September 11, 2001 Research & Archives

Flight 11 is confirmed hijacked over central Massachusetts, turning southwest.

The U.S. Navy dispatches missile destroyers to New York and Washington, D.C.

After passengers and crew members aboard the hijacked Flight 93 contact friends and family and learn about the attacks in New York and Washington, they mount an attempt to retake the plane. In response, hijackers deliberately crash the plane into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew aboard.

Speaking from Florida, President Bush calls the events in New York City an "apparent terrorist attack on our country."

The FAA notified NEADS of the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 after some passengers and crew aboard are able to alert family members on the ground.

The Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.

The FAA bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through the airspace around the city.

United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into floors 75-85 of the World Trade Center's South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

.

After initially instructing tenants of the WTC's South Tower to remain in the building, Port Authority officials broadcast orders to evacuate both towers via the public address system; an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people are already in the process of evacuating.

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card alerts President George W. Bush that a plane has hit the World Trade Center; the president is visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida at the time.

Within seconds, NYPD and FDNY forces dispatch units to the World Trade Center, while Port Authority Police Department officers on site begin immediate evacuation of the North Tower.

United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 37 passengers and seven crew members, departs 42 minutes late from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco International Airport. It had been scheduled to depart at 8:00 am.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alerts North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) about the suspected hijacking of Flight 11. In response, NEADS scrambles two fighter planes located at Cape Cod's Otis Air National Guard Base to locate and tail Flight 11; they are not yet in the air when Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower.

Two F-15 alert aircraft at Otis Air National Guard Base in Falmouth, Massachusetts were ordered to battle stations (seated in their aircraft, engines not yet started).

Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes the first of two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to ground control (apparently in an attempt to communicate with the plane's cabin). Attempting to communicate with passengers and crew inside Flight 11's cabin, hijacker Mohamed Atta presses the wrong button, broadcasting instead to air traffic control and unwittingly alerting controllers to the attacks. Minutes later, Atta again makes an unintended transmission to ground control. At least one of Atta's transmissions is picked up by the pilot of Flight 175, Victor J. Saracini, who will inform the Federal Aviation Administration of what he has heard minutes before his own plane is hijacked.

American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 58 passengers departs 10 minutes late from Washington Dulles International Airport (outside of Washington, D.C.), for Los Angeles International Airport. This is the released passenger list with seating location: