1, prepare for hijacking
Of all the 19 hijackers, 7 were originally pilots, and others also attended flight schools in various places. 13 people arrived in the United States from April 23rd to June 29th, 2006. Upon arrival, they were scattered all over the United States, generally living in remote suburbs, and all changed their English names. In the next few months, they were mainly active in eight States in the United States.
These hijackers paid a high price to get a driver's license. They rented an apartment, opened a bank account and joined a health club. They buy air tickets online and usually pay in cash wherever they go.
2. Hijacking and collision
(1), American Airlines 1 1 flight.
The first hijacked plane was American Airlines 1 1. The plane took off from Boston Logan International Airport for Los Angeles at 7: 59 on September 1 1 2006. At 8 o'clock on 14, the plane climbed to an altitude of 26,000 feet, which was lower than the original cruising altitude of 29,000 feet. At the same time, the plane made the last routine communication with the empty tower to confirm the receipt of navigation instructions. After 16 second communication, the empty tower ordered the plane to climb to 35,000 feet, but this information and all subsequent attempts to contact the plane were not confirmed. After the hijacking began, the hijackers quickly took control of the first class of the plane and began to release irritating gases such as tear gas and spicy fog, forcing passengers and flight attendants to move closer to the rear of the plane and claiming that they had bombs. About five minutes after the hijacking, flight attendant Betty Ong contacted the booking office of Southeast Airlines by on-board telephone and reported the emergency on board. The call lasted about 25 minutes. At 8: 021,an employee of American Airlines immediately called the American Airlines Operation Center after receiving the call for help. At 8: 25, the hijacker tried to talk to the passengers, but mistakenly switched the call channel to the tower. At 8: 28, the operation center that received the alarm informed the American Airlines dispatcher and reported the abnormal situation of the aircraft to the tower. After that, flight attendants Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney reported the situation on board to the tower and American Airlines Flight Attendant Service Office many times: the hijackers stabbed two flight attendants, unable to contact the cockpit, and the cockpit was full of bombs. At 8: 26 and 8: 38, Betty Ong called the plane "flying abnormally" and cut off the call at 8: 44. Meanwhile, Amy Sweeney reported to the American Airlines Flight Service Office that the plane was "descending rapidly" and "flying very low".
At 8: 46: 40, American Airlines 1 1 crashed into the World Trade Center 1 Building (also known as the "North Tower") at a speed of about 490 miles per hour, and the impact position was between the 94th and 98th floors in the north of the building, causing all the people on board and the unknown number of people in the building to die immediately.
(2) United Airlines 175 flight
United Airlines flight 175 was originally scheduled to fly from Boston Logan International Airport to Los Angeles and took off at 8: 00 on September 1 1 2006. Arrive at the scheduled cruising altitude of 3 1000 feet at 8: 33. Between 8: 42 and 8: 46, the hijackers started hijacking. At 8: 47, the plane changed the lighthouse code twice. At 8: 5 1, the plane deviated from the predetermined altitude. 1 minute later, the tower began to try to contact the plane but failed. At 8: 42, the plane's radio communication and transponder were turned off and the plane deviated from its course. At 8: 52, a passenger on the plane, Peter, contacted his father and said that the hijackers had assassinated two captains, took control of the cockpit of the plane and stabbed a flight attendant. Peter said, "The plane flies strangely.". At 8: 58, the plane flew to new york. At 9 o'clock sharp, Peter called his father for the second time and reported that "the situation on the plane was very bad", "the flight was unstable" and "it was descending".
1 1 9: 03, United Airlines 175 crashed into World Trade Center Building 2 (also known as "South Tower"), causing all the people on board and the unknown number of people in the tower to die immediately.
