The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

by Garrett M. Graff

Fate cursed as well as saved on 9/11. Jeremy Glick’s flight on September 10 from the Newark airport was delayed, so he switched onto United Airlines Flight 93 the following day; the flight attendant Betty Ong ended up working American Airlines Flight 11 because she wanted to go meet her sister to plan a vacation to Hawaii. Melissa Harrington Hughes, an international-trade consultant, was in New York, at the North Tower, for a one-day business trip; had the attacks come on any other day, at any other moment, she would have lived. Mike Warchola, a lieutenant with the fire department who ultimately made it all the way up to the 40th floor of the North Tower, was working some of his literal final hours in the FDNY on 9/11, having turned in his retirement papers after 24 years of service.