On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.
On September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 American Airlines Flight 11 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center in New York City.. At 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower’s southern facade (2 WTC). This was just the beginning of a hateful terrorist attack on America as another five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after passengers fought the four hijackers. Flight 93's target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House. Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers tried to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that Flights 11, 77, and 175 had been crashed into buildings that morning. Once it became evident that the passengers might gain control, the hijackers rolled the plane and intentionally crashed it.
Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175, which departed from Boston en route for Los Angeles, is shown in a flight path for the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept, 11, 2001, as the north Tower burns after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into it at 8:45 a.m. Robert Clark, Associated Press. From this image you can clearly see that WTC1 the north tower has already been hit by a commercial aircraft.. A second plane can be seen to the left as it travels at high speed towards the South tower..
Some passengers and crew members who called from the aircraft using the cabin air phone service and mobile phones provided details: several hijackers were aboard each plane; they used mace, tear gas, or pepper spray to overcome attendants; and some people aboard had been stabbed. Reports indicated hijackers stabbed and killed pilots, flight attendants, and one or more passengers. According to the 9/11 Commission's final report, the hijackers had recently purchased multi-function hand tools and assorted Leatherman-type utility knives with locking blades (which were not forbidden to passengers at the time), but were not found among the possessions left behind by the hijackers. A flight attendant on Flight 11, a passenger on Flight 175, and passengers on Flight 93 said the hijackers had bombs, but one of the passengers said he thought the bombs were fake. The FBI found no traces of explosives at the crash sites, and the 9/11 Commission concluded that the bombs were probably fake.
Smoke billows from one of the World Trade Center towers as flames and debris explode from the second tower on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, in New York.
Chao Soi Cheong, Associated Press
Betty Ong call from flight 11 - 9/11 world trade center
Betty Ann Ong - Flight Attendant on Flight 11
Shortly after the hijacking, Ong notified the American Airlines ground crew of the hijacking, staying on the radiophone for 25 minutes to relay vital information that led to the closing of airspace by the FAA, a first in United States history. For this, the 9/11 Commission declared Ong a hero. Betty Ann Ong 鄧月薇; February 5, 1956 – September 11, 2001 - Flight 11 was the first plane to be hijacked by the al-Quada extremists..
During her Iirfone call, she reported that none of the crew could contact the cockpit nor open its door; that passenger Daniel M. Lewin, and two flight attendants, Karen Martin and Bobbi Arestegui, had been stabbed; and that she thought someone had sprayed Mace in the business class cabin. Transcript of the 8-minute 26-second conversation between Ong, American Airlines' operations/Raleigh reservations, Nydia Gonzalez (Operations Specialist on duty on September 11th) and American Airlines' emergency line, beginning with Ong in mid-sentence, her voice audible only during its first four minutes: In March 2002, Ong's remains were recovered from Ground Zero and identified. She was cremated and her ashes were buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California. In 2011, the recreation center in San Francisco's Chinatown where she had played as a child was renamed in her honor, as the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center.
Ong's sister, Cathie Ong-Herrera, was speaking as the president and CEO at the Betty Ong foundation meeting stated, "The horrific events that took place on the morning of September 11, 2001 began with the takeover of American Airlines Flight 11. Terrorists took control of the aircraft by first fatally stabbing two flight attendants with box-cutters. My sister, flight attendant Betty Ann Ong, along with the entire flight crew and passengers were murdered. There are no words to describe the gut-wrenching pain and grief our family has experienced — things that no other family should ever have to endure. I support the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions' position to reverse the TSA's decision to allow knives and other dangerous objects on aircraft because it's about everyone's safety." The foundation was among a coalition of groups opposed to the move by the TSA, which abandoned the plan as a result.
WTC Building 7
Three buildings in the World Trade Center collapsed due to fire-induced structural failure. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., having burned for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175 and the explosion of its fuel. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after burning for 102 minutes. When the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 World Trade Center building (7 WTC), damaging the building and starting fires. These fires burned for nearly 7 hours, compromising the building's structural integrity, and 7 WTC collapsed at 5:21 p.m. The west side of the Pentagon sustained significant damage.
The original 7 World Trade Center was a 47-story building, designed by Emery Roth & Sons, with a red granite facade. The building was 610 feet (190 m) tall, with a trapezoidal footprint that was 330 ft (100 m) long and 140 ft (43 m) wide. Tishman Realty & Construction managed construction of the building. The ground-breaking ceremony was hosted on October 2, 1984. The building opened in May 1987, becoming the seventh structure of the WTC complex..
