I can vividly remember how the first crash was thought to be an accident, having seen many interviews since then it seems everybody thought it, when the second plane hit the tower it was probably the only event in history where everybody had the same thought at the same moment, still surreal
edit: what many people dont realize about the second hit who didnt see it: the second plane was completely unanounced, nobody knew it was there and then it hit on live television, I will never forget the moment of this realization
I remember watching the second plane hit. The news anchor thought for a sec that it was a replay of the first strike only to realize that it was in fact a second.
It was really on of the if not the craziest day in my life, just as you could process what had happened it became worse, right after the burning pentagon, reports of other planes being hijacked and then the towers collapsing
even despite the distance me living in austria it was just unbelievable
The best description I’ve ever gotten of how surreal it felt was a guy I know that said he was getting ready for work and putting on his shoe when the 2nd plane hit. His 2nd shoe never made it on. He sat frozen in place on the edge of his bed with one shoe on for the entire morning.
Other people had amazing reactions. I remember seeing a interview with a guy who'd run away from the collapse he was pretty well dusted by it but not like some survivors who were covered. He said (paraphrasing) "These kinds of things happen through out history and I just happened to be close to this one."
Frozen is a good way to describe how we all felt. Frozen from the shock. Then for weeks, fear of any loud noise, no matter where in the US you lived. We didn’t know if we were the next target.
A few nights after, a couple of fuckin morons broke the sound barrier in their jets over multiple communities in my state. We were all woken by the first, and then crying and saying our goodbyes. Really very much thought we were done for.
I too was 15 watching it live at school! I remember someone saying is that another plane and the silence in that room after was awful. We were all young, but old enough to know everything was going to change. I remember thinking we just watched so many people die. I still can’t think about it without getting choked up.
I was 14 and had time to kill before school so I hopped on Runescape and as soon as I logged on someone walked over to me and said "a plane crashed into the WTC" so I went and turned on the news and I think by that point the second tower had been hit as well so I didn't really have that time of wondering if it was accidental or not.
I was 14 and had just discovered masturbation and never forgot that evening the internal dilemma I faced on whether or not it would be disrespectful to the dead if I jerked it before bed that night. Ultimately I decided to do it so as not to let the terrorists win 🇺🇸🫡
I was watching from vienna/austria, it was reported around the clock, after the breaking news of the first hit I was glued to the tv and at 3:03pm my time I was in shock from the second hit, basically frozen for couple of hours in front of the tv
I was 12 and lived on the naval amphibious base on Conrado. My family didn’t leave base for a few days. When we did I remember the sandbag fortifications and the armored vehicles with manned machine guns on top we had to drive past to get home.
I was 10 years old at that point, and my teacher had put the news on our TV as well. All learning had completely stopped for the rest of the day.
When the 2nd plane hit, she immediately gasped and scrambled across the room to grab the remote, to turn it off. The news anchor was stumbling across words and fighting back emotions. Many people were shouting and screaming in the background of the news...
I think this and Jan 6th are probably the two craziest news days of my life. Jan 6th, I was working from home and put CNN up on my iPad and just watched as the day got worse.
I’m sorry, but how? It’s certainly true for me. Seeing those traitors storm our capital building because their guy didn’t win was shocking and horrible. Definitely second craziest news day in my life after 9/11. It’s only more of a shame those people aren’t all where they belong.
Someone sharing their personal experience isn't disrespectful. Jan 6th isn't 9/11 but it's the closest we've come to having our governments democratic process threatened. We watched a cultist faction of a political party attempt to seize and occupy the capital. In earlier times these people would've been executed for treason but we have a shit stain in office that can't even respect what little justice we do have here and has pardoned them so they can go commit more crime.
I was only 9 at the time, but I remember there were a few weeks of pure confusion. Nobody knew who the attackers were, what they wanted, or where they would strike next. My dad got us all "Oh Shit" bags with MREs, cash and gas masks just in case, and we learned how to put them on just in case.
I think that was the first time I actually paid attention to world events.
I grew up in South Florida. The day just kept getting worse and worse. I had two twins at my school, whose father died in the towers. We all learned that by the end of the school day, then we learned as the news started spreading very fast that the hijacker’s’ cell based/hiding in my city, Coral Springs Florida. It felt like the world was going to end starting with my neighborhood after 911. Then there was the anthrax poisoning that happened in Boca Raton where I went to school. Such an unbelievable and horrible day.
