"This is horrible."
"We have several situations going on here. It's escalating big time and we need to get the military involved in this."
"There is simply no way to accurately describe the emotion this evokes in people all over the world; friends of the United States, and enemies of the United States, as well."
"What we are seeing now is nothing less than the worst nightmare that one could imagine come to life, probably worse than anyone could have imagined."
"September 11th, 2001, you're going to remember this day for a long time and a lot of things in this country will change as a result of what you're seeing on your screen now."
I've been watching a lot of 9/11 documentaries wherever I can find them and I found the most fascinating video on YouTube. Someone had made a "dashboard" of 9/11 where events are synchronized in real time. It took me a few days to watch because it's a little over four hours long, but it was so fascinating and probably the best source for anyone who wants to learn more about that fateful day. This video has been up for one year and already has over nine million views!
Here is a screenshot so I can better explain how it works:
There's the live TV broadcast (it changes from all the major networks) that is the most prominent. Underneath that is a box which has the latest event. This will include things like when the terrorists take over, any kind of information about the planes (such as when United 93 is pushed back from the gate; resulting in a 40 minute delay or when the revolt begins on that same flight), where President Bush is during certain times, etc. You'll see the map and this tracks the flights of all four hijacked planes. Sometimes the map will turn into a diagram of the airports that the hijacked planes took off from or amateur footage of the attacks will be shown or a map of the WTC area showing us where pieces of the plane were found. It's pretty much used for anything that's a visual aid. Below that is the status monitor of the four planes. They let you know when they're still on the ground, airborne, hijacked, and crashed. Once they've crashed, they picture goes black and white. Yeah, it's pretty morbid. The pictures of the World Trade Center and Pentagon just let us known when they've been hit. When the towers collapse, they go dark. At the top you'll see a digital clock, so you know when events happen in real time. You can't really it, but to the left of the clock it says "New York Fire Department" and "Air Traffic Control Radio". Each of these buttons light up and we hear when there transmissions from either one in real time. At the very bottom is the timeline of major events. It shows when the planes are hijacked and the targets are attacked.
One of the most interesting things about this video is that it starts at 7:48 am Eastern time, which is exactly one hour before the first plane hit. Most live news programs of 9/11 that you can find on YouTube start right after the first plane hits so it's hard to find footage of this day when everything was still normal. In the first hour, the live TV broadcast only flips around three different networks: NBC, CBS, and CNN. As you can see, I took a screenshot of Today at 8:04 am with Ann Curry just finishing up "the top news stories of the morning." There's just something uncanny about seeing "Tuesday September 11, 2001" on the screen before knowing what the date actually would become (to the people who were watching this live).
What were the top new stories before the biggest event in our country's history would happen in 44 minutes? Glad you asked, because if the terrorists attacks hadn't happened, this probably would have been the most mundane day in our nation's history. To be fair, most days are pretty uninteresting and not much happens (which is a good thing!). Here are a few of the news stories mentioned:
- There will be a hearing to see if Andrea Yates is fit to stand trial. If you don't know who that it, I'm sure there's many true crime podcasts that cover her story.
- Michael Jordan is returning to the NBA. This was one of the top stories that all three networks talk about. Was this when he was still playing baseball, then returned to basketball? I'm not sure. Needless to say, I didn't remember this story at all!
-Elizabeth Dole is running for the U.S. Senate.
-Ann mentions that President Bush will be at an elementary school in Florida today discussing literacy programs. Of course, we all remember him being in that classroom when he heard the news.
Those are just some of the stories mentioned. I won't spoil you with all of them (and let's be honest; none of them are really that interesting). But I thought it was just an interesting snapshot of what was going on in the country before everything turned to (literal) hell.
