September 11, 2001 timeline for the day of the attacks
Encyclopedia
The September 11 attacks, in addition to being a unique act of aggression, constituted a media event
on a scale not seen since the advent of civilian global satellite links
, round-the-clock television news organizations and the instant worldwide reaction and debate made possible by the Internet. As a result, most of the events listed below were known by a large portion of the planet's population as they occurred.
All times are in New York Time (EDT or UTC−04:00).
travels Colgan Air
from Portland International Jetport
, Portland, Maine
, to Logan International Airport
, Boston
, Massachusetts
, along with Abdulaziz al-Omari
.
6:45: Atta and al-Omari arrive at Boston's Logan Airport.
6:52: Marwan al-Shehhi
calls Atta from another terminal at Logan to confirm that the plans for the attack are set.
.
7:40: The rest of the American Airlines Flight 11
hijackers board the plane.
7:59: American Airlines Flight 11
, a Boeing 767
, carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport
, bound for Los Angeles, California
's air traffic control center in Boston.
8:14: Flight 11 fails to heed air traffic controller's instruction to climb to 35,000 feet.
8:14: United Airlines Flight 175
, another fully fueled Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and nine crew members, departs from Boston Logan airport, also bound for Los Angeles. Five hijackers are aboard.
8:19: Betty Ong
, a flight attendant on Flight 11 alerts American Airlines
via an airphone, “The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace
—that we can’t breathe—I don’t
know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” She then tells of the stabbings of two flight attendants.
8:20: The Federal Aviation Administration
's Boston Center flight controllers decide that Flight 11 has probably been hijacked.
8:20: American Airlines Flight 77
, a Boeing 757
with 58 passengers and six crew members, departs from Washington Dulles International Airport
in Fairfax
and Loudoun Counties
, Virginia
, for Los Angeles. Five hijackers are aboard.
8:21: Flight 11's transponder signal is turned off, but the plane remains on radar screens as a blip without additional information. (Prior to the 9/11 Commission
's report, news organizations reported this time as 8:13 or immediately thereafter.)
8:24: A radio transmission comes from Flight 11: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport." It is believed Atta mistakenly held a button directing his voice to radio rather than to the plane's cabin as he intended. A few seconds later, Atta's voice says, "nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Air traffic controllers hear the transmission.
8:25: Boston Center flight controllers alert other flight control centers regarding Flight 11. NORAD
is not yet alerted.
8:26:30: Flight 11 makes a 100-degree turn to the south heading toward New York City.
8:34: A third transmission from Flight 11: "nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."
8:34: Dan Bueno from Boston Center notifies the tower controller at Otis Air National Guard Base
at Cape Cod
of the hijacking of Flight 11. The controller directs Bueno to contact Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), the northeast sector of NORAD. The controller then notifies Otis Operations Center that a call from NEADS might be coming. Two F15 pilots begin to suit up.
8:37: Flight 175 confirms sighting of hijacked Flight 11 to flight controllers, 10 miles (16 km) to its south.
8:37:52: Boston Center control notifies NEADS of the hijacking of Flight 11, the first notification received by NORAD that American 11 had been hijacked. The controller requests military help to intercept the jetliner.
8:41: The FAA's New York Center requests information about Flight 11 over the radio. Flight 175 responds: "[...]ah we heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston ah with someone ah, ah sound like someone sound like someone keyed the mike and said ah 'everyone ah stay in your seats'" New York Center acknowledges and says it will pass the information on.
8:42: United Airlines Flight 93
, a Boeing 757, takes off with 37 passengers and seven crew members from Newark International Airport (now Newark Liberty International Airport
), bound for San Francisco International Airport
, following a 40-minute delay due to congested runways. Four hijackers are aboard. Its flight path initially takes it close to the World Trade Center before moving away westwards.
8:42 to 8:46 (approx.): Flight 175 is hijacked.
8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney
, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Dallas, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward asks her to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.” The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static.
8:46: Two F-15
fighter jets are ordered to scramble from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts
, intended to intercept Flight 11. Because Flight 11's transponder
is off, the pilots do not know the location of their target. NEADS spends the next several minutes watching their radar screens in anticipation of Flight 11 returning a radar contact.
8:46:30 Flight 11 crashes at roughly 466 mph (790 km/h or 219m/s or 425 knots) into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center
, between floors 93 and 99. (Many early accounts gave times between 8:45 and 8:50). The aircraft enters the tower mostly intact. It plows to the building core, severing all three gypsum
-encased stairwells, dragging combustibles with it. A powerful shock wave
travels down to the ground and up again. The combustibles and the remnants of the aircraft are ignited by the burning fuel. As the building lacks a traditional full cage frame and depends almost entirely on the strength of a narrow structural core running up the center, fire at the center of the impact zone is in a position to compromise the integrity of all internal columns. People below the severed stairwells start to evacuate—no one above the impact zone is able to do so.
French filmmaker Jules Naudet and Czech immigrant Pavel Hlava videotape the crash of Flight 11 with their video cameras from different locations. A WNYW TV camera records the sound, but not the image, of the crash.
8:48 to 10:28: At least 100 people (some accounts say as many as 250), primarily in the North Tower, trapped by fire and smoke in the upper floors, jump to their deaths. One person at street level, firefighter Daniel Suhr, is hit by a jumper and dies. No form of airborne evacuation is attempted as smoke is too dense for a successful landing on the roof of either tower, New York City lacks helicopters equipped for horizontal rescue and the roof tarmac would have been too hot to land a helicopter.
8:48:08: The first television report of an incident at the World Trade Center is broadcast locally in New York by WNYW
less than two minutes after the plane crashed into the North Tower. WNYW breaks into a Paramount Pictures
movie trailer for Zoolander
with the first live TV pictures of black smoke coming from the North Tower, relayed by a WNYW cameraman at ground level. One of the station's camera crews already had been out on the street that morning for New York's mayoral primary election. As WNYW broadcasts the first live pictures of smoke, the voice of reporter Dick Oliver is heard from the scene:
WNYW reporting would eventually correct the location of the first plane crash from the South Tower to the North Tower.
Around the same time the first radio report of the incident is heard on WCBS-AM through traffic reporter Tom Kaminski. WCBS' traffic reports are delivered every ten minutes "on the 8s", meaning that Kaminski's traffic report was to come within two minutes of the initial impact of Flight 11 (although there is no record of how much time actually passed). At the time Kaminski was in "Chopper 880", WCBS' helicopter that he reports from for morning and evening rush hour traffic reports. The following consists of WCBS anchor Pat Carroll tossing to Kaminski in the chopper before he files his report.
8:49:34: The first network television and radio reports of an explosion or incident at the World Trade Center. CNN
breaks into a Ditech
commercial at 8:49. The CNN screen subtitle first reads "World Trade Center disaster." Carol Lin
, the first TV network anchor to break the news of the attacks, says:
Just a minute later, Sean Murtagh, CNN vice-president of finance, in an on-air phone call, says from his office in the CNN New York bureau
that a large passenger commercial jet was seen to hit the World Trade Center. Murtagh is the first network employee on the air. The first email bulletins of breaking news from CNN and MSNBC report "fire at tower of World Trade Center". Both CNN and MSNBC's websites receive such heavy traffic that many servers collapse. BBC News' website is active and shows a picture of the North Tower on fire. Minutes later, email news bulletins revise the reports of fire to a plane crash.
8:50: NEADS is notified that a plane has struck the World Trade Center as they continue to try to locate the flight on radar.
8:50 to 8:54 (approx.): Hijacking begins on Flight 77.
8:50 to 8:55 (approx): Howard Stern reports live on his radio show that something has happened to one of the Towers. He states that it was clearly a terrorist attack. This was mentioned within the first five minutes after the first plane hit. The name Osama Bin Laden came up within a half hour of the first impact. Sometime around 10:00 Howard made a remark to the effect that those buildings won't stay standing. ^Source #28- History of Howard Stern series, day 10, segment 3.
8:51: A flight controller at the FAA's New York Center notices that Flight 175 had changed its transponder
code twice four minutes earlier; he tries to contact the flight.
8:52: Lee Hanson receives a phone call from his son Peter, a passenger on United 175, who says "I think they've taken over the cockpit-An attendant has been stabbed- and someone else up front may have been killed. The plane is making strange moves. Call United Airlines-Tell them it's Flight 175, Boston to LA." Also on Flight 175 a flight attendant aboard calls a United Airlines office in Chicago, reporting that the flight had been hijacked, both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been stabbed, and the hijackers were probably flying the plane.
8:52: The F-15s at Otis Air National Guard Base are airborne. Still lacking an intercept vector to Flight 11 (and not aware that it has already crashed), they are sent to military controlled airspace off Long Island
and ordered to remain in a holding pattern until between 9:09 and 9:13.
8:54: Flight 77 deviates from its assigned course, turning south over Ohio
.
