9/11: Minute by Minute | Full Film

[Music] [Music] terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings but they cannot touch the foundation of America these acts shatter steel but they cannot Dent the steel of American [Music] resolve American 11 climate CH level 350 American 11 Boston Earth s mik Lima how do you hear your clear American 11 Boston this Boston I turn American 2 left and I was going to clim him he will not respond to me now is that American 11 trying to call we have some claims stay quiet and you'll be okay we're returning to the and who's trying to call me here American 11 are you trying to call everything will be okay if you try to make any move you danger yourself and the airplane let's stay quiet yeah they're in the back of the airplane they're not oh the hijackers are in the cockpit oh no is he inbound to JFK we don't know you don't know where he is at all he's being hijacked the pilot having a hard time talking to the I mean we don't know we don't know where he's [Music] going today we've had a national tragedy two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country just get me somebody who has the authority to get military air now placing P 4546 on Battle Stations I repeat battle station there is a report of black smoke in the in the last position I gave you come the up from the ground uh they're speculating it's from the aircraft [Music] Tuesday September 11th 2001 6: a. m. New York City the Big Apple wakes to a beautiful calm sunny day birds sing as Citizens go about their daily lives unaware of the impending chaos [Music] Boston first on scene the alandi brothers arrive at Logan International Airport by taxi and proceed to Terminal C traveling from Portland Maine Muhammad ATA and abdulaziz Al Omari arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston your three more hijackers arrive by rental car and proceed to the terminal at Terminal C a different part of the airport hijacker pilot Maran alayi checks in ATA receives a call from Maran Al shayi from a pay phone within Logan Airport al-shahi confirms the coordinated plans of attack are set in motion upon check-in and security some of the hijackers including the ring leader ATA was singled out by the computer assisted passenger pre-screening system at the time the system only selected candidates for enhanced baggage scrutiny those who had no checked bags remained unimpeded prior to the attacks on 9/11 airport policy allowed utility knives of up to 4 in on board despite setting off alarms and being searched more thoroughly hijackers successfully made it through security armed with box cutters and knives gate c19 with within the next 5 minutes al-shahi and his terrorist cell boards American Airlines flight 175 taking their seats in the first and business class [Music] areas gate b32 ATA boards American Airlines flight 11 headed for Los Angeles 7:40 a.

m. all five men of the jihadis cell are on board flight 11 scheduled to depart in the next 5 minutes behind schedule the plane begins its Journey pushing back from gate b32 flight 11 a Boeing 767 holding 92 Souls on board takes off down the runway meanwhile at gate c19 the fully fueled flight 175 that's scheduled to depart in 1 minute is delayed and doesn't receive clearance to take off for 15 minutes with pass 23 flight 11 americ 11 turn 20° right right americ 11 American 11 climbing table level 3 Boston Air Traffic Control Center instructs the pilots to climb to 35,000 ft but receives no reply American 11 Boston a second attempt to contact the pilots fails several attempts later the response remains silent this is Boston I turn American 20 left and I was going to clim him he will not respond to me now looks like he's turning right yeah I turned him 20 right oh okay and he's only going to uh I think 29 American 11 Boston two hijackers rise from row two each stabbing a flight attendant in the process panic and confusion ensues throughout the aircraft a painful Mist permeates as hijackers begin spraying mace throughout the cabin to this day there is no definitive answer to how the hijackers gained access to the cockpits whether through threat or Force terrorists gained control of the aircraft flight 175 carrying 65 Souls on board lifts off from the Boston Runway nearly 15 minutes behind the scheduled departure time via an airphone one flight attendant Betty Ang notifies an American Airlines reservation center of the suspected hijacking um the cit's not answering somebody's stabbed in business class and um I think there's M that we can't breathe I don't know I think we're getting hijacked we're we just left Boston we're up in the air we're supposed to go to La and the C's not answering their phone okay but what seat are you sitting in what's the number of your seat okay I'm in my jump seat right now okay at three R okay you're the flight attendant I'm sorry did you say you're the flight