Via History.com
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At approximately 8:46 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying about 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact tears a gaping hole across floors 93 through 99 of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping more than 1,300 on the floors above.
As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcast live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 17 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767—United Airlines Flight 175—appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the South Tower at about the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.
The hijackers were 19 al Qaeda terrorists, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia. The others were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon. The attacks were orchestrated by al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who cited America’s support of Israel, its military involvement in the Middle East and its continued military presence in Saudi Arabia among his grievances against the United States. Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American flight schools. Others had slipped into the U.S. in the months before September 11 and acted as the “muscle” in the operation.
On September 11, the terrorists easily smuggled box cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the hijackers commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming the passenger jets into guided missiles.
As millions watched in horror at the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C. and slammed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:37 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to a structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.
More than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn for the worse when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The impact of United Airlines Flight 175 damaged the tower’s structural columns and dislodged fireproofing, while the resulting fires weakened the steel structure. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed.
Close to 3,000 people died in and around the World Trade Center, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers, many of whom were working to evacuate the buildings and rescue office workers trapped on higher floors. Only 16 people who were inside the North Tower’s Stairwell B survived its collapse, while no one inside the South Tower survived its collapse.
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At approximately 8:46 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying about 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact tears a gaping hole across floors 93 through 99 of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping more than 1,300 on the floors above.
As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcast live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 17 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767—United Airlines Flight 175—appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the South Tower at about the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.
The hijackers were 19 al Qaeda terrorists, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia. The others were from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon. The attacks were orchestrated by al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who cited America’s support of Israel, its military involvement in the Middle East and its continued military presence in Saudi Arabia among his grievances against the United States. Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American flight schools. Others had slipped into the U.S. in the months before September 11 and acted as the “muscle” in the operation.
On September 11, the terrorists easily smuggled box cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the hijackers commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming the passenger jets into guided missiles.
As millions watched in horror at the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C. and slammed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:37 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to a structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.
More than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn for the worse when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The impact of United Airlines Flight 175 damaged the tower’s structural columns and dislodged fireproofing, while the resulting fires weakened the steel structure. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed.
Close to 3,000 people died in and around the World Trade Center, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers, many of whom were working to evacuate the buildings and rescue office workers trapped on higher floors. Only 16 people who were inside the North Tower’s Stairwell B survived its collapse, while no one inside the South Tower survived its collapse.
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[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
