On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked in the United States and turned into missiles destined for major American landmarks. Two hit the World Trade Center towers, defining symbols of the New York City skyline, and brought them crashing down. One hit the Pentagon, causing a portion of the historic landmark to collapse. One was probably destined for either the White House or the Capitol Building but evidence points to the passengers finding out about the terrorists' plans and attempting a take-over of the plane. They failed to assume control of their aircraft, but they succeeded in preventing the plane from reaching its destination and thus saved an unknown number of lives.
A great many people probably remember what they were doing that morning when they heard the news and what the day was like as new things kept happening and being reported in the news. Who else remembers trying — and repeatedly failing — to get updates from CNN until they changed to a low-bandwidth page so that the incredible traffic didn't overload their servers? Members of the Agnosticism / Atheism forum were kept each other informed and gave one another a shoulder to cry on.
Still, it was a very confusing day and it can be difficult to keep everything straight. Below is a timeline of key events gathered from various news sources. This is by no means an exhaustive resource, but it should help provide some general context to the events of September 11, 2001
Timeline
7:59 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:13 a.m. The last official communication between American Airlines Flight 11 and ground controllers occurs and the transponder stops transmitting. The hijacking occurs at about this point.
8:14 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 begins going off course.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 leaves Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
8:42 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark Airport.
8:43 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 is hijacked.
8:46:26 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center with an estimated 10,000 gallons of fuel and traveling 470 mph.
8:50 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 begins heading towards New York City.
8:55 a.m. President Bush is notified of the first crash and replies, “What a horrible accident!”
8:56 a.m. The last official communication with American Airlines Flight 77 occurs and the plane's transponder is turned off. Presumably the hijacking occurs at this time.
9:02:54 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 hits the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes.
9:06 a.m. President Bush is notified of the second crash, but remains in the school classroom in Florida where he is doing a photo-op for his educational policies.
9:16 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 is probably hijacked about this time.
9:17 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration closes all New York City area airports.
9:21 a.m. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.
Photo from the National Park Service
9:29 a.m. President Bush addresses students and teachers at Booker Elementary School about the terrorist attacks.
9:30 a.m. President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, announces that the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
9:36 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 turns and begins heading towards Washington D.C.
9:38 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:40 a.m. The FAA ends all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that nationwide air traffic nationwide is stopped.
9:45 a.m. The White House evacuates.
9:57 a.m. Bush leaves Florida.
10:05 a.m. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 a.m. A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.
10:13 a.m. The United Nations building evacuates.
10:24 a.m. All inbound transatlantic flights to the United States start being diverted to Canada.
10:28 a.m. The north tower of the World Trade Center collapses from the top down.
10:35 a.m. Air Force One heads for Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana.
10:45 a.m. All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
10:57 a.m. New York Governor George Pataki closes all state government offices.
11:45 a.m. President Bush lands at Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana, rather than return immediately to Washington, D.C.
1:27 p.m. A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington, D.C.
1:44 p.m. The Pentagon announces that five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack.
1:48 p.m. Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base and heads for Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
4:30 p.m. The president departs Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska aboard Air Force One and returns Washington, D.C.
5:20 p.m. The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses.
What the hell was Bush Doing?
what? was he supposed to be psychic? the man was only aware that the Twin Towers had been hit. Was he supposed to automatically know that it was terrorists? Because by all means, get mad at the man for not being something humanly impossible
Is Bush some sort of fraddy cat or something. Why did he call it a terrible ACCIDENT. That was no Accident. He should of left that school right away and done something!
He didn’t know it was on purpose he thought it was a regular crash that just so happen o hit the towers, how is he supposed to know that it was them??
where was bush when it happened , oh yeah reading a challenging book for pre schoolers
Why didn’t Bush find out more information about the “horrible accident” before jumping to the conclusion that it really was an accident because obviously he was wrong?
why do you think he didn’t leave Florida right away? prior knowledge of the attacks, that’s why. and the better question is, why didn’t he go immediately back to Washington D.C instead of Louisiana?