Another interesting thing about the first hour is that it includes commercials. Once the attacks start, there are zero commercials. Now more news channels are added (FOX and ABC) so I don't know if the creator is just able to jump around the different stations without ever having any commercials, but I feel pretty certain none of the major networks were running commercials. I don't 100% remember, but it would feel pretty weird to be showing commercials at a time like this. It would just seem to be in poor taste to show a commercial of a squirrel selling Post-its (you'll soon understand the reference) while this horrific event is happening. The only commercials that I remember are the ones with celebrities: a Pier 1 commercial with Kirstie Alley and a KFC commercial with Jason Alexander. A lot of the commercials just seem so antiquated now! You should have seen the Travelocity commercial that shows their VERY '90s website. (And we'll see more terribly created websites, just you wait!)There's a promo for the Latin Grammys (featuring Jennifer Lopez) which will be on CBS that night. Hmm, something tells me they're gonna be cancelled! (Spoiler: they were.) Speaking of cancellations, Tracey Ullman is supposed to be on Today and Ray Romano is scheduled to be on The Early Show, but, no surprise, neither will be interviewed.
We see a sneak peek with Tom Brokaw telling us what will be on NBC Nightly News. You can bet that story never saw the light of the day. Almost makes you feel sorry for the poor person who worked on it.
On the Information Board (where the map is shown), before each plane takes off, we get a little dossier about each one: where it started from, where it will (sadly, never) land, how many passengers and crew, how many terrorists. The creator got these little fact sheets from Wikipedia.
Remember I mentioned the FDNY and ATC Radio buttons? Well, we first hear ATC at 7:50. The creator has muted the volume of the CNN story that's talking about how to get your start in the modeling business (major eyeroll) and we hear ATC telling American Airlines 11...something. Probably they're about ready to take off. To be honest, it is kind of hard to understand what they're saying sometimes and there is no transcript of it on the screen. Okay, I'm sorry, but I had to laugh because during this "how to be discovered as a model" mini story, they show a woman in her office with a freakin' Rolodex! Were people still using those even in 2001? Good Lord! At least this first hour has some lighthearted chuckles before things take a turn for the absolute worse! Another thing that gave me a good chuckle is when CNN asks viewers "What do you think of Michael Jordan's Return? Send e-mail to daybreak@cnn.com." Bwah! E-mail! So antiquated, it's hilarious! Oh, and things get worse when they show a picture of their "website" (looks like something I would have made circa 2000!).
Speaking of terrible websites, at 8:10 the channel flips to CBS and Bryant Gumble is talking to a woman who is promoting a bunch of baby websites and they all look even worse than the CNN one. Gumble even asks if the first one they talk about, babycenter.com, is a free site...what the hell? Aren't all websites free? I'm confused.
After this insipid segment about baby websites with outdated graphics, we see that AA 11 has been hijacked at 8:14. It is the first major event in the timeline to happen and in the information board we get data about the hijackers: how old they are and what country they're from. This information will be up when all the planes are hijacked. The oldest was 33, the others all range from 20-29, so it really puts into perspective just how young they were. The majority of them were from Saudi Arabia.
We know AA 11 was hijacked around this time because ATC calls for them to climb 35,000 twice, but receives no reply. You can hear the sternness in his voice when he says "American. Eleven. Boston." You know he's not playing games and he wants the pilot to answer him because he has a job to do. I have to wonder, if at this point, the idea of hijacking was going through his head. We even hear him call another plane to ask if he can hear him and that pilot says he hears him "loud and clear". We then again hear him say "American. Eleven. Boston." He has a tone in his voice which means "answer me".
The guy at ATC must call his supervisor because we hear him telling a guy that AA 11 won't respond and that he's turning a different way and the guy responds, "That's fine." The hell? Maybe he said that because at the moment the plane isn't in any other flight path, but that's kind of a weird reply, especially when you've been told that the plane isn't even responding to you.
It's been three minutes since ATC has tried calling for AA 11 and they are still trying, but to no avail. He must have tried calling them nine or tern times. He is desperately trying to get a hold of that plane.
It's 8:19 when AA 11 flight attendant Betty Ong calls an American Airline reservation center in North Carolina and alerts them about the hijacking. Air Traffic Control has just given American Airlines 77 permission to takeoff. While all this is going on, ironically, CNN is running a segment with John Glenn who's talking about a new visitors' center at the Capitol. Ironic because that was supposed to be the target United 93 would have hit. That or the White House.
