by Dean King
After several attacks overseas, Al Qaeda had decided to focus on highvalue and high-visibility targets in the US. Bin Laden himself had expressed to Atta his interest to strike the White House. Atta said that it was difficult, but he asked Hazmi and Hanjour to determine the feasibility of such attack. Hanjour was assigned to attack the Pentagon, Atta and Shehhi would attack the World Trade Center, and Jarrah was assigned the Capitol. If they were unable to reach the intended targets, they would crash the plane. Atta, in particular, planned to crash his aircraft to the streets of New York should he be unable to strike the WTC.
World Trade Center
The World Trade Center (WTC) was chosen as a target because it represented American economic strength. The WTC consisted of seven buildings occupying 16 acres of land. The buildings were connected by an underground mall, or the concourse. But most people would associate the WTC with the Twin Towers. The North Tower or 1 WTC and the South Tower or 2 WTC were the tallest of these buildings. Both were 110-storey high, rising about 1,350 feet, and square. Each of the walls measured 208 feet in length. Both had 10.4 million square feet of office space.
Each of the towers contained three central stairways that ran from top to bottom and 99 elevators. The elevators did not take passengers from the ground floor to the top most floor. Rather, there were elevators that took passengers from the lobby to the higher floor, and from there the passengers rode additional elevators to take them to the tops of the towers. The stairwells A and C ran from the mezzanine level of the ground floor to the 110th floor while stairwell B ran from level B6, which was six floors underground, to the 107th floor.
Pentagon
The Pentagon was chosen by the hijackers as a target because it had been a symbol of American power and influence not just to the country but the world as well. It was also an icon of military might. It was the hub of the country’s military establishment, making it a key target for terrorist attacks.
The construction of the Pentagon was originally conceived to house the expanding War Department headquarters in Washington. The Pentagon was to contain the War Department staff that were scattered among 17 buildings in the area. By 1943, the building was completed. Today, it is still the hub of the American defense system.
Capitol
Al Qaeda had chosen Capitol as one of the targets because it represented American prestige and power. It is also known as among the symbolically important buildings in the world. It housed the Senate and the House of Representatives for more than two centuries.
Aside from housing the legislative branch, the Capitol includes the six Congressional office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings. It is also a museum for the American art and history. Between 3-5 million people visit the Capitol each year.
Hijackers And The Planes
There were 19 hijackers in all, four of whom were pilots who took over the controls. The other hijackers served as “muscle” or secondary hijackers. You can see from the table below the hijackers assigned to each plane and their intended destination.
Airplanes
American Airlines Flight 11
Destination
North Tower of WTC
Assigned Hijackers
Mohammed Atta (pilot), Abdulaziz al-Omari, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, and Satam al-Suqami
American Airlines Flight 77 Pentagon
Hani Hanjour (pilot), Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, Salem al-Hazmi, Khalid alMihdhar
United Airlines Flight 175 South Tower of WTC
Marwan al-Shehhi (pilot), Fayez Banihammad, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al
Ghamdi, and Mohand alShehri
United Airlines Flight 93 Capitol
Ziad Jarrah (pilot), Ahmed alNami, Ahmad al-Haznawi, Saeed al-Ghamdi
Chapter 5 - The Collapse Of the Twin Towers
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was a Boeing 767-223ER, a passenger flight scheduled to leave Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts for Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California. It could carry 158 passengers, including 9 seats in first-class, 30 seats in business class, and 199 in coach. But on September 11, there were only 81 passengers including the hijackers and 11 crew members, accounting to 51 percent capacity.
Waleed al-Shehri and Wail al-Shehri were in first-class seats 2B and 2A, respectively. Atta, Suqami and al-Omari were in business class. The aircraft carried 76,400 pounds of fuel.
05:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari arrived early at Portland International Jetport, in Portland, Maine, the former carrying two bags and the latter, none. They were to board Colgan Air Flight 5930 for the six-o’clock flight to Boston, Massachusetts. They had bought first-class tickets with a connecting flight to Los Angeles.
Mohamed Atta
06: 45
The Colgan Air Flight 5930 arrived in Boston, where the other three hijackers were waiting. Atta and Omari were not given boarding passes for Flight 11 in Portland, so they checked in at Boston. The airline officials were not able to load Atta’s two bags on Flight 11, mainly due to rushed check-in after the flight from Portland.
Suqami, Wail al-Shehri and Waleed al-Shehri also checked in for the flight. The first two had each one bag while Waleed al-Shehri carried none. The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) screened the luggage only, but the three hijackers did not undergo extra scrutiny at the checkpoint. All hijackers were aboard the plane, five minutes before the scheduled departure. Atta was in business class seat 8D along with Omari in 8G and Suqami in 10B. The other two hijackers were in first class seats 2B and 2A.
07:59
A minute behind schedule, the plane took off from the airport.