Bush is stoopid!! Florida! FLORIDA!? Yeah get ur publicity by reading to kids Bush and not help ur own country you racist.
Okay Jessica, you sound like an idiot. I’m not commenting Pro or Anti-Bush, but if you’re going to call someone stupid at least spell it right. It would also help you sound more intelligent if you spelled out words instead of typing like you text.
I have read a lot about Bush here, but what would you have done? What did you expect him to do? Based on the information at hand and the timeline, why would the initial attack seem any more than an accident? Then, given the second attack, why would you expect the leader of our country to leap back into the middle of it? It’s easy to criticize looking back, but try to place yourself in the leader of the greatest country in the world’s position!
well no one knew this was going to happen it was a attack planned on america although i didnt really agree with bush being our president at the time there really wasnt much he could to as to prevent an attack that he had no idea about.. this was a sad day for everyone and will never be forgotten about.
To tell u the truth, i believe bush should have at least known what happened. Remember that it took 3 years for those Arabic people to do all this disaster. He should have known. And not all Arabs are terrorrist. I am and American citizen but I am from lebanon which is near all of those and I speak arabic
hey, tell me something, what would you guys do!? cry in the corner!? Bush did all he could, would you guys run out of the room and make it look like something went wrong and freak everyone out!?……..thing about that.
I KNEW BUSH WOULD BE A LAME PRESIDENT! AND THE EXPRESSION THAT HE HAD! I MEAN C’MON! WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH HIS MIND WHEN HE FINDS OUT OF THIS HORRIBLE TRADGEDY.
Seriously, cause everything is Bush’s fault?!?! Right. It’s called MEDIA people. The Media is going to manipulate things to make it seem as if it were one way rather than another. Really, what could he have done that wasn’t already being done? And why is it that no one ever says anything about when Clinton was president and our country was attacked by terrorists? Clinton did, literally, NOTHING. Yet, no one ever said anything about that but when Bush stepped into office they were all over him. Granted, maybe he could have set aside the book reading and looked into the situation a little deeper but at least he eventually did something. Besides, what would he have found if he’d dug deeper? There really wasn’t much to find; no one knew at that point anymore than what we all saw. Get over pointing the finger at someone and live in remembrance of that day.
BUSH was eating breakfast with his family GOSH
BUSH Was the best PRESIDENT ALIVE. stop hating on him!! goodness.
yup i think BUSH is a lame president too!!!!!
Yes, and the two presidents’ that have followed after Bush have been wonderful haven’t they? First we get the wonderful Bill Cinton and now we have the Fantastic Obama. I’d take Bush over these two clowns any day!
Look, I just happen to be in the military when Bush was in office. That wasn’t one, BUT, two wars under his belt. The guy has the toughest job in the world. I wanna say at first he was in shock when receiving the news. Reaction:Poor, BUT, overall both wars were a victory. It’s just taking a little longer than anticipated and it’s a tricky enemy.
i feel for the victims. i feel for the families. i dont feel for the hijackers. they were non human when they did this terrible thing. i hope there is no more hijackings in our world.
How does anyone know what instructions were given to Bush by the Secret Service, such as, “stay put until the area is secured”. He may have been following their protocols for his security rather than “doing nothing”. Bush haters will always be Bush haters.
i dont believe that day was sooo sad i was born in new york and raised in grandparie texas but i will never forget that day….
President Bush haters will always find some avenue to spew their hatred and negativity. Did some of you expect him to jump up in front of all the kids and run out of there in a screaming panic? That would not have been appropriate, although this is something the liberals would do. Even JFK took time to cool off, did nothing, during the Cuban missile crisis.
Listen put aside all the little things that most of you are complaining about and focus on what really maters. What about all of the unanswered questions the the public has asked the government and still has no answers what about the remains of flight 93 what about the tail section in the pentagon what about individuals receiving phone calls being warned not to fly on September 9th what about the Heath reports that were written and then twisted so that firefighters and other innocent people would thing that the air was ok to inhale but now are being diagnosed with lung cancer from all the asbestos they were not warned about put aside the FACT the bush failed us and realize the government did.