Each floor had 47,000 sq ft (4,400 m2) of rentable office space, which made the building's floor plans considerably larger than most office buildings in the City. In all, 7 World Trade Center had 1,868,000 sq ft (173,500 m2) of office space. Two pedestrian bridges connected the main World Trade Center complex, across Vesey Street, to the third floor of 7 World Trade Center. The lobby of 7 World Trade Center held three murals by artist Al Held: The Third Circle, Pan North XII, and Vorces VII.
At 9:42 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all civilian aircraft within the continental U.S., and civilian aircraft already in flight were told to land immediately. All international civilian aircraft were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico, and were banned from landing on United States territory for three days. The attacks created widespread confusion among news organizations and air traffic controllers. Among the unconfirmed and often contradictory news reports aired throughout the day, one of the most prevalent said a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Another jet (Delta Air Lines Flight 1989) was suspected of having been hijacked, but the aircraft responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland, Ohio.
Al Held (1928 - 2005)
Upside Down Triangle 1966
Acrylic on canvas
114 x 168 inches
289.6 x 426.7 centimeters
Echo 1966
Acrylic on Canvass
84 x 72 inches
Pan North IV - 1985
Acrylic on canvass
72 x 84 in. 183 x 213.4 cm
Pan North VII - 1985
acrylic on canvas
72 x 72 in. (182.8 x 182.8 cm.)
The attacks are the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history, causing the deaths of 2,996 people (including the hijackers) and injuring more than 6,000 others. The death toll included 265 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors); 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area; and 125 at the Pentagon. There was also a further 64 people who perished on American Airlines flight 77 that crashed into the 5 sided polygon with 5 vertices office building, sadly there was no survivors on the plane.. The Pentagon Memorial is the first national memorial dedicated to honoring the 184 innocent people whose lives were lost at the Pentagon that day, their families, and all those who sacrifice so that we may live in freedom.
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial at night..
The cantilevered benches — 184 of them — emerge from the ground, sleek, simple, sacred. They run parallel to each other along subtle but distinct lines: the precise path taken by American Airlines Flight 77 as it plowed into the Pentagon's western side on September 11th 2001..Pools under the benches shimmer. The only sounds are the crunch of gravel underfoot, the burble of water, the leafy rustle of crape myrtle trees and the whispers of visitors honoring the 184 people who were killed in the terrorist attack — 125 in the Pentagon and 59 who were on the plane that crashed into it.
A member of the military walks past the grounds of the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial before the start of the September 11th Pentagon Memorial Observance at the Pentagon on the 17th anniversary of the September 11th attacks - Tuesday 11th, 2018..
Executive director of the Pentagon Memorial fund Jim Laychak likes to sit and remember his brother, David, who died in the crash. While the site is a place of remembrance, it's also a place of teaching, Jim has plans for a visitor education center.. “Terrorism hasn't gone away. More than ever, we need to come together to find solutions. This place isn't just about remembering the victims; it looks to promote dialogue and understanding in order to change the future.” The stainless-steel benches, inlaid with granite, are invitations to sit and reflect, though many visitors prefer to walk among the trees, stopping at a random bench to ponder the name inscribed at one end. To distinguish the plane deaths from the Pentagon deaths, point your gaze above the name: The benches are oriented so that you'll see either sky or the Pentagon.
The site also has a curved wall, aptly dubbed the Age Wall, which increases in height to represent the ages of the victims, starting at 3 inches to represent the youngest victim and growing to 71 inches to represent the oldest victim.
There are 85 paperbark maple trees clustered throughout the memorial, with foliage that changes to brilliant oranges and reds in the fall. The paperbark maples will eventually grow to 30 feet to provide a canopy of shade over the area. Ornamental grasses mark the memorial’s boundaries.
Most who died were civilians; the rest included 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel, and the 19 terrorists. After New York, New Jersey lost the most state citizens. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks; for example, the 67 Britons who died were more than in any other terrorist attack anywhere. In Arlington County, Virginia, 125 Pentagon workers died when Flight 77 crashed into the building’s western side. 70 were civilians and 55 were military personnel, many of whom worked for the United States Army or the United States Navy. The Army lost 47 civilian employees; six civilian contractors; and 22 soldiers, while the Navy lost six civilian employees; three civilian contractors; and 33 sailors. Seven Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) civilian employees died, and one Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) contractor. Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, an Army Deputy Chief of Staff, was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.
