| 6:45
- 7:45 a.m. |
 |
The 19
hijackers pass through airport security checkpoints to board
their flights at Boston Logan, Newark, and Washington Dulles
airports.
At Logan
International Airport in Boston, three of the five hijackers
from American Airlines Flight 11 are selected by CAPPS
(Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System) which
identifies passengers subject to special security measures.
Their luggage is held off the plane briefly but they are
permitted to board.
United Flight
175 also boards at Logan Airport, but no hijackers are
stopped or searched.
At Washington
Dulles Airport, three of the hijackers are also flagged by
CAPPS before boarding American Airlines Flight 77 but are
not stopped.
Before
boarding United Flight 93 at Newark Liberty International
Airport, only Ahmad al Haznawi is selected by CAPPS. His bag
is screened for explosives but he is not stopped.
|
| 6:52
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
Before
checking into Flight 11, hijacker Mohammed Atta takes a call
from Marwan al Shehhi, who is at Terminal C of Logan airport
on his way to check into Flight 175. It is the last
conversation these two will ever have.
|
| 7:59
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 11 departs Logan International Airport en
route to Los Angeles International Airport. The plane is
carrying 81 passengers, two pilots and nine flight
attendants.
|
| 8:14
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 175 departs 14 minutes late from Logan
International Airport en route to Los Angeles International
Airport. The plane is carrying 56 passengers, two pilots and
seven flight attendants.
American
Airlines Flight 11 is hijacked and diverted to New York
City.
|
| 8:19
a.m. |
 |
A flight
attendant on Flight 11 alerts American Airlines of a
hijacking in progress.
|
| 8:20
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 77 departs 10 minutes late from Washington
Dulles International Airport en route to Los Angeles
International Airport. The plane is carrying 58 passengers,
two pilots and four flight attendants.
|
| 8:21
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 11's transponder signal is turned off but
the plane remains on radar screens.
|
| 8:25
a.m. |
 |
In accordance
with federal aviation protocol, Boston Center traffic
control managers started notifying their chain of command
that American 11 had been hijacked.
|
| 8:37
a.m. |
 |
The Northeast
American Defense Sector (NEADS) of the North American
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is notified of the
hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11 by the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration's (FAA) Boston Center Control. The
controller requests military help to intercept the aircraft.
|
| 8:42
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 93 departs 42 minutes late due to runway
congestion from Newark International Airport en route to San
Francisco International Airport. The plane is carrying 37
passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants.
United 175
flight crew complete their report on a "suspicious
transmission" overheard from another plane (which
turned out to have been Flight 11) just after takeoff. This
was United 175's last communication with the ground.
|
| 8:45
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 175 is taken over by five hijackers who use
knives, Mace and the threat of a bomb. Both pilots are
killed and the plane is diverted southward to New York City.
|
| 8:46
a.m. |
 |
F-15 fighter
jets are dispatched from Otis Air Force Base in Mass., but
because Flight 11's transponder is off, Air Force pilots do
not know which direction to travel to meet the plane. NEADS
personnel spend the next several minutes watching their
radar scopes waiting for Flight 11 to reappear.
|
| 8:46:40
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 11 crashes at a speed of roughly 470 mph
into the north side of the North Tower of the World Trade
Center, between floors 93 and 99. The impact of the crash
incinerates everything in its way, including wallboards,
filing cabinets and computers.
|
| 8:47
a.m. |
 |
FAA air
traffic control receives its first indication that something
was abnormal on Flight 175: its beacon codes change twice
within one minute.
|
| 8:48
a.m. |
 |
CNN breaks
into a commercial and is the first news agency to report the
explosion at the World Trade Center. Anchor Carol Lin
reports, "Yeah. This just in. You're looking at
obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the
World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this
morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of
the World Trade Center. CNN Center is just beginning to work
on this story, obviously, calling our sources and trying to
figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something
relatively devastating happening this morning there on the
south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a
picture of one of the towers of the World Trade
Center."
|
| 8:49
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
An
announcement over the public-address system in the South
Tower states that the incident has occurred in the other
building and advises tenants, generally, that their building
is safe, that they should remain on or return to their
offices or floors. Some don't hear the announcement, others
ignore it and evacuate anyway, while others congregate in
common areas like the 78th floor sky lobby.
|
| 8:53
a.m. |
 |
Unaware that
their intended target has already crashed into the World
Trade Center, the F-15s from Otis Air Force Base are sent to
military-controlled airspace off Long Island and ordered to
remain in a holding pattern until between 9:09 and 9:13 a.m.
|
| 8:54
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 77 is hijacked by five terrorists using
knives and box cutters to enter the cockpit. The plane is
diverted toward Washington, D.C.
|
| 9:00
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
As part of a
scheduled visit to promote his education policy, President
George W. Bush enters a classroom at Emma E. Booker
Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla. Bush is aware that a
commercial airline has struck the North Tower of the World
Trade Center, but continues his scheduled visit.
|
| 9:03
a.m. |
 |
NORAD NEADS
is notified by the FAA's New York Center of the hijacking of
Flight 175.
|
| 9:03:11
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 175 crashes at a speed of about 590 mph into
the south side of the South Tower of the World Trade Center,
crashing through the 77th and 85th floors. By this time,
several media organizations are covering the first plane
crash and millions see the impact live.
|
| 9:04
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
The FAA's
Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center stops all departures
from airports in its jurisdiction in the New England Region.