Whether there was prior knowledge or not, what happened, happened. What’s done is done. Pointing fingers and blaming others isn’t going to change what happened on that horrible day. So instead of being divided by personal opinions and trying to place the blame on any one person, we need to come together and STAND UNITED in rememberance of those whose lives were lost that day, and the families and friends whose lives will never be the same. The greatest victory in the face of evil is to unite and stand stronger together than we are apart. The name of our country says it all: The UNITED STATES of America. On this day we should be uniting with rememberance, uniting with pride, uniting with freedom, and uniting with strength in the face of evil.
Ok, ppl its been over and done with for 9 years now. how about we all grow up and realize that its done we can never change it but hope that we got a president that will learn from everyone elses mistakes and it doesnt happen again! seriously stop complaining and remember and be grateful that it didnt happen to your family.
Okay, really people? Are all of you politically stupid? Bush couldn’t do anything because when he was in that school, the media was in the back of the room, and he didn’t know anything at the time other than both towers had been hit. He didn’t want to say or do anything before he knew more about what was going on. After the class, he made a statement, was going to go back to D.C., but didn’t because all of his advisers knew that the White House would probably be a huge target. So I mean, come on! It’s easy to be judgmental in hindsight, but try to put yourself politically in his shoes. I don’t agree with many things that Bush did, but in this case, there was nothing else he could have done.
Oh my god, just reading all your comments I swear my IQ went down, Bush was at a school, terrorists… terrorists, bush was great – bush was this, bla bla bla. I’m from Australia and over here we can’t stand Americans, you guys actually believe people in a cave financed the most elaborate disaster like 9/11, come on people wake up. Bush was friends with the Bin larded family for goodness sake and the family lived next to CIA headquarters in America. You people are really stupid. Do everyone a favor, and stop paying taxes and see what happens… your government is holding you ransom people, there’s no law to make you pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP
ok i understand some of these comments but what was bush supposed to do?? so you wanted him to go back to the white house were could have possibly been killed?!?! i understand that you want him to have done something about it but what could he do? they couldnt just start shooting people out of the sky!!! and it IS easy to look back now that you know what happens and could prevent it,
IF YOU COULD SEE THE FUTURE!!! so put yourself in his position and tell me what you would do! and he was at a school readign and teaching kids for christ sakes!! he wasnt tryin to get publicity! and he didnt know ahead of time that it was gonna happen no one did!!!
It was air traffic controllers who decided to close the air space, new yorkers who close the bridges and tunnels. Bush did nothing. That is not presidential. He didn’t know how to react.
I remember this.It was so sad.I was watching the news and I heard this tragic accident.It still gets to me when I think about it.Many people lost there lives and loved ones.
Yes it was a terrible incident, and my heart goes out to all those innocent people who lost their lives… BUT PEOPLE IT WAS NO ACCIDENT and those who think Bush had nothing to do with it are truly ignorant, stupid and have their heads in the clouds… Australia is disgusted with you and now there’s talk of Americans wanting to go to war with China, WHAT oil wasn’t enough?
“what a horrible accident!” well what else do you say when you know something’s going to happen and need to pretend like you’re oblivious??
Well what else is there to say about Americans? WHEN THE STUPIDITY LEVEL RAINS IT POORS, thank you commenter’s once again you prove my point loud and clear!!!! And it’s kind of sad, your country isn’t getting attacked by terrorists, your government are the terrorists, this is why your country so proliferated with entertainments, mass media, television shows, amusement parks, drugs, alcohol, and every kind of entertainment to keep the human mind entertained, so that you don’t get in the way of important people, by doing too much thinking. The last thing our country wants is a conscious informed public capable of critical thinking. This is why a continually fraudulent zeitgeist is output via religion, mass media and the educational system. They seek to keep you in a distracted naive bubble and there doing a damn good job of it.
