The World Trade Center
before 09/11/2001. |
September 11, 2001 should have been a Tuesday morning like any other in Boston, Newark, N.J., Washington, D.C., New York City and all across the United States. That morning, there were people travelling as thousands of people do each day in America. There were people going home, people going to visit friends and family, people heading to California on vacation, people just going about the needs of their business interests and livelihoods. In Boston, a recent Boston College graduate was boarding a United Airlines flight for San Francisco, anxious to get home, to see her family, to start her new job in that destination city. In Washington, D.C., the wife of the Counselor General of the U.S. had delayed her business trip to Los Angeles so that she could have breakfast with her husband on his birthday. In Newark, N.J., an expert oil pipe technician from Norwalk, California boarded a plane. He had been on an extended work assignment and was finally going to get a chance to see his family after several months separation. They were boarding planes. But, there were others boarding planes that morning in Boston, in Newark, N.J., in Washington, D.C. They were not planning on seeing anyone at journey's end. Armed with utility knives and lies, their motive was to become weapons in a war against a people and an idea of which they were jealous.
The north tower already on fire, a second plane
approaches to be crashed into the south tower. |
In New York City, people were arriving at work at the World Trade Center. The twin towers and the complex that houses them are nearly a city by themselves. They house many of the financial institutions of the U.S., but also many foreign banking interests. Visitors were entering the building, tourists, who come in the thousands to marvel at this technological wonder, to view the city from its roof top observation decks, and to visit the shops on its lower levels. On any given day, there are more than 50 thousand people within the precincts of the World Trade Center.
Intense heat from the fires accellerated by jet fuel
compromise structural integrity; a tower collapses
on itself. |
The Pentagon; American Airlines
Flight 77 from Dulles International
to Los Angeles was crashed into
the building at 9:43 a.m. EDT. |
The Timeline
- At 8 a.m. EDT, American Airlines Flight 11 departed Boston with a destination of Los Angeles.
- 8:15 a.m., United Air Lines Flight 175 departed Boston also with a destination of Los Angeles.
- 8:21 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 departs Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
- 8:27 a.m. both Boston flights turn south, veering off course.
- 8:43 a.m., United Air Lines Flight 94 departs Newark.
- 8:47 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the Tower 1, the north tower of the World Trade Center. Carrying hundreds of pounds of aviation jet fuel it ignited and engulfed the structure in flames at once. United Air Lines Flight 175 turns southeast.
- 9:03 a.m., United Air Lines Flight 175 slams into the south tower of the World Trade Center. American Airlines Flight 77 makes a u-turn over southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, heading back toward Dulles and Washington, D.C. Emergency crews arrive on the scene, including the mayor and his top advisors.
- 9:39 a.m., United Air Lines Flight 94 turns south near Cleveland.
- 9:43 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
- 10:03 a.m., United Air Lines Flight 94 crashes 80 miles south of Pittsburgh.
- 10:09 a.m., the south tower of the World Trade Center collapses. The disaster management facility near the World Trade Center is evacuated with only a skeleton crew remaining.
- 10:30 a.m., the north tower of the World Trade Center collapses. 202 fire department, 57 police department, many of them captains or management personnel are lost.
We have been told that the White House and the President were high priority targets in this terrorist attack.
Satellite photo directly over Manhattan captures the collapse of one the towers.
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