33. “follow the flight”: 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 17–18; Farmer, p. 116.
34. five miles: Staff Memo No. 17, p. 3.
35. “tracking coast”: Farmer, pp. 134–35.
36. “I don’t know”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 20.
37. “scramble the airplanes”: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, “Improvising a Homeland Defense,” p. 6. Hereafter, Staff Memo No. 17.
38. more than one hijacking: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 10.
39. “sleeper” comrades: Interview with Peg Ogonowski, January 24, 2017.
40. a program known as the Common Strategy: 9/11 Commission Staff, “The Four Flights, Staff Memo No. 4,” http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/staff_statement_4.pdf, p. 1. Hereafter, Staff Memo No. 4.
41. “suicide wasn’t in the game plan”: Staff Memo No. 4, p. 2.
42. attempt to disappear: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 18.
43. a run for Cuba: NBC Skies Report, quoting Dave Bottiglia.
44. when the pilots turned off the Fasten Seatbelt signs: Staff Memo No. 4, p. 3.
45. keys to the cockpit: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 453. Multiple interviews with American Airlines employees confirmed this fact.
46. weren’t strong enough: Staff Memo No. 4, p. 3.
47. one key: Four Flights Monograph, p. 81.
48. loud arguing: FBI interview with Craig Marquis, September 16, 2001.
49. first, brief call: FBI interview with Evelyn Nunez, September 12, 2001.
50. “Tom Sukani”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 12.
51. Another possibility: Callers from Flight 93 also reported that one passenger was killed in first class. Based on the fact that Mark “Mickey” Rothenberg was the only first-class passenger who didn’t make a phone call, it’s reasonable to conclude that he was the victim. Rothenberg was seated directly in front of one of the Flight 93 hijackers, essentially in the same seating arrangement as Lewin and al-Suqami. That makes it at least possible that part of Atta’s plan called for the hijacker seated farthest back to attack a passenger, even unprovoked, to frighten other passengers and crew into compliance. Understandably, Lewin’s family and friends remain certain that he acted heroically, and no evidence contradicts that.
52. heard Amy scream: Four Flights Monograph, p. 14, based on transcript of call from Nancy Wyatt to Ray Howland.
53. 440 miles per hour: An FAA report put the speed of Flight 11 at 494 miles per hour, while a report by a professor at MIT calculated it at 429 mph. The NIST report put the speed at about 440 miles per hour. NIST NC STAR 1, WTC Investigation, p. 20. Also see Brian Dakss, “Speed Likely Factor in WTC Collapse,” CBS News, February 5, 2002. www.cbsnews.com/news/speed-likely-factor-in-wtc-collapse-25-02-2002/.
54. normally controlled: David Perry, “There’s No Answer You Can Understand,” The Lowell Sun, September 11, 2006.
Chapter 5: “Don’t Worry, Dad”
1. “suspicious transmission”: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Airlines Flight 175, p. 6.
2. hadn’t yet heard anything: Spencer, Touching History, pp. 36–37. Also see NBC Skies Report.
3. “Oh, okay”: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Airlines Flight 175, p. 7.
4. Under normal circumstances: Four Flights Monograph, p. 20.
5. “You see this target here?”: NBC Skies Report.
6. didn’t notice: Four Flights Monograph, p. 21.
7. “smoke in Lower Manhattan”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 21; also FAA memo “Full Transcript; Aircraft Accident; UAL 175,” dated May 2, 2002.
8. climbing several thousand feet: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Flight 175, p. 4.
9. starting to shake: NBC Skies Report.
10. “being hijacked”: Interview with Lee and Eunice Hanson, February 22, 2017. This account of Peter Hanson’s two phone calls also relies on Lee Hanson’s interviews with the FBI on September 11, 2001, and June 20, 2002; and a transcript of Lee Hanson’s testimony at the Moussaoui trial.