attendant hello yes hello what is your name you gonna have to speak up I can't hear you sure what is your name okay my name is Betty on I'm number three on flight 11 okay can you describe the person that you said someone is what in business plan um I'm I'm sitting in the back somebody's coming back from business if you can hold on for one second they coming back our our number one is got stabbed uh our cursor is stabbed um nobody knows who St to and we we can't even get up to business class right now because nobody can breathe and we can't get the cupit the door won't open hello yeah I'm taking down all the information we're also um you know of course recording this um at this point this is operations what flight number we talking about flight 12 flight 12 okay I'm we're on flight 11 right now this is flight 11 it's flight 11 I'm sorry n have you guys call anyone else no uh somebody's calling medical and we can't get [Music] up American Airlines emergency line please P your emergency hey this is Ned American Airlines calling I am monitoring a call in which flight 11 the flight attendant is advising our rep that the pilot everyone's been stabbed flight 11 yeah they can't get into the cockit is what I'm hearing okay I'm still on with security okay Betty you're doing a great job just just St calm okay it seems like the passengers in this coach might not be aware of what's going on right now these two passengers were from first class okay on hey Betty do you know any information as far as the Gent men they in the C with the pilots were they from first pass they were sitting in 2 A and B okay they are in the cockpit with the pilot who's helping them is there a doctor on board is there a doctor on board thatty that's you guys you don't have any doctors on board [Music] okay the transponder signal for flight 11 is turned off despite their limited knowledge Boston controllers continue to track the plane's movements on primary radar what's going on on your end t uh we contacted Air Traffic Control they are going to handle this as a confirmed hijacking so they're moving all the traffic out of this aircraft's way okay uh he turned his transponder off so we don't have a definitive altitude for him uh we're just going by they seem to think that they have on a primary radar they seem to think that he is defending okay yeah okay nyia yes dear I'm here okay I have the dispatcher currently taking a current fuel on board uhuh and we're going to run some profiles okay to see exactly what is endurance is okay believe to have been a mistake ATA the pilot and leader of the attack using American Airlines flight 11 broadcasts a message over the airwaves believed to have only been intended for the cabins Air Traffic Control listens in is that American 11 trying to call we have some claims stay quiet and you'll be okay we're returning to the airport who's trying to call me here American 11 are you trying to call nobody move everything be okay if you try to make any mo and the airplane let's stay quiet yeah we got him on primary 838 yeah have you guys heard anything from American no okay we think there might be somebody in the cockpit right now taking it over okay yeah we just just over yeah we're already doing it okay head word of the news within flight 11 spread from control center to control center unaware of the impending gravity of the situation the North American Aerospace Defense command the military body responsible for the protection of called American airspace remains uninformed of the developing crisis go 3 yeah American 11 now we suspect there's someone in the cockpit that's taken over we have just put him in direct Watertown Jamestown last we knew he was on present heading cleared to flight level 290 no one is talking to him Eric has been called we broadcasted on guard we've tried through company okay thanks and 290 is not verified okay thanks you're welcome yeah we've taken the American back because he appears to have turned yep thanks yeah I need you to look West Val and the American 11 and put him on your scope he is uh Nordo has been since he talked to Boston high we assume he's at flight level 290 uh we're not sure we think there's someone in the cockpit with him um we broadcasted over guard we've gone Eric we have gone company uh nobody's talking to him we don't know where he's going we don't know what altitude he's at okay okay thanks flight 11 changes course drastically making a 100° turn southwards tracing the Hudson River towards the Big Apple Cleveland hi Cleveland New York Boston uh I got situation with American 11 American 11 he is a uh 767 departed Boston going to LAX uh we don't know where the aircraft is going he uh in uh supposedly going to LAX was going westbound we lost his frequency then we lost his transponder and now the air is uh just west of Aly head and do South oh my goodness okay I I'll advise the area 8:30 a. m.

