American Airlines flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight hijacked by five al-Qaeda members on September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing 92 people in it and an unknown number in the building's impact zone. The aircraft involved, Boeing 767-223ER, registration N334AA, flies an American Airlines daily morning transitional flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California.
Fifteen minutes in flight, the hijackers injured at least three people (possibly killed one), forcibly broke the cockpit, and defeated the first captain and officer. Atta, a member of al-Qaeda and a licensed commercial pilot, took over the reins. The air traffic controller saw that the flight was in trouble when the crew no longer responded. They realized that the plane had been hijacked when Mohamed Atta's notice for passengers was transmitted to air traffic control. Aboard the ship, flight attendants Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong contacted American Airlines, and provided information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew.
The plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46:40 local time. Many people on the streets of New York City witnessed the strike, but some videotapes captured the moment. Documentary filmmaker Jules Naudet captured the only known recording of the initial impact from beginning to end. Before the hijacking was confirmed, the news agency began reporting the incident and speculated that the accident was an accident. The subsequent impact and fires caused the North Tower to collapse 102 minutes after the accident, resulting in hundreds of additional casualties. During the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site, the workers rediscovered and identified dozens of victims from Flight 11 victims, but many body parts could not be identified.
Video American Airlines Flight 11
Flights
American Airlines Flight 11 plane is Boeing 767-200ER delivered in 1987, registration number N334AA. The aircraft capacity is 158 passengers, but the September 11 flight carries 81 passengers and 11 crew members. It is a light load at 58.2 percent capacity, but is higher than the average load factor for Flight 11 on Tuesday morning 39% in the months before September 11. The 11 crew members were Captain John Ogonowski, First Officer Thomas McGuinness, and flight attendant Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, and Amy Sweeney.
All 92 people in it were killed, including David Angell (creator and executive producer of Frasier television sitcom), his wife Lynn Angell, and actress Berry Berenson, widow of Anthony Perkins. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has been scheduled to be on the flight but arrives at the airport late. Actor Mark Wahlberg is also scheduled to be on the flight but canceled his ticket at the last minute. Actress Leighanne Littrell, wife of Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell, had also previously been booked on the flight, but like Wahlberg, changing his plans at the last minute.
Dormitory
Mohamed Atta, the attack leader, and a hijacker, Abdulaziz al-Omari, arrived at Portland International Jetport at 5:41 pm Eastern Summer Time on September 11, 2001. They boarded Colgan Air Flight 5930, scheduled to depart at 6am from Portland , Maine, and fly to Boston. Both hijackers have first class tickets with advanced flights to Los Angeles; Atta checks two bags, Omari is not there. When they checked in, the Computer Presisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) selected Atta for extra baggage checks, but he went up without incident. Flights from Portland depart on time and arrive in Boston at 6:45. Three other hijackers, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, and Satam al-Suqami, arrived at Logan Airport at 6:45 am, after leaving their rental car at an airport parking facility. At 6:52 am, Marwan al-Shehhi, the hijacker of United Airlines Flight 175, made a call from a pay phone at Logan Airport to Atta's cell phone.
Since they were not given boarding passes for Flight 11 in Portland, Atta and Omari checked and passed security in Boston. In a hasty check-in after a flight from Portland, airline officers did not load an Atta bag on Flight 11. Suqami, Wail al-Shehri, and Waleed al-Shehri also checked in for a flight in Boston. Wailing al-Shehri and Suqami each examined a bag; Waleed al-Shehri did not check any bags. CAPPS selects all three for detailed luggage checks. Because CAPPS screening is only for baggage, the three hijackers are not subject to additional checks at passenger security checkpoints.
At 07:40, all five hijackers were on the plane, scheduled to depart at 07:45. Mohamed Atta sits in an 8D business class seat with Abdulaziz al-Omari in 8G and Suqami in 10B. Waleed al-Shehri and Wail al-Shehri sat in first class seats 2B and 2A. At 07:46, one minute behind schedule, the plane received permission to drive back from Gate B32, and cleared it into a taxi to the runway at 7:50 am. The aircraft began to take off from Logan International Airport at 7:59 pm from the 4R runway.
