Timeline of 9/11

By: Ashlyn Steffey

Editor: Breanna Naysmith

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As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we all need to stop and either remember that day or educate ourselves as to what happened that day. None of the students currently enrolled at PHS were born when the attack on our country took place. Why is it important for each of us to know about it? It is important for everyone to educate themselves with what happened that day because the events of the incident still have major impacts on our daily lives. From now until forever, we shall never forget the people involved and killed on that horrific day.

Below is a timeline of how that day unfolded:

• 7:59 am : American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767( 92 people aboard ) takes off from Boston’s Logan International Airport en route to Los Angeles.

• 8:14 am : United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 ( 65 people aboard ) takes off from Boston; Headed to Los Angeles.

• 8:19 am : Flight attendants aboard Flight 11 alert the airline headquarters that the plane has been hijacked; American Airlines notifies the FBI.

• 8:20 am : American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. The Boeing 757 is headed to Los Angeles ( 64 people aboard ).

• 8:24 am : Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes the first of two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to ground control in an attempt to communicate with the plane’s cabin.

• 8:40 am : Air traffic controllers at The Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) alert North American Aerospace Defense Command ( NORAD )’s Northeast Air Defense Sector ( NEADS ) about how they suspected the hijacking of Flight 11. NEAD responds and scrambles two fighter planes in Cape Cod’s Otis Air National Guard Base to locate flight 11. Before the fighter planes took off, Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower.

• 8:41 am : United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 ( 44 people aboard ) takes off from Newark International Airport en route to San Francisco. It had been scheduled to depart at 8:00 am, around the time of the other hijacked flights.

• 8:46 am : Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crash the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

• 8:47 am : 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.

• 8:50 am : White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card alerts President George W Bush that a plane has hit the World Trade Center; during this time, the president is visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida.

• 9:02 am : After initially instructing tenants of the WTC’s South Tower to remain in the building, Port Authority ordered the evacuation of both towers; estimated 10,000 to 14,000 are already in the process of evacuating

• 9:03 am : Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building

• 9:08 am : The FAA bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through the airspace around the city.

• 9:21 am : The Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.

• 9:24 am : The FAA notified NEADS of the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 after some passengers and crew aboard were able to alert family members on the ground.

• 9:37 am : Hijackers aboard Flight 77 crash the plane into the western front of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 59 aboard the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building

• 9:42 am : the FAA grounds all flights bound for the continental United States. Over the next 2 ½ hours 3,300 commercial flights and 1,200 private planes are guided to land at airports in Canada and the United States.

• 9:59 am : The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

• 10:07 am : 93 passengers contact friends and family and learn about the attacks in New York and Washington, they plan 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.

• 10:28 am : The World Trade Center’s North Tower collapses, 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11.

• 11 am : Mayor Rudolph Giuliani calls for the evacuation of Lower Manhattan south of Canal Street, including more than 1 million residents, workers and tourists, as efforts continue to search for survivors at the WTC site.

• 1 pm : At Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, President Bush announces that U.S. military forces are on high alert worldwide.

• 2:51 pm : The U.S. Navy dispatches missile destroyers to New York and Washington, D.C.

• 5:20 pm : The 47-story Seven World Trade Center collapses after burning for hours.

• 6:58 pm : President Bush returns to the White House after stopping at military bases in Louisiana and Nebraska.

• 8:30 pm : President Bush addresses the nation, calling the attacks “evil, despicable acts of terror” and declaring that America, its friends and allies would “stand together to win the war against terrorism.”