8:55 (approx.): Announcements are made over the building-wide PA system
by officials in the still-undamaged South Tower of the World Trade Center, reporting that the building is "secure" and that people should return to their offices. Some do not hear it; others ignore it and evacuate anyway; others congregate in common areas like the 78th floor sky lobby.
8:55: President George W. Bush
is at Emma E. Booker Elementary School
in Sarasota, Florida
as part of a scheduled visit to promote education when presidential advisor Andrew Card
, who is with Bush, informs him that a small twin-engine plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. Before entering the classroom, the President speaks to National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice
, who is at the White House. She first tells him it was a twin-engine aircraft—and then a commercial aircraft—that had struck the World Trade Center, adding “that’s all we know right now, Mr. President.”
8:56: The transponder
on Flight 77 is turned off and even primary radar contact with the aircraft is lost. During radar blackout Flight 77 turns east, unnoticed by flight controllers. When primary radar information is restored at 9:05, controllers searching for Flight 77 to the west of its previous position are unable to find it. Flight 77 travels undetected for 36 minutes on a course heading due east toward Washington, D.C.
8:58: Flight 175 takes a heading toward New York City.
9:00: Lee Hanson receives a second call from his son Peter, aboard Flight 175: "It's getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace
. They said they have a bomb. It's getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don't think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago
or someplace and fly into a building. Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it'll be very fast. My God, my God." The call ends abruptly, as Lee Hanson hears a woman scream.
9:01 to 9:02: A manager from the FAA's New York Center tells the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon, Virginia
, "We have several situations going on here. It's escalating big, big time. We need to get the military involved with us. . . We're, we're involved with something else, we have other aircraft that may have a similar situation going on here."
9:01: FAA's New York Center contacts New York terminal approach control
and asks for help in locating Flight 175.
9:02: Evacuation is ordered by FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer (North Tower). An announcement is made over the PA system to evacuate the buildings.
9:03:02: Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, banked between floors 77 and 85. By this time, several media organizations, including the three major broadcast networks
(who have interrupted their morning shows), are covering the first plane crash—millions see the impact live. Parts of the plane leave the building from its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away.
A massive evacuation begins in the South Tower below its impact zone. One of the stairwells in the South Tower remains unblocked from the top to the bottom of the tower, but is filled with smoke
. This leads many people to mistakenly go upwards towards the roof for a rooftop rescue that never comes. The Port Authority kept the two sets of heavy metal doors leading to the building's only roof exit tightly locked. The impact severs communication with several television and radio broadcast towers at the WTC; local station WPIX
's feed freezes on an image of the second impact which is all the station broadcasts until alternate transmitters are set up hours later.
Because of the North Tower's obstruction of the South Tower from certain camera angles, some are originally unaware that a second plane has struck the South Tower, and instead mistakenly believe that the second explosion has occurred in the North Tower. As instant replays of the second plane crash are shown, the anchors on the three major broadcast networks speculate on whether they are witnessing a terrorist attack or some sort of very rare accident. CNN changes its headline to read "Second plane crashes into World Trade Center." In the case of the anchors on the local station WABC
, they at first assume that the explosion seen was caused when the fuselage of the first plane exploded. As other sources and eyewitnesses correct them that it was actually a plane that had hit the South Tower, the WABC anchors then initially suggest it was a rare accident, saying that the two crashes might have been caused by navigational system failure.
Several eyewitness accounts and camera footage reveal that the plane was coming in at an angle
, and was seen to turn drastically to the left to be able to hit the tower, unlike its predecessor, Flight 11, which had been able to hit the North Tower straight on. Thus, it is believed that had the plane continued flying straight, it would have at least simply clipped the side of the building with its left wing, or even missed the building entirely. (Flight 175 came in from the southwest, apparently heading for the Empire State Building, but turned right, then left into the South Tower.)
9:03: President Bush enters a classroom as part of his school visit.
9:03: FAA's New York Center notifies NORAD
(NEADS) of the hijacking of Flight 175.
9:04 (approximately): The FAA's Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center stops all departures from airports in its jurisdiction (New England
and eastern New York State).
9:05: After brief introductions to the Booker elementary students, President Bush is about to begin reading The Pet Goat
with the students when Chief of Staff
Andrew Card
interrupts to whisper to the president, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." The president stated later that he decided to continue the lesson rather than alarm the students.
9:06: The FAA bans takeoffs of all flights bound to or through the airspace of New York Center from airports in that Center and the three adjacent Centers — Boston, Cleveland
, and Washington. This is referred to as a First Tier groundstop and covers the Northeast from North Carolina
north and as far west as eastern Michigan
.
9:08: The FAA bans all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New York Center airspace. ABC
reports later that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
, the agency that runs the New York-area airports, asked the FAA for permission to close down the New York Center airspace.
9:11: The last PATH
train leaves the World Trade Center. The station is vacant when the towers collapse.
9:13: The F-15 fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base
leave military airspace near Long Island, bound for Manhattan.
9:14: President Bush returned to a holding room commandeered by the Secret Service
shortly before 9:15. The holding room contains a telephone, a television showing the news coverage, and several senior staff members. The president speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney
, Condoleezza Rice
, New York Governor George Pataki
, and FBI Director Robert Mueller
, and prepares brief remarks.
9:15: NBC's Today program reports unconfirmed statements from employees at United Airlines
that an American Airlines aircraft had been hijacked previous to its destruction.
9:17: The FAA closes down all New York City-area airports. The city had initially asked the FAA to close down the airports.
9:17:02: CBS News
correspondent Jim Stewart in Washington mentions that in the intelligence community, Osama bin Laden
is a probable suspect.
9:18: CNN
makes reference to foul play for the first time, stating the FBI
was investigating a report of plane hijacking. CNN headline: "AP: Plane was hijacked before crashes".
9:21: All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan closed.
9:23: Flight 93 receives warning message text from United Airlines flight dispatcher: "Beware any cockpit intrusion- Two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center."
9:24: The FAA notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector about the suspected hijacking of Flight 77. The FAA and NORAD establish an open line to discuss Flight 77, and shortly thereafter Flight 93.
9:25: The Otis-based F-15s establish an air patrol over Manhattan.
9:25: A video teleconference begins to be set up in the White House Situation Room
, led by Richard A. Clarke
, a special assistant to the president, that eventually includes the CIA, the FBI, the departments of State, Justice
, and Defense
, and the FAA
.
9:25: The Associated Press
informs CNN that the two plane crashes in the World Trade Center appeared to be an "act of terrorism" (terrorist attack).
9:26: The FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft regardless of destination—a national groundstop. All military bases in the United States are ordered to increase threat conditions
to Delta status.
9:28: Hijackers storm the cockpit on Flight 93 and take over the flight. The entry of the hijackers is overheard by flight controllers at Cleveland
.
9:29: President Bush makes his first public statements about the attacks, in front of an audience of about 200 teachers and students at the elementary school. He states that he will be going back to Washington, that "we've had a national tragedy", and leads a moment of silence. No one in the President's traveling party has any information during this time that other aircraft were hijacked or missing.
9:32: A radio transmission from Flight 93 is overheard by flight controllers at Cleveland: "Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board."
9:32: Controllers at the Dulles Terminal Radar Approach Control in Virginia
observe "a primary radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed", referring to Flight 77.
9:33 to 9:34: Tower supervisor at Reagan National Airport tells Secret Service operations center at the White House that "an aircraft [is] coming at you and not talking with us," referring to Flight 77. The White House is about to be evacuated when the tower reports that Flight 77 has turned and is approaching Reagan National Airport.
9:34: The FAA's Command Center relays information concerning Flight 93 to FAA headquarters.
9:35: The President's motorcade departs from the elementary school, bound for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
and Air Force One
.
9:35: Flight 93 reverses direction over Ohio
and starts flying eastwards.
9:35: Based on a report that Flight 77 had turned again and was circling back toward the District of Columbia, the Secret Service
orders the immediate evacuation of the Vice President from the White House.
9:36: Cleveland advises the FAA Command Center that it is still tracking Flight 93 and inquires whether someone had requested the military to launch fighter aircraft to intercept the aircraft.
9:37: Vice President Cheney enters an underground tunnel leading to a security bunker.
9:37:46: Flight 77 crashes into the western side of the Pentagon and starts a violent fire. The section of the Pentagon hit consists mainly of newly renovated
, unoccupied offices. All 64 people on board are killed, as are 125 Pentagon personnel.
9:39: Another radio transmission is heard from Ziad Jarrah aboard Flight 93: "Uh, this is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet."
9:39: Fox News Channel reports, "We -- we are hearing -- right now that another explosion that -- has taken place. At the Pentagon."
9:39: NBC and MSNBC report an explosion at the Pentagon.
9:40: Video teleconference in White House Situation Room begins with the physical security of the President, the White House, and federal agencies. They are not yet aware of the Pentagon crash.
9:40:49: CNN's Breaking News bulletin reads "Reports of fire at Pentagon."