neighboring air traffic control centers are alerted to the hijacked plane uhhuh and it appears to have turned uh South South Westbound and uh also there was some mention of some sort of a a threat being made or uh he made a threat to the cockpit or some threat let me get manag in the cockpit then and Boston's uncertain exactly what was said I guess they're going to try to pull the tapes as quick as they can okay we just lost um connection lost the connection something going with the airplane yeah in other words she said something wrong they're not in the cockpit okay they're in the back of the plane they're in the back of the airplane yeah they're in the back of the airplane they're not oh the hijackers are in the cockpit oh no okay they're in the cockpit hey Craig C they're saying the H they're in the cockpit meanwhile on flight 175 the pilots oblivious to their own danger reach cruising altitude of 31,000 ft the final message transmits from the cockpit of flight 11 nobody mov please going back to the airport don't try to make any stupid move word of the hijacking is sent to Otis Air National Guard base and was subsequently advised to notify the Northeast sector of NORAD two F-15 fighter pilots begin suiting up waiting for orders pilots in Flight 175 confirmed they can see the hijacked aircraft 10 mil to its South okay United 175 you have much at 12:00 now 5 10 miles affirmative we have him uh he looks about 20 yeah about 29 28,000 okay thank you 30 seconds later at 29,000 ft flight 11 takes a severe nose dive at a Descent of 32,000 ft per minute where's he Landing uh right now we don't have any idea but uh he was to the northwest of Alburn and now he's uh down by Sparta we believe he's on a descent that's why he's uh he's he's down a Boston controller contacts the Northeast air defense sector and requests military Intervention address weapon po hi Boston Cate tmu we have a a problem here we have a hijack aircraft headed towards new New York and we need you guys to we need someone to scramble some f16s or something up there help us out is this is this real world or exercise no this is not an exercise man ATT test okay hey uh hold on one second okay what what was that not real world world open is there any notary assistance requested uh yes we're actually trying to get the F15 is he inbound to JFK we we don't know you don't know where he is at all he's being hijacked the Pilot's having a hard time talking to the I mean we don't know we don't know where he's going so I'm just giving you heads up we're not talking to him no one's talk to him about the last 20 minutes now what's his call sign I I'll call you when he gets close to your boundary okay okay 22 minutes on from Betty's initial call for help fighter pilots proceed to Battle Stations placing panta 4546 on Battle Stations I repeat battle station New York control center calls for more information on flight 11 from other aircraft flight 175 responds raising the events of the initial suspicious radio Transmissions sent out by flight 11 you 175 go ahead we figured we wait to go to your Center uh we heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston uh with someone uh sound like someone's te the mic and said uh everyone stay in your seat oh okay I'll pass that along over here hey Kingston on 93 line go ahead the United 175 just came on my frequency and he said that they heard a suspicious uh transmission when they were leaving Boston oh yeah everybody stay in their seat that's what they heard as a suspicious transmission the correspondence marks the last moment contact was ever made with the cockpit of flight 175 yeah 175 recycle your transponder and score code to 1470 un 175 New York United 175 D readed New York other 1489 do you read New York 1489 go ahead okay just want to make sure you read New York United United 175 D New York moments later unbeknownst to the air traffic controllers who had just had contact chaos ensued hijackers forc passengers and crew to the rear of the aircraft while two enter the cockpit and murder the pilots 10 hello do you um see that United 175 anywhere and do me a favor you see that Target there the 3321 Cod at 335 climbing don't know who he is but you got the us a 583 if you needed to send them down you can nobody we we have a hijack we have some problems over here right now oh you do yes and that may be real traffic nobody knows I can't get a hold of the United 175 at all right now and I don't know where he went to all right okay I'll see if I have one all right okay United 175 New York [Music] he [Music] anybody copy okay say that again please I said we we looks like we lost the primary target about 20 west of say again if you lost track of the aircraft over has lost track our so we have confirmed that it was a hijack the tapes yeah New York confirms we've lost the track as well and we were uh got a report of an El in the area that track was in Kenedy Tower reports do you serious kenned Tower reports that there was a fire at the World Trade Center and that's uh that's the area where we lost the airplane quad 18 it's the first Balian trans that look like it was intentional more unit going the boxor [Music] all World Trade Center 1060 send every available amulance everything you got to the World Trade Center now mil reports from up here a PL just creation to the World Trade Center for your information we have a number of floors on fire it looked like the plane was aiming towards the building roll every available ambulance you got to this position flight 11 makes contact with the North Face of the North Tower at upwards of 460 mph the plane tears a hole into the side of the World Trade Center Tower between floors 93 and 99 no souls on board