At 8:24, Mohammad Atta, the oldest and ringleader of the terrorists (and "pilot" of the first hijacked plane) is heard by ATC. They think he pushed the wrong button and thought he was talking to the passengers because he tells them to be quiet and that "nobody will get hurt". Pretty sure ATC now knows they have a serious situation on their hands if they didn't already. Okay, I know this is super serious and this is going to turn into the worst day of our nation's history, but I'm sorry, I had to laugh when a few seconds later you hear the ATC guy reply, "And, uh, who's trying to call me here?" He just sounds so incredulous! Of course he doesn't get a reply except for when Atta tells the passengers (that he thinks he's talking to) to "just stay quiet."
At 8:30 we see the Today crew outside greeting the crowd that has gathered around. There's just something very chilling seeing all the people outside Rockerfeller Center with their handmade signs, all happy to be there on a beautiful blue-sky Tuesday in September. Katie Couric and Al Roker are talking to a few people and everyone is all smiles and happy. They talk to one couple who tell them they're there for their anniversary and a woman who's with her husband and son on vacation. Hoo, boy. That's one vacation they'll never forget! I had to chuckle a bit when Katie talks about some of the stories that are coming up and that they have a lot to get to. Oh, Katie. Katie, Katie, Katie. Trust me, you won't be talking about ANY of those stories! Katie turns to Al for the weather and comments, "It is such a pretty morning, isn't it." Such a sad statement, but yeah she's right, it is a beautiful day, but we're now 17 minutes away from the first plane hitting the North Tower. Al agrees: "It's the perfect fall morning." He quickly corrects himself and says "it's still the perfect summer morning."
Here is a screenshot of the country's weather map on that day. You can see that the ATC radio button in red and you can see events in the timeline at the bottom a bit better than the previous screenshot I posted.
At 8:32 the woman who talked to Betty Ong has gotten hold of ATC and is reading the notes she wrote about what she was told about the terrorist (from the sound of it, she's only describing one guy which is interesting). I guess she didn't know how to patch ATC through the plane itself? The plane is in "rapid descent." She tells him that the flight attendants are concerned because they can't get a hold of the pilots in the cockpit and when she asks him if he can, he says they can't either, then seems to hesitate before he tells her that they don't want to tell them (the flight attendants) that. I'm assuming they don't want to incite even more panic because they realize there's really nothing they can do. I mean what can you do besides scramble some fighter jets to shoot the plane down if you think it's aiming for an area with lots of civilians? It's a no win situation for everyone on that plane.
At 8:37, United 175, of all flights, confirm to ATC sighting of AA 11. A few moments later, the pilot will again report to ATC that they heard "a suspicious transmission" (from AA 11) of someone telling everyone to "stay in their seats." This will be literal moments before they themselves are hijacked which just makes it so eerie.
The channel flips to CNN where they are promoting their Sunday special called "Hurricane: When the Big One Hits." Yikes! In a few short minutes, this is going to age terribly! I have no doubt the editor of this video knew exactly when to show a certain news channel.
It's now seven minutes until the first crash will occur and CNN is live at New York Fashion week where a reporter is interviewing pregnant models for maternity wear. This is just so weird and silly juxtaposed with what's going on with the hijacked plane.
At 8:42, an American Airlines supervisor named Nydia Gonzalez "with expertise on security matters" is patched into a call with Betty Ong. She (Nydia) is also on the line with ATC, so we're hearing her side of the convo with them, but not with Betty. She tells Betty "she's doing a great job" and "to keep staying calm." We hear her say "We are, absolutely" so Betty must have asked if they're doing everything they can. Surprisingly, we get info that the "passengers in coach may not be aware of what's going on". That surprised me because it's only two minute until they hit the tower and aren't they descending rapidly? They must have known something not right was happening. At 8:45 Nydia reports that "the aircraft is erratic again." That must have been so terrifying. Thanks to Betty, we do get a lot of information such as the first class passengers were moved back to coach and before that she (or perhaps it was another flight attendant) reported that a passenger was stabbed.
