On Saturday, the United States commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which caused an unprecedented shock that shook the U.S. and the world, claiming the lives of hundreds of innocents in aerial assaults carried out after a group affiliated with the terrorist organization al-Qaeda hijacked several domestic American flights. Americans awoke on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to news that instilled panic, with events unfolding as follows:
At 7:59 AM on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 took off from Boston, Massachusetts, heading to Los Angeles, California, with 81 passengers on board, including 9 crew members and a hijacking team of 5 individuals.
At 8:14 AM, United Airlines Flight 175 departed from Boston to Los Angeles, carrying 56 passengers, 7 of whom were crew members and a hijacking team of 5.
At 8:19 AM that same day, an American Airlines flight attendant reported the hijacking of Flight 11. One minute later, at 8:20 AM, American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Washington, D.C., headed towards Los Angeles, with 58 passengers on board, including 4 crew members and 5 hijackers.
At 8:42 AM, United Airlines Flight 93 departed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, with 37 passengers, including 5 crew members and 4 hijackers.
Instead of continuing towards its final destination, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, impacting between the 93rd and 99th floors.
At 8:52 AM, a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 175 reported the hijacking of her flight. Eleven minutes later, at 9:03 AM, Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, hitting between the 77th and 85th floors.
At 9:05 AM, former President George W. Bush was briefed on the attacks while reading a book to elementary school students in Florida. At the same time, at 9:05 AM, American Airlines' headquarters became aware of the hijacking of Flight 77.
At 9:34 AM, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was informed of the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93.
At 9:37 AM, Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon, leading to a partial collapse of the western side of the building.
At 9:40 AM, U.S. aviation authorities diverted all flights headed to the U.S. to Canada.
At 9:58 AM, the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed.
Flight 93 crashed at 10:03 AM in a field in Pennsylvania after a struggle between the passengers and the hijackers, who had learned about the other attacks.
By 10:24 AM, the FAA decided to ground all flights departing from U.S. airports.
At 10:28 AM, the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed.
These attacks resulted in hundreds of casualties, with the number estimated at 2,977 people, including the passengers on the hijacked planes and those who were in the World Trade Center towers at the time of the strikes.