survive the aircraft reaches the core of the building severing the three staircases in the process blocking every route to safety for those at and above the impact point the impassible stairwells seal off the exit for 1,344 people 990,000 L of jet fuel ignites enough to take the jetliner to Los Angeles The Inferno coupled with all the combustible material from the offices begins to spread the damaged elevator shafts send the burning jet fuel through the building as far down as the lobby 4 seconds after impact the Two fighter jets intended to intercept the already crashed jetliner Reed the order to scramble unaware they are too late within the next hour and 40 minutes between 100 and 200 people are driven to jump from the billowing Towers hi sir okay what what we're doing we're trying to locate this guy we can't find him via if what we're going to do we're going to hit up every track within a 25 mile radius of the Z point that we put on the scope 29,000 heading 1 190 we're just going to do we're going to try to find this guy they can't find him there's not and there's been supposedly there threats in the cockpit it so we're just uh we're doing the thing right we'll work with them make sure weapons work for them all flight 175s transponder which had been turned off completely on flight 11 changes code twice in a minute the erratic change is the first piece of evidence that something has gone wrong on flight 175 it remains unnoticed news station cut into advertisements to deliver the shocking developments images of the crash begin to beam around the world crash Jim just a few moments ago something uh believed to be a plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center I just saw Flames inside you can see the smoke uh coming out of the uh of the tower we have no idea what it was it was a tremendous boom just a few moments ago you can hear around me emergency vehicles the controller realizes flight 175 has deviated off its assigned course changing altitude pushing the jetliner on a collision course with other aircraft attempts by the controller at New York's FAA Center to contact the pilot are unsuccessful 175 new yorking the 2433 um can you climb the flight level 330 the truck looks like he's descended back down to 31 now we can go up okay climate maintain flight level 330 Delta 2433 33 2433 unaware that flight 11 has crashed but still looking for the aircraft two Airborne military f-15s close in on New York so if we can find it we'll intercept it did you just you said something hit the World Trade Center or something reports no keep on going with it talking with ID and we had a phone call that came down to us saying that they had a possible hijack out of Boston okay and uh I just flipped around and we were just we always wanted the news and a 737 hit the World Trade Center and I was just curious at the same time that was the aircraft could be sent him to New York City still continue go this is what I got possible news at 7:37 just hit the World Trade Center this is real [Music] world there are indications that it may have been a boying 767 out of Boston and we're contacting American Airlines no comment from United Airlines office learns of the hijacking of flight 175 phone calls to loved ones and a call from a flight attendant exposes the gravity of the situation both Pilots are dead one flight attendant is stabbed and the plane is under the hijacker control uh there are tons of people in the streets there's there are papers things fluttering out I can't see any evidence of what it was that could have crashed um all I can see is that this massive gaping hole with tons of black going out falling out of the building oh and we we have a satellite picture right now that is that is it oblivious to the impending danger a PA announcement throughout the South Tower tells workers to return to their desks [Music] Florida get ready yes P get ready to read these words the fast we get President Bush arrives at an elementary school in a visit to promote his educational agenda and prepares to read to the class the pet goat remember what you say when there's an e at the end of the word get ready yes Kane get ready yes can get ready yes may give yourselves a pat on the back yeah okay get ready to read the words on this page without making a mistake everybody tell me what this part of the word says Rob yes Rob now tell me what the whole word says get ready robber yes robber everybody tell me what this part of the word says run yes run now tell me what the flight 175 Soares over New Jersey at 288,000 FT for the next 5 minutes the plane is put into a near nose dive descending more than 24,000 ft flight 175 makes its final maneuver lining up towards Lower Manhattan Aviation authorities in Virginia and New York descend in to disarray as the gravity of the situation falls into view check with the arms do you know if anyone down there has done any coordination to scramble fight ATT airplanes is still big airplanes in area no we have several situations go going on here it's escalating big big time and we need to get the military involved with this W what's going on just get me somebody who has the authority to get military in air now all right I'll go tell Hey Joe you see 3321 code just Southwest of New York by about 15 18 20 mil 15,000 descending looking hold on Southwest ner by about 1520 don't see anything they were tracking him made a hard left turn he's descended pretty rapidly and especially what just happened in there I got somebody who keeps cursing but it looks like he's going into one of the small air points down there a second no this guy's a big boy this guy's a big boy cuz he's leaving some big contrails I'm trying to bring him up here