for a death claim I could have collected under the fund. Nor do I have any illusions about winning money in my suit. What I do know is I owe it to my husband, whose death I believe could have been avoided, to see that all of those responsible are held accountable. If we don't get answers to what went wrong, there will be a next time. And instead of 3,000 dead, it will be 10,000. What will Congress do then?

NYTimes 9/13/2009:

Beverly Eckert, whose husband was killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, joined other relatives of 9/11 victims and victims of the 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole last Friday in a meeting with President Obama to discuss changes in the handling of terrorism suspects.

On Thursday night, Ms. Eckert, 57, was aboard Continental Flight 3407 when it crashed near Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. Ms. Eckert, who lived in Stamford, Conn., was traveling to her hometown in western New York to help celebrate what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday.

“Beverly lost her husband on 9/11 and became a tireless advocate for those families whose lives were forever changed on that September day,” President Obama said at the White House on Friday morning. “And in keeping with that passionate commitment, she was on her way to Buffalo to mark what would have been her husband’s birthday and launch a scholarship in his memory. So she was an inspiration to me and to so many others and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead.”

(snip)

Mr. Rooney was one of 32 Aon employees who were at work on the 98th floor of the trade center’s south tower. When the north tower was hit at 8:46 a.m., Mr. Rooney saw the devastation and called his wife at her job in Connecticut, but she had not yet arrived, according to “102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” (Times Books, 2005), by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn of The Times.

Mr. Rooney left his wife of 21 years a voice-mail message at 8:59 a.m.:

Hey, Beverly, this is Sean, in case you get this message. There has been an explosion in World Trade One — that’s the other building. It looks like a plane struck it. It’s on fire at about the 90th floor. And it’s, it’s — it’s horrible. Bye.

A couple of minutes later, he left her a second voice-mail message to say that he was O.K. In the background was a public-address announcement telling occupants they could evacuate.

Later that morning, around 9:30 a.m., Mr. Rooney and other people trapped in the tower attempted to climb to the roof, only to find that the doors were locked and the way blocked. He pounded on a door but found that it wouldn’t move, he told his wife by phone. She urged him to try again while she waited on the line. When he returned to the phone, he said the door still would not move and told his wife, “Tell me what you see on TV.”

Ms. Eckert later recounted in an interview, “His breathing was becoming more labored. He was telling me he loved me.”

By then, he was on the 105th floor, on the north side of the south tower. While she listened, Ms. Eckert dialed 911 on another line; the operator said emergency crews were on their way. In fact, only one of three stairways in the south tower — Stairway A — was unobstructed. Mr. Rooney never made it to that stairway.

After her husband’s death, Ms. Eckert was a co-chairwoman of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of victims’ relatives who were committed to looking into the government failures that led up to the attacks. Ms. Eckert supported the work of the 9/11 Commission, and, after its recommendations were released, she urged Congress to adopt their findings.

(snip)

Ms. DiNucci said Ms. Eckert’s top concerns were transparency in the investigations into 9/11, the improvement of building codes and emergency communications, and her desire to see Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is believed to be the mastermind of the attacks and is in United States custody, put on trial.

(snip)

Mr. Verderame recalled how Ms. Eckert had plunged herself into 9/11 advocacy. “Boy, we didn’t see hide nor hair of Beverly for a long long time because she was so involved with all these Sept. 11 widows’ activities and testimony in Washington, and then we started seeing this other Shawn here, I guess around 2003, maybe 2004, perhaps. And he quickly became a permanent fixture around here. I would see him about — a couple of neighborhood barbecues that I would see them at.”

The excuse for the plane crash seems to be ice-- though the plane was new and had de-icing equipment. The crew reported ice build-up though. Could someone have sabotaged the de-icing equipment?

Although Eckert's activism seemed relatively mainstream, you have to think her questioning went much deeper than she publicly discussed. There was a rumor that she was actually meeting with Obama to discuss re-investigating 9/11.

In any case case, this crash story stinks, and it seems more than likely the PTB had reason to silence Eckert.