9:42: Ben Sliney of the FAA issues the execution order for SCATANA grounding all air traffic over the United States and diverting any incoming international traffic to alternate destinations.
9:43: The White House
and the Capitol
are evacuated and closed.
9:45: United States
airspace
is shut down
. No civilian aircraft are allowed to take off, and all aircraft in flight are ordered to land at the nearest airport as soon as possible. All international flights headed for the U.S. are redirected to Canada
. Transport Canada
, Canada's transportation agency, also closes down its airspace. The FAA announces that civilian flights are suspended until at least noon September 12, while Transport Canada gives similar orders, but until further notice, to take in diverted U.S.-bound international flights, launching the agency's "Operation Yellow Ribbon
". The groundings last until September 14. Military and medical flights as well as Con Air
flights continue. This is the fourth time all commercial flights in the U.S. have been stopped, and the first time a suspension was unplanned. All previous suspensions were military-related (Sky Shield I-III
), from 1960 to 1962. Many newspapers (including The New York Times
) mistakenly print that this is the first time flights have been suspended. This was also the first time commercial flights in Canada have been stopped.
9:45: CNN receives initial reports that, in addition to a fire at the Pentagon, there is also a fire at the National Mall. These reports, however, are later proven to be false.
9:49: The FAA Command Center at Herndon suggests that someone at FAA headquarters should decide whether to request military assistance with Flight 93. Ultimately, the FAA makes no request before it crashes.
9:50 (approximately): The Associated Press
reports that Flight 11 was apparently hijacked after departure from Boston's Logan Airport. Within an hour this is confirmed for both Flight 11 and Flight 175.
9:51: FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer
reaches the 78th Floor Sky Lobby of the South Tower along with Fire Marshal Ronald Bucca. Palmer reports that there are two pockets of fire and numerous dead bodies.
9:52: The National Security Agency
intercepts a phone call between a known associate of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan
and someone in the Republic of Georgia
, announcing that he had heard "good news", and that another target was still to be hit.
9:53: CNN confirms a plane crash at the Pentagon.
9:55: A CNN correspondent mentions Osama bin Laden as someone determined to strike the US.
9:55: Air Force One leaves Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
.
9:57: Passenger revolt begins on Flight 93.
9:57: President Bush leaves Sarasota, Florida, on Air Force One
. The plane reaches cruising altitude and circles for approximately 40 minutes while the destination of the plane is discussed.
9:59:01: The South Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse, 56 minutes and 2 seconds after the impact of Flight 175. Its destruction is viewed and heard by a vast television and radio audience. As the roar of the collapse goes silent, tremendous gray-white clouds of pulverized concrete and gypsum rush through the streets. Most observers think a new explosion or impact has produced smoke and debris that now obscures the South Tower, but once the wind clears the smoke it becomes clear that the building is no longer there. On ABC, Good Morning America
correspondent Don Dahler
, who was home at the time of the incident and lived near the site, reports to anchor Peter Jennings
on air that he has witnessed the tower collapse; this is perhaps the first official word of the collapse as Dahler's report is filed seconds after the building collapsed.
10:01: The FAA Command Center advises FAA headquarters that an aircraft had seen Flight 93 "waving his wings," the hijackers' efforts to defeat the passengers' counterattack.
10:02: Communicators with the Vice President in the security bunker begin receiving reports from the Secret Service of an inbound aircraft — presumably hijacked — heading toward Washington. This is Flight 93.
10:02: CNN announces that the Sears Tower
in Chicago has been evacuated.
10:03 (approximately): The National Military Command Center
learns from the White House of Flight 93's hijacking.
10:03:11: United Airlines Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers and passengers, due to fighting in the cockpit 80 miles (129 km) southeast of Pittsburgh
in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
. Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes on cell phones
and at least three were planning on resisting the hijackers; the resistance was confirmed by Flight 93's cockpit voice recording, on which the hijackers are heard making their decision to down the plane before the passengers succeed in breaching the cockpit door. The 9/11 Commission believed that Flight 93's target was either the United States Capitol
building or the White House
in Washington, D.C.
10:05: Andrea Mitchell
, reporting on NBC from outside the Pentagon, reports that Osama bin Laden may have been involved in the attacks.
10:05: CNN's headlines read: "SOUTH TOWER AT WTC COLLAPSES."
10:05: The IDS Center
in Minneapolis is evacuated.
10:07: NBC reports for the first time that the South Tower of the World Trade Center has collapsed. Prior to this time they have said only that a section of the building has fallen away.
10:07: NEADS, controlling the only set of fighters over Washington, first learns of the hijacking of Flight 93.
10:08: Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon reports to FAA headquarters that Flight 93 may be down near Johnstown, Pennsylvania
; at 10:17 the Command Center concludes it is so.
10:10: Part of the west side of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10: NEADS emphatically tells fighter pilots over Washington, "Negative clearance to shoot."
10:10 to 10:15 (approximately): Vice President Cheney, unaware that Flight 93 has crashed, authorizes fighter aircraft to engage the inbound plane, reported to be 80 miles (129 km) from Washington, based not on radar (from which it has disappeared) but speed and trajectory projections.
10:13: Thousands are involved in an evacuation of the United Nations
complex in New York.
10:13 to 10:22: The 9/11 Commission's estimated arrival of Flight 93 over Washington had it not crashed in Pennsylvania.
10:14 to 10:19: A lieutenant colonel at the White House repeatedly relays to the NMCC
that the Vice President has confirmed that fighters are cleared to engage inbound aircraft if they can verify that the aircraft was hijacked.
10:15 (approximately): The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
is reported to take responsibility for the crashes, but this is denied by a senior officer of the group soon after.
10:20: President Bush, aboard Air Force One, tells Vice President Cheney that he has authorized a shootdown of aircraft if necessary.
10:23: The Associated Press reports a car bomb has exploded outside the State Department
in Washington, D.C.
This and several other reports of terrorist acts in the capital are quickly found to be false.
10:24: Two men who were being evacuated through the underground shopping mall below the South Tower when it collapsed on them are able to climb up through thirty feet of debris to safety.
10:28:31: The North Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse
. Due to the destruction of the gypsum-encased stairwells on the impact floors (most skyscraper stairwells are encased in reinforced concrete), no one who was above the impact zone in the North Tower escapes the collapse. The Marriott Hotel, located at the base of the two towers, is also destroyed. The second collapse is also viewed live on television and heard on radio. The North Tower collapses 1 hour, 41 minutes and 45 seconds after the impact of Flight 11.
Several long-distance videos of the collapse, such as CNN, were able to notice that, after the cloud of dust had partially cleared away, a portion of the building was still standing. It appeared to be the lower half of the northwest corner column of the North Tower, which, like a spire, grew larger and had more structure still standing near the bottom. The portion rose to a fairly good height considering the collapse around it, as it appeared to rise nearly forty stories off the ground. This piece remained standing for a few seconds after the initial collapse before it also came down.
10:31: NORAD first communicates the Vice President's shootdown authority to NEADS.
10:35: Air Force One, carrying the president, turns for Barksdale Air Force Base
in Bossier City, Louisiana
.
10:37: Associated Press reports that officials at the Somerset County airport confirm that a large plane has crashed in western Pennsylvania. CNN's Aaron Brown
passes along reports that a 747 is "down" in Pennsylvania. He stresses these reports are unconfirmed. At 10:50, this report is updated: A 767 has "crashed this morning, north of the Somerset County Airport".
10:37: The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is evacuated.
10:39: Another hijacked jumbo jet is claimed to be headed for Washington, D.C. F-15
s are scrambled and patrol the airspace above Washington, D.C. while other fighter jets sweep the airspace above New York City. They have orders, first issued by Vice President Cheney and later confirmed by President Bush, to shoot down any potentially dangerous planes that do not comply with orders given to them via radio. Eventually, the aircraft is revealed to be a medevac
helicopter on its way to the Pentagon.
10:41: NBC News confirms that a plane has "gone down" in Somerset County. The earlier unconfirmed statements about an incident at the State Department in Washington, D.C. are reported as false.
10:43: CNN reports that a mass evacuation of Washington, D.C. and New York has been started. A few minutes later, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani
orders an evacuation of Lower Manhattan
.
10:49: Fox News Channel
is the first of the United States news networks to implement a news ticker
at the bottom of its screen for supplementary information about the attacks. CNN adds one at 11:11, and MSNBC
adds one at approximately 2:00 pm. All three cable networks have used a news ticker continuously in the years since (and many local television stations have followed suit).
10:50:19: Five stories of part of the Pentagon collapse due to the fire.
10:53: New York's primary election
s are canceled.
. The operation was well underway as international flights headed for the U.S. had already started to land at Canadian airports, beginning at CFB Goose Bay
. Fourteen other airports follow, including Halifax
, Lester B. Pearson in Toronto, Montréal-Dorval
, and Vancouver
.
11:05: The FAA confirms that several planes have been hijacked in addition to American Airlines Flight 11.
