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

by Garrett M. Graff

On August 12, 2001, NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson arrived at the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. He would live and work aboard the Space Station for 125 days. On September 11, 2001, he was the only American off the planet.

One of the most startling effects was that within about two orbits, all the contrails normally crisscrossing the United States had disappeared because they had grounded all the airplanes and there was nobody else flying in U.S. airspace except for one airplane that was leaving a contrail from the central U.S. toward Washington. That was Air Force One heading back to D.C. with President Bush.

The FDNY’s director of fire education safety was particularly excited that Tuesday: he was set to launch a new toy, modeled on a New York firefighter, and had chosen the day carefully. The date, after all, seemed perfect for firefighters: 9-1-1.

Lt. Joseph Torrillo, director of Fire Education Safety, FDNY: Fisher-Price had a line of children’s toys called “Rescue Heroes” that kids loved. They had a police officer called Jake Justice, a lifeguard called Wendy Waters, an ambulance attendant called Perry Medic. They wanted a New York City firefighter—they were going to call him Billy Blazes. They would give me one dollar for every Billy Blazes sold around the world, money I would use in my public education program. They wanted to do a big press conference and introduce this new Rescue Hero to the world. I was scratching my head with the executives, and I said, “9-1-1 is the emergency phone number in New York City. Why don’t we have a 9-1-1 Day in New York?” So on 9/11 at nine o’clock in the morning, every TV station in New York City was waiting for me at Rockefeller Center to introduce this new Rescue Hero.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 roared south through the sky over Manhattan, traversing the length of the island, surprising city-goers, before it crashed into the North Tower, known as One World Trade Center, at about 465 miles per hour.

Dr. Charles Hirsch, chief medical examiner, City of New York: I will never forget seeing an airplane engine in the middle of West Street and then an amputated hand next to it.

At 9:03 a.m., traveling at about 590 miles per hour, United Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower—Two World Trade Center—hitting at an angle, its lower left wing slicing into the 77th and 78th floors, which housed the Sky Lobby, used to transfer from express to local elevators, and its upper right wing hitting the 85th floor.

Only a single stairway in the South Tower, Stairwell A, survived the crash. Fewer than 20 people would escape from the impact zone or above.

Joe Esposito, chief of department, NYPD: All the debris is coming down. We looked up and it reminded me of the old cartoon with the Road Runner when the Coyote is watching everything come down on him. The safe—or whatever the Road Runner would throw at him—would come down. It was getting bigger and bigger. The debris is getting bigger and bigger as it’s getting close to us.

Lt. Mickey Kross, Engine 16, FDNY: It reminded me of those movies—those old Godzilla movies—where the monster would come out of the ocean, and everybody would be running and screaming and tripping and falling down.

David Norman, officer, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 1, NYPD: One of the landing wheels from the aircraft fell, burning, right in front of us. It was almost like th...

Bernie Kerik, commissioner, NYPD: Debris and body parts and the plane and the building—it was all coming down right on top of us. I’m yelling at my staff ...

As I made my way up West Street—it’s only a short distance between there and the Trade Center—body parts were everywhere. I remember trying to go around them and I couldn’t. I said a little prayer. I said, “I’m going to run over them,” and I did.

One of the firemen from Rescue 1 looked up and said, “We may not live through today.” We looked at him, and we looked at each other, and we said, “You’re right.” We took the time to shake each other’s hands and wish each other good luck and “Hope I’ll see you later,” which is especially poignant for me because we all had that acknowledgment that this might be our last day on earth and we went to work anyway.

At 9:29 a.m., FDNY issued a full “recall,” bringing all of its employees back to work. Ultimately, 60 of the FDNY personnel killed on 9/11 were supposed to be off-duty that morning.

Bob Edwards: I was also trying not to say things like “Holy shit!” In situations like this, your gut reaction is to use crude words that people say in everyday life, but you can’t say them into that microphone.

Sandra Kay Daniels, second-grade teacher, Emma Booker Elementary: Our principal introduced him to the children, and he shook a couple of the kids’ hands and introduced himself, tried to lighten the room up a little because the kids were in awe. They were like little soldiers, quiet, struck by the sight of the president. He said, “Let’s get started with reading.” The story was My Pet Goat from our reading series.