When the plane crashes in the North Tower at 8:46, in the information board we are shown that infamous footage that was taken by a French-born filmmaker who, with his brother, was working on a documentary about the NYFD. They were out with them just doing a routine check or something when the filmmaker sees the plane and turns the camera, and, of course, the rest is history. Because they were with firemen, it takes only three seconds for them to call it in.
Nydia is trying to get a hold of Betty, but obviously she's not answering. It's so eerie when you hear her say, "I think we may have lost her." I think she's just talking about she lost her on the call, but they have literally just lost her and all the other souls on that plane. ATC quickly realizes that the plane that hit the tower was their hijacked one, so they're probably the first to know that this was a terrorist attack.
While this horrific event just happened, CNN is running a commercial about Post-its...with a squirrel. It's a cute commercial, but a bit difficult to enjoy under the circumstances. Obviously, in real time people watching CNN didn't know what had happened yet. It takes a few minutes for the stations to jump on the story. Here are the times when each station brings the story:
CNN: 8:49 (To their credit, they are the first to bring the story, so the squirrel Post-it commercial can be forgiven.)
ABC: 8:51
CBS: 8:52
NBC: 8:53
FOX: 8:54 (I believe they brought up the story a bit earlier than that; but this is the time when the bring up a live picture of the burning tower.)
Obviously, everything is just chaotic. Nobody really knows what exactly happened just yet. It's surprisning how many eyewitnesses that are interviewed via phone by the morning news anchors claim it was a small plane that crashed into the tower. I don't know if it was that they were so far away or that they couldn't compute that a 767 could crash into a New York skyscraper, so their mind told them it was just a small commuter plane. Just looking at the gaping hole it left, it's so obvious it was NOT a small plane!
Diane Sawyer from Good Morning America on ABC says they don't know yet if this crash was "deliberately or accidentally." I do remember a lot of people thinking this was just a "horrible accident" when the first plane hit, but looking back, it's kind of stupid anyone could have thought THAT was an accident. It was a clear day and even if the pilot was having difficulties, they're not going to fly the plane into a building; they'd probably try to pull a Sulley and crash land it in the river. (Yes, I realize this predates the "Miracle on the Hudson" incident.)
At 8:59 the phone message that United 175 passenger Brian Sweeney left for his wife, Julie, is played, as that is when it was left in real time. I believe this is the only piece of audio aside from any transmissions from ATC and the NYFD that is played. This is a pretty famous phone message from that day. I'm sure there are many people who have messages left from loved ones who perished that day and have never shared them because they want to keep them for themselves and that's totally their right, but I'm sure those who have shared their loved one messages with the public find it therapeutic for them. I know a few phone messages from United 93 have been shared as well. People grieve in different ways. I know that Julie Sweeney donated a recording of the call to the 9/11 museum. Her husband (who was only 38) sounds fairly calm, but perhaps that was for her sake. Maybe resigned is a better description of how he sounds.
Moments before United 175 crashes into the South Tower, we hear ATC pretty much confirming in disbelief that they see the plane heading toward the building. The live broadcast is on NBC and they're showing a far away shot of the towers. I gasped when I could see the plane heading right for it. Honestly, if you were watching this live, you probably wouldn't even notice the plane because you would have been watching the tower with the gaping hole and billowing smoke. Amateur footage is also shown of the plane hitting the building at a different angle. I was literally gasping when I watched this. I KNOW what's going to happen, but it gives me such anxiety. On NBC, when the second place hits, you don't actually see it because they have gone to a close up of the first tower, but then they pull back and you see the huge fireball the explosion caused. Obviously, they will go back and show us (repeatedly; as will all the other stations) what happened since they caught it on tape.
