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Aug 1, 2024 · Two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The first hit the North Tower at 08:46 Eastern Time (12:46 GMT). The second crashed into the South Tower at 09:03.
Close to 3,000 people died in the World Trade Center and its vicinity, including a staggering 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers, and 37 Port Authority police...
- Overview
- Photos: The World Trade Center
- Photos: The Pentagon
- Photos: Flight 93
- HISTORY Vault: 9/11 Documentaries
On September 11, 2001—a clear, sunny, late summer day—al Qaeda terrorists aboard three hijacked passenger planes carried out coordinated suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing everyone on board the planes and nearly 3,000 people on the ground. A fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all on board, after passengers and crew attempted to wrest control from the hijackers.
9/11 Timeline
Below is a chronology of the events of 9/11 as they unfolded. All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
• 7:59 am – American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 92 people aboard, takes off from Boston’s Logan International Airport en route to Los Angeles.
• 8:14 am – United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 with 65 people aboard, takes off from Boston; it is also headed to Los Angeles.
• 8:19 am – Flight attendants aboard Flight 11 alert ground personnel that the plane has been hijacked; American Airlines notifies the FBI.
1 / 10: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images
• 8:47 am – Within seconds, NYPD and FDNY forces dispatch units to the World Trade Center, while Port Authority Police Department officers on site begin immediate evacuation of the North Tower.
• 8:50 am – White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card alerts President George W. Bush that a plane has hit the World Trade Center; the president is visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida at the time.
• 9:02 am – After initially instructing tenants of the WTC’s South Tower to remain in the building, Port Authority officials broadcast orders to evacuate both towers via the public address system; an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people are already in the process of evacuating.
• 9:03 am – Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building
• 9:08 am – The FAA bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through the airspace around the city.
1 / 6: Federal Bureau of Investigation via Getty Images
• 9:42 am – For the first time in history, the FAA grounds all flights over or bound for the continental United States. Over the next two-and-a-half hours, some 3,300 commercial flights and 1,200 private planes are guided to land at airports in Canada and the United States.
• 9:45 am – Amid escalating rumors of other attacks, the White House and U.S. Capitol building are evacuated (along with numerous other high-profile buildings, landmarks and public spaces).
• 9:59 am – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
1 / 5: David Maxwell/Getty Images
• 10:28 am – The World Trade Center’s North Tower collapses, 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11.
• 11 am – Mayor Rudolph Giuliani calls for the evacuation of Lower Manhattan south of Canal Street, including more than 1 million residents, workers and tourists, as efforts continue throughout the afternoon to search for survivors at the WTC site.
• 1 pm – At Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, President Bush announces that U.S. military forces are on high alert worldwide.
• 2:51 pm – The U.S. Navy dispatches missile destroyers to New York and Washington, D.C.
• 5:20 pm – The 47-story Seven World Trade Center collapses after burning for hours; the building had been evacuated in the morning, and there are no casualties, though the collapse forces rescue workers to flee for their lives. It is the last of the Twin Towers to fall.
Explore this collection of extraordinary documentary films about one of the most challenging days in U.S. history.
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Sep 9, 2021 · In the space of three hours, two planes hit the World Trade Center, one plane hit the Pentagon and one crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 died during the attacks, and many more suffer ongoing conditions from injuries and smoke inhalation.
Lead hijacker-pilot Marwan al-Shehhi will pilot the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. 8:14: Flight 11 is hijacked over central Massachusetts, turning first northwest, then south heading straight to New York.
Sep 10, 2021 · Key points: Airport security ramped up and CCTV and citizen surveillance became ubiquitous. The 9/11 attacks fuelled the rise of Islamic terrorism and anti-Muslim sentiment. Hundreds of thousands of deaths led to the "forever wars" of Iraq and Afghanistan, among other conflicts.
Sep 9, 2021 · The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., deeply shocked and angered America — and led political leaders to overreact in response, Berkeley scholars say.