In New York City, more than 90% of the workers and visitors who died in the towers had been at or above the points of impact. In the North Tower, 1,355 people at or above the point of impact were trapped and died of smoke inhalation; fell or jumped from the tower to escape the smoke and flames; or were killed in the building's collapse. The destruction of all three staircases in the tower when Flight 11 hit made it impossible for anyone above the impact zone to escape. 107 people below the point of impact died.
Just some of the people who perished on that dreadful day, 11th September, 2001..
In the South Tower, one stairwell, Stairwell A, was left intact after Flight 175 hit, allowing 14 people located on the floors of impact (including one man who saw the commercial jet coming at him) and four more from the floors above to escape. New York City 9-1-1 operators who received calls from people inside the tower were not well informed of the situation as it rapidly unfolded and as a result, told callers not to descend the tower on their own. In total 630 people died in the South Tower, fewer than half the number killed in the North Tower. Casualties in the South Tower were significantly reduced because some occupants decided to leave the building as soon as the North Tower was struck, and because Rick Rescoria, head of security at Morgan Stanley, defied an order to remain in place and evacuated almost all of the company's 2,700 employees in the South Tower to safety after Flight 11 had struck the North Tower. The failure to order a full evacuation of the South Tower after the first jet crash into the North Tower was described by USA Today as "one of the day's great tragedies".
Rick Rescorla was born in Cornwall, United Kingdom, but was one of the most distinguished heroes in the initial battle of Vietnam. He gave his life on September 11, 2001.
Rescorla’s career in the military started at the age of 17 when he joined the British military. There he trained as a paratrooper and would later serve in Cyprus. At the end of his Short-Service Commission, he joined the Northern Rhodesia police before returning to London to join the Metropolitan Police Service. Rescorla’s tenure with the Met police was short-lived and he soon emigrated to the United States where he lived in a hostel in Brooklyn. He stayed there until he was able to enlist in the United States Army. He completed basic training at Fort Dix. After basic training, he completed Officer Candidate School and airborne training, graduating with the assignment of platoon leader. He became infantry leader of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Rescorla and his men were one of the first combat units on the ground in Vietnam. In November 1965, he and his unit were involved in the battles in the la Drang Valley. One of the moments from these battles was captured by a war correspondent and appears on the cover of We Were Soldiers Once And Young. This iconic image is of Rick Rescorla holding his rifle with bayonet attached and marching forward into battle.
First Lieutenant Rescorla at the Ia Drang battle US Army
Rescorla and his unit fought at Landing Zone X-Ray before being extracted and provided with a brief rest. They were then instructed to return to the valley and reinforce another unit. The battles lasted three days, during which time the companies faced superior numbers but were able to hold off and drive the enemy forces back. For his part in the war, Rescorla was honored with the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, and the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. After leaving active duty, Rescorla remained a reserve, retiring with the rank of colonel. He used his military benefits to study creative writing and eventually earned a law degree from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He would go on to teach criminal justice for three years and publish a textbook on the subject. His teaching career was short-lived and he moved on to the world of corporate security, joining Dean Witter Reynolds at their office in the World Trade Center. It was during his time there that Rescorla became concerned with the security of the towers. This was prompted by the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland.
The remains of the forward section from Clipper Maid of the Seas (Pan Am Flight 103) on Tundergarth Hill, Lockerbie Scotland, 21 December 1988
One of the narrow staircases in the north tower, taken during the evacuation on September 11 2001. NIST
The exterior support columns from the lower level of the South Tower remain standing after the collapse of the building.
A concrete stairwell, one of the few surviving pieces of the World Trade Center, at Ground Zero in New York City, 2006.
Charly Kurz/laif/Redux
The bombing pushed Rescorla to invite his old friend, Daniel Hill, to assess the security of the World Trade Center. Hill was trained in counterterrorism and determined that the basement would be the easiest target for a terror attack. The two of them used the findings to write a report to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey insisting that more security be added to the parking garage. Their recommendations were ignored due to the costs, leaving the building open to the 1993 terrorist attack. During the 1993 attack, Rescorla was upset by the poor evacuation of the building and vowed that it would never happen again. In 1997, he became the director of security for Dean Witter/Morgan Stanley and was able to make some of the changes he wanted. Rescorla did recommend that the company find different office space due to the vulnerability of the building, but lease obligations made this impossible. This left Rescorla to create an emergency evacuation plan that all employees had to practice again and again. The emergency plan ensured that Morgan Stanley employees were ready for any attacks. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Rescorla heard the explosion from the North Tower and saw it burning from his office window on the 44th floor of the South Tower. An announcement from Port Authority came over the PA system telling people to remain at their desks. Rescorla ignored the announcement, grabbed his bullhorn and ordered Morgan Stanley employees to start evacuating.