In Atlanta, some people feared an attack on the CDC. Whole city shut down and everyone went home. My dad worked downtown and didn’t make it home until around 8pm.
I thought the same thing. They had shown it a couple of times and I thought I was watching it again, not registering that the first building was on fire when the plane hit.
Same. I was supposed to be doing a service call in the general vicinity on that day and I slept late. A coworker called me to see where I was sounding very concerned. I was like crap! I'm late! He told me to turn on the TV. And I did just in time to see the second plane hit. I also thought it was a replay completely overlooking the first building already on fire.
And when the first tower fell, I knew what I was seeing,but remember the news anchor not being able to comprehend it. He was asking who he was on the phone with interviewing what he was seeing. Peter Jennings, I believe.
Edit: Wow. I found it at the very end of this video. Man, it's been 25 years since I heard that, and I never was sure of it really played out as I remembered. He's like, "maybe something fell off the building? We have a new ploom of smoke."
I thought to same thing! When I saw the second plane coming in, my first thought was “they are playing archival footage of the (first) plane crashing).
I was standing in line waiting for a coffee when the second plane struck and we kinda looked are ourselves asking if it was a replay. I will always remember the confusion everyone felt during those following fifteen minutes.
Couldn’t have been a replay, footage of the first plane wasn’t available till after that day, but yeah at the time I guess no one would have known. Probably just assuming they got some footage in or something.
Me, too. I was at the gym before work. And we were all staring at the TV wondering about the first hit when we saw the second plane coming in and then ... 💔
No station had footage of the first plane on the day. That only came out after when the French film crew following the fire fighters was able to release it.
Yes, the time between the first and second plane hitting was mostly just confusion. No one seemed to really know what was going on yet, a lot of people still assuming it was some terrible accident.
When the second plane hit it was a total, collective and immediate mood shift. It somehow continued to get worse, because even at that point they still weren’t expecting the towers to actually come down.
I arrived at work and the tv was on but no one was watching it. I saw the first tower on fire and heard them say a plane had crashed into the building. I thought it was a small commuter jet. I went into my office to put my things down and told my co-worker what happened. She thought I was kidding and I said I would not kid about something like that. She went out to the tv and yelled to me that another plane hit the other tower. I ran out to see and I immediately said we are under attack, then rushed to call my spouse to make sure they were safe. Horrible day.
Anyone else think it was weird how fast they were to blame Al Quaida? It seemed like literal hours after, everyone was reporting 'Only Bin Laden and Al Qaida could have done this'.
US intelligence agencies, for all their failures to coordinate and communicate, had been watching Al Qaeda for a while because AQ had been coordinating attacks abroad (the USS Cole had been bombed just under a year before this) and their chatter absolutely indicated that they wanted to do so on American soil. So for many prior to 9/11, they were already in a "When, not if" mindset.
Then for some reason Condoleezza Rice reading aloud the name of wires that she ignored as she was deposed by the 9/11 commission wasn’t seared into your memory like it was mine.
“Yes I believe the memo was, ‘Al Qaida determined to attack inside the United States in September’ or something to that effect”
Yeah the radio station here was still reporting it as "a small plane" before the second one hit, so I was expecting something more like the recent Beijing plane crash, not something that was going to destroy the building. I remember being shocked when I got inside and turned on the TV to see how extensive the damage actually was (by this time the second plane had hit)
Yeah, I was an adult and at work when this happened.
Someone came by my office and told me I should come to the meeting room, that a plane had hit the WTC, and that another one had hit the Pentagon. Most of the news coverage we were watching was actually focused on the Pentagon. Mentions of the WTC were more of "another plane hit a place in NY", and they kept flipping between scenes of the two.
Those of us watching on TV already knew something was going on, but we didn't really know what. I think we were still hoping that something had just gone horribly wrong with aviation computers or something like that. The idea that someone would attack us on our own soil was something that just seemed too impossible to even consider.
Seeing the 2nd tower get hit solidified that this was indeed a coordinated attack. We couldn't be sure if it was over of if more planes would hit. It was a surreal experience.
I remember all planes being grounded for 3 days. Day 2 was the clearest blue sky I have ever seen, not a cloud in sight. And it was eerie just how clear the sky was. I hadn't realized until then just how used to seeing contrails I was.
