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Nineteen years ago, nineteen men hijacked four planes to carry out the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in a mission that was orchestrated by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
For generations of Americans, September 11 became their version of “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” and millions more can recall memories of that day as if it happened last week. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks on the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and Flight 93, and people continue to die each year from 9/11-related illnesses.
While the September 11 attacks are unforgettable for millions of people, it is an event that others, who were not alive in 2001, have had to learn from their families and in the classrooms. As with other historical events, education becomes increasingly vital as the years progress, and 9/11 is no exception.
Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93 killed 2,977 people and injured thousands more. Commemoration events will take different forms this year, as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to limit gatherings, and many people will commemorate the day virtually. Some will read first-hand accounts of survivors and victims or watch news clips, and many of those who were alive for the attacks will remember where they were as the day wore on.
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Gary Hershorn / Getty
A timeline of the September 11 attacks
7:59 am: American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston with 11 crew members, 76 passengers and five hijackers on board. It was originally destined for Los Angeles.
8:15 am: United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston with nine crew members, 51 passengers and five hijackers. It was originally destined for Los Angeles.
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8:19 am: Betty Ann Ong, a flight attendant aboard Flight 11, alerts ground crew that the cabin is unreachable, a passenger has been stabbed and the plane is being hijacked. The passenger, identified as Daniel M. Lewin, served four years in the Israeli army and one report speculated that he may have tried to arrest the hijackers. It is probably the first person killed during the attacks.
8:20 am: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport with six crew members, 53 passengers and five hijackers on board. It was originally destined for Los Angeles.
8:24 am: Flight 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta accidentally relays a message to air traffic control that says: “We have some planes. Stay calm and you will be fine.”
8:37 am: Boston’s air traffic control center alerts the US Air Force Northeast Air Defense Sector, which is mobilizing the Air National Guard to follow Flight 11.
8:42 am: United Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport with seven crew members, 33 passengers and four hijackers on board. It was originally destined for San Francisco.
8:46 am: Flight 11 crashes into floors 93 to 99 of World Trade Center 1, known as the North Tower, cutting the three emergency stairs. First responders are dispatched to the scene and an evacuation begins.
8:50 am: President George W. Bush is told what is believed to be a small plane crashed into the World Trade Center. At the time, Bush was visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida, and was told it was probably an accident.
8:52 am: A flight attendant aboard Flight 175 informs an airline operator that a hijacking is taking place.
8:55 am: A Port Authority fire safety employee tells people at 2 World Trade Center, South Tower, that it is safe and there is no need to evacuate. Those in the evacuation process are told to use the re-entry doors and elevators to return to their office.
8:59 am: Sergeant Al DeVona of the Port Authority Police Department orders the evacuation of both towers and, a minute later, an evacuation order for the entire complex.
9:02 am: A Port Authority fire safety employee announces that people can initiate an orderly evacuation of the South Tower if “the conditions in their apartment warrant it.”
9:03 am: Flight 175 crashes into floors 77 to 85 of the South Tower. Two of the three emergency stairs are impassable.
Robert Giroux / Getty
9:05 am: White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informs Bush that the South Tower was hit and that this was no accident. “A second plane hit the second tower. The United States is under attack,” Card told MSNBC, were the words he said to the president.
9:12 am: Renee A. May, a flight attendant aboard Flight 77, calls her mother and tells her that the plane has been hijacked. Her mother then calls American Airlines. Minutes after the call, passenger Barbara Olson calls her husband, Attorney General Theodore Olson, and tells him that the hijackers took over the flight. Report to federal officials.
9:37 am: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:42 am: The Federal Aviation Administration establishes all flights.
9:58 am: Flight 93 flies low enough that Edward P. Felt, a passenger, can communicate with an emergency operator in Pennsylvania.
9:59 am: The South Tower collapses.
10:03 am: Passengers and crew members storm the cabin of Flight 93. It crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about a 20-minute flight from Washington, DC.
Jeff Swensen / Getty
10:28 am: The North Tower collapses.
12:16 pm: United States airspace is closed.
8:30 pm: Bush addresses the nation from the White House.
The timeline above was compiled from the September 11 Memorial and Museum, the nation’s premier institution for examining the events and aftermath of the attacks.