He directed the employees down the staircase and continued to encourage them when the building lurched as the second plane hit. To keep everyone calm, Rescorla started to sing as he had done for his platoon in Vietnam.
2,687 employees of Morgan Stanley owe their lives to Rick Rescorla as they were successfully evacuated. After seeing to this, Rescorla returned to the South Tower to ensure that everyone was out. He was last seen on the 10th floor heading up shortly before the tower collapsed. His remains were never found and he was declared dead three weeks later. Rick Rescorla was a man who saw battle with two armies and the start of the War on Terror. All but 13 employees of Morgan Stanley were able to exit the South Tower safely because of his leadership and foresight.
Roughly 99% of people on floors below the impact zone managed to evacuate successfully. For those who didn’t, the factors linked to their deaths included delaying their evacuation, performing emergency response duties, or being unable to leave their particular floor because of damage or debris. Had the buildings been fully occupied, the consequences would undoubtedly have been even worse. Confusion would also of been a factor as scared and stunned people would find it difficult to make the right decisions under extreme conditions.. Going up and going down into smoke and flame decided who lived and who died.. Some people thought a rooftop evacuation was possible but was not because of the dense smoke and extreme heat, Also the access point to the roofs were locked..
Jonathan Buttall, former Retired Professional in Behavioral Health Field
I have personally been on the roof of Tower two twice and know the answer. It’s NOT a conspiracy, first of all. The roof of Tower two contained a story high platform around the top and above the roof. One took a two story escalator from the indoor observatory on the 110th floor to get to it. The rules on safety meant that if it was windy outside, it was not safe to allow people to take the escalator to the roof, as people on the platform were exposed to the open air 1350 feet above the ground and water. Most of the times I visited the observatory when in Manhattan, the roof was closed due to frequent winds at that altitude. It’s as simple as that. In the chaos of the planes flying into the tower, helicopters were apparently not allowed to do anything that close, nor were the elevators working to get people up there anyway.
Another terrible astrocity to happen on 9/11 was the unfortunate people who became trapped on the higher floors of the North tower foremost and some in the South who chose to rather jump to there deaths than face the raging fire and inferno of flame and acrid black smoke.. When the first plane hit the North Tower at 8:46am it struck floors 93 to 99 completely destroying those levels.. Anyone above the impact zone from floors 92 to the top were stuck as the three stairwells had now become plugged with sheet rock and other debris..Lifts were clearly out of service and destroyed.. The sad thing is if you were on floor 91 you would of had a chance to escape by using an unobstructed stairwell..
Firefighters near the ruins of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Photo credit: Alan Chin
Firefighters run toward the World Trade Center after reports of a plane crash. Jose Jimenez / Getty Images
A firefighter runs as the World Trade Center crumbles. Jose Jimenez / Getty Images
Mario Tama / Getty Images
A police officer helps evacuate people from the area around the World Trade Center.
The dust storm after the collapse of the first and second towers swallows down town New York causing people to become extremely dry and gasping for air..
Fire fighters are intensely emotional as they embrace one another for moral and mental support,
One of the few fire engines that still functioned after the collapse of the twin towers.. The thick grey dust clings to everything in it's path as a painful reminder of the terrorist attacks..
A firemen ponders his thoughts on September 11th, 2001 as he carefully scopes the debris for any signs of life, His pick axe seems so small and obsolete as he steps through the broken beams and twisted steel that once was a 110 story tower..
The New York City Fire Department deployed 200 units (half of the department) to the World Trade Center. Their efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters and emergency medical technicians. The New York City Police Department sent Emergency Service Units and other police personnel and deployed its aviation unit. Once on the scene, the FDNY, the NYPD, and the PAPD did not coordinate efforts and performed redundant searches for civilians. The New York City Police Department sent Emergency Service Units and other police personnel and deployed its aviation unit. Once on the scene, the FDNY, the NYPD, and the PAPD did not coordinate efforts and performed redundant searches for civilians.
