Interactive Timeline – What Happened On 9/11

American Airlines flight AA11 departs Boston Logan Internatonal Airport

The Boeing 767 with 92 passengers and crew onboard was bound for Los Angeles

Flight attendant onboard American Airlines flight 11 alerts authorities to hijacking

Betty Ong, a 45-year-old flight attendant, phoned an AA reservations center shortly after flight 11 was hijacked. She stayed on the phone for 25 minutes, relaying information about the attack.

United Airlines flight UA175 departs Boston Logan Airport

65 people were onboard the United Airlines Boeing 767, also bound for Los Angeles

American Airlines flight AA77 departs Washington Dulles

The Boeing 757 with 64 passengers and crew onboard was also bound for Los Angeles.

One of the hijackers on flight 11 accidentally transmits message to ground control

Hijacker Mohammed Atta meant speak over the public address system to passengers but instead accidentally transmitted a message to ground control

The FAA alerts the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) about the suspected hijacking of flight 11

The Northeast Air Defense Sector scrambles two fighter jets to intercept flight 11 – they don’t make it in time.

United Airlines flight UA93 departs from Newark bound for San Francisco

The Boeing 757 with 44 people onboard was due to depart at 8:00am, around the same time the other hijacked planes tookoff but departure had been delayed

American Airlines flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center

The plane impacts between the 93rd and 99th floors, killing all of those onboard and hundreds of people inside the building.

The South Tower is declared secure

Authorities try to calm people in the South Tower and tell workers to remain where they are.

Evacuation advisory broadcast for South Tower

Workers in the South Towers are advised to start an orderly evacuation just minutes after the Port Authority Police Department signed an evacuation order

United Airlines flight 175 hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center

The aircraft hits the building between the 75th and 85th floors

President Bush is informed that a second plane has hit the World Trade Center

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispers into the ear of President Bush during a visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota

Passengers and crew on flight 77 raise the alarm over hijacking

Flight attendant Renee May manages to call her mother and tells her that hijackers have taken control of the flight and forced passengers and crew members to the back of the plane.

The FAA alerts NEADS of the hijacking of flight 77

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is evacuated to the Emergency Operations Center below the White House

American Airlines flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon

The crash killed all 53 passengers and six crew members onboard, along with 125 people inside the Pentagon

The FAA orders all flights over the continental United States to land

It is the first time in history that all flights over the U.S. have been grounded. It took two and a half hours for 3,300 commercial flights and a further 1,200 private flights to land at airports across the United States.

The White House and U.S. Capitol Building are evacuated

Other sites across Washington D.C. are also evacuated as fears grow that other planes have been hijacked

Passengers onboard flight 93 make phone calls to their loved ones

37 calls were made in the moments before flight 93 crashed.

The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses

Although the second building to be hit, the South Tower collapsed first. It had been on fire for 56 minutes before collpasing in just 10 seconds. More than 800 people were killed.

Passengers onboard Flight 93 fight back against hijackers

After learning about the attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the passengers and crew onboard storm the flight deck in an attempt to over power the hijackers and reclaim control of the plane.

Flight 93 crashes

All 40 passengers and crew are killed after the plane crashes into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It’s believed the hijackers wanted to fly the plane into the U.S. Caitol building or the White House.

The North Tower of the World Trade Center Collpases

More than 1,600 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack on the North Tower. The building collpased 102 minutes after being hit by Flight 11

Evacuation of Lower Manhattan is ordered

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tells people to flee Lower Manhattan with some being taken to safety aboard boats.

U.S. air space is closed

The last commercial / private flight above the continental United States lands safely

World Trade Center building 7 collapses

Thankfully, the 47-storey building had been evacuated in the morning and there were no reported casualties. The collapse did, however, delay rescue efforts at Ground Zero

President Bush arrives back at the White House

Having been flown around the country on Air Force One, President Bush arrives back in Washington D.C.

President Bush addresses the nation