9/11 Timeline

7:59 a.m. American Airlines (AA) Flight 11, a B767, departs Boston's Logan nonstop for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). 2 pilots, 9 flight attendants and 81 passengers (pax). Fuel capacity 16,700 gals.

7:58 a.m. UAL Flight 175, a B767, departs Boston's Logan nonstop for LAX. 2 pilots, 7 flight attendants, 56 pax. In standard configuration, the airplane has a 168-pax capacity. Fuel cap. 16,700 gals.

8:01 a.m. United Airlines (UAL) Flight 93, a B757, departs Newark International Airport, NJ, nonstop for San Francisco (SFRAN). 2 pilots, 5 flight attendants, 38 pax. In standard configuration, the B757 has a 182 pax. capacity. Fuel cap. 11,275 gals.

8:10 a.m. AA Flight 77, a B757, departs Washington Dulles (IAD) nonstop for LAX, with 2 pilots, four flight attendants and 58 pax aboard. Fuel cap. 11,275 gals. Against headwinds on the flights to the West Coast, all four airplanes were carrying heavy fuel loads.

8:25 a.m All four airplanes are airborne before AA Flight 11 turns sharply off its planned westbound flight and heads south toward Manhattan. Shortly before the turn, the jet's transponder is turned off. By this time, controllers suspected something was amiss when the airplane did not respond to their clearance to climb to 31,000 feet. One of the cockpit crew, Capt. John Ogonowski or First Officer Thomas McGuinness, had the presence of mind to key open a cockpit microphone, enabling ground controllers to hear the terrorists' threats for the pilots "not to do anything foolish."

8:45 a.m. AA Flight 11 crashes into north tower of World Trade Center 1 (WTC North). Impact area is at floors 79-95 of the 110-story structure. Before the impact, a flight attendant succeeded in getting a call through to the American Airlines operations center at Dallas-Ft. Worth. She related multiple stabbings, that hijackers stormed the cockpit; she also reported the seat number of one of the hijackers. Elapsed flight time: about 46 minutes.

9:03 a.m 18 minutes after impact on WTC North, UAL Flight 175 crashes into south tower of World Trade Center 2 (WTC South) in the area of floors 63- 78. A businessman on the flight reportedly gets off two cell phone calls to his father, in one reporting that a flight attendant had been stabbed. Elapsed time of flight to impact: about 49 min.

9:05 a.m. President Bush, who is reading to children in a Sarasota, Florida, classroom, is approached by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who whispers news of the attack in the President's ear.

9:18 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shuts down all airports in the New York City area.

9:20 a.m. President Bush issues a terse statement promising to hunt down those responsible for the WTC attacks.

9:21 a.m. New York City officials close all bridges and tunnels connecting Manhattan Island with the mainland.

9:40 a.m. AA Flight 77 from Dulles crashes into southwest face of the Pentagon. Three targets symbolizing America's economic and military power have been struck in the space of some 49 minutes. The Pentagon's 2-ft. thick outer walls are breached as the airplane penetrates deep into the five concentric "rings" of the building's structure. Elapsed time of flight: 90 minutes. The time of flight is explained by the fact that the airplane flew westward, past West Virginia and briefly into Kentucky before turning around and heading back to the capital.

Herded with other passengers, and at least one of the pilots, into the back of the aircraft before its final plunge, those with cell phones are ordered by the hijackers to call relatives to inform them they are about to die. CNN reporter Barbara Olson used her cell phone to twice call her husband's office at the Justice Department (her husband, Solicitor General Ted Olson, argued President Bush's case before the U.S. Supreme Court during the Florida vote- counting fiasco of the last presidential election). Understandably declining to provide details of the conversations with his wife of just seven weeks, Ted Olson said she described the hijackers as armed with "knife-like" weapons. Barbara Olson's last words to her husband: "What do I tell the pilot to do?"

Air traffic controllers notice the aircraft, with its transponder apparently disabled, heading at high speed directly for unauthorized airspace around the White House, and sound the alarm. The inbound plane circles tightly 270 degrees and drops below radar coverage before plunging into the Pentagon. Apparently the White House was the primary target, but for reasons unknown at this stage the airplane was turned and struck what may have been its secondary target, the Pentagon.

9:45 a.m. Evacuation of White House ordered based on receipt of a "credible threat."

9:50 a.m. WTC South tower collapses, its fire weakened steel skeleton unable to support the 100,000-ton weight of the 50 stories above the section damaged by the impact of the UAL 767. Although building engineers had designed the WTC towers to withstand the impact of a B707, they had not anticipated the raging fires fed by tons of spilled jet fuel. The steel had been insulated to protect against an office fire, but the insulation may have been blown or seared away when the jet struck. In any event, the structure held for just 47 minutes before giving way.

Experts speculate that the terrorists may have had some knowledge of civil engineering. They apparently knew that maximum damage would be wreaked by flying into the middle sections of the buildings. Had they struck the very highest floors, the subsequent damage might not have led to collapse. Similarly, with the structure stronger at the lower floors to support the weight of those above, an impact at the bottom of the building might not have led to its collapse.