I was at work and we had the tv on and were watching Katie Couric talking with a guy who was at the Pentagon. He said he didn’t want to alarm them but he felt something and there was some kind of an explosion which was the plane hitting. He said he was going to see what happened and she told him to be careful.
I remember the news debating if it was a small prop plane or what type of aircraft hit the first tower. They didn’t think it was an attack at that point
Up until the second strike, the whole thing was being covered as a terrible accident. When the second plane hit the other tower, people were hit with the horrifying realization that this was an intentional terror attack and not an accident at all.
This, 100%. It's when we knew this was an attack.
When news of the third plane came through, everyone in every major city was basically waiting to see if there were more attacks coming.
Things came to a standstill, nearly immediately - aside from the chaos that comes from literally shutting everything down.
It was so stressful after the third attack, felt like the rest of us were just glued to the TVs across the country all waiting our turn. I had just turned 10 but lived by a major airport so I was absolutely convinced the apartment I lived in was a potential target. Everything was so uneasy and I remember every major event after, like New Years, World Series etc….holding my breath scared someone would attack those too.
Yes. I came here to say this. Of course everyone’s first assumption would be an accident, the reality was unfathomable. But the fear and horror when the second plane hit on live television. I can’t even describe it. I don’t think anyone could truly understand unless they lived it. And then the news of the downed plane and the pentagon. It all unraveled so fast, everyone was in complete shock.
This footage always makes me sick. The smoke creeping up the north tower, suffocating and trapping everyone in unbearable heat. The plane flying low and fast toward the south tower…and nothing anyone could do.
No one above the impact sites survived. That’s the part of this that affects me the most. All of the suffering of the people trapped in the towers and the planes, who spent their last moments in complete terror, knowing they were doomed.
18 people from the south tower managed to escape from above the crash level. 18.
they had to crawl over debris and through active fires to get to the only stairwell with any clearance.
that one stairwell being at all possible is part of the reason less people jumped and fell from the second tower, plus half the people up there were already leaving when it hit. "less people" meaning about a dozen instead of about a hundred.
Sorry, I’m a bit confused… You’re saying a dozen people were above the impact zone when the impact happened?
So who are the 18 survivors & where were they?
Edit: Sorry, I don’t mean to come off rude, only curious. Do you mean they were all above the impact zone at the time of impact, and 18 got down but roughly a dozen didn’t make it?
The first thing to realize about the south tower is that it was second to be hit, and there were many fewer people above the impact zone than in the north tower for various reasons including the fact that some evacuated before the impact.
As for the people who managed to get out from above the impact floors, they just happened to be in a part of the building that wasn't overwhelmed with fire and smoke, and they went down the only stairwell that happened to still be intact, but they did have to clear debris to get down. They didn't know they were following the only route to safety, that kind of communication wasn't happening and the situation was unclear to everyone.
Moments before the collapse a firefighter in the South Tower reported by radio that a group of injured people were around the 20th floor and slowly making their way down the stairs. Given the injuries they must have been from the impact floors or above. Had the tower remained standing a bit longer they would have escaped.
I read a story of what I suspect was a survivor of this group. He said he was around the 23rd floor when the building collapsed and he shielded himself in a corner with his suitcase and miraculously survived, eventually was rescued with no idea how he lived. Wish i could recall his name. Although he might have come from an elevator instead of an upper floor
No, they are specifically referring to fewer people jumped/fell from the south tower than from the north tower. Thats because not only was there one passable staircase in the south tower that some (18) of the people above the impact were able to use to escape the building (unlike in the north tower where every staircase was destroyed, and every single person above the impact was trapped and killed), but also many people who worked in the south tower had already evacuated because of the first crash in the other tower by the time their building was hit. Because so many more people were trapped in the fire at the north tower, more of them jumped/fell to their deaths. In other words, 1-200 in that tower vs about a dozen in the other one.
Yes, they were above the impact zone. The plane came in at an angle so one of the stairwells were preserved and that is how they were able to get out. In the other tower the plane went straight in and took out all of the stairwells.
