September 11th, 2001
(use of The 9-11 Report by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon)
One of the major events in America history that is still prevalent today is 9-11. This infamous day changed America and because we had the experience of living through it, we must remember what happened on that day ten years ago. We are all survivors of 9-11 due to the huge emotional impact that it brought to America and for us, we must remember the horrible day ten years ago and never forget the first responders and people who were killed by the result of terrorist attacks.
Flights 11,175,77,and 93
James Nachtwey
At 7:58 the morning of September 11, the first of four planes took off. These four planes were flights 11,175, 77, and 93. By 10:02 that same morning every single one of these passengers and crew would be dead. Flight 11 and 175 crashed into the Twin towers at 8:46 and 9:03, America realized we were under attack. The other two flights 77 and 93 were headed towards DC to crash into buildings there. Flight 77 plunged into the Pentagon at 9:29 while the 93 was flown into an empty field in Philadelphia.
What happened aboard these planes?
On board flight 11 Betty Ong and Madeline Sweeney called in and made this first accounts of the hijackers taking down the planes. On flight 175 passenger calls informed the landing crew of the hijackers take over and that the pilots have been killed by stabbing. Barbra Olson called her husband as she was on Flight 77 and told him what was happening but the call was lost within a minute. The fourth flight was a power struggle between the passengers and the hijackers, in which the passengers fought for control of the plane and were able to drive it off course and into the field in Philadelphia. Radio transmissions from those planes indicated what was happening and the Air Traffic control center was able to finally identify that an attack was happening. When we hear about 9-11 we never hear about these amazing people who called their families and tried to counter attack the hijackers, these people should be remembered for their bravery in their last minutes of life.
At this point in time, homeland defense of the US was based upon close interaction between the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. While the attack was taking place four different command centers were tracking the flights, but because they weren’t working together they didn’t know all of what was going on only bits and pieces and certainly not that the other attacks were related with the ones they were tracking.
On board flight 11 Betty Ong and Madeline Sweeney called in and made this first accounts of the hijackers taking down the planes. On flight 175 passenger calls informed the landing crew of the hijackers take over and that the pilots have been killed by stabbing. Barbra Olson called her husband as she was on Flight 77 and told him what was happening but the call was lost within a minute. The fourth flight was a power struggle between the passengers and the hijackers, in which the passengers fought for control of the plane and were able to drive it off course and into the field in Philadelphia. Radio transmissions from those planes indicated what was happening and the Air Traffic control center was able to finally identify that an attack was happening. When we hear about 9-11 we never hear about these amazing people who called their families and tried to counter attack the hijackers, these people should be remembered for their bravery in their last minutes of life.
At this point in time, homeland defense of the US was based upon close interaction between the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. While the attack was taking place four different command centers were tracking the flights, but because they weren’t working together they didn’t know all of what was going on only bits and pieces and certainly not that the other attacks were related with the ones they were tracking.
The towers collapse
What isn’t always known is that 9-11 started back in 1993 when a bomb went off in the garage in the World Trade Centers? See Frank D'Ambrosio's interview for an account on that day. There radios responded poorly and their was not a good enough evacuation system of the towers. But yet in 2001 the city was still not ready to handle the traumatic events and complexity behind 9-11. When the first plane crashed into the building, killing hundreds, many people remained trapped and the firemen attempted an evacuation, but still some remained. The second tower remained untouched and the people inside didn’t feel a need to evacuate it because they believed that a flight had just crashed and there was no chance that this could be a terrorist attack. When flight 175 hit the second building, it killed and harmed a lot more people. And when the second tower collapsed it killed everyone that was inside of it. Police and firefighters played a huge role in rescue missions refusing to leave the tower until the remaining civilians were rounded up and evacuated. The Pentagon was hit at 9:37 killing 189 people, both the attacks on the world trade center and the Pentagon as well as the passengers in the flight who were killed were huge losses. 9-11 made a significant impact on all of us because we all bear witness of this day, many of us can recall exactly where we were when we heard about the attacks because of the emotional impact it had on us. The first responders should be remembered for their acts of bravery on this fatal day.
CLICK HERE TO SEE INTERVIEW WITH 9-11 SURVIVOR FRANK D'AMBROSIO.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE INFORMATION ON SEPTEMBER 11TH.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE INFORMATION ON SEPTEMBER 11TH.
History in the making...
Sources:
The 9/11 Report- By SId Jacobson and Ernie Colon
Pictures:
James Nachtwey
http://theintelhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/wtc-9-11.jpg
