(WWJ) In less than two hours, on this day 20 years ago, our world forever changes.
On an unusually beautiful September day, American Airlines Flight 11 takes off at Logan Airport in Boston at 7:59 a.m. bound for Los Angeles. This will be the last 46 minutes of life for all 92 people on board.
Hidden in the crowd of people traveling for vacation, business and visiting family is five hijackers, later determined to be associated with the terrorist organization, al-Qaeda.
Less than 15 minutes into the flight, the Federal Aviation Administration Boston Center tells American Flight 11 to turn 20 degrees to the right. This is the last communication from the plane.
The hijackers have already taken over, stabbing least four people on board and using Mace to usurp control.
The FAA tries several times to communicate with the pilot.
At 8:20 a.m., the hijackers turn off the plane’s transponder. It disappears from the radar.
Flight recordings, dated 8:25 a.m. 9/11/01 obtained by NPR, document the hijacker's voice as he talks to passengers.
"Nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet."
By 8:30 a.m., Flight 11 starts turning 100 degrees to the south, bound for New York City while 29,000 ft. in the air.
Within this half-hour period, three more commercial planes that will meet the same fate have already taken off.
At 7:58 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 departs from Boston for Los Angeles. 65 people are on board.
At 8:01 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 departs from Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco carrying 40 people.
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At 8:09 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 pushes back from the gate at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. for Los Angeles. 64 people are on board.
All three planes carry four or five hijackers.
Hijackers crash American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m.
Brian Sweeney, a former Navy pilot and instructor aboard United Flight 175, makes a final phone call to his wife, Jules: "Jules, this is Brian. 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."
Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.
President George W. Bush is reading “The Pet Goat” to children at an elementary school in Florida while his staffers, in the holding room, watch the plane strike the South Tower.
A White House staffer whispers in the president’s ear: “America is under attack.”
United 93 is hijacked at 9:28 a.m.
At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
The 40 passengers and crew members on United 93 come together to take down their own plane, in a scrimmage with hijackers, thwarting an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At 9:42, the FAA orders a ground stop for all U.S. flights to land at the nearest airport.
All planes clear from the sky--vanishing from the tracking map within hours.
But Flight United 93 cannot be contacted.
Three minutes later, at 9:45 a.m., everyone inside the U.S. Capitol and White House evacuates.
United 93 flight attendant CeeCee Lyles’ final words to her husband, at 9:58 a.m. according to a report by the National Park Service. “‘…Babe, they are forcing their way into the cockpit. They forced their way into the cockpit. Babe, I called to tell you I love you, tell the kids that I love them. Oh Lord, it feels like the plane is going down."*
Back in New York, at 9:59 a.m., the South Tower falls.
At 10:03 a.m., United 93 crashes into a field in southern (near Shanksville) Pennsylvania.
At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower falls.
2,977 people lose their lives that Tuesday morning, including eight children. The youngest, two-year-old Christine Hanson, is flying with her family aboard United Flight 175 to go to Disneyland. Her favorite toy, a stuffed Peter Rabbit, now lives at the 9/11 Museum in New York City.
Hundreds to thousands more die from 9/11-related illnesses and injuries in the years to come.
They are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, first responders, sons, daughters, friends, adults, children, all of us.
40% of them remain unidentified.
Countless heroes emerge. In a 2017 article; Business Insider tells the story of a 24-year-old equities broker who saves more than a dozen lives and then rushes back inside the falling South Tower. His body is found in the stairwell with the “jaws of life” tool in hand. He is known as the "man in the red bandana," “guardian angel” to many. The same article chronicles the story of a Vietnam veteran who sings“God Bless America” on a bullhorn to keep people calm while evacuating them from the towers. These are just a few of the extraordinary stories of heroism on 9/11.
“It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning,” former President Bush said in an address on the three-month anniversary. “But not only of loss and mourning. It's also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend -- even a friend whose name it never knew.”
In other words, on a day where the worst of humanity was on display, so was the best.
May we never forget September 11, 2001.
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This report was put together with the help of Newsweek's 9/11-live tweets @Roadto9/11.
*The conversation was recreated based on an interview Lorne Lyles did with the FBI on 9/12/01.