11. prank call: Brian McGrory, “Up From the Ashes,” Boston Globe, September 11, 2001.
12. “This just in”: CNN Transcript from September 11, 2001, 8:48 a.m., http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.01.html.
13. refused to be disturbed: Staff Memo No. 17, p. 7.
14. dial “f-i-x”: FBI interview with Derek Price, January 24, 2002.
15. reported details: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 8.
16. “a reported incident”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 22.
17. tried four times: Four Flights Monograph, p. 21. FBI 302 on phone calls reveals the caller was Garnet “Ace” Bailey. See FBI report, “Documents relating to any report, including but not limited to FD-302S, electronic communications, and inserts, by any passenger on board any of the four flights hijacked on 9/11/2001 following the hijacking of such flight (including voice mail, messages and calls to the Somerset County, PA, Emergency 911 Operator Service).” Found at Scribd.com, uploaded by the 9/11 Document Archive, Feb. 1, 2011.
18. fishhook turn: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Airlines Flight 175, p. 3.
19. “Traffic, two o’clock”: Spencer, Touching History, p. 48. Also see FAA memo “Full Transcript; Aircraft Accident; UAL 175,” dated May 2, 2002.
20. collision course: Charles Lane, Don Phillips, and David Snyder, “A Sky Filled with Chaos, Uncertainty and True Heroism,” Washington Post, September 17, 2001.
21. run errands: Louise Sweeney interviews with FBI, September 11, 2001, and March 24, 2004.
22. “It’s getting bad, Dad”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 8; Interview with Lee and Eunice Hanson, February 22, 2017.
23. “several situations”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 23.
24. beset by a routine: “FAA Summary of Air Traffic Hijack Events, September 11, 2001.” Radio communication timeline dated September 17, 2001, p. 13. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB165/faa7.pdf.
25. “He’s going in!”: David Maraniss, “September 11, 2001: Portrait of a Day That Began in Routine and Ended in Ashes,” Washington Post, September 16, 2001, p. 1.
26. 9:03:11 a.m.: Four Flights Monograph, p. 24. There are various estimates of the speed, with 540 mph coming from NIST NCSTAR 1, WTC Investigation, p. 38, and 587 mph coming from the NTSB Flight Path Study, United Airlines Flight 175.
27. “Oh my God”: Video of ABC Good Morning America coverage of 9/11, found at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/reporting-911-attacks-14491835. In The Eleventh Day, Summers and Swan use a slightly different transcript, pp. 33–34.
28. same time: Four Flights Monograph, p. 15. Also p. 23.
29. previous ten minutes: “FAA Summary of Air Traffic Hijack Events, September 11, 2001.” Radio communication timeline dated September 17, 2001. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB165/faa7.pdf.
Chapter 6: “The Start of World War III”
1. “I love you”: Toby Harnden, “She Asked Me How to Stop the Plane,” The Telegraph, March 5, 2002.
2. “Oh God”: Summers and Swan, p. 129; Transcript from Voice Recorder, September 11, 2001, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York.
3. “Send ’em”: Transcript from Voice Recorder, September 11, 2001, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York, p. 10. Also Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006.
4. The call: Transcript from Voice Recorder, September 11, 2001, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York, p. 10. Also Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006.
5. didn’t learn: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 9.
6. watched it live: Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006.
7. “We’ve already had two”: Ibid.
8. Bernard C. Brown II: Lynette Clemetson, “Washington School Still Feels Pain of 9/11,” New York Times, September 9, 2006; 9/11 Memorial Biography; Bernard Curtis Brown II “Profile in Grief,” New York Times, October 12, 2001.
9. fifty-eight passengers:
Details of Flight 77 passengers come from the Four Flights Monograph, p. 28.
10. Mari-Rae Sopper: Sylvia Moreno, “Mari-Rae Sopper,” Washington Post, “Remembering the Pentagon Victims,” undated; National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biography.
