On this day, nine years ago, a first strike was sent against the United States from Al-Qaeda memebers based in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is the timeline of the day that changed not just the United States, but the world forever. I hope you all may remember the Sacrifice and Heroism that many men and women showed on that day and the years to follow.
6:02 ? 6:52 am
6:02: Mohamed Atta 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, the hijacker of United Airlines Flight 175, calls Atta from another terminal at Logan to confirm that the plans for the attack are intact.
[edit] 7:35 ? 7:59 am
7:35: Atta and al-Omari board American Airlines Flight 11.
7:40: The rest of the American Airlines Flight 11 hijackers board the plane.
7:59: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport, bound for Los Angeles, California. Five hijackers are aboard.
[edit] 8:13 ? 8:58 am
8:13: Flight 11 has its last routine communication with the FAA'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 [1] 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 Flight 11 makes a 100-degree turn to the south heading toward New York City. 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. However, NORAD is not yet alerted.
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 NEADS (Northeast Air Defense Sector), the northeast sector of NORAD.[1] The controller then notifies Otis Operations Center that a call from NEADS might be coming.[2] Two F15 pilots begin to suit up.[3]
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'"[2] 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 Boston, "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.
8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes at roughly 490 mph (790km/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 massive 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.
8:46 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.[citation needed] One person at street level, firefighter Daniel Suhr, is hit by a jumper and dies.[4] 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.[citation needed]
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: "Jim, just a few moments ago, something believed to be a plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center." WNYW reporting would eventually correct the location of the first plane crash from the South Tower to the North Tower. Oliver was referring to WNYW anchor Jim Ryan, who was not seen or heard on-air during the initial seconds of WNYW's first report of the disaster. Around the same time the first radio report of the incident is heard on WCBS-AM through traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, who was flying in the station's traffic helicopter and was set to deliver his 8:48 traffic report when the incident took place. The report is led into as normal with anchor Pat Carroll throwing to Kaminski in the chopper for the report, and Kaminski then relaying what he's seeing, "WCBS News time 8:48 it's traffic and weather together sponsored by Henry Miller's Theatre. Tom Kaminski Chopper 880, Alright uh, Pat we are just currently getting a look at the World Trade Center, We have something that has happened here at the World Trade Center, we noticed flame and an awful lot of smoke from one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
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:
"This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
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 locate the flight on radar.
8:50 to 8:54 (approx.): Hijacking begins on Flight 77.
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: A flight attendant aboard Flight 175 calls a United Airlines office in San Francisco, 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 Karl Rove, 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.?[5]
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 look futilely for Flight 77 west of its previous position.[6] 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 in Miami 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.
9:03:04: 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.[7] By this time, several media organizations 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. Some mistakenly believe that a second explosion has occurred in the North Tower due to the North Tower's obstruction of the South Tower from certain camera angles. They are unaware that a second plane has struck the South Tower. 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.[8] 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. CNN's headline now reads "Second plane crashes into World Trade Center." The three major broadcast networks have interrupted their morning shows and are speculating on whether they are witnessing a terrorist attack or some sort of very rare accident.
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.
Although there was a live camera feed that showed the second plane fly into the second tower, WABC anchors initially assumed that the explosion seen was caused when the fuselage of the first plane exploded. Other sources and eyewitnesses later advised them that it was actually a plane that had hit the South Tower. WABC suggested that the two crashes were caused by navigational system failure.
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."[9] 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.
9:13: 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 [3].
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.[10] The city had initially asked the FAA to close down the airports.
9:17:02: CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart in Washington mentions Osama bin Laden as a probable suspect in the intelligence community.
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.[11]
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.[citation needed]
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.[12]
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 International 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.
6:02 ? 6:52 am
6:02: Mohamed Atta 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, the hijacker of United Airlines Flight 175, calls Atta from another terminal at Logan to confirm that the plans for the attack are intact.
[edit] 7:35 ? 7:59 am
7:35: Atta and al-Omari board American Airlines Flight 11.
7:40: The rest of the American Airlines Flight 11 hijackers board the plane.
7:59: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport, bound for Los Angeles, California. Five hijackers are aboard.
[edit] 8:13 ? 8:58 am
8:13: Flight 11 has its last routine communication with the FAA'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 [1] 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 Flight 11 makes a 100-degree turn to the south heading toward New York City. 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. However, NORAD is not yet alerted.
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 NEADS (Northeast Air Defense Sector), the northeast sector of NORAD.[1] The controller then notifies Otis Operations Center that a call from NEADS might be coming.[2] Two F15 pilots begin to suit up.[3]
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'"[2] 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 Boston, "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.
8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes at roughly 490 mph (790km/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 massive 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.
8:46 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.[citation needed] One person at street level, firefighter Daniel Suhr, is hit by a jumper and dies.[4] 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.[citation needed]
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: "Jim, just a few moments ago, something believed to be a plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center." WNYW reporting would eventually correct the location of the first plane crash from the South Tower to the North Tower. Oliver was referring to WNYW anchor Jim Ryan, who was not seen or heard on-air during the initial seconds of WNYW's first report of the disaster. Around the same time the first radio report of the incident is heard on WCBS-AM through traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, who was flying in the station's traffic helicopter and was set to deliver his 8:48 traffic report when the incident took place. The report is led into as normal with anchor Pat Carroll throwing to Kaminski in the chopper for the report, and Kaminski then relaying what he's seeing, "WCBS News time 8:48 it's traffic and weather together sponsored by Henry Miller's Theatre. Tom Kaminski Chopper 880, Alright uh, Pat we are just currently getting a look at the World Trade Center, We have something that has happened here at the World Trade Center, we noticed flame and an awful lot of smoke from one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
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:
"This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
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 locate the flight on radar.
8:50 to 8:54 (approx.): Hijacking begins on Flight 77.
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: A flight attendant aboard Flight 175 calls a United Airlines office in San Francisco, 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 Karl Rove, 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.?[5]
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 look futilely for Flight 77 west of its previous position.[6] 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 in Miami 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.
9:03:04: 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.[7] By this time, several media organizations 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. Some mistakenly believe that a second explosion has occurred in the North Tower due to the North Tower's obstruction of the South Tower from certain camera angles. They are unaware that a second plane has struck the South Tower. 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.[8] 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. CNN's headline now reads "Second plane crashes into World Trade Center." The three major broadcast networks have interrupted their morning shows and are speculating on whether they are witnessing a terrorist attack or some sort of very rare accident.
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.
Although there was a live camera feed that showed the second plane fly into the second tower, WABC anchors initially assumed that the explosion seen was caused when the fuselage of the first plane exploded. Other sources and eyewitnesses later advised them that it was actually a plane that had hit the South Tower. WABC suggested that the two crashes were caused by navigational system failure.
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."[9] 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.
9:13: 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 [3].
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.[10] The city had initially asked the FAA to close down the airports.
9:17:02: CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart in Washington mentions Osama bin Laden as a probable suspect in the intelligence community.
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.[11]
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.[citation needed]
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.[12]
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 International 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.
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