11:16: American Airlines confirms the loss of its two aircraft.
11:26: United Airlines
confirms the loss of Flight 93 and states that it is "deeply concerned" about Flight 175.
11:53: United Airlines confirms the loss of its two aircraft.
11:55: The border between the U.S. and Mexico
is on highest alert, but is not closed.
rubble field.
12:04: Los Angeles International Airport
, the intended destination of Flights 11, 77 and 175, is shut down.
12:15: San Francisco International Airport
, the intended destination of Flight 93, is shut down.
12:15 (approximately): The airspace over the 48 contiguous United States
is clear of all commercial and private flights.
12:30 (approximately): Secretary of State Colin Powell
boards a plane in Lima
, Peru
, for Washington, D.C.
12:39: On CNN, Senator John McCain
characterizes attack as an "act of war."
12:41: Senator Orrin Hatch
tells CNN, "Both the FBI and our intelligence community believe that this is Bin Laden's signature."
1:04: President Bush puts the U.S. military on high alert worldwide (known as Force Protection Condition Delta
). Taped remarks from the President were aired from Barksdale Air Force Base
, stating that "freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended." He also said that the "United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts." He then leaves for a U.S. Strategic Command bunker located at Offutt Air Force Base
in Bellevue, Nebraska
.
1:27: Mayor Anthony A. Williams
of Washington, D.C., declares a state of emergency; the District of Columbia National Guard
arrives on site.
is asked to estimate the number of casualties at the World Trade Center. He replies, "More than any of us can bear."
2:50: President Bush arrives at Offutt Air Force Base, Bellevue, Nebraska
to convene a National Security Council
teleconference via the U.S. STRATCOM bunker.
.jpg)
4:00: National news outlets report that high officials in the federal intelligence community are stating that Osama bin Laden is suspect number one.
4:25: The New York Stock Exchange
, NASDAQ
, and the American Stock Exchange
report that they will remain closed Wednesday, September 12.
4:36: President Bush departs Offutt Air Force Base on Air Force One
crumbles apart, only about 6 seconds before the entire building would begin to collapse.
5:20:33: 7 World Trade Center
, also known as the Salomon Bros. Building, a 47-story building collapses. The building contained New York's emergency operations center, operated by the NYC Office of Emergency Management
, originally intended to respond to disasters such as the September 11 terrorist attacks. Due to the emergency personnel having more than enough time to evacuate the building since the collapse of the North Tower, there are no injuries or deaths as a result of the collapse.
, Afghanistan, by CNN and the BBC. The Northern Alliance, involved in a civil war with the Taliban government, is later reported to have attacked Kabul's airport with helicopter gunships.
6:00: The last of the aircraft headed for the U.S. to land at a Canadian airport lands at Vancouver International Airport
, since it was flying over the Pacific
.
6:54: President Bush arrives at the White House.
7:24: Members of Congress join on the steps of the United States Capitol
and sing "God Bless America
".
7:30: U.S. Government denies any responsibility for the reported explosions in Kabul
, capital of Afghanistan
.
, who was in an underground corridor between the two towers, is found alive in the rubble, and eventually freed at approximately 11:00 p.m.
8:30: President Bush addresses the nation from the White House. Among his statements: "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts," "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," and "The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts...we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
As Bush speaks, members of Congress tell CNN that during private briefings with senior administration officials, they were told that the administration had enough evidence that it was "confident" the attacks are the work of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network.
is also trapped. The NYPD, FDNY and PAPD dig him out at 8:00 am the next morning after he has been there for almost a day.
11:30: Before sleeping, President Bush enters into his journal: "The Pearl Harbor
of the 21st century took place today...We think it's Osama bin Laden."
Media Event
A media event, as loosely defined by evolving modern usage, is an occasion or happening, spontaneous or planned, that attracts prominent coverage by mass media organizations, particularly television news and newspapers in both print and Internet editions....
on a scale not seen since the advent of civilian global satellite links
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
, round-the-clock television news organizations and the instant worldwide reaction and debate made possible by the Internet. As a result, most of the events listed below were known by a large portion of the planet's population as they occurred.
All times are in New York Time (EDT or UTC−04:00).
6:00 a.m.
6:00: Mohamed AttaMohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
travels Colgan Air
Colgan Air
Colgan Air, Inc. is an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air are located in Memphis, Tennessee....
from Portland International Jetport
Portland International Jetport
Portland International Jetport is a public airport located two miles west of the central business district of Portland, in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is owned by the city of Portland...
, Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, to Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, along with Abdulaziz al-Omari
Abdulaziz al-Omari
An airport security guard and Imam, Abdulaziz al-Omari was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks....
.
6:45: Atta and al-Omari arrive at Boston's Logan Airport.
6:52: Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
calls Atta from another terminal at Logan to confirm that the plans for the attack are set.
7:00 a.m.
7:35: Atta and al-Omari board American Airlines Flight 11American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
.
7:40: The rest of the American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
hijackers board the plane.
7:59: American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
, a Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
, carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
, bound for Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
8:00 a.m.
8:13: Flight 11 has its last routine communication with the FAAFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
's air traffic control center in Boston.
8:14: Flight 11 fails to heed air traffic controller's instruction to climb to 35,000 feet.
8:14: United Airlines Flight 175
United Airlines Flight 175
United Airlines Flight 175 was United Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
, another fully fueled Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and nine crew members, departs from Boston Logan airport, also bound for Los Angeles. Five hijackers are aboard.
8:19: Betty Ong
Betty Ong
Betty Ann Ong , born in San Francisco, was an American flight attendant onboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it was hijacked and flown deliberately into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, as part of the September 11 attacks....
, a flight attendant on Flight 11 alerts American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
via an airphone, “The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace
Mace (spray)
Chemical Mace is a tear gas in the form of an aerosol spray which propels a lachrymatory agent mixed with a volatile solvent. It is sometimes used as a self-defense device...
—that we can’t breathe—I don’t
know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” She then tells of the stabbings of two flight attendants.
8:20: The Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
's Boston Center flight controllers decide that Flight 11 has probably been hijacked.
8:20: American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
, a Boeing 757
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
with 58 passengers and six crew members, departs from Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of...
in Fairfax
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
and Loudoun Counties
Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, for Los Angeles. Five hijackers are aboard.
8:21: Flight 11's transponder signal is turned off, but the plane remains on radar screens as a blip without additional information. (Prior to the 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
's report, news organizations reported this time as 8:13 or immediately thereafter.)
8:24: A radio transmission comes from Flight 11: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport." It is believed Atta mistakenly held a button directing his voice to radio rather than to the plane's cabin as he intended. A few seconds later, Atta's voice says, "nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Air traffic controllers hear the transmission.
8:25: Boston Center flight controllers alert other flight control centers regarding Flight 11. NORAD
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...
is not yet alerted.
8:26:30: Flight 11 makes a 100-degree turn to the south heading toward New York City.
8:34: A third transmission from Flight 11: "nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."
8:34: Dan Bueno from Boston Center notifies the tower controller at Otis Air National Guard Base
Otis Air National Guard Base
Otis Air National Guard Base is an Air National Guard installation located within the Massachusetts Military Reservation , a military training facility, located on the western portion of Cape Cod, in western Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States...
at Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
of the hijacking of Flight 11. The controller directs Bueno to contact Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), the northeast sector of NORAD. The controller then notifies Otis Operations Center that a call from NEADS might be coming. Two F15 pilots begin to suit up.
8:37: Flight 175 confirms sighting of hijacked Flight 11 to flight controllers, 10 miles (16 km) to its south.
8:37:52: Boston Center control notifies NEADS of the hijacking of Flight 11, the first notification received by NORAD that American 11 had been hijacked. The controller requests military help to intercept the jetliner.
8:42: United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
, a Boeing 757, takes off with 37 passengers and seven crew members from Newark International Airport (now Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
), bound for San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
, following a 40-minute delay due to congested runways. Four hijackers are aboard. Its flight path initially takes it close to the World Trade Center before moving away westwards.
8:42 to 8:46 (approx.): Flight 175 is hijacked.
8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney
Madeline Amy Sweeney
Madeline Amy Sweeney , known as Amy Sweeney, was an American flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11 which was hijacked and flown deliberately into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks...
, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Dallas, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward asks her to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.” The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static.
8:46: Two F-15
F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...
fighter jets are ordered to scramble from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, intended to intercept Flight 11. Because Flight 11's transponder
Transponder (aviation)
A transponder is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation...
is off, the pilots do not know the location of their target. NEADS spends the next several minutes watching their radar screens in anticipation of Flight 11 returning a radar contact.
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, between floors 93 and 99. (Many early accounts gave times between 8:45 and 8:50). The aircraft enters the tower mostly intact. It plows to the building core, severing all three gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
-encased stairwells, dragging combustibles with it. A powerful shock wave
Shock wave
A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...
travels down to the ground and up again. The combustibles and the remnants of the aircraft are ignited by the burning fuel. As the building lacks a traditional full cage frame and depends almost entirely on the strength of a narrow structural core running up the center, fire at the center of the impact zone is in a position to compromise the integrity of all internal columns. People below the severed stairwells start to evacuate—no one above the impact zone is able to do so.