Twin Towers Plaza 11 settembre 2001 - Torri Gemelle. World Trade Center.11 september 2001.11 09 2001
In full: The first firefighter on the scene on 9/11
Fire Chief Joseph Pfeifer
Fire Chief Joseph Pfeifer
Retired New York City Fire Chief Joseph Pfeifer was the first fire chief on the scene on 9/11. Remarkably that day, he was being filmed by a documentary crew shooting a film about firefighters in Lower Manhattan. The group watched the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and the chief and the crew immediately raced to the scene.
Lt. Kevin Pfeifer of Engine 33
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, FDNY Chief Joseph Pfeifer was on a routine call in lower Manhattan. Hearing the loud roar of an airplane overhead, Pfeifer looked up to see hijacked Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower. Immediately, he sprang into action, becoming the first chief to arrive at the World Trade Center. He responded with members of Engine 7 and Ladder 1 and implemented a command center in the North Tower’s lobby.
At one point during that morning, Pfeifer saw his brother, Lt. Kevin Pfeifer of Engine 33. The two shared a glance and a few words before Kevin headed up into the North Tower. Pfeifer stayed in the North Tower lobby to assist with the rescue operation, evacuating shortly before the building collapsed at 10:28 a.m. Pfeifer would eventually discover that Kevin had been unable to escape the North Tower in time and had been killed. He later learned that Kevin spent his final moments helping other firefighters evacuate the building, which in turn delayed his own escape.
Paul Morigi, GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA, AFP | Jules Naudet (left) and Gédéon Naudet (right) at The National Press Club on November 18, 2015 in Washington, DC
The Naudet brothers, who live in the US, shot to fame in 2002, with their documentary “9/11”. Their personal accounts of the 2001 terror attacks in New York, aired by American broadcaster CBS, came about through a bizarre twist of fate. The brothers were working on a documentary on New York City firefighters when the younger brother, Jules Naudet, suddenly found himself embedded with one of the first firefighting units to respond to the attacks. The documentary won several prestigious television prizes, including Emmy, Peabody and DuPont awards. The brothers told Le Figaro that their 9/11 experience left them permanently marked..
Firefighter Mike Kehoe rushes up the stairs of the North Tower as office workers including John Labriola, who took this photo, file down the stairs on Sept. 11, 2001. Both Kehoe and Labriola survived the attacks. (AP Photo/John Labriola)
For Joseph Pfeifer, the legacy of 9/11 is not the sorrow or the tragedy, but the sacrifice and bravery that was shown through many people’s efforts that morning. “9/11 is made up of little stories of people doing small things or making small decisions, which turned out to be the difference between life and death,” he said in an oral history recorded by the 9/11 Memorial Museum. “There’s incredible stories of people’s action[s] that day that saved so many others.” Since 9/11, Pfeifer has turned his attention to analyzing global terrorism, especially how to better respond to terrorist organizations’ evolving methods. Currently, he serves as the chief of counter terrorism and emergency preparedness for the FDNY.
N.J. Burkett reporting as Twin Towers begin to collapse on September 11, 2001
NJ Burkett reflects on being on-air when the South Tower collapsed
N.J. Burkett spent nearly three months covering the war in Iraq in 2003, and the military build-up that preceded it. He covered the terrorist bombings in Madrid (2004) and London (2005), as well as the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon (2006), the Israeli-Hamas War in Gaza (2009-10) as well as three Israeli national elections and the death of Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat (2004). N.J. witnessed the historic Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (2005) and chronicled the Palestinian popular uprising, known as the Intifadeh, in a series of overseas assignments from 2000-2004. He is well known for his coverage of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. This is because Burkett was just across the plaza just as the South Tower collapsed. Burkett won several honors and awards for the coverage. Jones and his photographer narrowly escaped the subsequent collapse of the South Tower. Their work was later seen on television news broadcasts across the nation and around the world and is on permanent exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Burkett was elected the First Vice Chairman of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences by the Academy’s Board of Trustees. He served as the vice-chairman from June 2016 until June 2018. Additionally, Burkett has served on the Academy’s Executive Committee from 2014 to 2018. Also, he has had two terms as the President of the Academy’s flagship chapter in New York(2011 to 2015). In May of 2019, he was elected New York Chapter President for a third time by the chapter’s Board of Governors. Burkett was elected in September 2019 to the Board of Trustees of Newark Public Radio, the operator of WBGO-FM. WBGO-FM is a not-for-profit jazz radio station in Newark, N.J.
