A large training event is being held at the US Park Police Aviation Unit in preparation for the upcoming meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC, on September 29-30, and some of the participants will later be involved in the emergency response to the terrorist attacks. [International Monetary Fund, 9/17/2001; Reuters, 9/17/2001; US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 18-20 
] The Park Police Aviation Unit is located in Anacostia Park in southeast Washington, across the Potomac River from the Pentagon. [Aviation International News, 10/1/2001; National Park Service, 10/16/2004]
Event Preparing for Possibly Violent Demonstrations – According to Sergeant Ronald Galey, a helicopter pilot with the aviation unit, because of the preparations taking place for the IMF and World Bank meetings, “it started out to be a little bit of an unusual day.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001] Sergeant Keith Bohn, another Park Police helicopter pilot, will later recall, “As fate would have it, we were having a large training event right out in front of the building here [the aviation hangar in Anacostia Park] for the upcoming IMF, the International Money Fund demonstrations.” Consequently, there are “horse-mounted officers, motorcycle officers, ground troops all training together to handle the movement of large groups of people.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001] According to Galey, “[W]e all anticipated” the protest demonstrations at the IMF and World Bank meetings “to be very violent, very different than anything we’ve had in a long time.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001]
Helicopter Pilot Giving ‘Riot Training’ – Another of the aviation unit’s helicopter pilots, Sergeant Kenneth Burchell, is reportedly “conducting riot training… in preparation for the upcoming World Bank/International Monetary Fund protest demonstrations.” The riot training is being attended by 40 police officers belonging to an (unnamed) force other than the Park Police, along with some Department of Defense medical personnel. [McDonnell, 2004, pp. 18-20 ]
Medical Personnel Participating in Training – Personnel from the Casualty Care Research Center (CCRC)—a medical outfit from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland—are attending the training event at the aviation unit. The CCRC provides medical support to law enforcement agencies and their “protectees” during emergencies. [US Medicine, 10/2001] One of these personnel, Jason Kepp, is reportedly teaching members of the Park Police “how to respond safely and effectively to the crowds of demonstrators expected to turn out at the upcoming meeting of the International Monetary Fund.” [USU Medicine, 12/2002 ]
Training Participants Involved in Response to Attacks – The Park Police Aviation Unit will be among the first agencies to respond to the Pentagon attack at 9:37 a.m. (see Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 161] Two medics from the USUHS who are attending the training event—Kepp and his colleague, Keith Kettell—will take off in the second Park Police helicopter to launch following the Pentagon attack, so as to assist in the emergency response. [USU Medicine, 12/2002 ; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 20 ] In addition to members of their own force, Park Police commanders will deploy the 40 police officers attending the riot training at the aviation unit when the attacks occur. [McDonnell, 2004, pp. 18 ] Members of firefighting agencies that later respond to the attack on the Pentagon are also involved in preparations for the upcoming IMF and World Bank meetings this morning (see 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001 and 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001). [US Department of Health and Human Services, 7/2002, pp. A-4 ; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 69-70]
Shortly After 9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001: Park Police Aviation Unit Promptly Responds to Pentagon Attack
The US Park Police Aviation Unit becomes one of the first agencies to respond to the attack on the Pentagon, with its two helicopters arriving on the scene within minutes of the crash. [Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 161-162] The aviation unit is located in Anacostia Park in southeast Washington, DC, across the Potomac River from the Pentagon. It has two Bell 412 helicopters—a modern version of the “Huey”—that are prepared for virtually any emergency. They are equipped with mass casualty kits, which allow them to carry up to four critically injured patients, along with a large amount of additional medical and rescue apparatus, and other sophisticated equipment. [Aviation International News, 10/1/2001; Rotor and Wing, 11/2001; Rotor and Wing, 2/2002; National Park Service, 10/16/2004; USA Today, 10/25/2007] The unit had been running a large training event (see 8:30 a.m. September 11, 2001) when personnel there learned of the first crash in New York from television reports. After seeing the second plane hitting the World Trade Center live, they realized this was a deliberate act. Sergeant Ronald Galey, one of the unit’s helicopter pilots, will later recall that at that point, “[W]e just started talking, ‘Hey, we’d better get ready.’”