All New York-area airports are also shut down.
|
| 9:05
a.m. |
 |
As President
Bush begins to read with the students at Booker Elementary,
Chief of Staff Andrew Card interrupts to whisper to him,
"A second plane hit the second tower, America is under
attack." President Bush continues the lesson for
another five to seven minutes, rather than alarm the
students.
|
| 9:08
a.m. |
 |
The FAA bans
all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New
York City. New York City airspace is closed.
|
| 9:13
a.m. |
 |
The Otis Air
Force-based F-15 fighters leave military airspace near Long
Island, bound for Manhattan.
|
| 9:15
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
President
Bush leaves the classroom at Booker Elementary School and is
brought to a secure room where he is briefed by staff and
watches television coverage of the tragedy unfolding in New
York City.
|
| 9:23
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 93 receives a warning from flight dispatch,
"Beware any cockpit intrusion - two aircraft hit World
Trade Center."
|
| 9:25
a.m. |
 |
The Otis Air
Force-based F-15s close the airspace over Manhattan.
|
| 9:26
a.m. |
 |
The FAA
grounds all domestic flights.
The United
Airlines Flight 93 pilot asks for confirmation of the 9:24
a.m. message, "Beware any cockpit intrusion - two
aircraft hit World Trade Center."
|
| 9:28
a.m. |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked.
|
| 9:30
a.m. (approx.) |
 |
President
Bush makes his first public statements about the tragedy to
teachers and students at the elementary school. He tells
them "we've had a national tragedy" and that he
will be returning to Washington, D.C. immediately. He then
leads a moment of silence.
|
| 9:32
a.m. |
 |
A man on
United Airlines Flight 93 transmits a message to what he
believes to be only the passengers, but is overheard by air
traffic control: "Ladies and gentlemen, here the
captain, please sit down, keep remaining sitting. We have a
bomb on board. So sit."
|
| 9:37
a.m. |
 |
American
Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the southwestern side of the
Pentagon in Arlington, Va. All on board are killed, as are
125 Pentagon personnel.
|
| 9:39
a.m. |
 |
Air traffic
controllers overhear the final transmission from the United
Airlines Flight 93 hijackers: "Uh, this is the captain.
Would like you to all remain seated. There is a bomb on
board, and are going back to airport, and to have our
demands…please remain quiet."
|
| 9:45
a.m. |
 |
The White
House and the Capitol are evacuated.
|
| 9:59
a.m. |
 |
After burning
for approximately 56 minutes from the impact of Flight 175,
the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses,
covering lower Manhattan in a gray-white cloud of dust and
debris.
|
| 10:03 |
 |
United
Airlines Flight 93 crashes into a coal-mining area southeast
of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pa.
|
| 10:10
a.m. |
 |
A large
section of the west side of the Pentagon collapses.
|
| 10:28
a.m. |
 |
As if being
split down the center, the North Tower of the World Trade
Center collapses from the top down. This second collapse is
also viewed live on television and heard on radio.
|
| 11:45
a.m. |
 |
President
Bush makes a brief statement from Barksdale Air Force Base
in Shreveport, La., saying that "freedom itself was
attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will
be defended." He adds, "The United States will
hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly
acts."
|
| Sometime
that afternoon |
 |
The Taliban
government of Afghanistan denounces the attacks.
|
| 12:15
p.m. |
 |
Airspace over
the continental United States is closed except for military
and emergency flights.
|
| 1:27
p.m. |
 |
Washington,
D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams declares a state of
emergency and the National Guard is deployed onto the
streets of Washington.
|
| 1:48
p.m. |
 |
President
Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base aboard Air Force One
and flies to an Air Force base in Nebraska.
|
| 2:30
p.m. |
 |
The FAA
announces there will be no U.S. commercial air traffic until
noon EDT on Wednesday, September 12, 2001, at the earliest.
|
| 4:00
p.m. |
 |
National news
outlets report that senior officials in the U.S. federal
intelligence community believe Osama bin Laden to be the
number one suspect behind the attacks.
|
| 4:25
p.m. |
 |
The American
Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange
announce they will remain closed Wednesday, September 12.
|
| 5:20
p.m. |
 |
After being
damaged by the collapse of the North and South Towers, the
evacuated 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center
complex collapses. Other nearby buildings continue to burn.
|
| 6:54
p.m. |
 |
President
Bush arrives back at the White House.
|
| 8:30
p.m. |
 |
President
Bush addresses the nation, saying, "thousands of lives
were suddenly ended by evil" and asks for prayers for
the families and friends of the victims. "These acts
shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American
resolve," he says. The president says the U.S.
government will make no distinction between the terrorists
who committed the acts and those who harbor them. He adds
that government offices in Washington have reopened for
essential personnel Tuesday night and for all workers
Wednesday.
|
| Most
of the elements of this time line were drawn from the
"The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States, Authorized Edition" by the National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks. |