who could do this
You are all a** wholes Bush did the best he could!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh really, now the weakness of society – which are the lower class Americans have something to say. Pitiful and not surprising. So tell me, why does your government/country go to war?… to make money, tell me how is the war going in the Middle East?… its maintained and why is this? Because this makes your country more money (American debt for the federal banks). Personally if what the Australian media have released is correct, I hope you do go to war with china because at least your country will understand that the world perceives America as mass media toilet, full of banking rapists which take advantage of the weak and intend to make a lot of money sponging of hard working individuals. God bless the day your country is DESTRYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if your thinking I’m stupid because I said “god bless” and you know I’m speaking truths, I am fully aware that the idea of Jesus/god was a conformist social strangle hold to keep people in line with government law and that it is a completely fictional story. The world HATES you and if you think it’s because we are jealous of your country’s mythical wealth, think clear… the only thing that makes your country even remotely wealthy is the entertainment businesses which are deliberately staged to keep your minds (what left) entertained from what’s going on in your government. WAKE UP
No one is going to war with China. Where was that rumor started?
this was sad im sorry to all inicent peaple on that plane
Of course it was sad, no doubt about that, I cried watching the event unfold. But it angers me that the American government did such a horrible thing to the American people, all for the sake of making more money, and those poor people still suffering from lung and cancer problems because of the dust clouds, and your stupid healthcare system doing nothing to help. And yet you people sit day after day accepting the fate of what your government dishes out with a blind eye.
ONE important thing is being forgotten here. This all started under Carter and then later Clinton’s regime. The Al-quada first started making it’s move on the US in about 1978 or 1979 and Carter’s administration CIA was tracking info and Carter Admin refused to do anything about it. 1993 First world trade center boming – Clinton’s regime. USS Cole – Al-Quaeda boming – Clinton’s regime. The US embassy building Al-Quaeda bombing overseas – Clinton Admin. The planning and reporting to the CIA and FBI about bombs being used as missles to hit US landmarks in the future – even Vice President Gore (current head of FAA) tried to make a plea to change airline policy etc., but fell on deff ears under Clinton Admin. There is documented evidence about the 9/11 plots during the Clinton Admin. Stronger warnings taking place over the next year about the 911 attacks – info given to CIA and FBI and they tried to get Clinton Admin to do something – nothing. So the issue is not Bush people, it’s Clinton. Bush only had 8 months to deal with any of this info (after he took Office). Clinton had 8 years !!!! And I am a Democrat pointing all t his out – but whats right is right. It doesn’t matter what political party I’m affiliated with – if someone does somethings wrong – they are wrong – I don’t try to cover for them…Do your homework and get the facts!!! And as to Bush being in Iraq – there was documented evidence of links of Bin Laden to Iraqui Government and Saddam Hussein – that our US Congress voted on to invade Iraq even Nancy Pellosi voted YES, so they all need to stop lying. Don’t forget (or did news forget to report it?). One of the top “Bin Laden” guys WAS caught and I don’t remember if killed – IN Iraq – Hussein WAS helping hide some of those people out. These are news facts – not guesses or assumptions !
ok honestly u dumb “truthers” how dare u think somehting so horrible was palnned before , i know president bush wasn’t great but he didn’t plan this i don’t know why u think that u sound so discraceful to america and so ignorant open ur eyes it was al qaeda u idiots u r honesty one of the worst group of people ever
people really need to look at the conspiracy theories and then make their judgments. Look at both sides of the story people! I mean come on. Think about it. Look at Saddam Hussain and Adolf hitler. They conspired against their own countries for power. They put fear into the hearts of the people of their nations. That is what the US government did. They instilled the fear of terrorists into the hearts of Americans. We are so goddamn afraid of Islam and terrorists. This fear again instilled by the government through the media. After 9/11 everything that followed, we wanted to blame Islamic terrorists. WTF? Was the shooting in Oklahoma done by terrorists? Or how about that shooter in the Puritan shool in PA? What about Jeffery Dahmer? What about the Green River Killer who killed 71 women in Mississippi?
“This all started under Carter and then later Clinton’s regime.”
How interesting that you skip the Reagan/Bush years. It was Reagan’s administration that supported the Mujahadeen, of which Osama bin Laden was a member, in running the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. Reagan’s bunch had a penchant for recruiting terrorists to fight communism; Oliver North’s Iran/Contra fiasco shows that. And you don’t exactly discourage terrorists by trading arms for hostages.