Personnel Hear Explosion from Pentagon – Personnel at the aviation unit hear the explosion when the Pentagon is attacked at 9:37 a.m. Galey and Sergeant Kenneth Burchell, another of the unit’s helicopter pilots, hear a loud thud and then look up to see a column of smoke rising from the vicinity of the Pentagon. Galey will recall, “We all knew” this was another terrorist attack. He will add, “[W]e’ve all been expecting something like this, for an attack of some sort.” However, Galey does not initially realize the smoke rising up in the distance is coming from the Pentagon. He will say he only “suspected it was some military installation over there.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001; US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 19-20 ]
Controller Reports Crash, but Accounts Conflict – Soon, the “aircraft crash phone” in the aviation unit office rings, setting off a distinctive horn alarm. This phone is a direct communications line from the control tower at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, which enables the aviation unit to respond quickly to incidents at the airport. Galey answers the call. [McDonnell, 2004, pp. 20 ; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 161-162] On the other end of the line is air traffic controller David Walsh (see (9:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). According to author Lynn Spencer, Walsh yells down the phone: “Aircraft down at the Pentagon! Aircraft down at the Pentagon!” [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/18/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 158-159] Galey will give a similar account in a January 2002 interview, recalling that Walsh tells him that “they had a 757 go into the Pentagon and they needed us to respond to the incident.” [National Park Service, 1/17/2002] But in November 2001, Galey will recall that Walsh says, “We have a 757 down somewhere in the vicinity of the 14th Street Bridge”—a bridge over the Potomac River, near the Pentagon. [Rotor and Wing, 11/2001] Later that month, Galey will state that Walsh says the tower has “lost a 757 somewhere in the vicinity of the Pentagon.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001]
Controller Reports Crash at Airport, according to Some Accounts – However, on another occasion Galey will say that Walsh tells him, “[W]e have a 757 down on the north end of the airport.” [National Park Service, 9/21/2002] And Sergeant Keith Bohn, another of the Park Police helicopter pilots, will give a similar account, recalling that in the initial phone call the aviation unit receives about the attack, it is informed that there is “an aircraft down at the end of the runway at National Airport.” Bohn will say he only learns the correct location of the crash while he is starting up his helicopter to respond, at which time he talks with someone in the unit’s other helicopter, and “they told me, in disbelief, that the aircraft had in fact hit the Pentagon.” [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001]
Helicopters Reach Pentagon Minutes after Attack – The crew of one of the unit’s helicopters, which has the call sign “Eagle I,” comprises Galey as pilot, rescue technician Sergeant John Marsh, and rescue team officer John Dillon. The crew of the other helicopter, “Eagle II,” comprises pilots Burchell and Bohn, aviation unit commander Lieutenant Philip Cholak and assistant commander Sergeant Bernard Stasulli, and two Defense Department medics, Keith Kettell and Jason Kepp. [US Congress. House, 9/11/2002; National Park Service, 9/21/2002; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 20 ] Eagle I is the first of the two helicopters to take off and arrive on the scene of the attack, according to most accounts. [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001; US Congress. House, 9/11/2002; NBC 4, 9/11/2003] According to National Park Service reports, it is in the air less than two minutes after the aviation unit hears of the attack, and Eagle II follows it a minute later. [National Park Service, 9/21/2002; National Park Service, 10/22/2002] But according to the Arlington County After-Action Report, Eagle I takes off at “approximately 9:43 a.m.” and Eagle II takes off eight minutes later, at 9:51 a.m. [US Department of Health and Human Services, 7/2002, pp. A-45 ] Furthermore, according to Galey, Eagle II is in fact the first of the helicopters to launch, while Eagle I, in which he flies, takes off right after it. [US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001] The two helicopters arrive at the Pentagon within six minutes of the attack there, according to Rotor and Wing magazine. [Rotor and Wing, 11/2001; Rotor and Wing, 2/2002] They are the first helicopters to arrive at the scene of the crash. [NBC 4, 9/11/2003]
One Helicopter Lands, Other Circles Overhead – Eagle I remains airborne, circling overhead and assuming command and control of the airspace. Eagle II lands on a paved roadway 150 to 200 yards from the crash site, according to the National Park Service’s account of 9/11, and then some of its crew members grab their emergency medical equipment and run toward the building. After a time, Bohn moves the helicopter closer to the Pentagon. [US Naval Historical Center, 11/20/2001; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 20-21 ] According to Bohn’s recollections, Eagle II initially lands in “the grass area of the cloverleaf” of Route 27 and Columbia Pike. But after “maybe 10 minutes,” Bohn takes off and moves the helicopter to the road by the Pentagon helipad. [US Naval Historical Center, 11/19/2001]
Helicopter Takes Off with Two Patients – The triage officer at the Pentagon indicates that there are 11 individuals requiring medical evacuation, but eventually only two severely burned patients are carried onto Eagle II. Minutes after landing outside the Pentagon, the helicopter takes off and flies the patients to the Washington Hospital Center. [USU Medicine, 12/2002 ; McDonnell, 2004, pp. 20, 22 ] While most accounts describe Park Police helicopters only taking off in the minutes after the attack on the Pentagon, Navy historian John Darrell Sherwood will later say that at least one of the aviation unit’s helicopters took off before the Pentagon was hit, and it was directed to intercept the aircraft approaching the Pentagon (see Shortly Before 9:35 a.m. September 11, 2001). And several witnesses will report seeing a helicopter near the Pentagon just before the attack there (see (9:35 a.m.-9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Naval Historical Center, 12/13/2001; Washington Post, 9/5/2002; Goldberg et al., 2007, pp. 258]