(3) American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Dulles, Washington for Los Angeles at 8: 20 on September 1 2006. At 8: 46, the plane climbed to the scheduled cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. At 8: 00, 5 1, the plane sent conventional radio communication for the last time. At 8: 54, the plane deviated from the scheduled route and turned south. Two minutes later, the plane's answering machine was turned off, and the tower and American Airlines dispatcher tried to communicate with the plane many times, but all failed. At 9 o'clock, Gerard Arpey, executive vice president of American Airlines, was informed of the situation of Flight 77. As this was the second American Airlines plane that lost contact, he ordered all American Airlines flights that did not take off in the northeast to stay on the ground. At 9: 0010, the headquarters of American Airlines suspected that Flight 77 had been hijacked and decided to ban flights nationwide. At 9: 0012, a passenger on the plane contacted his mother. It is said that the plane was hijacked by six people and the passengers were transferred to the back of the plane. At 9: 0016, another passenger on the plane, Barbara Olson, contacted her husband, then US Deputy Secretary of Justice Ted Olson. Olson reported that the hijackers had knives and unpacking knives and transferred all passengers to the back of the plane. At 9: 29, the autopilot of the plane was cancelled, flying at an altitude of about 7000 feet, 38 miles west of the Pentagon. At 9: 34, Reagan National Airport in Washington reported to the Secret Service that an unknown plane was flying to the White House. At the same time, Flight 77 made a 330-degree turn five miles west-southwest of the Pentagon, dropped to 2,200 feet, and plunged into the Pentagon.
At 9: 37: 46, United Airlines Flight 77 crashed at the Pentagon of the US Department of Defense at a speed of up to 530 miles per hour, killing all the people on board and a large number of officers in the building.
(4) United Airlines Flight 93
At 8: 42, United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and flew to San Francisco. At this time, the flight was delayed for more than 25 minutes. At 9: 23, Flight 93 received a warning from the flight controller of United Airlines: "Beware of any intrusion into the cockpit, two planes have crashed into the World Trade Center". At 9: 28, the hijackers began to attack. The plane was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and suddenly dropped by 700 feet. After descending 1 1 sec, the tower in Cleveland received two radio communications from the plane, including "Mayday" shouted by the airport or the co-pilot, accompanied by the sound of fighting. At 9: 32, a hijacker made a statement to the passengers as the captain (or tried to make a statement to the passengers), saying that there was a bomb on board and motioned the passengers to sit down. The flight recorder shows that the aircraft autopilot system makes the aircraft turn around and fly eastward. At 9: 39, Cleveland Air Traffic Control Center received a second statement from the hijacker, saying that there was a bomb on board and the plane was flying back to the airport, asking passengers to sit down, but the situation was the same as that of United Airlines 175. The statement was not released to the passenger call channel, but directly to the control center. At this point, passengers and crew have begun to contact ground personnel. At least 65,438+00 passengers and 2 crew members contacted the ground personnel. The crew of the plane reported that the hijackers were wearing red handkerchiefs and forced the passengers to move to the rear of the plane. At the same time, some people on board learned the news of the attack on the World Trade Center through ground personnel. At 9: 57, the passenger's counterattack began. A passenger said on the phone, "Everyone is catching the first class. I'm leaving, too. Goodbye. " At 9: 59: 52, the recorder recorded a huge crash, crash, shouts, broken glass and plates inside the machine. 10: 26, a passenger said, "Get in the cockpit, or we will die!" 16 seconds later, a passenger shouted: "Go!"
10: 02: 23, the plane began to turn down. With the constant counterattack of passengers, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed at a speed of 580 miles per hour in an open space in Jencks, Pennsylvania, only about 20 minutes away from Washington, D.C. ..
3. Rescue operations
At 8: 46 a.m., two U.S. Air Force F- 15 Eagle fighters took off from Massachusetts Air Force Base and intercepted American Airlines 1 1, but the air force pilots didn't know the correct location of American Airlines 1 1. In the next few minutes, Northeast Air Defense Command (NEADS).
The new york Fire Department responded to the attack at 8: 46 am, the moment when the first plane crashed into the first World Trade Center building. The captain of the First Fire Brigade of new york Fire Department witnessed the first collision in this block, and he was also the first commander to arrive at the scene. At about 8: 50 in the morning, according to the plan of new york Fire Department, he set up a fire fighting headquarters in the lobby of the first tower of the World Trade Center.
