TRAGEDY IN THE SKIES
The drama and terror of Sept. 11 unfolded over air traffic control frequencies from New Hampshire to Virginia, from Ohio to Long Island. Here are excerpts prepared for investigators from transcripts at the control centers that were communicating with the four planes. All times are Eastern Daylight Time. AMERICAN FLIGHT 11
Flight plan: Boston to Los Angeles. Crashes into north tower of World Trade Center.
8:00:00 Plane takes off.
8:13 Boston Control Center: “AAL11 turn 20 degrees right.”
AAL11: “20 right AAL11.”
Controller: “AAL11 now climb, maintain FL350 (35,000 feet).”
Controller: “AAL11 climb, maintain FL350.” Controller: “AAL11 Boston.”
8:14:33 Controller A: “AAL11 ah the American on the frequency, how do you hear me?”
Controller B: “This is uh Athens.”
A: “This is Boston. I turned American 20 left and I was going to climb him he will not respond to me now at all.”
B: “Looks like he’s turning right.“
A: “Yea, I turned him right.”
B:“Oh, OK”
A: “And he’s only going to um I think 29.” B: “Sure, that’s fine.”
A: “Eh, but I’m not talking to him.”
B: “He won’t answer you. He’s nordo (no radio) roger. Thanks.”
8:24:38 Hijackers’ voices heard: “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport. Nobody move, everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”
8:25:00 The control tower notifies several air traffic control centers that a hijacking is in progress.
8:33:59 Hijackers’ voices heard: “Nobody move please, we are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves.”
8:47:00 Plane crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Hijackers: Mohamed Atta (Egyptian), Abdulaziz al-Omari (Saudi Arabian), Wail al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Waleed al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Satam al-Suqami (Saudi Arabian)
UNITED FLIGHT 175
Flight plan: Boston to Los Angeles. Crashes into south tower of World Trade Center. 8:14:00 Plane takes off. 8:31:04 Flight makes contact with Boston control center. 8:37:08 Controller asks pilots to look for a lost American Airlines plane: “Do you have traffic? Look at, uh, your 12 to 1 o’clock at about, uh, 10 miles southbound to see if you can see an American seventy sixty seven out there please.”
UAL175 “Affirmative. We have him, uh, he looks, uh, about 20, yeah, about 29, 28,000.”
Controller: “United 175, turn 5 turn 30 degrees to the right. I (want to) keep you away from this traffic.”
8:41:32 Cockpit: “We figured we’d wait to go to your center. We heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston. Someone keyed the mike and said, ‘Everyone stay in your seats.’”
Cockpit: “Did you copy that?”
Flight turns toward the southwest, with clearance from air traffic control.
8:46:18 Transponder signal no longer received.
8:53:23 Controller: “We may have a hijack. We have some problems over here right now.”
9:00:02 Last radar reading is observed at an altitude of 18,000 feet as the flight is descending at a ground speed of 550 mph.
9:03 Plane crashes into the south tower of World Trade Center.
Hijackers: Marwan al-Shehhi (United Arab
Emirates),
Fayez Banihammad (United Arab Emirates), Mohand al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Hamza al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian).
AMERICAN FLIGHT 77
Flight plan: Washington to Los Angeles. Crashes into Pentagon.
8:20:00 Plane departs from Dulles airport. 8:25:49 Plane is instructed to climb to 27,000 feet. 8:37:33 Plane is instructed to climb to 39,000 feet, but the pilot requests and is granted a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. 8:50:51 Last radio communication with aircraft.
8:56:00 Transponder contact lost. 8:56:32 Controller calls aircraft repeatedly: “American 77, Indy radio check, how do you read?”
8:58:38 An American Airlines dispatcher tells the controller that “we’ll get a hold of him for ya.”
9:02:17 On a second call to American Airlines, the controller says, “We, uh, we lost track control of the guy. He’s in coast track but we haven’t — we don’t know really where his target (radar location) is, and we can’t get a hold of him. Um, you guys tried him and no response . ... Yeah, we have no radar contact and, uh, no communications with him, so if you guys can try again.”
Dispatcher: “We’re doing it.” Controller: “All right. Thanks a lot.” 9:06:31 Controller: “You guys never been able to raise him at all.”
Another controller: “No, we called company. They can’t even get a hold of him. So there’s no, no radar, uh, no radio communications and no radar.” 9:25 Controller observes the plane moving toward Washington.
9:33 Controller informs Operational Supervisor, who in turn informs the Secret Service. The aircraft is observed completing a right 360-degree turn, just south of the Pentagon.
9:36 National Airport instructs a military C-130 that had just departed Andrews Air Force Base to intercept and identify it. The C-130 reports it is a Boeing 767, moving low and very fast.
9:38 Plane crashes into the southwest side of the Pentagon.
Hijackers: Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian), Khalid al-Mihdhar (Saudi Arabian), Majed Moqed (Saudi Arabian), Nawaf al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian), Salem al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian). Key Takeoff
Last routine communication
First deviation from flight plan
Military air defense notified that plane is hijacked Crash
Result of attacks:
■ 2,977 fatalities, over 25,000 injuries
■ At least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.
■ The deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters (340) and law enforcement officers (72) in the history of the U.S.
UNITED FLIGHT 93
Flight plan: Newark to San Francisco. Crashes near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 8:42:00 Plane takes off from Newark.
At some point after 8:53, a flight dispatcher at a United operations center in Chicago sends out a text message to 15 planes, including Flight 93, that there had been a cockpit intrusion on another United flight. Flight 93 responds that the message was received.
Hijackers: Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese), Ahmed al-Haznawi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Nami (Saudi Arabian), Saeed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian). 9:28:19 First audible sign of problems in background cockpit noise.
9:29:29 Abnormal communication. 9:35:09 Plane climbs without authorization.
9:36:31 Plane turns off course.
Sometime after 9:30, two passengers make the first of several calls to their wives, saying that three or four passengers are discussing how they may stop the hijackers. One man on the plane also speaks directly to 911 dispatchers, relaying details of a hijacking in progress. Several other passengers on the flight place cellphone calls. Investigators who have heard the cockpit voice recorder have described the sounds of a struggle taking place. 9:56:00 Last transponder code. 9:57:19 Last radar return.
10:00:00 Controller says: “Think he is at 7,500 (feet).” 10:04:00 Last observation of primary heading of about 160 degrees.
10:06:00 Controller calls controller on land line to say Flight 93 is down.