The Tower of Voices
The Tower of Voices serves as both a visual and audible reminder of the heroism of the forty passengers and crew of United Flight 93. On September 09, 2018 Flight 93 National Memorial hosted a dedication event to complete the final phase of construction and complete the permanent memorial. The chimes were installed and dedicated on September 10, 2020. The tower is conceived as a monumental, ninety-three feet tall musical instrument holding forty wind chimes, representing the forty passengers and crew members. It is intended to be a landmark feature near the memorial entrance, visible from US Route 30/Lincoln Highway. The Tower of Voices provides a living memorial in sound to remember the forty through their ongoing voices. The tower project was constructed from 2017 to 2018 with a dedication of the project on September 9, 2018. Funding for the design and construction of the project was provided through private donations to the National Park Foundation and the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial.
The Tower of Voices is conceived as a monumental, ninety-three feet tall musical instrument holding forty wind chimes, representing the forty passengers and crew members. The intent is to create a set of forty tones (voices) that can connote through consonance the serenity and nobility of the site while also through dissonance recalling the event that consecrated the site.
NPS Photo Brenda Torrey
Hear the wind chimes!..
There are no other chime structures like this in the world. The shape and orientation of the tower are designed to optimize air flow through the tower walls to reach the interior chime chamber. The chime system is designed using music theory to identify a mathematically developed range of frequencies needed to produce a distinct musical note associated with each chime. The applied music theory allows the sound produced by individual chimes to be musically compatible with the sound produced by the other chimes in the tower. The intent is to create a set of forty tones (voices) that can connote through consonance the serenity and nobility of the site while also through dissonance recalling the event that consecrated the site.
The tower is approximately ninety-three feet tall from the base to the top with some height variations. The Tower cross section is a “C” shape with a fifteen foot outside diameter and eleven foot inside diameter. The “C” shape allows sound to reflect outwardly from the open side in a fan-shaped pattern. The chimes will be suspended a minimum of twenty feet above the main plaza and will be suspended from the interior walls of the tower up to the top. The tower walls will be constructed of precast concrete segments linked by connectors. The chimes will be constructed of polished aluminum tubes ranging eight to sixteen inches in diameter and approximately five to ten feet in length. The size of each chime is dependent on the musical note and associated frequency that it is intended to produce. Chimes of this size and magnitude do not currently exist in the world. The chimes are wind activated and will have internal strikers attached to sails projecting from the bottom of each chime.
The tower is located on an oval concrete plaza that is built on top of an earth mound to create an area more prominent on the landscape. The plaza includes two curved concrete benches facing the opening of the tower.
The tower is surrounded by concentric rings of white pines and deciduous plantings. The concentric plantings may be interpreted as resonating “sound waves” from the Tower, alluding to the auditory qualities of the chimes housed within. A direct paved path leads to the tower from the parking lot. A longer, meandering crushed stone path winds through the trees and allows visitors an alternative approach to the tower. All other landscaped areas of the project will be planted with a native wildflower seed mix similar to other landscaped areas of the park.
The chimes are wind-activated. Due to variations in wind direction and speed, some wind chimes may remain motionless at the time while others are partially or fully activated. The chimes will sound at wind speeds as low as 7-10 mph. The shape and orientation of the tower help optimize airflow through the open walls. The chime system uses music theory to identify a mathematically calculated range of frequencies needed to produce the musical notes. Construction of the Tower of Voices began in 2017. The tower was dedicated on Sunday, September 9, 2018, during a special ceremony at 1:00 pm.
SHANKSVILLE, UNITED STATES: Investigative personnel search the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 looking for debris and evidence, including the plane's flight recorder, 12 September 2001 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The hijacked plane crashed killing all 45 people on board. AFP PHOTO/David MAXWELL (Photo credit should read DAVID MAXWELL/AFP/Getty Images)The crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (credit: DAVID MAXWELL/AFP/Getty Images)
On September 11th, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 had forty passengers and crew members on board, travelling non-stop from Newark to San Francisco. The passengers ranged in age from twenty to seventy-nine. They were from New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Germany, Japan, Minnesota, Maryland, Florida, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and New York. Among them was a federal wildlife biologist, a former bookkeeper, a toy-company executive, an arborist, a retired bartender, attorneys, college students, and an iron worker who had helped build the World Trade Center. Forty-five minutes into the flight, at around 9:30 a.m., air-traffic controllers received two radio transmissions—a frantic “Mayday!” and the sounds of violent struggle, followed by “Get out of here!” United 93 plummeted seven hundred feet, over eastern Ohio. A hijacker, one of four, was heard announcing that there was a bomb on board. Using autopilot, the hijackers pointed the jetliner toward Washington, D.C. Its transponder disabled, the flight became harder to track. The plane’s cockpit voice recorder captured the sound of a woman struggling with a hijacker; she then went silent.