French filmmaker Jules Naudet and Czech immigrant Pavel Hlava videotape the crash of Flight 11 with their video cameras from different locations. A WNYW TV camera records the sound, but not the image, of the crash.
8:48 to 10:28: At least 100 people (some accounts say as many as 250), primarily in the North Tower, trapped by fire and smoke in the upper floors, jump to their deaths. One person at street level, firefighter Daniel Suhr, is hit by a jumper and dies. No form of airborne evacuation is attempted as smoke is too dense for a successful landing on the roof of either tower, New York City lacks helicopters equipped for horizontal rescue and the roof tarmac would have been too hot to land a helicopter.
8:48:08: The first television report of an incident at the World Trade Center is broadcast locally in New York by WNYW
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
less than two minutes after the plane crashed into the North Tower. WNYW breaks into a Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
movie trailer for Zoolander
Zoolander
Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the...
with the first live TV pictures of black smoke coming from the North Tower, relayed by a WNYW cameraman at ground level. One of the station's camera crews already had been out on the street that morning for New York's mayoral primary election. As WNYW broadcasts the first live pictures of smoke, the voice of reporter Dick Oliver is heard from the scene:
WNYW reporting would eventually correct the location of the first plane crash from the South Tower to the North Tower.
Around the same time the first radio report of the incident is heard on WCBS-AM through traffic reporter Tom Kaminski. WCBS' traffic reports are delivered every ten minutes "on the 8s", meaning that Kaminski's traffic report was to come within two minutes of the initial impact of Flight 11 (although there is no record of how much time actually passed). At the time Kaminski was in "Chopper 880", WCBS' helicopter that he reports from for morning and evening rush hour traffic reports. The following consists of WCBS anchor Pat Carroll tossing to Kaminski in the chopper before he files his report.
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
breaks into a Ditech
Ditech
Ditech, based in Costa Mesa, California, was a lender, offering mortgages and lines of credit as a member of Ally Financial, specifically GMAC ResCap which purchased Ditech from its private owner in 1999...
commercial at 8:49. The CNN screen subtitle first reads "World Trade Center disaster." Carol Lin
Carol Lin
Carol Lin is an American journalist who founded CarolLinReporting.com, a website which provides cancer patients, their families, and caregivers with answers they may not find on traditional networks...
, the first TV network anchor to break the news of the attacks, says:
Just a minute later, Sean Murtagh, CNN vice-president of finance, in an on-air phone call, says from his office in the CNN New York bureau
Time Warner Center
The Time Warner Center is a mixed-use skyscraper developed by AREA Property Partners and The Related Companies in New York City. Its design, by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, consists of two 750 ft towers bridged by a multi-story atrium containing upscale retail shops...
that a large passenger commercial jet was seen to hit the World Trade Center. Murtagh is the first network employee on the air. The first email bulletins of breaking news from CNN and MSNBC report "fire at tower of World Trade Center". Both CNN and MSNBC's websites receive such heavy traffic that many servers collapse. BBC News' website is active and shows a picture of the North Tower on fire. Minutes later, email news bulletins revise the reports of fire to a plane crash.
8:50: NEADS is notified that a plane has struck the World Trade Center as they continue to try to locate the flight on radar.
8:50 to 8:54 (approx.): Hijacking begins on Flight 77.
8:50 to 8:55 (approx): Howard Stern reports live on his radio show that something has happened to one of the Towers. He states that it was clearly a terrorist attack. This was mentioned within the first five minutes after the first plane hit. The name Osama Bin Laden came up within a half hour of the first impact. Sometime around 10:00 Howard made a remark to the effect that those buildings won't stay standing. ^Source #28- History of Howard Stern series, day 10, segment 3.
8:51: A flight controller at the FAA's New York Center notices that Flight 175 had changed its transponder
Transponder (aviation)
A transponder is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation...
code twice four minutes earlier; he tries to contact the flight.
8:52: Lee Hanson receives a phone call from his son Peter, a passenger on United 175, who says "I think they've taken over the cockpit-An attendant has been stabbed- and someone else up front may have been killed. The plane is making strange moves. Call United Airlines-Tell them it's Flight 175, Boston to LA." Also on Flight 175 a flight attendant aboard calls a United Airlines office in Chicago, reporting that the flight had been hijacked, both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been stabbed, and the hijackers were probably flying the plane.
8:52: The F-15s at Otis Air National Guard Base are airborne. Still lacking an intercept vector to Flight 11 (and not aware that it has already crashed), they are sent to military controlled airspace off Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
and ordered to remain in a holding pattern until between 9:09 and 9:13.
8:54: Flight 77 deviates from its assigned course, turning south over Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
8:55 (approx.): Announcements are made over the building-wide PA system
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
by officials in the still-undamaged South Tower of the World Trade Center, reporting that the building is "secure" and that people should return to their offices. Some do not hear it; others ignore it and evacuate anyway; others congregate in common areas like the 78th floor sky lobby.
8:55: President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
is at Emma E. Booker Elementary School
Emma E. Booker Elementary School
Emma E. Booker Elementary School is an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida which opened in the fall of 1989. It is named for Emma E. Booker, an African-American educator who founded the first black school in Sarasota County, Florida....
in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
as part of a scheduled visit to promote education when presidential advisor Andrew Card
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...
, who is with Bush, informs him that a small twin-engine plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. Before entering the classroom, the President speaks to National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, who is at the White House. She first tells him it was a twin-engine aircraft—and then a commercial aircraft—that had struck the World Trade Center, adding “that’s all we know right now, Mr. President.”
8:56: The transponder
Transponder
In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
on Flight 77 is turned off and even primary radar contact with the aircraft is lost. During radar blackout Flight 77 turns east, unnoticed by flight controllers. When primary radar information is restored at 9:05, controllers searching for Flight 77 to the west of its previous position are unable to find it. Flight 77 travels undetected for 36 minutes on a course heading due east toward Washington, D.C.
8:58: Flight 175 takes a heading toward New York City.
9:00 a.m.
Mace (spray)
Chemical Mace is a tear gas in the form of an aerosol spray which propels a lachrymatory agent mixed with a volatile solvent. It is sometimes used as a self-defense device...
. They said they have a bomb. It's getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don't think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
or someplace and fly into a building. Don't worry, Dad. If it happens, it'll be very fast. My God, my God." The call ends abruptly, as Lee Hanson hears a woman scream.
9:01 to 9:02: A manager from the FAA's New York Center tells the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon, Virginia
Herndon, Virginia
Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of the United States. The population was 21,655 at the 2000 census, which makes it the largest of three towns in the county.-History:...
, "We have several situations going on here. It's escalating big, big time. We need to get the military involved with us. . . We're, we're involved with something else, we have other aircraft that may have a similar situation going on here."
9:01: FAA's New York Center contacts New York terminal approach control
Terminal Control Center
A terminal radar approach control is an air traffic control facility usually located within the vicinity of a large airport. Typically, the TRACON controls aircraft within a 20-50 nautical mile radius of the major airport and a number of "satellite airports" between surface and up to between and...
and asks for help in locating Flight 175.
9:02: Evacuation is ordered by FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer (North Tower). An announcement is made over the PA system to evacuate the buildings.
9:03:02: Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, banked between floors 77 and 85. By this time, several media organizations, including the three major broadcast networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
(who have interrupted their morning shows), are covering the first plane crash—millions see the impact live. Parts of the plane leave the building from its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away.
A massive evacuation begins in the South Tower below its impact zone. One of the stairwells in the South Tower remains unblocked from the top to the bottom of the tower, but is filled with smoke
Smoke
Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires , but may also be used for pest...
. This leads many people to mistakenly go upwards towards the roof for a rooftop rescue that never comes. The Port Authority kept the two sets of heavy metal doors leading to the building's only roof exit tightly locked. The impact severs communication with several television and radio broadcast towers at the WTC; local station WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
's feed freezes on an image of the second impact which is all the station broadcasts until alternate transmitters are set up hours later.
Because of the North Tower's obstruction of the South Tower from certain camera angles, some are originally unaware that a second plane has struck the South Tower, and instead mistakenly believe that the second explosion has occurred in the North Tower. As instant replays of the second plane crash are shown, the anchors on the three major broadcast networks speculate on whether they are witnessing a terrorist attack or some sort of very rare accident. CNN changes its headline to read "Second plane crashes into World Trade Center." In the case of the anchors on the local station WABC
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
, they at first assume that the explosion seen was caused when the fuselage of the first plane exploded. As other sources and eyewitnesses correct them that it was actually a plane that had hit the South Tower, the WABC anchors then initially suggest it was a rare accident, saying that the two crashes might have been caused by navigational system failure.