There were indeed warnings of Al Qaida activity through the Clinton years, and his administration took them seriously. That’s how the Clinton Justice Department was able to catch the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center bombing. Because of their vigilance, Al Qaida was probably kept from doing a lot worse….until after Clinton left office.
Now let’s look at Bush II– Afer 9-11, Bush and Condoleeza Rice both said that no one in the US government had ever imagined terrorists flying airplanes into buildings. But NORAD was wanting to practice a response to that exact scenario two years before 9-11. Foreign intelligence sources warned the Bush administration repeatedly that Al Qaida was about to strike in the US. That was also the theme of the August 6, 2001 President’s Daily Briefing. If Bush did the best he could, we needed someone who could have done better.
What was Bush supposed to do? Really? Your going to ask that question? That is literally the most idiotic question I have ever heard. It’s not difficult to figure out that plane + World Trade Center don’t work. So the moment he heard of this crash he should had gotten up, left and done something about it. The military believe or not actually had a plan on how to deal with this type of situation. WOW its mind blowing that all those lives could have been saved if only he did something, ANYTHING in fact would have helped, but no he didn’t lift a single finger. To go along with this pattern of Bush doing nothing, he actually knew about the attack, DAYS in advance. The CIA got intelligence from countries all over the world about it. Its just so extremely sad that he let all those people die. He is the real reason our country is screwed up. I wish he was never president, because of him, the world hates us more because of his culturally intolerant attitude, and ignorant behavior that is now reflected on us. It’s unforgivable.
http://www.ae911truth.org
structural engineer interview (one of 1500+ engineers and architecture)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ae911truth?feature=mhum#p/u/37/Z9b5Xax-vgU
an expert demolition in Europe interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3DRhwRN06I
chemist from Underwriter Laboratory contracted by NIST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IACdhpfZjk&feature=related
a University of Copenhagen professor (one of two teams) positively identify presence of nanothermite in WTC dust samples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RNyaoYR3y0
People stop hating Bush for nothing he had idea was going to happened. Nobody knew what was doing to happen. He didn’t know that 4 planes were going to be hijacked or that 2 planes were going to hit the twin towers. Come on people grow up. Why spent the rest of your life hating somebody that didn’t know this was going to happened. He did the best he could to protect us. Nobody knew what going to next. Hell they could have bomed every state building or blew up the every single town in America, but they didn’t. What happened, has happned. There is nothing you can do to bring back the 2,996 lifes that were losted that day. But there is one thing you do which is find some peace so you can have a life. Of course we’re never going to forget what happened, but at least you have some peace. No Australia we are not stupid, America was hit at the core, but we pick ourselves and did what we had to even tho we were in pain.
You mean, aside from the warning he received?
sigh…
you are all morons. Everyone thought it was an accident until the second plane hit. He did the right thing to keep his cool in front of little children. but did you see his face when that man walked in the room and told him the second plane hit. he couldnt go back to dc because what if another plane where to hit the white house? that was flight 93′s intentions. but yeah, blame bush because hes a republican. i hate the media. everyone was in a state of confusion. no one could locate the planes because they were flying to low for radar and their transponders were off. you really think any humane and sane person would know of these attacks and not do anything? 2,973 people died and you all think bush let it happen. smh you should be ashamed.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Who cares what everyone, including the president was doing when America was being attacked by people that hate us because we are a land of the free and home of the brave. The president was at a childrens school planning literacy to our children. He handled it extremely well as to not alarm these kids. You who sit on pedestals make me sick. As it is 11 years ago today you should be taking time out of your day to remember those who died for our country on that day instead of pointing fingers and making snide remarks about what the president did in the first 20 minutes of finding out we were being attacked.
Why is everyone hating on Bush, Secreat service only tells him what they know and NO BODY know what was/had happened. They didn’t want to jump to conclusions. If you were him would you have thought that it was a terrorits attack on the home front. Most likly NOT.
What the hell was he doing, oh right he was to busy being the worst pres ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!