The crew and passengers, herded into the back of the plane, used the onboard phones, and their personal cell phones, to call people on the ground. Learning that other hijackers had just flown jetliners into both towers of the World Trade Center, they held a vote. Unarmed civilians, unbound by duty, they included a college judo champ, a former air-traffic controller, and a retired registered nurse. In an act that has become American lore over the past twenty years, the passengers and crew members chose to attack the knife-wielding hijackers and “retake the plane.”
9/11 - Retaliated - United Airlines Flight 93
They rushed the first-class cabin, carrying out what the 9/11 Commission's report called a “sustained” assault. One of the plane’s data recorders captured “loud thumps, crashes, shouts, and breaking glasses and plates.” The hijacker flying the plane, as if to throw the assaulters off balance, rocked the aircraft left and right. One hijacker asked, “Shall we finish it off?” Another said to wait. A passenger shouted, “In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die!” The hijacker soon asked again, “Shall we put it down?” This time, the answer was yes. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the hijackers “judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them.” The plane roared low across pastoral Somerset County, Pennsylvania, skimming the village of Lambertsville. The aircraft flipped, then crashed at nearly six hundred miles per hour near Shanksville. People miles away felt the ground shake.
Aerial view of the impact site and debris field taken early in the investigation. The white specks are debris.
Lieutenant Heather (Lucky) Penney, Former U.S. Air Force Maj. Heather Penney stands for a portrait in her office at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, where she is currently a resident fellow, in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Penney was an Air Force lieutenant on September 11, 2001, when she was ordered to fly her F-16 fighter jet into the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 to stop it from reaching Washington, D.C. TIM TAI / Staff PhotographerTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Lieutenant Heather (Lucky) Penney, an F-16 pilot who was ordered airborne that day, later told Garrett Graff, the author of "The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11" that she and fellow D.C. Air National Guard pilot Marc Sasseville “fully expected to intercept Flight 93 and take it down.” A fourth hijacked plane had already hit the Pentagon. Flight 93 crashed about twenty minutes away, by air, from Washington. Penney said, “The real heroes are the passengers on Flight 93 who were willing to sacrifice themselves.” Sasseville said, “They made the decision we didn’t have to make.”
Flight Data Recorder, one of the "black boxes," recovered from 15 feet down in the crater. It records the plane's exact flight path, speed, and altitude from departure to arrival.
With no missiles on board, Maj. Heather "Lucky" Penney, then just a rookie fighter pilot, was called upon to take down United Flight 93 on 9/11. That would have meant ramming her jet into the plane, essentially a suicide mission, Everyone has the capacity to exercise such courage, she will tell Widener University graduates.
Flight 93 impact crater with debris, taken early in the investigation. The investigators at top of image provide scale.
Born on an Air Force base in Arizona, Penney grew up around the military. Her father, retired Lt. Col. John Penney, flew jets, too. From age 4, she told her mother she wanted to be a fighter pilot, along with a ballerina, a butterfly and a volcanologist — "I loved volcanoes." She fell in love, too, with jets and the camaraderie of the Air Force community. When her twin sister was helping her mother with the dishes at night, she would sneak into the back room and listen to her father and his squadron mates share flying stories after dinner.
The cockpit voice recorder, one of the "black boxes," recovered 25 feet down in the crater at the crash site. It revealed the voices and sounds in the cockpit during the final 30 minutes of flight.
It wasn't until she got to Purdue University as an undergraduate in 1992 that she discovered women weren't allowed to be fighter pilots. "I didn't understand, if I was willing and able, why I was not allowed to also serve my nation," said Penney, who earned her bachelor's in English and her master's in American studies. "The jet doesn't care if you're a man or a woman." While she was still in college, Congress opened up combat aviation to women. In graduate school, she applied and got in. She was the only woman in her class, and although the men treated her well, it was still a boy's club, she said, and that was hard.
"Today, I think it's still challenging for women to be a total minority in a man's world," she said.
Only a little more than 2 percent of fighter pilots and weapons system officers are women, she said.
Debris and investigators in the Hemlock grove which is located just beyond the impact site.
Section of the outer skin of the airplane fuselage. September 2001..
