Detailed Timeline of the 9/11 Attacks
9/11 Timeline
Early Morning
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5:45 a.m.: Nineteen hijackers begin passing through security at various airports.
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7:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston’s Logan International Airport, heading to Los Angeles with 92 people on board, including 11 crew members, 76 passengers, and five hijackers.
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8:15 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston’s Logan International Airport, also heading to Los Angeles, with 64 people on board, including nine crew members, 51 passengers, and five hijackers.
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8:19 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 crew members Betty Ann Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney report the hijacking to ground personnel.
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8:20 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles, carrying 65 people, including six crew members, 53 passengers, and five hijackers. -
8:24 a.m.: One of the hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11 accidentally calls ground control, alerting them to the attacks.
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8:40 a.m.: The FAA notifies the Northeast American Aerospace Defense Command’s Northeast Air Defense Sector about the suspected hijacking of American Flight 11.
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8:42 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport for San Francisco, with 44 people on board, including seven crew members, 33 passengers, and four hijackers.
Attacks Begin
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8:46 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, severing all three emergency stairwells and trapping hundreds of people above the 91st floor.
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8:50 a.m.: President George W. Bush is notified of the plane crash while visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida.
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8:59 a.m.: Port Authority Police Department Sergeant Al DeVona orders the evacuation of the Twin Towers. One minute later, the order is extended to the entire World Trade Center complex.
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9:03 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into floors 77-85 of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
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9:05 a.m.: President Bush is alerted to the second crash into the South Tower.
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9:08 a.m.: The FAA bans all takeoffs for flights nationwide that were either going to or passing through its New York Center airspace.
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9:12 a.m.: All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan are closed. -
9:24 a.m.: The FAA notifies NORAD of the suspected hijacking of American Airlines Flight 77. -
9:26 a.m.: The FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft. -
9:31 a.m.: From Florida, President Bush calls the crashes an "apparent terrorist attack on our country" and begins traveling back to Washington.
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9:37 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the western face of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. -
9:42 a.m.: The FAA grounds all flights, ordering all aircraft to land at the nearest airport as soon as practical. -
9:45 a.m.: The U.S. Capitol and White House are evacuated. -
9:59 a.m.: The South Tower collapses in 10 seconds after burning for 56 minutes. -
10:03 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew storm the cockpit. -
10:15 a.m.: Part of the Pentagon collapses. -
10:28 a.m.: The North Tower collapses after burning for 102 minutes. -
11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders the evacuation of Lower Manhattan. -
12:16 p.m.: The last flight still in the air above the continental United States lands. -
12:30 p.m.: A group of 14 survivors emerge from a North Tower stairwell. -
3:00 p.m.: A survivor, Pasquale Buzzelli, is rescued from the rubble of the North Tower. -
5:20 p.m.: 7 World Trade Center collapses after burning for hours. -
8:30 p.m.: President Bush addresses the nation from the White House, assuring Americans that a search is underway for those responsible for the attacks. -
10:30 p.m.: Rescuers locate and extract two PAPD officers injured but alive in the debris of the World Trade Center.
