9/11 Timeline: Final Calls from Flights 11 and 175 Reveal Human Stories Behind the Attacks
American Airlines Flight 11 Strikes the North Tower
American Airlines Flight 11 departed Boston for Los Angeles carrying 76 passengers, 11 crew members, five hijackers, and approximately 10,000 gallons of jet fuel. At 8:46 a.m., the aircraft slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center between floors 93 and 99, erupting in a massive fireball. The fiery wreckage severed access to all three emergency stairwells from the 92nd floor upward, trapping hundreds of people on the upper floors.
Within minutes, New York City’s 911 system was overwhelmed with calls. Around 8:50 a.m., one of the first recorded 911 calls from inside the North Tower came from 35-year-old Christopher Hanley, who was attending a conference at Windows on the World on the 106th floor.
“We have smoke and it’s pretty bad,” Hanley told the operator, keeping his composure. “We can’t get down the stairs. We have about 100 people up here.”
Neither Hanley nor the 911 operator knew a plane had crashed into the tower; they only knew there had been an explosion. Even some who witnessed the impact assumed it was an accident.
“America today is a fundamentally different country than it was at 8:45 on Tuesday, September 11,” says Graff. “We weren’t a country that had experienced terror attacks like this. No one really understood in those first 17 minutes that this wasn’t an accident.”
The 911 operator connected Hanley to a fire department dispatcher, who told him to stay where he was and “sit tight.” Hanley’s final words on the call were, “All right, please hurry.”
Jim Gartenberg’s Live Broadcast from the 86th Floor
Jim Gartenberg, a real estate executive who had come to the World Trade Center that morning to clear out his desk after accepting a new job, found himself trapped on the 86th floor of the North Tower. After failing to reach his wife, Jill, Gartenberg spoke to a reporter at The New York Times and then went live on a television news broadcast. The anchors initially spoke of him as if he had already evacuated.
“It’s World Trade Center 1, and it’s not was—I am here and I’m stuck right now,” Gartenberg clarified, remaining remarkably calm. “If I’m on the air, I want to tell anyone who has a family member that may be in the building that the situation is under control for the moment and the danger has not increased. So please, all family members take it easy.”
Gartenberg never escaped the North Tower, but he was able to speak with Jill one last time, telling her how much he loved her and their 2-year-old daughter, Nicole. Jill was three months pregnant with their second child.
United Airlines Flight 175: A Father Hears His Son’s Final Moments
At 8:15 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 took off from Boston, also bound for Los Angeles. Among its 51 passengers were Peter and Sue Hanson and their 2½-year-old daughter, Christine, who were traveling to Disneyland. Five hijackers were aboard. As on Flight 11, they attacked the crew and seized the cockpit.
Peter Hanson called his father, C. Lee Hanson, to report the hijacking. Neither knew that a plane had already hit the World Trade Center, but Peter had a grim premonition that the hijackers intended to crash the aircraft.
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Peter said. “If it happens, it will be quick.”
As father and son spoke, Lee was watching television coverage of the North Tower engulfed in smoke. Suddenly Peter began to mutter, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” Lee watched in horror as his son’s plane crashed into the South Tower.
Bryan Sweeney’s Voicemail to His Wife
Julie Sweeney Roth never spoke directly with her husband, Bryan Sweeney, a former Navy pilot aboard Flight 175. When she arrived home, she discovered a voicemail he had left that morning using a seatback phone.
“Jules, this is Bryan,” began Sweeney. “Listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you. I want you to do good, go have good times. Same to my parents and everybody, and I just totally love you, and I’ll see you when you get there.”