08:13
As the plane was passing over Massachusetts at a height of 26,000 feet, the pilots made a 20-degree turn to the right as advised by the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center (Boston ARTCC). A few seconds later, the Boston ARTCC advised the pilots to ascend to 35,000 feet but got no response. This was estimated to be the time that the hijacking began.
08:16
The plane leveled off at 29,000 feet. Afterwards, it deviated from its scheduled path. The Boston ARTCC continued trying to establish connection with Flight 11 to no avail.
Flight 11 flight path
08:19
The Flight 11 stopped transmitting Mode C-transponder signal. The aircraft turned northward. Phone calls from Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney, Flight 11’s flight attendants assigned in coach, began. Betty Ong called Vanessa Minter at American Airlines reservations in North Carolina and was patched to a supervisor, Nydia Gonzalez. Ong’s emergency call lasted for 23 minutes. She had reported about the hijacking, saying that a mace or something else was sprayed in the first-class cabin to force the passengers to the back of the plane.
Sweeney also made a call to the ground. She got through to Michael Woodward, the office supervisor and also a friend, and reported the hijacking and stabbing. She said, “Listen to me, listen to me very carefully. I’m on Flight 11. The airplane has been hijacked.” All the time Sweeney was calm and professional. She reported that the first-class flight attendants were stabbed and a passenger, Daniel Lewin, had his throat slit.
08:21
Nydia Gonzalez called the American Airlines operations center in Fort Worth, Texas and reported about the hijacking. The manager, Craig Marquis, recognized that it was an emergency. He commanded the airline’s dispatcher to contact the cockpit.
08:23
The dispatcher contacted the cockpit but got no reply.
08:25
The hijackers, intending to communicate with the passengers, pressed the wrong button and got through to the air traffic control channel. One of the hijackers, presumably Atta, said, “Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”
08:26
Sweeney said that the airplane was flying e
rratically. Flight 11 turned south.
Amy Sweeney
08:29
The air traffic controller in American’s operations center reported to the FAA’s Boston ARTCC about the situation.
Atta’s voice was heard again, saying, “Nobody move, please. We are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves.”
08:38
Ong told Gonzalez that the plane was again flying erratically. By this time, Sweeney had reported to Woodward that the hijackers were Middle Easterners. She also relayed the seat numbers of the hijackers. Flight 11 was in a rapid descent.
Betty Ong
08:43
Atta was aiming towards Manhattan.
08:44
Gonzalez was losing phone contact with Ong. Sweeney told Woodward,
“Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent…we are all over the place.”
Woodward had asked her to look out of the window to see if she can determine where they were. Sweeney said,
“We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low.”
A few moments later, she exclaimed,
“Oh my God we are way too low.”
These was her last words. Other accounts reported that Sweeney said, “I see the water, I see the buildings. I see buildings. Oh, my God!”
Ong also remained on the phone until the plane crashed. Her last words were,
“Pray for us. Pray for us.”
08:46
Flight 11 hit the upper portion of the northern façade of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, plowing through floors 93 to 99. Flight 11 was traveling at 404 knots and carried about 10,000 US gallons of jet fuel. Everyone on board died, along with hundreds of people in the tower. The three stairwells and the elevators became impassable from the 92nd floor up. Those who remained alive were trapped.
This was also the time when the officials at Otis Air Force Base in Bourne, Massachusetts got authorization to dispatch the fighters at Otis. But by the time the fighters arrived at WTC, they were already too late.
10:29
The North Tower completely collapsed.
Balls of Fire, Clouds of Smoke, and Raining Bodies
The impact of the collision caused a jet fuel fireball to erupt, automatically shutting down a bank of elevators and killing hundreds of people. The fireball then erupted, affecting the lower floors including the 77th and 22th, the West Street lobby level, and the B4 level four stories below the ground. The burning jet fuel was followed by a thick black smoke that covered the upper floors and roof. Even the roof of the South Tower was covered in smoke due to light winds from the northwest.
After a few minutes within impact, smoke began to envelop the upper floors at an accelerated rate. Many of the trapped 1,344 people at or above the point of impact died from fire and smoke or from the collapse. More than 100 people below the point of impact also died. There were also accounts of people who either jumped from the building to escape the fire and smoke or fell to their deaths.
Those who were trapped from the 92nd floor up gathered in small groups between the 103rd and 106th floors. Those who gathered in a large group on the 92nd floor were unable to descend. There were also civilians trapped in elevators, and those who were below the point of impact were trapped or waiting for assistance.
American Airlines Flight 77
The American Airlines Flight 77 was a Boeing 757-223, a passenger flight that took passengers from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in California. The flight was scheduled to depart at 08:10 AM and the hijackers’ target was Pentagon. It had a capacity of 176 passengers, 22 in first-class and 154 in coach.
On September 11, there were only 58 passengers including the five hijackers, 2 pilots, and 4 flight attendants for a total of 64 people. Three of the hijackers occupied first-class seats and two occupied economy seats. Flight 77 carried 49,900 pounds of fuel.
