On Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 began boarding passengers scheduled to fly from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles. They took off from Dulles International Airport at 8:20 a.m., with six crew members and 58 passengers.
At 8:40 a.m. the flight was handed off from the FAA’s Washington Center to Indianapolis Center. Ten minutes later, the Indianapolis controller instructed the aircraft to climb, and American 77 acknowledged. This was the last transmission from American 77.
American 77 turned off its transponder and disappeared from Indianapolis radar. The controller searched for the aircraft and tried to establish radio contact. He then tried to make contact through the airline. At this point, the Indianapolis controller had no knowledge of any other airline situations over or near New York.
He believed American 77 had experienced serious electrical and/or mechanical failure, and had possibly crashed, so by 9 a.m. began notifying other agencies that American 77 was missing and had possibly crashed.
Indianapolis Center contacted Air Force Search and Rescue at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and told them to look out for a downed aircraft. They also contacted the West Virginia State Police, and asked whether they had any reports of a downed aircraft. By 9:20, they learned that there were other hijacked aircraft in the system, and began to doubt their initial assumption that American 77 had crashed.
But it did. Straight into the Pentagon.
Members of the 119th Fighter Wing alert detachment at Langley AFB knew what they had to do before the alert klaxon ever went off.
Senior Master Sgt. Robert Schacht, 119th FW chief enlisted manager, was a crew chief sitting alert that day.
“We had cable TV, and CNN was on,” he remembered. “We saw that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. As soon as we saw the second plane hit, we knew we were going to be scrambled. Then the order came down, and I scrambled with the other crew chiefs and assisted with the launching.”
As F-16s from the 119th were taking off, the 1st Fighter Wing was working to get their own birds in the air.
“I was in the 71st Fighter Squadron, preparing aircraft for our first go for local flying,” said Chief Master Sgt. Charles Forest, 1st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “I supervised the preparation and launch of our aircraft to go protect our nation. I thought we were at war, and whoever was behind it would have hell to pay!”
Some F-15s raced to rendezvous with and escort Air Force One, wary of a possible strike on the Commander-In-Chief. President George W. Bush learned of the attacks after being interrupted while reading a book to children in a Florida elementary school.
Situated on the 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, in New York City, the widely celebrated Windows of the World Restaurant breakfast diners were looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey.
Along with the usual breakfast service, they were hosting the Risk Waters Financial Technology Congress. At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower, impacting floors 93 through 99.
By 2000, its final full year of operation, Windows on the World had become the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States, generating an impressive $37 million in revenue.
The highjacked jets collision severed all escape routes, including stairwells and elevators, leaving no means of survival for those above the impact zone.
Everyone present in the restaurant perished, succumbing to smoke inhalation, the intense fire, falling or jumping from the building, or the eventual collapse of the tower. Eyewitnesses reported seeing at least five individuals fall or jump from the restaurant’s windows.
By the end of the day, America learned that those pending actions would turn out to be the deadliest terrorist attack in world history, causing the deaths of 2,996 people (including the hijackers) and injuring more than 6,000 others.
The death toll included 265 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors); 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area; and 125 at the Pentagon.
Most who died were civilians; the rest included 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel, and 19 terrorists.
At least 200 people fell or jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as exemplified in the photograph The Falling Man), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below.
After New York, New Jersey lost the most state citizens. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks; for example, the 67 Britons who died were more than in any other terrorist attack anywhere.
The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure seriously harmed the economy of New York City and created a global economic recession.
Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks.
The U.S. and Canadian civilian airspaces were closed until September 13, while Wall Street trading was closed until September 17.
Many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks.
Cleanup of the World Trade Center site took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year.
Rescue workers at Ground Zero
Here is an image from a security camera secured from the video footage as acquired by Judicial Watch:
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NO plane was found at the Pentagon official story, ” it disintegrated”.
Some how a 144′ plane created and fit through 12′ hole in the building and disintegrated without harming a single blade of grass on the lawn. And hit the section of Pentagon that was being renovated and very few people were working in this section
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My then father in law, Army Lt. Col. John Osborne worked at the Pentagon then. He was there.
He explained that In 1990, Congress authorized a complete overhaul of the Pentagon.
Upgrading security stood high on the list for the reconstruction and renovation of the building, which began in 1998 with Wedge 1 (a huge section of the Pentagon). By September 2001, Wedge 1 had been largely reoccupied and work was under way on adjacent Wedge 2, which had been cleared of all but about 700 occupants.
On September 11, the offices in or near the impact point were not completely occupied, either awaiting new tenants in Wedge 1 or mostly vacated in preparation for renovation in Wedge 2.
According to him, had the aircraft (or missle) hit fully-occupied unrenovated Wedge 5, several hundred yards to the right, the toll of dead and injured, as well as structural damage, would have been much greater.
I asked him about the impact. He helped with rescue & recovery. He said there was plenty of fuel still in the wings because Flight 77 (it took off at 8:20 am) was taken over at 8:52 am & still had plenty of fuel.
Of course, he saw the impact of the explosive fuel burns from the spread out of the wings. It hit at 530 mph.
Much of the fuel in the wings detonated on impact, diminishing the inside destruction.
He was a bit upset when I asked him about a missle. “If a plane didn’t hit us, then how do you explain where the 59 passengers went?”
“An unarmed military jet intercepted the Flight 77 & was told to follow until Langley armed jets could get there. He saw it hit the pentagon. Langley didn’t make it in time.”
Later, Tom Fitton from Judicial Watch (after he secured footage of the impact) conceded it was Flight 77. I am going to post a photo of the footage at the end of this article.
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First pictures was 12-15ft hole about 10ft above the ground with the lawn fully Intact
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Excellent article with images that bring this nightmare back to life so we don’t forget. Great reporting, Jack. 🙂
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