Katie Couric and Matt Lauer had been talking to an NBC news producer who must have seen the first plane crash and after the second plane crashes, she says the dumbest thing ever, I'm sorry, but it's true. She says "I wonder if there are air traffic control problems." WTF? Even if the pilots couldn't communicate with ATC, they're NOT going to fly into a building! Al Roker, bless him, even says "What are the odds of two separate planes hitting both towers?" I'd say the odds are pretty good when it's terrorism and the planes are deliberately being flown into the buildings! Katie Couric says "It is completely impossible to understand why this is happening..." This just shows how some people could not grasp the idea of terrorism even after a second plane crash.
But, to be fair, the Today crew aren't the only ones who have that kind of reaction. I've watched several news stations to see how they reacted that day and some of them are, honestly, just mind-boggling. If you watch the CNN footage of the second plane, they're getting it from their New York affiliates and they thought the second explosion was from the fuselage of the first plane...I guess they thought it jumped from one building to the other? I don't know how far apart these buildings were, but pretty sure that would be improbable. It's so odd because you see a quick clip of the incoming second plane, but then the camera jumps away from it. The voiceover of the anchor says "One of our producers says perhaps a second plane was involved, but let's not even speculate to that point..." and I'm thinking, this guy is going to look stupid in a few seconds because his producer was 100% correct! They obviously figure it out when they go back to the tape and clearly see what happened. The anchor also has a similar reaction to that NBC news producer and says "I don't know if perhaps some kind of navigating system or some type of electronics would have put two planes into the World Trade Center within about 18 minutes of each other." Uh....no. It's called terrorism. It's so OBVIOUS that they were both deliberate, but nobody wanted to admit what it was. Even if ATC was down, pilots would steer clear of two big ass buildings. It just seems too perfect of a target for that to be "an accident".
Our international friends over at the BBC have seemed to miss the second plane completely! I'm not sure how; perhaps they weren't watching the monitor? Because you clearly see it on the screen and there is absolutely NO reaction from the male or female anchor. They're talking to an eyewitness and the woman interrupts 40 second in to say "It looks like both buildings are on fire." (Yeah, no kidding!) Then about a minute after that, she says "It's not really clear if there was a plane crash", then adds that there are "unconfirmed reports of a second plane" and I'm thinking, What?! Go back and check your tapes! The male anchor says that because they are seeing both towers on fire, "it could be that the aircraft went through one and the debris has affected the other tower." How are they going this long without not knowing what happened? Surely there are other people in the studio who saw what happened. Finally they do get the footage and replay it and the woman calls it "a double plane accident at the World Trade Center." I feel like "double accident" is an oxymoron.
In this horrific event, I had a bit of a chuckle when Matt Lauer says something to the effect of if they could find out if ATC had contact with these planes. Uh yeah, no duh. Obviously not contact since they couldn't communicate, but they very much knew there was a situation going on.
I believe the first mention of this being a deliberate act and terrorism is at 9:12 when the channels flips to CBS and Bryant Gumble is interviewing an eyewitness who told him the planes "aimed for it and they did a very good job." He says the towers were "targets". Although to be fair, even though this isn't shown in this video, after the second plane hits, the Fox News anchor says that it's "deliberate" and even drops Osama Bin Laden's name three seconds later. Of course, if you know your OBL facts, it's not that hard to pinpoint it on him: he was a known terrorist; he hated the U.S.; he had tried to do a terrorist act with planes back in the '90s (or even the '80s?), but it was thwarted; he had the money to fund this. If the shoe fits...
So a lot is going on right now: At 9:16 we hear ATC say they've lost contact with American Airlines 77; at 9:29 Katie Couric announces that it was American Airlines 11 that was hijacked and crashed into the WTC (I can't even imagine hearing that and having a loved one on that plane; also I was a little surprised she got that information so quickly); at 9:33 Fox News mentions Osama Bin Laden as a likely suspect (although, like I said earlier, they already mentioned his name right after the second plane hit); 9:37 is when AA 77 crashes into the Pentagon and the security camera that caught it is shown. Kinda crazy that three out of the four crashes were caught on some type of camera, especially back in 2001. By 9:49 CNN has "breaking news" of "reports of a fire at the Pentagon" and at 9:42 NBC and CBS show smoke coming from the Pentagon. Nobody knows what's happened, but they think it may be a bomb or some kind of explosion. Gumble mentions he doesn't know if this is a result of another aircraft.