11. Leslie Whittington, Charles Falkenberg, and their daughters: National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biographies, http://pentagonmemorial.org/explore/biographies; Washington Post, “Remembering the Pentagon Victims.”
12. Yugang Zheng and Shuying Yang: Testimony of Rui Zheng at Moussaoui trial, transcript pp. 3442–49. (These names are spelled differently in the National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biographies, but this is how they were spelled by their daughter in trial testimony.)
13. Retired Rear Admiral Wilson “Bud” Flagg and Darlene “Dee” Flagg: Adam Bernstein, “Wilson ‘Bud’ Flagg and Darlene ‘Dee’ Flagg,” Washington Post, “Remembering the Pentagon Victims,” undated; National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biographies.
14. Dr. Yeneneh Betru: National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biography of Dr. Yeneneh Betru; Erin Chan, “Keeping a 9/11 Victim’s Dream Alive,” Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2002.
15. Eddie Dillard: National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biography of Eddie A. Dillard. Also Rosemary Dillard, “Local 9/11 Widow Reflects 10 Years Later,” Bloomfield Patch, September 8, 2011.
16. Zandra and Robert Riis Ploger III: Sylvia Moreno, “Zandra and Robert Riis Ploger III,” Washington Post, “Remembering the Pentagon Victims,” undated; National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biographies.
17. connections to the government: National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Biographies, http://pentagonmemorial.org/explore/biographies.
18. Laminated prayer card: Interview with Debra Burlingame, July 26, 2018.
19. was seven weeks pregnant: FBI interview with Ronald and Nancy May, June 5, 2002, p. 2. Also Emily Ngo, “9/11 Memorial Honors Unborn Babies,” Newsday, September 1, 2011.
20. hop a quick flight: Henry Breanlas, “Las Vegas Still Feels 9/11 Aftershocks,” (Las Vegas) Review Journal, September 11, 2011.
21. Ken and Jennifer Lewis: Ian Shapira, “Kenneth and Jennifer Lewis,” Washington Post, September 15, 2001.
22. gaze at the stars: Mike Roberts et al., “I Hope and Pray They Were in Each Other’s Arms,” (Vancouver) Province, September 16, 2001.
23. airport security: Four Flights Monograph, pp. 27–28. This account from the 9/11 Commission staff monograph relies on reviews of the airport security video and the commission’s interviews with more than forty screeners.
24. multitool knives: Four Flights Monograph, p. 27; the purchase was made by Nawaf al-Hazmi on August 27, 2001.
25. anxious or excited: FBI interview with Vaughn Allex, July 13, 2004.
26. Hindu option: FBI interview with Jorge C. Villasenor, September 11, 2001.
27. issued an order: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 9.
28. safety notice nationwide: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 9.
29. “a new type of war”: Rutgers Law Review audio transcript: www.rutgerslawreview.com/2011/full-audio-transcript/.
30. “smart terrorists today”: Priscilla D. Jones, The First 109 Minutes: 9/11 and the U.S. Air Force, a monograph published in 2011 by the Air Force History and Museums Program, Washington, p. 22; confirmed by NEADS transcripts.
31. “talk to FAA”: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 9.
32. “do more than fuck with this”: Farmer, p. 160.
33. “My recommendation”: Transcript from Voice Recorder, September 11, 2001, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York, p. 61.
34. Sidewinder: U.S. Navy Fact File Data Sheet, www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&tid=1000&ct=2.
35. Sparrows: 9/11 Commission staff interview with Major James Fox, October 29, 2003, p. 9.
36. “better call the president”: Transcript from Voice Recorder, September 11, 2001, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Rome, New York, time-stamped 9:22 a.m., p. 14. On a separate transcript the speaker is identified as female, on p. 12.
37. shoot down: 102nd Fighter Wing Historian’s Report for September 11, 2001, by TSgt. Bruce Vittner.
