2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 12, 2026September 11, 2001 has been a very rough and busy day, so by popular request I’m making a single thread with the day’s…
Summary
This thread chronicles the tragic events of September 11, 2001, hour by hour, from the first plane hitting the North Tower at 8:46 AM through the collapses of the Twin Towers and WTC 7, the Pentagon attack, Flight 93's crash in Pennsylvania after passenger resistance, and subsequent rescue efforts. It highlights key moments including the heroic actions of first responders and civilians like Welles Crowther, who saved dozens before perishing in the South Tower collapse.
Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.
- #1
September 11, 2001 has been a very rough and busy day, so by popular request I’m making a single thread with the day’s highlights: 1. 8:46 AM: the world was shocked by a surprise crash at the World Trade Center, initially perceived to be a small plane but soon discovered to be a deliberate jet collision.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026This is just coming in: there appears to be a major fire on the upper floors of one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Reports claim that a small plane, either a Cessna or a private jet, accidentally flew into the tower around the 80th floor, due to either an air traffic control communications error or a malfunction on the aircraft. The dozens of victims are in our thoughts. We will continue to monitor rescue and repair surrounding this alarming accident.
- #2
2. 8:50 AM: firefighters led by Joseph Pfeifer arrive and establish a command post in the North Tower lobby.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026The FDNY 1st Battalion, led by Chief Joseph Pfeiffer, has arrived at the World Trade Center and has set up a command post in the lobby of the North Tower to lead firefighting efforts. The battalion is immediately met with screaming victims covered in burning jet fuel, shouting for help but roasting alive. The fuel came from fireballs that are believed to have raced down the elevator shafts upon initial impact. The firefighters don’t know what to do; they are overwhelmed.
- #3
3. 8:50-9:00 AM: Workers in the South Tower are told to stay at their desks - ill-fated advice.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026Footage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center on fire is now being shown on televisions in the Sky Lobby of the South Tower. Building administrators are rushing to turn off the televisions so as not to panic the office workers, who are being urged to return to their desks. Many are complying and going back upstairs to continue their workday.
- #4
4. 8:50-9:00 AM: Stairwell evacuations commence in the North Tower.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026Thousands of people in both World Trade Center towers are now evacuating by stairs, despite dark, smoky, loud, and chaotic conditions. Firefighters are coming up the other way.
- #5
5. 9:03 AM: The South Tower is hit.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026A SECOND PLANE HAS HIT THE SECOND TOWER - AMERICA IS UNDER ATTACK
- #6
6. 9:05 AM: President Bush is alerted of the attacks.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026President Bush is at Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, reading “My Pet Goat” to schoolchildren. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card rushes over and whispers in his ear: “a second plane has hit the tower. America is under attack.” President Bush is seen to consider the statement for a second, and then continue reading the book.
- #7
7. 9:11 AM: Welles Crowther begins a heroic day. Crowther would go on to rescue dozens of coworkers who knew him as “the man in the red bandana” before perishing in the collapse of the South Tower.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 202624-year-old South Tower employee Welles Crowther calls his mother from the badly-burning 77th floor: “Mom, this is Welles,” he says, with a large amount of interference and commotion heard in the background. “I’m okay.” He then tells her that he’s going to go to the Sky Lobby to see what can be done about evacuating survivors and hangs up.
- #8
8. 9:20 AM: All bridges in Manhattan closed to vehicle traffic; people begin walking out:
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan except for the George Washington Bridge are closed to vehicle traffic, essentially shutting down New York City. Any evacuations will have to be on foot or by water.
- #9
9. 9:25 AM: Civilian aircraft takeoffs stopped nationwide:
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026The FAA bans all takeoffs of civilian aircraft nationwide. Airspace is steadily being cleared.
- #10
10. 9:28 AM: New York sends all the firefighters they can up the stairs of the World Trade Center - many to their doom.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026The FDNY issues a total recall, ordering all off-duty firefighters to report immediately. But they’re in for an uphill climb, literally, as they must scale 90 floors carrying 60 pounds of gear.
