8:46-Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99. The aircraft enters the tower intact. It plows to the building's core, severing all three gypsum-encased stairwells. People below the severed stairwells start to evacuate—no one above the impact zone is able to do so.
9:03-Flight 175 crashes into the south face of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, banked between floors 77 and 85. All 65 people on board the aircraft die instantly on impact, and unknown hundreds in the building as well. By this time, several media organizations are covering the first plane crash causing millions to see the impact live. Parts of the plane, including the starboard engine, leave the building from its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away.
9:37-Flight 77 crashes into the western side of the Pentagon and starts a violent fire. The section of the Pentagon hit consists mainly of newly renovated, unoccupied offices. All 64 people on board are killed, as are 125 Pentagon personnel.9:57-Passenger revolt begins on Flight 93.9:58-The South Tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse, 56 minutes after the impact of Flight 175. Its destruction is viewed and heard by a vast television and radio audience. As the roar of the collapse goes silent, tremendous gray-white clouds of pulverized concrete and gypsum rush through the streets. Most observers think a new explosion or impact has produced smoke and debris that now obscures the South Tower, but once the wind clears the smoke it becomes clear that the building is no longer there.
10:03-United Airlines Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers and passengers due to fighting in the cockpit 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes on cell phones and at least three were planning on resisting the hijackers; the resistance was confirmed by Flight 93's cockpit voice recording, on which the hijackers are heard making their decision to down the plane before the passengers succeed in breaching the cockpit door. The 9/11 Commission believed that Flight 93's target was either the United States Capitol building or the White House in Washington, D.C.
10:28-The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses. Due to the destruction of the gypsum-encased stairwells on the impact floors, no one who was above the impact zone in the North Tower escapes the collapse. The Marriott Hotel, located at the base of the two towers, is also destroyed. The second collapse is also viewed live on television and heard on radio. The North Tower collapses 1 hour, 42 minutes after the impact of Flight 11.
8:30-President Bush addresses the nation from the White House stating, "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. . . 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 resolve. . . The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts...we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
Today we remember the loss of the life of 2,996 people who were killed in or as a result of these attacks. We rejoice in God's presence, even in the darkest of times, and vow to never forget the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Many thanks to all the policemen, fire fighters, and military personnel who sacrifice(d) so much, even their lives, on that day and since to protect our freedom.
