Meanwhile across the country at 8:34: A third transmission from Flight 11: "nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."
Coffee brewing, the insipid gurgle and burp of a well used coffee maker... slowly the caffeine laden fluid fills a mug, and honey pushes the pot back into the machine, so it can gurgle out more coffee in a urgent spurt..Honey settles in to enjoy the first mug of the day, and catch a little news, usually CNN. Its now about 5:45 Pacific time, 8:45 AM Eastern
8:44: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, aboard Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Boston, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward asks her to describe what she sees out the window. She responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." After a short pause, she reports, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.” The call ends with a burst of very loud, sustained static.
At 8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes at roughly 490 mph ... into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99.
A commercial on debt consolidation is interrupted by Breaking News, and anchor people struggle to explain what has happened (see video)
Honey comes into the bedroom and flips on the light, tells me to get up, planes are crashing into buildings...I lazily roll over and think "what did i just hear?"
I slip on my slippers and wander out to the couch, blearily looking at a horrific picture of the WTC on fire, building I seen once several years ago reflecting the setting sun as i landed in a flight to Newark airport...
8:58: Flight 175 takes a heading toward New York City. At 9:03: Flight 175 crashes at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, banked between floors 78 and 85.
My cousin, a financial analyst in NYC for training, is slowing descending the stairs of 2 WTC, helping a woman make the climb from floor 70. According to him, they are at floor 50 when the building rocked, not unlike the building he used to work in San Francisco during a earthquake, only accompanied by a loud explosion...
Honey and I and a billion other people see the plane fly into the building on TV
We both called work and neither place knew yet what to do, so honey decides to stay home.. my work demanded i come in right away. The roads going into town are pretty empty for a work day...I worked at the time developing a program for a law enforcement agency, and so i went there..I was met at the door by one of the investigators, clad in his "raid" jacket, armed with a sub machine gun...I fumbled for my ID and he smiles, "Canice, I know who you are" reminding me we had been in a meeting last week. Suddenly a F16 streaked overheard, and I remarked it was a very awful day, and he nodded, opening the door for me. It is nearly 7 AM, 10 AM in the east.
Flight 93 slams into the earth in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
The deputy chief of the agency walks up to me as we stare at a TV they have in the conference room, pats me on the shoulder as I and a few others are crying and tells me that if I want he can have an office take me home, but i insist i am OK and leave...and then proceed to cry for a few minutes alone in my car...I drive by the local airport on my way home, and realize how weird it is to NOT see planes taking off and landing..At home, honey has declares if the president calls up anyone that's able, he would go, where ever, to kill the sons of bitches that did this...a few days late I find out my cousin had been in NY, and was now on his way home.
We have not forgotten...how could we..
(9/11 Time-line from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks#8:00_AM)
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