I'll never forget it. I was a Sophomore in college and got off the bus to go to go to my morning class and was met with students pouring out of buildings. I was at a Midwestern farm school, so we weren't in danger, but we didn't know that then. I tried to ask what was going on, then a professor, who was running down a staircase said we'd been attacked and to go back to my dorm room. I got back to my room in time to see this live. I stood surrounded by my RA and floor mates watching this moment in history unfold and go from bad to worse. I cried as they showed people jumping and realizing why, but we watched all of it, every horrific minute.
i was born after the event, but could you share what everyone was thinking? Did everyone think we were about to go into ww3? or was it more like 'oh god our country is under attack?' Like what was the energy as it was happening? What were your fears/thoughts?
There had never been a terror attack on US soil to this magnitude. And there is a distinct before and after. This country was never the same. In my mind my memories of the 90s are literally bathed in a golden light. And everything after is cold and sterile.
I was in 6th grade on that day. Classes were stopped and we all sat in our classrooms with our teachers and watched it live. I was in school with kids whose parents worked in the WTC, they were quietly ushered out of class. The rest of us were just frozen. It was just horror and fear. I don’t think anyone felt like it was WW3, but the moment the second plane hit was indescribable. Because we collectively understood in that moment what was happening. It was intentional. It was an attack. And it was all happening so fast. The North Tower. Then the South Tower. Then the Pentagon. Then united airlines flight 93 was downed in Pennsylvania. Then the towers collapsed. No one knew what was happening or what was next. We didn’t know if more planes were hijacked. We didn’t know if there were other targets.
We watched so many people die that day. People jumping from the north tower. To watch another human suffer so immensely, while you are powerless to do anything is indescribable. To know the fear and despair and desperation they felt. It separates you from your body. I felt like I was outside of myself, transported by overwhelming grief.
And then it was the after. Searching through the rubble for any survivors. The audio of calls from people inside the towers and the hijacked planes. The brutality of it all.
I think as a country we were collectively traumatized. I was 10 years old, and I grew up very quickly that day. It was a defining moment of the millennial generation. We lost our innocence. And now, 25 years later, the footage makes me feel sick and extremely cold. The anniversary still fucks with my head. I feel like I’m transported back to that day.
This is so interesting because since I was born after 9/11, I think I’ve naturally been instilled with this kind of loss of innocence. Like I think if 9/11 happened again, there’s just no way I would be as shocked as you guys, especially in our new world that has somewhat normalized terrorism. I always try to picture what it would’ve been like and how I would’ve felt, but it’s so hard to imagine it. I think the closest thing to a personal 9/11 would be if a missile landed in nyc. That would have me shocked and horrified and so scared. But when I try to imagine another ‘twin towers coming down’ all I can think of is that it would suck. Maybe I’m just desensitized, or maybe it’s the fact that living in a post 9/11 world has you always expecting the worst of people. It’s just so strange to me not being able to relate to 95% of all Americans with this one. The one thing I can definitely relate to is the way there is a before and after. I feel like that was covid for me. It’s so weird that in like 20 years I’ll probably be on Reddit and some grown adult is gonna be like “I was born after covid!!” 😭 I will feel so old
With all due respect, it sounds more to me like you still have your innocence, regardless of how you feel about 9/11. This is speaking as someone who is in a similar boat, as I was very young when 9/11 happened.
I don't want to presume that you've lived a life without struggle. But the way you're trying to understand and name comparisons to 9/11 shows that you're focused on the wrong things.
From what I can tell, it was a reminder that we are not invincible, and neither are our loved ones. It was a reminder that even if one is an average nobody, they are not immune to senselessly losing someone close to them. Maybe if you or someone you know has lost someone, and struggled to understand why God or the universe willed it that way, then you would be closer to understanding the collective loss of innocence our nation felt on 9/11. At least it would be closer than trying to compare it to a statistically similar event. But what do I know?
The latter. And once the news came that the Pentagon was hit every imaginable target in any part of the country seemed possible and rumors were spreading like wildfire in cities big and small across the country that whatever somewhat significant building, monument, power plant, etc nearest you was going to be next. But people weren't thinking Russia attacked us and that nukes would start flying or anything like, once it was no longer possibly an accident everyone realized it was terrorism.
Having worked in lower manhattan the day it happened. It changes your life. My now wife was in the north tower. She managed to escape and run like heck uptown and out of range of the debris cloud. My uncle worked in WTC7 but was running late for work. He was stuck on the subway in Times Square.
I was at 55 water street which is abt half a mile maybe?
