In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the first airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a massive success after four years of development. In the 1920s, flights became commercially available, carrying more passengers further distances than ever before. Gone were the days of walking on foot, pioneers in covered wagons, and later the steam engine as the fastest mode of transcontinental transportation. Aviation introduced a whole new world of possibilities for the economy, for culture, and for the individuals of this nation. On September 11, 2001, four flights took off like the thousands of other flights around the world, departing from Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey. But unlike every other flight that day, these machines, built as a force for good, would be exploited and end up taking the lives of nearly three thousand people, the largest attack on America by a foreign force.
At 7:59 AM, Flight 11 took off from Boston, en route to Los Angeles, with 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board. Betty Ann Ong, a flight attendant, alerted ground personnel exactly 20 minutes after liftoff that a hijacking was underway. Not long after, the Air National Guard was alerted and began to follow the plane. Only 47 minutes after taking off, however, Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, instantly killing every passenger on board the flight.
At 8:15 AM, similarly to Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175 left Boston with Los Angeles in its sights. On board were 51 passengers, 9 crew members, and 5 hijackers. Unlike Flight 11, no such message regarding a hijacking on this flight was received by ground personnel, and at 9:03 AM, the South Tower was struck by Flight 175, instantly killing the passengers and those in the tower.
After being struck by the planes, the towers of the World Trade Center were destabilized, and at 9:59 AM, the South Tower collapsed. Twenty-nine minutes later, at 10:28 AM, the North Tower collapsed as well. Most people underneath the ground level of the towers survived, but few above the base lived. In addition to the people who died before they were able to escape the towers, four hundred seventy-nine rescue workers enabling the evacuation were killed.
At 8:20 AM, American Airlines Flight 77 left Dulles, outside of Washington, D.C., also carrying its 53 passengers, 6 crew members, and 5 hijackers to Los Angeles. At 9:37 AM, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, killing all passengers as well as 125 personnel within the building. Eight minutes later, US airspace was shut down, and all civilian aircraft were instructed to land at the nearest airport.
At 8:42 AM, five minutes after the Air Force began following Flight 11, United Flight 93 took off from Newark, New Jersey, carrying 33 passengers, 7 crew members, and 4 hijackers, headed for San Francisco. 50 minutes later, the plane was hijacked, and all passengers were forced to the back of the flight. There were multiple reports from phone calls received by the families of the passengers and authorities that the hijackers, donned with red bandanas, had injured and possibly killed the pilot and first officer. A flight attendant and passenger were reported dead. Several passengers learned of the crashes at the World Trade Center on the phone and decided to storm the cockpit. They began the revolt at 9:57 AM. While the pilot attempted to destabilize the attack by swaying back and forth, he ultimately failed, and at 10:02 AM, Flight 93 crashed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It is unknown where the hijackers intended to go, but it is likely that he was headed for the U.S. capital. Everyone aboard the flight was killed.
The attack of September 11th was a global tragedy that began a retaliation against Afghanistan and Iraq known as the War on Terror. President George W. Bush said in his Statement Address to the Nation, “The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
Though horrific events occurred on this monumental day in history, it also became an opportunity for the beacon of peace, hope, and love to shine forth to the world as a testament to the ideals of our nation and our commitment to them. “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong,” Bush stated. The Red Cross came to the aid of those affected in many ways. The Red Cross website states in an anniversary article that “nearly $1.1 billion in generous donations were used to fund massive relief and recovery efforts and help more than 59,000 families affected by the terrorist attacks… Hundreds of thousands of individuals lined up to give blood as people came forward to help in any way they could… Americans who were unsure where to find or give help turned to the Red Cross, which set up a call center to help people navigate uncertainty in the days and months after the attacks. Callers asked about how to locate missing loved ones, where to find financial assistance, and how to help those impacted by the tragedy.” Additionally, upon the day of the attack, ferry fleets, including Staten Island Ferry and SeaStreak, as well as tugboats, merchant ships, and various individual water vehicles, came to the rescue of 500,000 people stranded on the island of Manhattan, making it the largest maritime rescue in history.
Today, 100,000 flights take off and land globally. The world continues to run, to drive, to boat, and to fly forward into the future because, despite the potential threats of attacks like these, we have learned to move forward and to learn from the mistakes of the past so as to not allow them to rob us of our spirit and happiness, like they intended. Airports across the world have become more secure in order to ensure that an event like 9/11 will never take place once more. However, as we move forward, it is important that we take this day, once a year, to remember and honor those who lost their lives as a result of this evil and to remember the incredible feats endured to help one another. We can choose to be fearful and resentful, or we can choose to remember the pouring of love and support to those who lost loved ones and survivors and choose to move forward even more motivated to make the world a more loving, free, and peaceful place. May we look to the empty space in Manhattan’s sky as a warning of what hate can do and the memorial below as a reminder of what peace can.