Okay, so while all this is going on, over on the map I see that United 93 has gotten pretty far into Ohio which is shocking, especially since they left from Newark and their target is either the White House or Capitol. They flew all away across the entire state of Pennsylvania. We know the flight was delayed 40 minutes and that it took the hijackers 46 minutes to take over the plane. It's no wonder we know so much about this flight because the passengers had time to find out what was going on and were able to call loved ones and tell them that they were going to storm the cabin which will happen just before ten.
This day gives me a lot of "what ifs?" and most of my "what ifs?" revolve around United 93. What if their flight was delayed just a little bit longer and never took off because by then the city of New York had already closed down their air space? What if they (the passengers and flight attendants; sadly I don't think the pilots had a chance) had successfully killed or at least incapacitated the hijackers and had managed to land the plane (probably would have been more of a crash landing)? We do know one of the passengers was a pilot (though don't think he flew big jet airliners) and another worked ATC for a few years, so it's not totally impossible to think they could (crash) land the plane. Can you imagine what heroes everyone on that plane would have been? And the stories (and many books!) they would have to tell? The Paul Greengrass film would have been totally different and he would have many consultants! Of course, they are all heroes, posthumously, for diverting the plane from crashing into the Capitol.
At 9:45, in an unprecedented move, U.S. airspace is shut down and it only takes two hours for every single plane in the nation to land which is quite incredible. Of course, we know that many international flights were directed to Canada and if you have never heard of the incredible story of the Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, you should check it out.
It's been an hour since the first crash and the three main stations have called in their anchors of their nightly national news broadcasts: Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and Dan Rather have now joined their respective stations (NBC, ABC, and CBS) within a few minutes of 9:46.
There is more confusion at 9:59 when the south tower (the second one to be hit) collapses nearly an hour after it was first struck. They just see a "large plume of smoke" and it takes a few moments for them to realize that the whole building has collapsed. One CNN correspondent even thinks that "the second tower is encased in smoke".
As I mentioned not too long ago, the passenger revolt on United 93 began three minutes til ten, now it's three minutes after ten and the plane has crashed in a field in Shanksville which will be the only thing this town will be known for (and calling it a town may be a bit generous). Very eerie timing that the two United planes crashed exactly within an hour of each other. Five minute later is when ATC gets word that a plane has crashed in Pennsylvania, 10:37 is when the Associated Press first reports about it; 10:48 is when CBS first reports about it; and 10:58 is when CNN reports about it. I remember watching international coverage (might have been the UK) and when they reported about United 93 they said they didn't know if that plane was part of the terrorist attacks or if it was just a random plane crash. Okay, in the words of Al Roker, what are the odds of that? Of course that plane was involved! I suppose since the plane just crashed into a random field that's why they thought that, but, c'mon...
Once all the planes have crashed, the flight paths of all four planes is put on the information board and the map will eventually disappear as it is not needed anymore.
At 11:15 American Airlines confirms the loss of its two flights, but what I found really interesting was that at 11:25 United Airlines says it is "deeply concerned" about flight 175. They have confirmed that United 93 went down. To me, it is odd that they used those words about flight 175 (which, ironically, is the flight the entire world saw come to its demise if they were watching live at that moment) because they have not yet confirmed it was hijacked or part of the attacks. Were there other flights that were unaccounted for? If not, wouldn't it be obvious that flight was the one used in the attacks? By 11:53 they have confirmed the loss of both flights. It's just a little detail that I have no recollection of that day.
I know it seems like I told you everything that this video offers, but trust me, I didn't. There's so much more information and graphics that I didn't tell you about, so I would definitely recommend this if you are interested in learning more about the day that nobody will ever forget.
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