When the TV broadcast camera approached the corner of the World Trade Center, rescuers were faintly visible in the smoke.
4, fire medical action
At about 9 am, the fire chief took over as the chief commander of the accident. Because of falling debris and other safety factors, he moved the fire fighting headquarters from the lobby of World Trade Center 1 building to the place opposite the west street of the 8-lane expressway. The commander considered the possibility of limited and partial collapse of the towers, but did not think that they would completely collapse.
After the fire-fighting headquarters moved to West Street, some fire-fighting headquarters remained in the lobby of Building 1, which formed the fire-fighting headquarters of various combat units fighting fires in the building. It is necessary for them to stay in the lobby so that they can use some important building systems, such as alarm control system, elevator and communication system.
Within minutes, the fire commander decided to concentrate on the rescue and evacuation. They sent firefighters into the building to help hundreds of people trapped in elevators, stairwells and rooms, and those who were unable to evacuate because of injuries. They also ordered firefighters to ensure that all levels of personnel were evacuated.
At the same time, the commander of the emergency medical service organization began to delimit the area, assemble ambulances, identify and classify the wounded, treat them and send them to the hospital. The on-site assistant commander of emergency medical services serves as the commander of all emergency medical services in the fire headquarters and reports to the fire headquarters.
At 9: 03 am, the second plane crashed into Tower 2, and the commander immediately mobilized another fire brigade, which was dispatched from Tower 1.
With the escalation of mobilization, the dispatcher ordered all responding fire brigades to report to the meeting place designated by the superior commander near the World Trade Center. However, when these fire brigades approached the designated area, many of them did not report to the designated area, but directly entered the halls of two towers or other places in the accident area. As a result, the superior commander cannot accurately grasp the specific positions of all fire brigades. In addition, the failure of assembly made it impossible for the fire brigade to obtain the necessary information and accurate orientation before entering the tower hall.
The communication between the commanders in the lobby of World Trade Center 1 building and the team they sent into the building was sporadic. Sometimes the commander can contact some teams, sometimes he can't. Some teams also confirm that sometimes they can receive wireless communication, and sometimes they can't. The commander didn't know whether their message had been sent out, whether those teams didn't confirm receiving the message because they were busy with the rescue operation, or whether the team replied, but the message could not be sent out. Because reports about citizens in danger kept reaching the rescue headquarters in the hall, despite the communication difficulties, the commanders decided to continue their efforts to evacuate and save citizens.
Commanders in World Trade Center 1 and Hall 2 don't know what happened outside the tower. They have no reliable sources, nor any external information about the overall situation of the accident area, the situation of the tower and the development of the fire. For example, they can't receive TV reports and reports that helicopters of the new york Police Department are hovering over the tower. The lack of information limits their ability to estimate the overall situation.
Commanders of emergency medical service institutions and ambulances also face communication problems because of wireless communication congestion, which is partly because the two emergency medical service channels are on the same frequency. Usually, the command channel is dedicated to commanders, and the city coverage channel is used by ambulances and emergency medical services. A large number of ambulances repeatedly requested to be sent to the World Trade Center, which aggravated the communication congestion problem.
The difficulty of wireless communication is one of the factors that caused the emergency medical service dispatcher to be overwhelmed on September 1 1. In addition to contacting the ambulance and the commander, the dispatcher should also take actions according to the request for help sent by the 9 1 1 SOS Center and the new york Police Department through telephone or computer messages. They have to send ambulances, record their actions in computers, monitor information from many sources and answer other calls. A lot of complicated information about the attack on the World Trade Center makes it difficult for dispatchers to verify everything from many sources they receive and take appropriate actions quickly.
8: 46 am-10: 29 am: At least 20 people trapped by fire and smoke (mainly in the north building) fell from the sky.