Several eyewitness accounts and camera footage reveal that the plane was coming in at an angle
Angle
In geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle.Angles are usually presumed to be in a Euclidean plane with the circle taken for standard with regard to direction. In fact, an angle is frequently viewed as a measure of an circular arc...
, and was seen to turn drastically to the left to be able to hit the tower, unlike its predecessor, Flight 11, which had been able to hit the North Tower straight on. Thus, it is believed that had the plane continued flying straight, it would have at least simply clipped the side of the building with its left wing, or even missed the building entirely. (Flight 175 came in from the southwest, apparently heading for the Empire State Building, but turned right, then left into the South Tower.)
9:03: FAA's New York Center notifies NORAD
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...
(NEADS) of the hijacking of Flight 175.
9:04 (approximately): The FAA's Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center stops all departures from airports in its jurisdiction (New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and eastern New York State).
9:05: After brief introductions to the Booker elementary students, President Bush is about to begin reading The Pet Goat
The Pet Goat
"The Pet Goat" is a children's story from the book Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1 by Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner. The book is part of the 31 volume Reading Mastery series published by the SRA Macmillan early-childhood education division of McGraw-Hill...
with the students when Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
Andrew Card
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...
interrupts to whisper to the president, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." The president stated later that he decided to continue the lesson rather than alarm the students.
9:06: The FAA bans takeoffs of all flights bound to or through the airspace of New York Center from airports in that Center and the three adjacent Centers — Boston, Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, and Washington. This is referred to as a First Tier groundstop and covers the Northeast from North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
north and as far west as eastern Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
9:08: The FAA bans all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New York Center airspace. ABC
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
reports later that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
, the agency that runs the New York-area airports, asked the FAA for permission to close down the New York Center airspace.
9:11: The last PATH
Port Authority Trans-Hudson
PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...
train leaves the World Trade Center. The station is vacant when the towers collapse.
9:13: The F-15 fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base
Otis Air National Guard Base
Otis Air National Guard Base is an Air National Guard installation located within the Massachusetts Military Reservation , a military training facility, located on the western portion of Cape Cod, in western Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States...
leave military airspace near Long Island, bound for Manhattan.
9:14: President Bush returned to a holding room commandeered by the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
shortly before 9:15. The holding room contains a telephone, a television showing the news coverage, and several senior staff members. The president speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
, Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, New York Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
, and FBI Director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
, and prepares brief remarks.
9:15: NBC's Today program reports unconfirmed statements from employees at United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
that an American Airlines aircraft had been hijacked previous to its destruction.
9:17: The FAA closes down all New York City-area airports. The city had initially asked the FAA to close down the airports.
9:17:02: CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
correspondent Jim Stewart in Washington mentions that in the intelligence community, Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
is a probable suspect.
9:18: CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
makes reference to foul play for the first time, stating the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
was investigating a report of plane hijacking. CNN headline: "AP: Plane was hijacked before crashes".
9:21: All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan closed.
9:23: Flight 93 receives warning message text from United Airlines flight dispatcher: "Beware any cockpit intrusion- Two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center."
9:24: The FAA notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector about the suspected hijacking of Flight 77. The FAA and NORAD establish an open line to discuss Flight 77, and shortly thereafter Flight 93.
9:25: The Otis-based F-15s establish an air patrol over Manhattan.
9:25: A video teleconference begins to be set up in the White House Situation Room
White House Situation Room
The White House Situation Room is a conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the use of the President of the United States and his advisors to monitor and deal...
, led by Richard A. Clarke
Richard A. Clarke
Richard Alan Clarke was a U.S. government employee for 30 years, 1973–2003. He worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to chair the Counter-terrorism Security Group and to a seat on the United States National...
, a special assistant to the president, that eventually includes the CIA, the FBI, the departments of State, Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, and Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, and the FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
.
9:25: The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
informs CNN that the two plane crashes in the World Trade Center appeared to be an "act of terrorism" (terrorist attack).
9:26: The FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft regardless of destination—a national groundstop. All military bases in the United States are ordered to increase threat conditions
Force Protection Condition
In United States security, Force Protection Condition is a terrorist threat system overseen by the Department of Defense directive, and describes the amount of measures needed to be taken by security agencies in response to various levels of terrorist threats against military facilities, as...
to Delta status.
9:28: Hijackers storm the cockpit on Flight 93 and take over the flight. The entry of the hijackers is overheard by flight controllers at Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
9:29: President Bush makes his first public statements about the attacks, in front of an audience of about 200 teachers and students at the elementary school. He states that he will be going back to Washington, that "we've had a national tragedy", and leads a moment of silence. No one in the President's traveling party has any information during this time that other aircraft were hijacked or missing.
9:32: A radio transmission from Flight 93 is overheard by flight controllers at Cleveland: "Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board."
9:32: Controllers at the Dulles Terminal Radar Approach Control in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
observe "a primary radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed", referring to Flight 77.
9:33 to 9:34: Tower supervisor at Reagan National Airport tells Secret Service operations center at the White House that "an aircraft [is] coming at you and not talking with us," referring to Flight 77. The White House is about to be evacuated when the tower reports that Flight 77 has turned and is approaching Reagan National Airport.
9:34: The FAA's Command Center relays information concerning Flight 93 to FAA headquarters.
9:35: The President's motorcade departs from the elementary school, bound for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is an airport located between Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida. The airport is shared by both Manatee County and Sarasota County . Most airlines refer to the airport on destination maps and flight status displays as just "Sarasota", as that is the more...
and Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
.
9:35: Flight 93 reverses direction over Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and starts flying eastwards.
9:35: Based on a report that Flight 77 had turned again and was circling back toward the District of Columbia, the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
orders the immediate evacuation of the Vice President from the White House.
9:36: Cleveland advises the FAA Command Center that it is still tracking Flight 93 and inquires whether someone had requested the military to launch fighter aircraft to intercept the aircraft.
9:37: Vice President Cheney enters an underground tunnel leading to a security bunker.
Pentagon Renovation Program
The Pentagon Renovation Program or PENREN was a long-term project by the United States Department of Defense to perform a complete slab-to-slab renovation of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia...
, unoccupied offices. All 64 people on board are killed, as are 125 Pentagon personnel.
9:39: Another radio transmission is heard from Ziad Jarrah aboard Flight 93: "Uh, this is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet."
9:39: Fox News Channel reports, "We -- we are hearing -- right now that another explosion that -- has taken place. At the Pentagon."
9:39: NBC and MSNBC report an explosion at the Pentagon.
9:40: Video teleconference in White House Situation Room begins with the physical security of the President, the White House, and federal agencies. They are not yet aware of the Pentagon crash.
9:40:49: CNN's Breaking News bulletin reads "Reports of fire at Pentagon."
9:42: Ben Sliney of the FAA issues the execution order for SCATANA grounding all air traffic over the United States and diverting any incoming international traffic to alternate destinations.
9:43: The White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and the Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
are evacuated and closed.
9:45: United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
is shut down
Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids
The Plan for the Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids is an emergency preparedness plan of the United States which prescribes the joint action to be taken by appropriate elements of the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Communications...
. No civilian aircraft are allowed to take off, and all aircraft in flight are ordered to land at the nearest airport as soon as possible. All international flights headed for the U.S. are redirected to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Transport Canada
Transport Canada
Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio...
, Canada's transportation agency, also closes down its airspace. The FAA announces that civilian flights are suspended until at least noon September 12, while Transport Canada gives similar orders, but until further notice, to take in diverted U.S.-bound international flights, launching the agency's "Operation Yellow Ribbon
Operation Yellow Ribbon
Operation Yellow Ribbon was commenced by Transport Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. Canada’s goal was to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic be removed from U.S. airspace as quickly as possible, and away from...
". The groundings last until September 14. Military and medical flights as well as Con Air
Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System
The Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System , nicknamed "Con Air", is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with the transportation of persons in legal custody between prisons, detaining centers, courthouses, and other locations. It is the largest prison...
flights continue. This is the fourth time all commercial flights in the U.S. have been stopped, and the first time a suspension was unplanned. All previous suspensions were military-related (Sky Shield I-III
Operation Skyshield
Operation Skyshield was a series of three large-scale military exercises conducted in the United States in 1960, 1961 and 1962 to test the North American Aerospace Defense Command defenses against Soviet air attack. The tests were intended to ensure that any attacks over the Canadian border or...
), from 1960 to 1962. Many newspapers (including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
) mistakenly print that this is the first time flights have been suspended. This was also the first time commercial flights in Canada have been stopped.
9:45: CNN receives initial reports that, in addition to a fire at the Pentagon, there is also a fire at the National Mall. These reports, however, are later proven to be false.
9:49: The FAA Command Center at Herndon suggests that someone at FAA headquarters should decide whether to request military assistance with Flight 93. Ultimately, the FAA makes no request before it crashes.
9:50 (approximately): The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reports that Flight 11 was apparently hijacked after departure from Boston's Logan Airport. Within an hour this is confirmed for both Flight 11 and Flight 175.