38. “World War III”: Brian MacQuarrie, “War Without End, On Both Fronts, There and Here,” Boston Globe, September 10, 2011; Kevin Dennehy, “I Thought It Was the Start of World War III,” Cape Cod Times, August 21, 2002.
39. “Good luck”: ABC News 20/20, “Get These Planes on the Ground,” October 24, 2001.
40. 73,000 square miles: FAA Facility Orientation Guide, Indianapolis ARTCC, www.air-traffic-control.org/pdf-files/indianapolis.pdf.
41. fourteen other planes: Farmer, p. 161.
42. 8:54 a.m.: Four Flights Monograph, p. 29.
43. turned off its transponder: Four Flights Monograph, pp. 29–30.
44. 8:56 a.m.: National Transportation Safety Board, Flight Path Study—American Airlines Flight 77, p. 7. The first set of calls began at 8:56:32 a.m. and continued to 8:58:16 a.m. Radio calls to Flight 77 continued from Indianapolis Center until 9:03:06 a.m.
45. text message: FBI Interview with Donald A. Robinson, September 11, 2001.
46. “sterilize the airspace”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 30.
47. Still in the dark: Handwritten notes of 9/11 Commission staff interview with Chuck Thomas, September 24, 2003.
48. they suspected: 9/11 Commission staff interviews with Chuck Thomas, John A. Thomas, and Linda Povinelli, September 24, 2003.
49. the possible crash: Indianapolis Center first learned of the other hijackings and suicide crashes at 9:11 a.m. Rutgers Law Review audio transcript: www.rutgerslawreview.com/2011/full-audio-transcript/.
50. Its autopilot: 9/11 Commission hearing transcript, testimony of commission staff member Sam Brinkley, January 27, 2004, https://9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing7/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-01-27.htm.
Chapter 7: “Beware Any Cockpit Intrusion”
1. wake her up: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Lorne Lyles, October 25, 2006, conducted by Kathie Shaffer.
2. phone conversation: FBI interview with Lorne Lyles, September 12, 2001.
3. “miss that shuttle”: Linda Shrieves, “CeeCee Lyles Was Soaring Through Life, Then Destiny Came Calling,” Orlando Sentinel, September 29, 2001.
4. bills and chores: Jere Longman, Among the Heroes, New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 9.
5. ten passengers: During one of these calls, CeeCee Lyles told her husband there were eleven passengers in first class and twenty-four passengers in coach. Later it was reported that first class had ten passengers. This contributed to confusion and controversy over the correct number of people aboard Flight 93, particularly since there were four hijackers as opposed to five on each of the other affected flights. Ultimately it was determined there were forty legitimate passengers and crew members and four hijackers. Ten passengers sat in first class, including all the hijackers, and twenty-seven sat in coach. Part of the confusion resulted from passenger Marion Britton’s purchase of two seats. See 9/11 Commission Report, p. 10; Longman, p. xiii; Tom McMillan, Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2014), p. vi. (A few notes on McMillan’s excellent book are also included below, with regard to telephone calls from Flight 93.)
6. gaping weaknesses: The conclusion reached by the 9/11 Commission puts it most succinctly: “By 8:00 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, they had defeated all the security layers that America’s civil aviation security system then had in place to prevent a hijacking.” 9/11 Commission Report, p. 4.
7. supposed to leave the gate: 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 1 footnote No. 63, p. 455.
8. always flew first class: “Passenger Mark ‘Mickey’ Rothenberg,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Rothenberg, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
9. Thomas E. Burnett Jr.: Deena Burnett, Fighting Back: Living Beyond Ourselves,
Altamonte Springs, FL: Advantage Inspirational, 2006. Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Burnett, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
10. Mark Bingham: Jon Barrett, “Person of the Year, This Is the Mark Bingham Story,” The Advocate, January 22, 2002, at www.markbingham.com/legend.html; “Passenger Mark Bingham,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Bingham, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
11. Six years earlier: Longman, pp. 137–38.
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