Returning to Flight 93 passengers and crew, One passenger’s widow recalled that her husband had said, by phone, “We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area.” The authors of the 9/11 Commission’s report highlighted the passengers’ selflessness: “Their actions saved the lives of countless others, and may have saved either the Capitol or the White House from destruction.” The report reached an astonishing conclusion: “the defense of U.S. airspace on 9/11” was “improvised by civilians.”
More F.B.I. Evidence, this time a piece of the fuselage..Thousands of small pieces of the aircraft were found. Some large pieces were also recovered including this section of the fuselage measuring approximately 6 feet by 7 feet.
The dark stone path that bisects the Flight 93 National Memorial visitors center in Shanksville, Pa., memorializes the flight path of the United Airlines plane.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
The logistical challenges of investigating the crash of Flight 93 were materially different from those in New York and Washington, D.C. In Shanksville, there was no collapsed structure or rubble. In a rural area, it was harder to get supplies that were more readily available in cities, especially now that flights were grounded. Working with locals, investigators found a way to get Tyvek suits, twenty wheelbarrows, recycling bins, kiddie swimming pools (for disinfecting rubber boots), allergy pills, hundreds of tubes of lip balm, stainless-steel tables, tents, and refrigerated trailers. They had to pave a path to the crater, and build sifting screens.
Flight 93 went down on the barren site of an old strip mine, where generations of laborers had extracted bituminous coal. All around it was beauty: Somerset County is known as the “Roof Garden of Pennsylvania” for its verdant, rolling hills. Locals arrived first at the scene of the crash, expecting to see a fuselage and perhaps even survivors. Instead, they found it “eerily” quiet. The plane’s explosive impact, compounded by seven thousand gallons of jet fuel, had vaporized nearly everything. Those on board had not just died; they had all but disappeared. First responders found a crater marked by the ghostly imprint of airplane wings, at the edge of a smoking, sizzling forest of hemlock. The county coroner, Wally Miller, later told NPR, “You could hear this melted plastic dripping out of the trees.” Miller thought of the families of the passengers and crew, who likely envisaged “caskets that they could open up, and see somebody.” He had to inform them that they could expect to recover, as NPR explained, no more than “a tooth, or a fragment of a bone.” F.B.I. evidence-recovery teams walked the site shoulder to shoulder, or crawled on their hands and knees.
Much of the emotionally and physically demanding work fell to those who lived and worked in Somerset County—excavators, pastors, hospital staff. The coroner deputized undertakers so that they could help process human remains at a temporary morgue. A local plumber ran cold-water lines to the facility, allowing for four extra wash sinks. A janitor’s closet became a darkroom, for developing X-rays. Glenn Kashurba, a local psychiatrist and Red Cross volunteer, collected oral histories, which he published. In "Quiet Courage," he wrote that one first responder said, “The first night was bad. I closed my eyes, and I would see whatever I saw that day.”
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the Flight 93 memorial on Sept. 11, 2018, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.Evan Vucci / AP file
President Donald Trump said he found inspiration for the U.S.-Mexico border wall after visiting the crash site memorial.. Trump continued, “They built this gorgeous wall where the plane went down in Pennsylvania. Shanksville. And I was there. I made the speech. And it’s sort of beautiful, what they did is incredible,” They have a series of walls, I’m saying, ‘It’s like perfect.' So, so, we are pushing very hard.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk with park superintendent Stephen Clark as they tour the Flight 93 National Memorial during the 17th annual September 11 observance at the memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2018.Kevin Lamarque / Reuters file
Several days after the crash, the families of Flight 93’s passengers and crew started visiting the site. Mark Schweiker, then the Lieutenant Governor, said, “If anyone wanted to know the nature of overwhelming grief, then they only needed to spend a few days on that hillside.” All forty passengers and crew members were identified by DNA, dental records, or fingerprints. None of the hijackers’ families reportedly provided genetic information, so, by process of elimination, investigators designated certain biological evidence as Hijacker A, B, C, and D, keeping it separate from the rest. The F.B.I. completed its investigation in about two weeks. The coroner ordered the crater backfilled, layered with topsoil, and seeded with a mixture of wildflowers and grass.
Federal authorities and the Flight 93 families spent years planning a memorial that encompassed the crater, meadows, and forest. The families and the Park Service envisioned a memorial “quiet in reverence, yet powerful in form.” The planners asked themselves why the actions of Flight 93’s passengers and crew were “important to the nation.” Ultimately, they pointed out the value of creating a place where “all generations” could “find meaning and inspiration” from their sacrifice.