- #11
11. 9:37 AM: The Pentagon is struck by American 77.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026AN AIRCRAFT HAS STRUCK THE PENTAGON. Traveling at a high rate of speed close to the ground, the plane slammed into the building’s west side, starting a violent fire.
- #12
12. 9:41 AM: “The Falling Man” photograph is taken.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026A Windows on the World worker falls or jumps from the top of the North Tower. A photograph of the fall:
- #13
13. 9:45 AM: U.S. Airspace entirely shut down.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026United States Airspace is entirely shut down. No civilian aircraft are permitted to take off, and all aircraft in flight are ordered to land at the nearest airport as soon as possible. Nearly all international flights to the U.S. are redirected to Canada, whose airspace is also shut down. This means that almost any flight over the North Atlantic must land at Gander International Airport, Newfoundland - which now must host far more aircraft than it was built for.
- #14
14. 9:54 AM: President Bush leaves Sarasota and embarks on a marathon relay race of the country.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026Air Force One leaves Sarasota, Florida at an extreme rate of speed and climb. Several passengers meanwhile arrive at the airport to learn that they will not fly today.
- #15
15. 9:59 AM: The South Tower collapses.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026THE SOUTH TOWER OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER HAS COMPLETELY COLLAPSED. The entire building, all 110 floors, has pancaked into the ground. Massive clouds of pulverized concrete and gypsum rush through the streets, covering tens of thousands of people in dust and obscuring Lower Manhattan altogether. Father Mychal Judge, chaplain to the FDNY, is struck by fallen debris and dies instantly. He is the first confirmed and identified death today, but there must be tens of thousands of dead.
- #16
16: 10:03 AM: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was not known at the time, but details are now coming through that the cause of the crash was a passenger rebellion against the terrorists. If true, they’re complete heroes - strangers who decided minutes after meeting one another to work together and risk their lives to stop evil. And they did it.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026A United Airlines Boeing 757, maybe Flight 93, has crashed near Pittsburgh. The cause is unknown. One nearby farmer took this picture, the only on-the-ground evidence that the plane has gone down:
- #17
17. 10:29 AM: The North Tower collapses.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses. The Marriot Hotel, a separate building located at the base of the tower, is also destroyed. A 40-story portion of the building stands for several seconds after the collapse, then falls. Perhaps 20,000 people are dead.
- #18
18. 10:44 AM: A waterborne evacuation bigger than Dunkirk commences from Manhattan:
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Mike Day commences the waterborne evacuation from Manhattan aboard any available craft. It’s an immense operation, and its scale will eclipse Dunkirk - but it has to be done.
- #19
19. 12:36 PM: Rescue and recovery efforts begin at Ground Zero:
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026The rubble at the scene of the World Trade Center collapse is filled with the sounds of “PASS devices,” or emergency signals attached to firefighters when they are no longer moving. The scale of overlapping PASS alarms bespeaks the horrible death toll that must have taken place here. Yet worse - the alarms can’t be stopped because the bodies haven’t been found.
- #20
20. 12:53 PM: Some firemen rotate back to their firehouses:
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026Some FDNY firemen who have been working at the World Trade Center site since this morning are rotated back to their firehouses to recuperate. What remains of the 1st Battalion, the first crew on the scene, staggers in, covered in dust, crying, and physically shaking. Several men vomit a thick chalky substance - a pulverized building, and everything and everyone in it. A few try to return immediately to the site, but they’re held back. Others are laying on the ground, staring into space, unable to comprehend the horrors they have just seen. Jules and Gideon Naudet, two French filmmakers who captured incredible footage of the attacks this morning, tearfully reunite - each of them thought the other was dead.
- #21
21. 5:20 PM: WTC 7 collapses.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 11, 2026World Trade Center 7, a 47-story building, collapses after burning for several hours. There are no injuries or deaths as a result of this collapse.
- #22
22. 8:30 PM: President Bush addresses the nation.
2001 Live@25YearsAgoLive · Sep 12, 2026President Bush addresses the country from the White House. He says, in part, “today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, and our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist attacks. The search is underway for those behind these evil acts, and we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
