American Airlines Flight 11 - "8:46 AM: THE MOMENT THE WORLD STOPPED"

  

American Airlines Flight 11 - 

"8:46 AM: THE MOMENT THE WORLD STOPPED"

 

The story of American Airlines Flight 11 is not just a chronicle of an aviation disaster; it is the opening chapter of a day that fundamentally altered the course of modern history.

The Flight and the Hijacking

On the morning of September 11, 2001, a Boeing 767-200ER departed from Boston’s Logan International Airport at 7:59 AM, bound for Los Angeles. Onboard were 81 passengers and 11 crew members. Among the passengers were five al-Qaeda terrorists, led by Mohamed Atta.

The hijacking began approximately 15 minutes into the flight. The attackers used chemical spray and knives to subdue the crew and passengers, fatally stabbing passenger Daniel Lewin—who is believed to have been the first victim of the 9/11 attacks—and injuring two flight attendants. After breaching the cockpit and incapacitating the pilots, Atta took control of the aircraft.

Communication from the Sky

While the hijackers attempted to maintain silence, two heroic flight attendants, Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney, managed to place emergency calls to American Airlines ground crews. They provided critical intelligence, including:

·        The seat numbers of the hijackers.

·        The fact that a passenger had been killed.

·        The realization that the pilots were likely dead or incapacitated.

Simultaneously, Mohamed Atta accidentally transmitted a message to Air Traffic Control instead of the passengers, stating, "We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay." This was the first confirmation that multiple aircraft had been seized.

 

The Impact: 8:46 AM

At 8:46:40 AM, Flight 11 struck the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center, tearing through floors 93 to 99. The plane was traveling at roughly 465 mph and carrying approximately 10,000 gallons of jet fuel.

The impact was catastrophic:

·        Immediate Loss: Everyone on the plane was killed instantly.

·        The Trap: Because the aircraft severed all three emergency stairwells, everyone above the 92nd floor—over 1,300 people—became trapped.

·        The Fire: Jet fuel poured down elevator shafts, causing explosions as far down as the lobby and igniting massive fires that weakened the building's structural steel.

 

The Aftermath and Collapse

Initially, the world watched in confusion, with many media outlets speculating that a small private plane had suffered a tragic accident. That illusion was shattered 17 minutes later when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

The North Tower stood for 102 minutes after the impact. At 10:28 AM, the structural integrity of the building failed due to the combination of the plane's impact damage and the intense heat of the fires. The tower collapsed in approximately 12 seconds, killing hundreds of first responders and workers who were still inside or in the immediate vicinity.

Legacy and Identification

The site of the crash became known as "Ground Zero." For months, recovery teams worked through the debris. The toll of Flight 11 remains staggering:

·        It is the deadliest plane crash in history.

·        It resulted in the largest loss of life in a single act of terrorism.

·        To this day, the identification process continues. Forensic technology is still being used to identify the remains of victims recovered from the site, providing closure to the families decades after the event.

 

The heroism of Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney provided the world with the first real-time intelligence of the 9/11 attacks. Their calm professionalism under unimaginable pressure allowed American Airlines and the FBI to identify the hijackers before the first tower had even collapsed.

Here is the chronological breakdown of those critical final minutes.

Timeline of the Final Calls

 

Time (EDT)	Event
8:14 AM	The Hijacking Begins: Flight 11 fails to respond to instructions from the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center to climb to 35,000 feet.
8:19 AM	Betty Ong’s Call: Flight attendant Betty Ong reaches an American Airlines operations center using an AT&T Airfone. She famously reports, "The cockpit is not answering; somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace—we can’t breathe."
8:21 AM	Intelligence Gathering: Ong provides the seat numbers of the hijackers (2A, 2B, 9G, 9K, and 10B) and confirms the pilots are not responding.
8:24 AM	Atta's Mistake: Mohamed Atta attempts to address the passengers but presses the wrong button, broadcasting his voice to Air Traffic Control: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport."
8:25 AM	Amy Sweeney’s Call: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney reaches the American Airlines flight services office in Boston. She reports that the flight has been hijacked and two flight attendants have been stabbed.
8:32 AM	NORAD Notified: Air Traffic Control notifies the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). F-15 fighter jets are soon ordered to scramble from Otis Air National Guard Base.
8:44 AM	The Final Report: Sweeney tells the ground crew: "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." When asked to look out the window, she says: "I see water. I see buildings. We are flying low. We are flying very, very low."
8:46 AM	Loss of Signal: Sweeney’s final words are: "Oh my God, we are way too low." The call cuts off as the aircraft impacts the North Tower.

 

The Intelligence Impact

The information relayed by Ong and Sweeney was vital for several reasons:

·        Identification: By providing seat numbers, investigators were able to check the flight manifest and identify the five hijackers within hours.

·        Tactical Awareness: Their reports confirmed that the hijackers were using "box cutters" and chemical sprays, changing how the FAA and other flights handled security for the rest of the day.

·        Heroism: Both women remained on the line for nearly the entire duration of the hijacking, providing a steady stream of information while knowing their own lives were in imminent danger.

 

While all four flights were part of a coordinated mission, their flight paths, durations, and targets varied significantly. Flight 11 was the "pioneer" of the attacks, setting the pattern that the others followed with varying degrees of success.

 

Comparison of the Four Flight Paths

The hijackers chose transcontinental flights specifically because they were fueled for long-distance travel, essentially turning the planes into flying incendiary bombs.

Flight	Departure	Planned Destination	Impact Time	Target
AA Flight 11	Boston (BOS)	Los Angeles (LAX)	8:46 AM	North Tower (WTC 1)
UA Flight 175	Boston (BOS)	Los Angeles (LAX)	9:03 AM	South Tower (WTC 2)
AA Flight 77	Dulles (IAD)	Los Angeles (LAX)	9:37 AM	The Pentagon
UA Flight 93	Newark (EWR)	San Francisco (SFO)	10:03 AM	Shanksville, PA (Failed)

  

Strategic Differences in the Routes

1. The "Boston" Flights (AA 11 & UA 175)

Both planes departed from Logan International Airport within 15 minutes of each other. They flew west toward central New York before making sharp turns south toward Manhattan. Flight 11 took a more direct path down the Hudson River, which acted as a visual landmark for Mohamed Atta to navigate toward the Twin Towers.

2. The "Dulles" Flight (AA 77)

Flight 77 flew much further west, reaching the border of Ohio and Kentucky before the hijackers took control. They executed a 180-degree turn back toward Washington, D.C. This flight path was particularly elusive because the hijackers turned off the transponder, making it difficult for civilian radar to track its exact location as it barreled toward the Pentagon.

3. The "Newark" Flight (UA 93)

This flight was delayed on the tarmac for 42 minutes, which inadvertently gave the passengers time to learn about the other attacks via the airphones. Unlike the other three, which hit their targets, the struggle for control on Flight 93 led to a crash in a field in Pennsylvania, likely saving the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

 

Key Tactical Similarities

·        The Turning Point: In every case, the hijackers waited until the plane reached its initial cruising altitude and the "fasten seatbelt" sign was turned off before striking.

·        Transponders: All four flights had their transponders turned off or changed to "Mode A" to hide their altitude and identification from Air Traffic Control.

·        The "V" Maneuver: Most of the planes performed a wide U-turn or V-turn to head back toward the East Coast targets after initially flying west.

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