9:51: FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer
Orio Palmer
Orio Joseph Palmer was a Battalion Chief of the New York City Fire Department who died while rescuing occupants of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001...
reaches the 78th Floor Sky Lobby of the South Tower along with Fire Marshal Ronald Bucca. Palmer reports that there are two pockets of fire and numerous dead bodies.
9:52: The National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
intercepts a phone call between a known associate of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and someone in the Republic of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, announcing that he had heard "good news", and that another target was still to be hit.
9:53: CNN confirms a plane crash at the Pentagon.
9:55: A CNN correspondent mentions Osama bin Laden as someone determined to strike the US.
9:55: Air Force One leaves Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is an airport located between Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida. The airport is shared by both Manatee County and Sarasota County . Most airlines refer to the airport on destination maps and flight status displays as just "Sarasota", as that is the more...
.
9:57: Passenger revolt begins on Flight 93.
9:57: President Bush leaves Sarasota, Florida, on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
. The plane reaches cruising altitude and circles for approximately 40 minutes while the destination of the plane is discussed.
9:59:01: The South Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse, 56 minutes and 2 seconds after the impact of Flight 175. Its destruction is viewed and heard by a vast television and radio audience. As the roar of the collapse goes silent, tremendous gray-white clouds of pulverized concrete and gypsum rush through the streets. Most observers think a new explosion or impact has produced smoke and debris that now obscures the South Tower, but once the wind clears the smoke it becomes clear that the building is no longer there. On ABC, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
correspondent Don Dahler
Don Dahler
Don Dahler is an American journalist and writer. Dahler is currently employed by WCBS-TV in New York, where he anchors the weekend evening newscasts.-Career:Dahler joined ABC News in September 1999 as a National Correspondent for Good Morning America...
, who was home at the time of the incident and lived near the site, reports to anchor Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
on air that he has witnessed the tower collapse; this is perhaps the first official word of the collapse as Dahler's report is filed seconds after the building collapsed.
10:00 a.m.
10:00: Moments after the South Tower fell, Chief J. Pfeifer (inside of North Tower) said on the radio the order to all firemen, at least twice, "Evacuate the building".10:01: The FAA Command Center advises FAA headquarters that an aircraft had seen Flight 93 "waving his wings," the hijackers' efforts to defeat the passengers' counterattack.
10:02: Communicators with the Vice President in the security bunker begin receiving reports from the Secret Service of an inbound aircraft — presumably hijacked — heading toward Washington. This is Flight 93.
10:02: CNN announces that the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
in Chicago has been evacuated.
10:03 (approximately): The National Military Command Center
National Military Command Center
Located in the Pentagon, the National Military Command Center houses the logistical and communications center for the National Command Authority of the United States of America. The facility, which is composed of several war rooms, is the principal command and control center of the Department of...
learns from the White House of Flight 93's hijacking.
10:03:11: United Airlines Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers and passengers, due to fighting in the cockpit 80 miles (129 km) southeast of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County is a county located in the state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 77,742. Somerset County was created on April 17, 1795, from part of Bedford County and named for Somerset, United Kingdom. Its county seat is Somerset. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania,...
. Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes on cell phones
Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks
Communication problems and successes played an important role in the September 11, 2001 attacks and their aftermath.-Attackers:The organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks apparently planned and coordinated their mission in face to face meetings and used little or no electronic communication...
and at least three were planning on resisting the hijackers; the resistance was confirmed by Flight 93's cockpit voice recording, on which the hijackers are heard making their decision to down the plane before the passengers succeed in breaching the cockpit door. The 9/11 Commission believed that Flight 93's target was either the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
building or the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in Washington, D.C.
10:05: Andrea Mitchell
Andrea Mitchell
Andrea Mitchell is an American television journalist, anchor, reporter, and commentator for NBC News based in Washington, D.C.. She is the NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, and has recently reported on the 2008 Race for the White House for NBC News broadcasts, including NBC Nightly...
, reporting on NBC from outside the Pentagon, reports that Osama bin Laden may have been involved in the attacks.
10:05: CNN's headlines read: "SOUTH TOWER AT WTC COLLAPSES."
10:05: The IDS Center
IDS Center
The IDS Center is the tallest building in the state of Minnesota at 792 feet . Opened in 1974 as the IDS Centre, it stood 775 feet 6 inches , though a 16-foot garage for window washing equipment was added at a later date...
in Minneapolis is evacuated.
10:07: NBC reports for the first time that the South Tower of the World Trade Center has collapsed. Prior to this time they have said only that a section of the building has fallen away.
10:07: NEADS, controlling the only set of fighters over Washington, first learns of the hijacking of Flight 93.
10:08: Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon reports to FAA headquarters that Flight 93 may be down near Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...
; at 10:17 the Command Center concludes it is so.
10:10: Part of the west side of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10: NEADS emphatically tells fighter pilots over Washington, "Negative clearance to shoot."
10:10 to 10:15 (approximately): Vice President Cheney, unaware that Flight 93 has crashed, authorizes fighter aircraft to engage the inbound plane, reported to be 80 miles (129 km) from Washington, based not on radar (from which it has disappeared) but speed and trajectory projections.
10:13: Thousands are involved in an evacuation of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
complex in New York.
10:13 to 10:22: The 9/11 Commission's estimated arrival of Flight 93 over Washington had it not crashed in Pennsylvania.
10:14 to 10:19: A lieutenant colonel at the White House repeatedly relays to the NMCC
National Military Command Center
Located in the Pentagon, the National Military Command Center houses the logistical and communications center for the National Command Authority of the United States of America. The facility, which is composed of several war rooms, is the principal command and control center of the Department of...
that the Vice President has confirmed that fighters are cleared to engage inbound aircraft if they can verify that the aircraft was hijacked.
10:15 (approximately): The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist, secular political and military organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dimuqratiyah...
is reported to take responsibility for the crashes, but this is denied by a senior officer of the group soon after.
10:20: President Bush, aboard Air Force One, tells Vice President Cheney that he has authorized a shootdown of aircraft if necessary.
10:23: The Associated Press reports a car bomb has exploded outside the State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
This and several other reports of terrorist acts in the capital are quickly found to be false.
10:24: Two men who were being evacuated through the underground shopping mall below the South Tower when it collapsed on them are able to climb up through thirty feet of debris to safety.
10:28:31: The North Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse
Collapse of the World Trade Center
The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
. Due to the destruction of the gypsum-encased stairwells on the impact floors (most skyscraper stairwells are encased in reinforced concrete), no one who was above the impact zone in the North Tower escapes the collapse. The Marriott Hotel, located at the base of the two towers, is also destroyed. The second collapse is also viewed live on television and heard on radio. The North Tower collapses 1 hour, 41 minutes and 45 seconds after the impact of Flight 11.
Several long-distance videos of the collapse, such as CNN, were able to notice that, after the cloud of dust had partially cleared away, a portion of the building was still standing. It appeared to be the lower half of the northwest corner column of the North Tower, which, like a spire, grew larger and had more structure still standing near the bottom. The portion rose to a fairly good height considering the collapse around it, as it appeared to rise nearly forty stories off the ground. This piece remained standing for a few seconds after the initial collapse before it also came down.
10:31: NORAD first communicates the Vice President's shootdown authority to NEADS.
10:35: Air Force One, carrying the president, turns for Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-southeast of Bossier City, Louisiana.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing , the oldest Bomb Wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force...
in Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
.
10:37: Associated Press reports that officials at the Somerset County airport confirm that a large plane has crashed in western Pennsylvania. CNN's Aaron Brown
Aaron Brown
Aaron Brown is an American broadcast journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks, his first day on air at CNN...
passes along reports that a 747 is "down" in Pennsylvania. He stresses these reports are unconfirmed. At 10:50, this report is updated: A 767 has "crashed this morning, north of the Somerset County Airport".
10:37: The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is evacuated.
10:39: Another hijacked jumbo jet is claimed to be headed for Washington, D.C. F-15
F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...
s are scrambled and patrol the airspace above Washington, D.C. while other fighter jets sweep the airspace above New York City. They have orders, first issued by Vice President Cheney and later confirmed by President Bush, to shoot down any potentially dangerous planes that do not comply with orders given to them via radio. Eventually, the aircraft is revealed to be a medevac
MEDEVAC
Medical evacuation, often termed Medevac or Medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to the wounded being evacuated from the battlefield or to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of an accident to receiving medical facilities using...
helicopter on its way to the Pentagon.
10:41: NBC News confirms that a plane has "gone down" in Somerset County. The earlier unconfirmed statements about an incident at the State Department in Washington, D.C. are reported as false.
10:43: CNN reports that a mass evacuation of Washington, D.C. and New York has been started. A few minutes later, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
orders an evacuation of Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
.
10:49: Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
is the first of the United States news networks to implement a news ticker
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
at the bottom of its screen for supplementary information about the attacks. CNN adds one at 11:11, and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
adds one at approximately 2:00 pm. All three cable networks have used a news ticker continuously in the years since (and many local television stations have followed suit).