9:58 a.m. A passenger who locked himself in a lavatory aboard UAL Flight 93 called 911 and advises that the airplane has been hijacked, and that his call is not a hoax. Passenger Mark Bingham also used a cell phone to contact his mother in San Francisco, saying that the plane had been commandeered by three terrorists claiming to have a bomb. At some point in the flight, air traffic control received a radio call from the cockpit asserting the airplane was going to Washington, DC. Apparently the captain or first officer had the presence of mind to leave the microphone keyed open. At 35,000 feet over Cleveland, Ohio, the sound of shots and commands to "get out of here" were transmitted. During the course of events, passenger Tom Burnette called his wife four times by cell phone, saying that he and two others were going to try to overpower the hijackers.

10:06 a.m. UAL Flight 93, having reversed its Westward course over Cleveland, Ohio, crashes in a field 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh (and 85 miles northwest of the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.). Crash occurs 8 min. after cell phone call from passenger in lavatory. Crash site is described by one official as "nothing but a big gouge in the earth and some broken trees." It is possible that the airplane's near-90 degree plunge to the earth resulted from a struggle between passengers and hijackers in the cockpit. Elapsed time of flight from takeoff at Newark: about 2 hours and 5 min.

10:22 a.m. In Washington, DC, State and Justice Department buildings evacuated. World Bank is evacuated.

10:29 a.m. WTC North tower collapses in similarly spectacular fashion to South tower. Struck higher up on the 110-story structure by the AA jet, vertical steel beams held in place longer, about an hour and 45 min. in this case, before finally succumbing in their fire-weakened state to the weight above. Witnesses described the two buildings' collapse as a rain of concrete, blinding dust and ash, and "thousands" of body parts. The second tower comes down on the order established by the emergency response teams after the collapse of the WTC South tower. Emergency command posts, triage centers, etc., are destroyed by falling debris, presenting a major setback for emergency response.

10:35 a.m. As airplanes land per the FAA's 9:49 grounding order, some 1,100 flights remain airborne, down from 3,600.

11:40 a.m. Only some 290 flights remain in the air, down from the 3,600 being tracked at the time of the FAA's 9:49 a.m. grounding order. By this time, virtually all commercial air travel has ceased. Nationwide, airports are being shut down and evacuated.

11:44 a.m. President Bush arrives at Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB), Louisiana. It is later reported that both the White House and Air Force One were targets, hence the indirect route of the President's return to the capital by nightfall.

12:00 noon New York City hospitals begin to receive the injured. In Louisiana, President Bush issues a second statement, vowing to punish the perpetrators.

12:45 p.m. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, declares on CNN, "This is the most godawful wakeup call we've ever had."

1:38 p.m. President Bush aboard Air Force One departs Barksdale AFB for Offutt AFB in Nebraska.

4:15 p.m. Reports of at least 200 New York City firemen, police and other emergency personnel killed in collapse of World Trade Center towers.

4:40 p.m. President Bush departs Offutt AFB on Air Force One bound for Wash. DC.

5:00 p.m. Explosions rock Kabul, Afghanistan. U.S. officials deny they signify a military counterattack on a country known to harbor Saudi expatriate terrorist Osama bin Laden. Other sources advise the explosions could represent rocket barrage from factions loyal to Ahmed Shah Massoud, who had been assassinated the day before in internecine warfare between the Taliban and dissident factions.

5:25 p.m. The 45-story Building 7 in the WTC complex collapses, its structure weakened by fires that raged for hours inside the building.

6:55 p.m. President Bush arrives at White House. By this time, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has announced a tightening of aviation security. Most notably, curbside check-in will no longer be allowed. He does not indicate whether curbside check-in enabled the terrorists to breach the security system.

In addition, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, has revealed telephone intercepts by U.S. intelligence of Bin Laden supporters discussing the attacks.

8:00 p.m. President Bush gives nationwide address from Oval Office, vowing to hunt down the perpetrators of the day's tragedies. The president fundamentally alters U.S. foreign policy, declaring bluntly that no distinction will be made between terrorists and those who harbor them.

By day's end, amidst growing criticism of the FAA's aviation security system, and the failure of the national intelligence apparatus to provide warning of the attack, estimates of the dead range from 2,500 to 10,000.

Please take time today to pray for the victims of this national tragedy and their families.

2 posted on 09/11/2004 4:28:45 PM PDT by spodefly (I've posted nothing but BTTT over 1000 times!!!)

3 posted on 09/11/2004 4:47:08 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)

A good and timely post, my FRiend.

4 posted on 09/11/2004 5:00:22 PM PDT by Peach (The Clinton's pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)

I suggest you add the following:
Brian Sullivan, a retired special agent from the Boston area, advised Kerry in a May 7, 2001, letter that Logan was ripe for a 'jihad' suicide operation possibly involving 'a coordinated attack.'

http://worldnetdaily.com/images2/kerryfax1.jpg
http://worldnetdaily.com/images2/kerryfax2.jpg

6 posted on 09/11/2004 5:13:55 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (9/11/01 is what matters, not 1969)

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