Hijacking
The 9/11 Commission estimates that piracy started at 08:14 am, when the pilot stopped responding to requests from the Boston Road Traffic Control Center (Boston ARTCC). It is believed that Waleed al-Shehri made the first move. At 08:13:29, when the plane was passing through central Massachusetts at an altitude of 26,000 feet (7,900m), the pilots responded to a request from Boston ARTCC to make a 20-degree turn to the right. At 08:13:47, Boston ARTCC told the pilot to climb to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m) but received no response. It is believed that Captain Ogonowski was stabbed to death for pilot hijacker Mohamed Atta to control the plane and crash it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Before dying, Ogonowski inserted a cockpit microphone; "pressed the button intermittently to signal that something was wrong and at one point allowed them to hear the hijacker's voice." At 08:16, the aircraft flew at an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,800 m) and soon deviated from the scheduled track. Boston ARTCC made several attempts to talk to FlightÃ, 11 without reply, and at 08:21, the flight stopped transmitting its C-mode transponder signal.
According to flight attendants Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong, who contacted American Airlines during the hijacking, the hijackers stabbed stewardesses Karen Martin and Barbara Arestegui and slashed Daniel Lewin's passenger throat. Lewin, an American-Israeli Internet businessman who understands Arabic, has served as an officer in the elite Sayeret Matkal special operations unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. Lewin sits at 9B, and Suqami is right behind him in 10B. Commission 9/11 suggests that Suqami may have stabbed and killed Lewin after he tried to stop piracy. Lewin is believed to be the first death toll in the 9/11 attacks. During a four-minute call to the American Airlines operations center, Ong provides information on lack of communication with the cockpit, lack of access to the cockpit, and injury to passengers. He provides the seating location of the hijackers, who then help the investigators to determine their identity.
At 08:24:38, Atta tries to announce to the passenger, but presses the wrong button and sends a message to Boston ARTCC. The air traffic controller heard Atta announce, "We have a few airplanes, stay quiet and you'll be back, we'll be back at the airport." At 08:24:56, it announces "Nothing moves, everything will be fine, if you try to make any movement, you will endanger yourself and the plane. As before, Atta thinks he only talks to passengers, but his voice is taken and recorded by air traffic controllers. After transmission by Atta and the inability to contact the aircraft, the air traffic controllers at Boston ARTCC realized the flight had been hijacked. At 08:26, the plane turned south. At 8:32 am, the Federal Aviation Administration Command Center (FAA) in Herndon, Virginia, notified the FAA headquarters.
At 8:33:59 AM, Atta announced, "No one moves, please. We'll go back to the airport. Do not try to do stupid moves." At 08:37:08, the pilot of United Airlines Flight 175 verified the location of Flight 11 and headed for flight controls. Boston ARTCC passed the standard protocol and immediately contacted the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York. NEADS summoned two F-15 fighter jets at Otis Air Force Base in Mashpee, Massachusetts, to intercept. Officials in Otis spend a few minutes getting authorization for the fighters to take off. Atta finished the last round to Manhattan at 8:43. The order to send the fighters at Otis was given at 8:46 am, and the F-15 aircraft was launched at 8:53 am, about seven minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Of the four planes hijacked on 9/11, a nine-minute notice about Flight 11 hijacking is the most time that NORAD has to respond before the plane crashes into its target.
Crash
At 08:46:30, Mohamed Atta intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the north facade of the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center. The plane, running at a speed of about 404 knots (465 mph, 748 km/h) and carrying about 10,000 gallons of US (38,000 L) of jet fuel, struck between floors 93 and 99 in the North Tower.
Witnesses watched the plane fly low above Manhattan and thought the plane was in trouble. Lieutenant William Walsh of FDNY (who appeared in the documentary 9/11 ) watched the plane:
We were under the impression - he looked like he was coming down, but we did not hear any mechanical difficulties. We do not know why an American Airlines plane will be so low in downtown Manhattan. We kind of wished he'd turn and go to Hudson. But he just climbed a bit, his height, flat, and he headed straight for the Trade Center. So before he arrived at the Trade Center, he seemed to have gained strength. We just watch this plane on target for the World Trade Center. Suddenly, booming! He disappeared into the Trade Center.
The damage caused to the North Tower destroys any means of escape in the impact zone or above. All the staircases and elevators from floor 92 upwards made it impassable, trapping 1,344 people. According to the Commission Report, hundreds died instantly because of the impact; the rest trapped and died of fire and smoke, collapse, or (in some cases) after jumping or falling from the building. The elevator shaft supplies jet fuel burning through the building. At least one elevator tunnel carrying burning fuel down, exploding on the 77th floor, 22nd floor, and at street level on West Side Lobby.