get you there he is right there hold on I'm just out of 9500 9,000 now do you know who he is we're just we just we don't know who he is we're just picking him up now all right heads up man it looks like another one com orders to evacuate both Towers is initiated can you look out your window right now can you can you see a guy about 4,000 ft about 5 East aort right now looks like he's yeah I see him you see Guy Look is he descending for the building also he's descending really quick too yeah well that's 2500 ft now he just dropped 800 ft in like like once once week that's that's another situation what kind of play is that can you guys tell I don't know I'll read it out in a minute less than a minute later flight 175 transforms into a ball of flame as it makes contact with the South face of the South Tower another one just hit the building wow the whole building just came apart holy smokes all right I guess you guys going to be busy traveling at roughly 590 mph the plane crashes between floors 77 and 85 no souls on board survived the impact an unknown number believed to be in the hundreds decease inside the building debris from the jetliner including one of the engines fell as far as six blocks away coming ho boom what the going on wow oh wow do you see this this aircraft I've got it all yo what the f yo that's terrorist bro that is this is terrorist that's terrorist this is Terror sh you saw that FL went through oh my God bro scared to be up here somebody hijacked the plane and firefighters you should all report to your companies again if you are a New York City firefighter drop what you're doing report to your company a major disaster is occurring in New York City this morning I think an airplane just plowed into the city I they did the the the World Trade Center hit the top no another one we just saw another one do it another one yeah holy cow that's two one just hit for your big yeah one just a moment ago no viewers tuning in for updates on the North Tower watch in horror as live pictures of the second crash are broadcast around the globe what had once seemed plausible as a freak accident suddenly became an active aggression major news networks begin to speculate if America was in the midst of a terror attack as you look at the picture from our Chopper in now arriving at the scene uh Jim Friel in Hoboken uh said it appeared to bank sharply and smash directly perhaps purposefully into oh my goodness oh God there's another one oh oh my goodness there's another one this seems to be on purpose oh my goodness now you now it's obvious Tommy are you still there yes I am Jerry I mean I'm going to reconfirm with uh with downstairs but uh the as far as the tape probie Jones seem to think that the guy said that we have planes now I don't know if it was because it was the accent or if there's more than one but um I'm going to I'm going to reconfirm that for you and I'll get back to you real quick okay appreciate it what PL as in plural seconds after the second plane crashes NORAD is made aware of the hijacking there's another aircraft the second one just hit the Trade Center okay yeah we got to get to we got to alert the military uh uh real quick on this uh Tommy we're going to stop everybody we're going to shut we're going to shut Boston down I'd suggest the same elsewhere [Music] you're going to do what Terry we're shutting the airplanes down we're not letting anyone go right now okay that's a good move uh we're waiting to hear from security Tommy Terry it's confirmed on that t they said we have [Music] planes he get ready must yes must those speak 60 President Bush is interrupted and makes the decision to continue the class Having learned of the attack on America at the count of three everyone should be on page 153 get ready a go on she her try it again get ready from the beginning of that sentence get ready with her in her house go on she with her in her good job go on these are great readers yes they are very impressive thank you all very much for showing me your reading skills I bet they practice too don't you oh yes thank you PR you can step out the door we came in Please Mrare you yor about thank you all you can step out there where we came in the FAA begins to Halt all incoming and outgoing aircraft in the vicinity of New York Center airspace you're going to do what we're shutting the airplanes down we're not letting anyone go right now that's a good move we're put a ground stop on everything uh there's a second plan to just hit the World Trade Center stop all departures out of the center please so that's what we're doing Command Center East Boston listen both of these aircraft departed Boston both were s Sixers both heading to LA and I'm looking out on the TSD and I think that all the partes out of Boston should have heightened cockpit security is there any way you can bring up every Center in the country and relay that message so that they can tell the aircraft that are uh out there flying right now to increase the cockpit security Vigilant on this day I'll get the message job thank you very much New York continues its immediate lockdown closing down all bridges and tunnels into Manhattan [Music] attention at nored focuses on two more possible hijackings in progress American Airlines flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93 American 7 7 Indie American 77 Indie American 77 American Indie American 77 American IND radio check C this is cers still haven't got American 77 last he was a 35 going to f so I don't know where he is out there anywhere yet so I'm still trying to get a hold of him we contact the company all civilian aircraft in the United States are banned from takeoff FAA orders a National Ground stop 9:28 a. m.