5. The World Trade Center collapsed.
The World Trade Center collapsed at 9: 59 am, killing many citizens and the first batch of firefighters. However, the firefighters and commanders in World Trade Center 1 building didn't know what happened at first. Many people think that the 1 tower partially collapsed. When the lobby of 1 building was full of rubble and debris, the commander of the first brigade of the headquarters of 1 building quickly issued an evacuation order through mobile wireless communication, but many firefighters did not hear the order. Some people were able to leave because other combatants told them that the headquarters had given an evacuation order.
When the commanders of fire and emergency medical services sought refuge in the surrounding buildings, the collapse of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center destroyed the accident rescue headquarters opposite West Street and weakened the command and control institutions. At 10: 29 am, the fire chief and other commanders were killed in the 1 tower collapse accident, and the accident rescue was temporarily in an unguided state. In addition, after the collapse, many emergency medical service personnel did not know who was the emergency medical service commander.
In the morning 1 1, a senior official of the planning department took over as the commander of the emergency medical service, but in the next half hour, the whole command of the accident rescue was still unclear. During this period, some senior fire commanders took the initiative to rebuild the headquarters, sometimes leading to multiple headquarters. 165438+ At 0: 28 a.m., the commander on duty in 4C City took over from the fire chief as the on-site rescue commander and fully resumed the on-site command.
Step 6 clean up the ruins
By May 28th, 2002, the staff had removed more than 6,543,800,000 metric tons of debris from the World Trade Center ruins and sent them to a special place, where others continued to look for clues and relics of the victims.
7, personnel statistics
On September 1 1, 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense released the statistics of victims and missing persons in September 1 1 terrorist attacks, with a total of 3,025 people. As statisticians confirmed and deleted some duplicate names, the final statistics decreased by 2996.
World Trade Center in New York: City officials say 70 people are missing; Medical institutions have issued death certificates for 1400 people; 133 1 The person has been confirmed dead, but the body has not been found. (The above figures do not include 10 hijackers. Among the victims of the World Trade Center, 230 were vice presidents of large financial institutions in the United States. There are 130 people who are brokers of large and small securities companies. Among the victims and missing persons, there are a group of special people, that is, 343 firefighters.
The passengers and crew of American Airlines 1 1: 87 died.
United Airlines 175 flight: 60 passengers and crew died.
Washington: 184 people died.
Pentagon: 125 people died.
United Airlines Flight 77: 59 passengers and crew died (excluding 5 hijackers).
Pennsylvania: 40 people died.
American Airlines Flight 93: 40 passengers and crew died (excluding 4 hijackers).
Of all the towns in the United States, nearly 800 towns in 43 States were killed in this incident. There are also some victims from China, Guyana, Australia and other 14 countries. Two-thirds of them lived in new york and New Jersey, and 929 people were killed in new york. 7 1 employees were also killed in the Window of the World Hotel on the top floor of the World Trade Center, many of whom were new immigrants.
8. hijackers
On the morning of September 27th, 20001year, the US Department of Justice officially released the names and photos of 19 suspects who hijacked the passenger plane and made the incident. The following is the list of 19 hijackers published by the US Department of Justice:
Marwan Al Shehi, Fayez Rashid, ahmed hassan Al Qadi Banihammad, Mohald Alshehri, Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi are suspected of hijacking United Airlines flight 175 and crashing the New York World Trade Center.
Waleed M. Alshehri, Wail Alshehri, Mohamed Atta, Abdulaziz Alomari and Satam Al Suqami are suspected of hijacking American Airlines flight 1 1 and crashing the World Trade Center in New York.
Khalid Midhar, Majed Mujid, Naouaf Al Hamzi, Salim Al Hamzi and Hani Hanjul are suspected of hijacking American Airlines Flight 77 and crashing the Pentagon.
Ahmed Alhaznawi, Ahmed Alnami, Ziad Samir Jarrah and Saeed Alghamdi are suspected of hijacking United Airlines Flight 93 and crashing it in the suburbs of Pennsylvania.
9. Impact:
The "9 1 1" incident caused serious psychological harm to the American people, especially the families of the victims. This terrorist attack has become a heart disease that Americans will never forget.