Jules Naudet, French cameraman, and Pavel Hlava, a Czech immigrant, recorded the accident. A webcam founded by Wolfgang Staehle at an art exhibition in Brooklyn to take a picture of Lower Manhattan every four seconds also captures Flighta images, 11 crashing into the North Tower. WNYW newscamera abandoned on the ground also captures audio from collisions and videos shortly thereafter.
News organizations initially reported an explosion or incident at the World Trade Center. CNN broke into an advertisement at 08.49 with the headline "World Trade Center Disaster". Carol Lin, who became the first newscaster to deliver the news of the attack, said:
Yes. It's just in: You see, obviously, a very annoying direct shot there. It's the World Trade Center, and we have not confirmed the report this morning that an aircraft crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. The CNN Center is just beginning to work on this story, clearly mentioning our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but it is certainly something relatively destructive happened this morning at the southern tip of Manhattan island. That again, picture one of the World Trade Center towers.
Later, in a phone call from his office at the CNN office of New York, CNN's vice president of finance Sean Murtagh reported that a large commercial passenger jet had crashed into the World Trade Center. Finally, other television networks interrupt the regular broadcast with the news of the accident. President George W. Bush arrived at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Early news reports speculated that the accident had been an accident until United Airlines Flight 175 was flown to the South Tower 17 minutes after Flight 11 made an impact.
Maps American Airlines Flight 11
Aftermath
After the accident, the North Tower burned for 102 minutes before collapsing at 10:28 A.M. Although the impact itself causes extensive structural damage, long-lasting fires ignited by jet fuel are blamed for structural failure of the tower. In addition to passenger plane and building passengers, hundreds of rescue workers also died when the tower collapsed. Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101-105 floor of World Trade Center One, lost 658 employees, far more than any other company.
Rescue workers at the World Trade Center site began to find body parts from Flight 11 victims within days of the attack. Several workers found the bodies bound to the plane seat and found the body of a flight attendant with their hands tied, suggesting the hijackers may have used plastic cuffs. Within a year, medical examiners have identified the remains of 33 victims who were on board Flight 11. They identified two other Aviation victims 11, including purser Karen Martin, in 2006, while other unrelated bodily fragments were found near Ground Zero around which same. time. In April 2007, testers using newer DNA technology identified another 11 Flight casualties. The remains of two hijackers, potentially from Flight 11, were also identified and removed from the Memorial Park in Manhattan. The remains of other hijackers have not been identified and are buried with other unidentified remains in this park.
Suqami passports survived the crash and landed on the street below. Soaked in jet fuel, it was picked up by a pedestrian who gave it to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective shortly before the South Tower collapsed. Investigators take Mohamed Atta's suitcase, which has not been loaded onto the plane. Inside they found a passport and an Omni SIM, a videocassette for a Boeing 757 flight simulator, a folding knife, and a pepper spray. In the recording, several months later in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attack. The attack on the World Trade Center even surpassed bin Laden's hopes: he only predicted the floor above the plane broke down. Flight recorders for Flight 11 and Flight 175 are never found.
After the attack, the flight number for the flight on the same route with the same take-off time was converted to American Airlines Flight 25. The flight is now using Boeing 737-800 rather than Boeing 767. The American flag is flown in the B32 jet gate bridge from where FlightÃ,11 departs from Logan Airport. In September 2016, the closest American Airlines flight is Flight 166, which is scheduled to depart at 09:15 am. Flights often push back very close or next to Gate B32.
On April 26, 2013, a part of the wing mechanism of the Boeing 767 was found sandwiched between two buildings at Park Place, near where other lander spares were found.
At the National September 11 Memorial, the names of the 87 victims of Flight 11 were written in North Pool, in N-1 and N-2 Panels, and Panel N-74 - N-76.
The nationality of the people on the plane
Note: This list does not include the citizenship of five hijackers.
See also
- American Airlines Flight 77
- United Airlines Flight 175
- United Airlines Flight 93
- List of tenants at One World Trade Center
References
External links
- Commission 9/11 Final Report
- 9-11 NTSB Report
- American Airlines Flight Aviation 11 at the Wayback Machine (archived January 12, 2010)
- The American Airlines website explains that all aircraft are taken into account at the Wayback Machine (archived September 11, 2001), September 11, 2001
- American Airlines site with condolences for the deceased at Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2001), 12 September 2001
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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