Andy Card: I knew I was delivering a message that no president would want to hear. I decided to pass on two facts and an editorial comment. I didn’t want to invite a conversation because the president was sitting in front of the classroom. The teacher asked the students to take out their books, so I took that opportunity to approach the president. I whispered in his ear, “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.” I took a couple steps back so he couldn’t ask any questions.

David Sanger, White House correspondent, New York Times : I’ll never forget the look on his face. He was ashen. He must have known his presidency had changed forever, that it would be measured from that moment forward by what he said, how he said it, and how well he could calm the nation.

Rep. Adam Putnam: On the motorcade back, there are all these protesters—it was still all about the recount—signs like, “Shrub stole the election.”

Andy Card: President Bush took office on January 20, 2001—but the responsibility of being president became a reality when I whispered in his ear. I honestly believe as he contemplated what I said, he realized, “I took an oath: Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. It’s not cutting taxes, it’s not No Child Left Behind, it’s not immigration, it’s the oath.” When you pick a president, you want to pick a president who can handle the unexpected. This was the unexpected.

At 8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77, a decade-old Boeing 757, had taken off from Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C., en route to Los Angeles. It carried six crew and 58 passengers, just a third of its capacity. The last routine communication from the plane came at 8:51 a.m., and by 8:54 it had deviated from its intended course, turned south, and then headed back toward Washington.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into Wedge 1, the western side of the Pentagon, at 530 miles per hour, skimming so low over the nearby highways that it knocked down five streetlights. The force of the impact sent the plane through the first three of the Pentagon’s five rings of corridors, penetrating the building the length of more than a full football field. Instantly, 400,000 square feet of the Pentagon erupted in flames.

The plane hit an area of the Pentagon that primarily housed the army’s personnel offices and the Navy Operation Center. Inside the affected offices—transformed instantly into fiery, smoke-filled infernos—personnel struggled to escape.

Similar to the experience at the World Trade Center, the massive scale of the Pentagon and its unique shape meant that while many occupants felt the explosion, most didn’t immediately realize either what happened or the gravity of the situation. For staff in the other parts of the building, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the impact was felt—though few guessed what had caused it.

The day’s chaos then jumped to the skies over Ohio. The fourth—and, as it turned out, final—attack of September 11th unfolded aboard United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 aircraft scheduled to fly from Newark International Airport to San Francisco. The flight had pushed back from the gate at 8:01 a.m.—its final passenger, Mark Bingham, had only barely made the flight, boarding at 7:55. Due to airport congestion, Flight 93 sat on the runway in Newark for 41 minutes and took off at 8:42 a.m., much later than scheduled. It carried 40 people—seven crew and 33 passengers.

James Luongo, inspector, NYPD: There were a bunch of people who came out of the building on Vesey Street. They were a little disoriented about which way to go. I started yelling to them to come to me. They were looking around. Finally, a woman heard my voice. She touched the people next to her, she pointed to where me and Dennis and Sergeant Boodle were—and with that, debris came down and killed all of them. With all the things I saw that day, that, to me, was the worst because those people were so close, but yet they didn’t make it.

More than 1,100 people were trapped above the impact zones across both the North and South Towers. As conditions worsened and smoke and fire permeated the upper floors, they dialed 911, emergency services, and the Port Authority’s World Trade Center command post, hoping to speed rescuers to their aid, not realizing how dire their situation actually was. For 24 minutes, 32-year-old Melissa Doi—trapped on the 83rd floor of the South Tower—spoke to a 911 operator, waiting for a rescue that would never come.

Bruno Dellinger: While I was walking down, they were going up to their deaths. And I was walking down to live. I will never forget this.

Lila Speciner, paralegal, Port Authority, North Tower, 88th floor: That will stay with me forever. They were going where we were running from.

Rick Rescorla, in a phone call to his wife, Susan: I don’t want you to cry. I have to evacuate my people now. If something happens to me, I want you to know that you made my life. Ultimately, eleven Morgan Stanley staff—out of more than 2,700 in the South Tower—died on September 11th. Rescorla and two of his fellow security personnel were among those eleven.

Dan Potter: I didn’t think that these towers were going to collapse. This was the massive, biggest fire I’ve ever seen, but as you’re calculating, you don’t really know the extent of the damage. I was convinced that we’ll get up there and put it out.

Richard Eichen: As we got closer to the door, there were security guards helping guide people out. I think they were some of the bravest people—unsung heroes of 9/11—because they could have run away. This was way beyond their pay grade. But they stayed.