07:15
Two muscle hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Majed Moqed, arrived at the airport and checked in at the ticket counter. Muscle hijackers were to storm the cockpits and subdue the passengers.
07:18
Al-Mihdhar and Moqed arrived at the passenger checkpoint. They both set off the metal detector and had undergone a secondary screening. Moqed was further searched with a hand wand as he set off the detector a second time.
Majed Moqed 07:29
Nawaf al-Hazmi and Salem al-Hazmi arrived at the ticket counter.
7:35
Hani Hanjour arrived at the Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to board American Airlines Flight 77. He was assigned 1B in first class. The security tape footage released in 2004 showed that Hanjour walked through the metal detector without setting it off. He had bought his first-class ticket from New Jersey.
He was followed a few minutes later at the checkpoint by the Hazmis. Nawaf al-Hazmi set off the alarm, but the screener could not figure out what set off the alarm. The security footage, which was released later, showed that Hazmi had an unidentified item in his back pocket. Surprisingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowed four-inch utility knives as carry-on items.
They were also selected for extra screenings of their checked bags. Hanjour, al-Mihdhar and Moqed were chosen by the CAPPS while the al-Hazmis were chosen due to lack of adequate identification. The check-in agent thought they were suspicious. The bags of Moqed and Hazmi were held until they boarded the plane.
07:50
The hijackers, who carried knives and box cutters with them, got through the security checkpoint and boarded the plane. Mihdhar and Moqed were assigned coach seats 12B and 12A, respectively.
07:52
Hanjour boarded and was assigned seat 1B in first-class.
07:55
Nawaf al-Hazmi and Salem al-Hazmi boarded the plane and occupied seats 5E and 5F in first-class.
08:20
Flight 77 took off from Dulles International Airport.
08:46
Flight 77 cruised at an altitude of 35,000 feet. Cabin service should have begun by then.
08:51
Flight 77 made the last radio communication with the air traffic control at Indianapolis.
Between 08:51 and 8:54
Hijacking began. The terrorists used knives and box cutters and moved all of the passengers toward the rear of the plane. There was no report of the use of violence or Mace or bomb.
08:54
Flight 77 deviated from its assigned course. The aircraft made a slight turn to the south.
08:56
The transponder was switched off. The controller tracking the aircraft had no idea of the hijacking of Flight 11. He assumed that Flight 77 had a serious electrical or mechanical failure. On one hand, the Indianapolis Center tried to contact the aircraft, to no avail.
08:58
The American was told that the FAA air traffic control lost contact with Flight 77. The American Airlines dispatchers contacted the aircraft using the ACARS email system.
09:00
Executive Vice President Gerard Arpey of the American Airlines was told that Flight 77 could not be contacted. He ordered that all American Airlines flights that had not yet taken off to remain on the ground. Flight 77 headed east and began to descend.
09:02
The FAA’s air traffic controllers advised the American Airlines that they had no idea about the location of Flight 77 or its destination.
09:07
Flight 77 cruised at an altitude of 25,000 feet.
09:11-09:12
Renee May, one of the flight attendants, tried to call her parents but failed to connect. A minute later, the phone call got through. Renee told her mother about the hijacking and that they had moved them to the rear of the plane. Renee further asked her mother to contact American Airlines and tell them of the hijacking.
Between 09:12 and the crash
Renee May’s parents called the American Airlines and co
nnected with an employee. They reported to her what their daughter said. The employee then told a flight services manager about what May’s parents told her.
09:15
American Airlines ordered all of its airborne flights to land after confirming that Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 hit the World Trade Center.
09:16 – 09:26
A Flight 77 passenger, Barbara Olson, made a phone call to her husband, Ted Olson, who was a solicitor general of the United States. They only spoke for about a minute before the call was disconnected. She was able to tell her husband about the hijacking and that the hijackers carried knives and box cutters.
Barbara Olson
09:18
The FAA centers in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Washington were already aware of the missing Flight 77 and that two aircraft had hit WTC.
Between 09:20 – 09:31
Barbara Olson called her husband for the second time, this time telling him that the pilot announced that the place was hijacked. When Ted Olson asked for her location, she said that the plane was flying over houses.
09:21
The Herndon Command Center, along with FAA field facilities and American Airlines began to search for Flight 77.
09:25
The Herndon Command Center National Operations Manager ordered that no aircraft should take off in the United States.
09:29
Flight 77 was flying at 7,000 feet and was located 38 miles west of the Pentagon.
09:32
Controllers at the Dulles TRACON observed an aircraft traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed. They notified Reagan National Airport of the aircraft. The aircraft was later identified as Flight 77.
09:34
Flight 77 was only 5 miles west-southwest of the Pentagon. The aircraft made a 330-degree right turn. After then, Flight 77 descended through 2,200 feet toward the direction of the Pentagon and downtown Washington, DC.
09:37
Flight 77 was traveling at 530 miles an hour when it crashed into the Pentagon, killing all people on board and another 125 civilian and military personnel in the Pentagon.