10:50:19: Five stories of part of the Pentagon collapse due to the fire.
10:53: New York's primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s are canceled.
11:00 a.m.
11:00: Transport Canada halts all aircraft departures until further notice, except for police, military, and humanitarian flights, as part of Operation Yellow RibbonOperation Yellow Ribbon
Operation Yellow Ribbon was commenced by Transport Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. Canada’s goal was to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic be removed from U.S. airspace as quickly as possible, and away from...
. The operation was well underway as international flights headed for the U.S. had already started to land at Canadian airports, beginning at CFB Goose Bay
CFB Goose Bay
Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , is a Canadian Forces Base located in the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador....
. Fourteen other airports follow, including Halifax
Halifax International Airport
Halifax/Robert L. Stanfield International Airport, or Halifax Stanfield International Airport is an airport in Enfield, Nova Scotia and in Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada...
, Lester B. Pearson in Toronto, Montréal-Dorval
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located on the Island of Montreal, from Montreal's downtown core. The airport terminals are located entirely in Dorval, while the Air Canada headquarters complex...
, and Vancouver
Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...
.
11:05: The FAA confirms that several planes have been hijacked in addition to American Airlines Flight 11.
11:16: American Airlines confirms the loss of its two aircraft.
11:26: United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
confirms the loss of Flight 93 and states that it is "deeply concerned" about Flight 175.
11:53: United Airlines confirms the loss of its two aircraft.
11:55: The border between the U.S. and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
is on highest alert, but is not closed.
12:00 p.m.
12:01 (approximately): Fourteen people, including twelve firefighters, who were in a section of a stairwell in the North Tower that held together during the collapse, climb the stairs to the top of the Ground ZeroGround zero
The term ground zero describes the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation...
rubble field.
12:04: Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
, the intended destination of Flights 11, 77 and 175, is shut down.
12:15: San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
, the intended destination of Flight 93, is shut down.
12:15 (approximately): The airspace over the 48 contiguous United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is clear of all commercial and private flights.
12:30 (approximately): Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
boards a plane in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, for Washington, D.C.
12:39: On CNN, Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
characterizes attack as an "act of war."
12:41: Senator Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
tells CNN, "Both the FBI and our intelligence community believe that this is Bin Laden's signature."
1:00 p.m.
1:00 (approximately): At the Pentagon, fire crews are still fighting fires. The early response to the attack had been coordinated from the National Military Command Center, but that had to be evacuated when it began to fill with smoke.1:04: President Bush puts the U.S. military on high alert worldwide (known as Force Protection Condition Delta
Force Protection Condition
In United States security, Force Protection Condition is a terrorist threat system overseen by the Department of Defense directive, and describes the amount of measures needed to be taken by security agencies in response to various levels of terrorist threats against military facilities, as...
). Taped remarks from the President were aired from Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-southeast of Bossier City, Louisiana.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing , the oldest Bomb Wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force...
, stating that "freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended." He also said that the "United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts." He then leaves for a U.S. Strategic Command bunker located at Offutt Air Force Base
Offutt Air Force Base
Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force installation near Omaha, and lies adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S...
in Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 50,137 at the 2010 census. Eight miles south of Omaha, Bellevue is part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Originally settled in the 1830s, It was the first state capitol. Bellevue was incorporated in...
.
1:27: Mayor Anthony A. Williams
Anthony A. Williams
Anthony Allen "Tony" Williams is an American politician who served as the fifth mayor of the District of Columbia for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. He had previously served as chief financial officer for the District, managing to balance the budget and achieve a surplus within two years of...
of Washington, D.C., declares a state of emergency; the District of Columbia National Guard
District of Columbia National Guard
The District of Columbia National Guard is the branch of the United States National Guard based in Washington, D.C.. It comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components....
arrives on site.
2:00 p.m.
2:39: At a press conference New York Mayor Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
is asked to estimate the number of casualties at the World Trade Center. He replies, "More than any of us can bear."
2:50: President Bush arrives at Offutt Air Force Base, Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 50,137 at the 2010 census. Eight miles south of Omaha, Bellevue is part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Originally settled in the 1830s, It was the first state capitol. Bellevue was incorporated in...
to convene a National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
teleconference via the U.S. STRATCOM bunker.
3:00 p.m.
3:00 (approx.): Pasquale Buzzelli, who lost consciousness in a North Tower stairway during the collapse, awakens to find himself lying atop the debris with only a fractured foot.4:00 p.m.
4:25: The New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
, and the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...
report that they will remain closed Wednesday, September 12.
4:36: President Bush departs Offutt Air Force Base on Air Force One
5:00 p.m.
5:20: The penthouse on top of 7 World Trade Center7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
crumbles apart, only about 6 seconds before the entire building would begin to collapse.
5:20:33: 7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
, also known as the Salomon Bros. Building, a 47-story building collapses. The building contained New York's emergency operations center, operated by the NYC Office of Emergency Management
NYC Office of Emergency Management
The New York City Office of Emergency Management was originally formed in 1996 as part of the Mayor's Office under Rudolph W. Giuliani. By a vote of city residents in 2001 it became an independent agency, headed by a Commissioner who reports to the Mayor. In 2006 the office was reorganized under...
, originally intended to respond to disasters such as the September 11 terrorist attacks. Due to the emergency personnel having more than enough time to evacuate the building since the collapse of the North Tower, there are no injuries or deaths as a result of the collapse.
6:00 p.m.
6:00: Explosions and tracer fire are reported in KabulKabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Afghanistan, by CNN and the BBC. The Northern Alliance, involved in a civil war with the Taliban government, is later reported to have attacked Kabul's airport with helicopter gunships.
6:00: The last of the aircraft headed for the U.S. to land at a Canadian airport lands at Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...
, since it was flying over the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
6:54: President Bush arrives at the White House.
7:00 p.m.
7:00: Efforts to locate survivors in the rubble that had been the twin towers continue. Fleets of ambulances are lined up to transport the injured to nearby hospitals, but they stand empty. "Ground Zero", as the site of the WTC collapse becomes known henceforth, is the exclusive domain of New York City's Fire Department and Police Department, despite volunteer steel and construction workers who stand ready to move large quantities of debris quickly. Relatives and friends of victims or likely victims, many displaying enlarged photographs of the missing printed on home computer printers, have appeared around New York. The New York Armory at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street and Union Square Park at 14th Street and Broadway become centers of vigil.7:24: Members of Congress join on the steps of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and sing "God Bless America
God Bless America
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song ....
".
7:30: U.S. Government denies any responsibility for the reported explosions in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, capital of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
8:00 p.m.
8:00 (approx.): Port Authority Police Officer Will JimenoWill Jimeno
William J. Jimeno is a Port Authority Police officer who survived the September 11 attacks. He was buried under the rubble for a total of 13 hours, but survived, along with fellow Port Authority officer John McLoughlin....
, who was in an underground corridor between the two towers, is found alive in the rubble, and eventually freed at approximately 11:00 p.m.
8:30: President Bush addresses the nation from the White House. Among his statements: "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts," "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," and "The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts...we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
As Bush speaks, members of Congress tell CNN that during private briefings with senior administration officials, they were told that the administration had enough evidence that it was "confident" the attacks are the work of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network.
9:00 p.m.
9:00: President Bush meets his full National Security Council, followed roughly half an hour later by a meeting with a smaller group of key advisers. Bush and his advisers have evidence that Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks. CIA Director Tenet says that al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan are essentially one and the same. Bush says, "Tell the Taliban we're finished with them."10:00 p.m.
10:00: There are reports (later proven incorrect) of many survivors buried in rubble in New York making cell phone calls. Only two more survivors will be pulled from the rubble on September 12 and neither of them had made cell phone calls.11:00 p.m.
11:00: After 3 hours, the NYPD, FDNY and PAPD finally dig out Will Jimeno. They learn that port authority police sergeant John McLoughlinJohn McLoughlin (World Trade Center attack survivor)
John McLoughlin is one of two Port Authority Police Officers who survived after being trapped in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center...
is also trapped. The NYPD, FDNY and PAPD dig him out at 8:00 am the next morning after he has been there for almost a day.
11:30: Before sleeping, President Bush enters into his journal: "The Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
of the 21st century took place today...We think it's Osama bin Laden."
External links
- "Interactive 911 Timeline" - Provided by TimeRime.com.
- "Complete 911 Timeline" minute by minute - Provided by the Center for Cooperative Research.
- Washington Post, 27 January 2002 Details of discussions that took place between President Bush and his advisors on the night of September 11.
- September 11: Chronology of terror: CNN timeline published September 12.
- 911 Case Study: Pentagon Flight 77: 3d Computer Simulation about The PentagonThe PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
impact. - My 9/11 Flight: Airline pilot's account of the SCATANA airspace shutdown on 9/11.
- Video Archive of News Stations - Archive.org