Amid the catastrophe at the World Trade Center, no sight left as powerful an impression on rescuers, officials, and evacuees as the developing tragedy of victims—trapped without escape on the Towers’ upper floors, caught amid rising, unbearable temperatures and deadly smoke—who fell or chose to jump.

Stanley Trojanowski, firefighter, Engine 238, FDNY: I must’ve blessed myself between 40 and 50 times, once for each jumper.

Bill Spade: We’ve seen death at other things, but this time it was something different. There were so many, so many.

Rudy Giuliani, mayor, New York City: All of a sudden I saw a man at a window, must have been the 100th floor, 101st, 102nd floor, North Tower. He threw himself out the window. I froze, stopped, and watched him come all the way down. It was a totally shocking experience, unlike any I’ve ever had before. I leaned over to the police commissioner and said, “This is much worse than we thought. It’s off the charts.” We had practiced a lot of things—anthrax, sarin gas, airplane crashes, building collapses, hostage situations, derailed trains, West Nile virus. I was pretty confident that we were the most prepared place in the United States for any emergency—maybe in the world. This was beyond anything that anybody had imagined.

At 9:42 a.m., five minutes after the Pentagon attack, the FAA issued an unprecedented order: Every plane in the country must land immediately. Beyond the massive disruption in the airspace over the United States, more than a hundred transatlantic flights were diverted to small airports in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere in Canada. Pilots, flight crews, and passengers all tried to understand what had happened in the United States, hungry for information wherever they could find it.

Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold, commander of the 1st Air Force, NORAD, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida: Boston Center had stopped all takeoffs, then the Department of Transportation stopped all flights, and then my boss declared SCATANA, which stands for Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids. It means the military is taking control of all the navigation aids and of the airspace.

Ben Sliney: When the order came out to land at the nearest airport regardless of destination, I expected some pushback. Out of 4,500 aircraft in the air, I only got one request to land at an airport that was not the nearest one. I refused the request.

Dan Creedon: To put 4,500 aircraft on the ground in places where they were not supposed to go—at the same time that the military is trying to get airborne and control the chaos—is an incredible feat of air traffic controllers and air traffic managers coordinating that.

Terry Biggio: They did an incredible job, under warlike conditions, with unbelievable precision.

At the World Trade Center, the first crowds to evacuate the damaged buildings emerged onto the adjacent plazas and streets to find horrors anew. Few realized, though, that the clock was ticking and they had mere minutes to escape the scene.

Bruno Dellinger, principal, Quint Amasis North America, North Tower, 47th floor: What we went through will haunt us until the end of our lives.

Rudy Giuliani: They got the White House on the phone, and it was Chris Hennick, who was the deputy political director for President Bush. I asked Chris how he was. He said, “Okay.” I said, “Do we have air cover?” He said, “It has already been requested and it was sent out. You should see the planes in five or 10 minutes.” I said to him, “Can I talk to the president?” He said, “You can’t; we’re evacuating the White House right now,” which was a very eerie feeling. I said, “Has the Pentagon been attacked?” I had heard that rumor. Chris said—I’ll always remember how he answered it because it was a very military answer—he said, “Affirmative.”

Bernie Kerik, commissioner, NYPD: I’ve known the mayor for about 11 or 12 years, and I’ve never seen him look as worried or concerned about anything as much as he did when he was on the phone with the White House. He put the phone down and he said, “Well, that’s not good at all. They’ve hit the Pentagon and they’re evacuating the White House.” It was a clear signal that this was no longer just about New York City. It was about the United States.

Michele Cartier: When I made it to the last step I remember feeling really good, like, “All right! This is the last step, everybody!” Then I look out into the plaza, and I pretty much see a war zone.

Above the impact zone, victims phoned friends and family members, sharing final thoughts and love. Melissa Harrington Hughes, director of business development for a communications network service who was only in New York for a one-day business trip and became trapped in the North Tower, called her father in Massachusetts.

John Cartier: You’ve got to look at the small gifts that we were given as a family. There’s a lot of families out there who didn’t get a last word or a last phone call. One of the other young ladies who lost her husband said it best. She said, “We were the lucky of the unlucky to have those last words.”

At 9:59 a.m. less than an hour after it was the second building hit, the South Tower, weakened by fires fueled by thousands of gallons of jet fuel, collapsed.