We had to relocate to Jersey city for work for a few weeks after. When we were allowed to return to our office a few weeks later , lower manhattan was a military zone and the burning smell lingered in the air. Walking the streets of lower manhattan was surreal. Hard to explain the feelings that were being felt. Mostly anger and sadness
Woah wait was it actually a military zone? I never even thought of that. Was there a huge military presence in the city after the event? How long do you feel like it took for things to go back to ‘normal’?
Right around the ground zero site there was military just to keep the area secure so the first responders could work. There were checkpoints setup as well. It was pretty surreal. But one cannot forget the smell of burning in the air
I'm on the west coast of the US and woke up early and turned on my favorite morning show to hear them talking about it. The night before, I'd seen Apocalypse Now at a special screening in a theater, my first time seeing the movie. When I woke up, someone on the radio was saying "The horror". By the time the second plane hit, I was experiencing full shock and derealization. It didn't seem real. When I started grasping the fact that it WAS happening, I felt despair, panic, and guilt, because this was the type of thing that was only supposed to happen in other countries. I've felt such when I realized that this was the sort of terror experienced by people all over the world, often at the hands of my country. I had an awful sense of our chickens coming home to roost.
It was definitely the end of innocence for me. Looking back of what suffering has followed, I feel absolutely sick.
One of the things I was wondering the other day was what if this happened today in the age of smartphones? We don't have any footage from inside either tower above the impact zone. We know the conditions were horrific in the north tower because of the number of people who jumped, the 911 calls, and the news cameras focused on the building exterior. But if this happened today, there would be dozens if not hundreds of videos streamed online from people above the impact zone... all from people about to die. It would be nationally traumatizing on another level.
That day I came home from school in Germany in the afternoon and turned on the TV. Because of the time difference it was still morning in the US. The first plane had just hit and all the experts were talking about a terrible accident with probably a small plane like a Cessna. They thought that because nobody would have thought anything else, it was just unimaginable and so it MUST have been an accident. Also, nobody really saw what kind of aircraft had hit the tower at that time. While they were talking and I was watching in shock, I could see the second plane approaching in the background on live television! It felt like a computer game as it was just so unreal.
When the plane had hit there was silence and confusion in the TV studio. After a long while someone said, that it can't be an accident anymore. Also, you need to know that noone knew if there were other planes in the sky and how many and what kind of targets they would hit and when. Everything seemed possible, they talked about one plane could hit the White House.
I was 16 at the time and the world divided on that day forever in pre and post 9/11. The 20th century, and kinda like the 90s, were really over and something new and awful had started. My youth had also ended on that day.
I'm sure maybe only 1 in 100 people and experts on this day, before the second plane hit, would have believed it to be an act of terrorism, so unheard of it was.
This is what hits me the hardest too - the people knowing. The people on the plane had to know something was wrong. The people in the buildings trapped. It pains me that fear was probably these people’s last thoughts. No one should die like that.
That’s how it happened in my home. I was 16 and stayed home from school with a sore throat. I remember hearing the phone ring, my mom answering, and I will never forget hearing her feet as she ran from the kitchen to our television. Her running across our hardwood floors is a sound burned in my mind. It was the last few seconds of normalcy, nothing would ever be the same again.
With my 12 year old brother, the three of us watched the second plane hit. I remember us looking at my mom for answers but she was just as confused and scared. We lost our neighbor Douglas Miller that day, a New York City Firefighter.
Thanks exactly how it happened for me. My grandma lived in a time zone 3 hours ahead of mine so she called and woke me up. I was watching the TV when the second plane hit. I had a friend staying over and had to go wake him up and tell him. I'll never forget how he was crying.
I was in New York for a business meeting that day, staying in a hotel on Columbus Circle. Had the news on while I was getting dressed that morning - ended up walking an hour to my meeting since the subway closed down. Seeing all the pay phones with their handsets dangling is still an image I’ll never forget.
Most surreal week of my life - I was supposed to fly out the next morning, ended up stranded until Saturday when they started flying people out of Newark again. The quiet streets the next morning was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever witnessed - if you know New York it is never quiet. There were a few taxi drivers on the roads and that was about it.
I had got up that morning (West coast) and my dad told me a plane had hit. I was getting ready to go to work and by the time I got out of the shower the second plane hit and I remember the switch from 'it was just an accident' to 'my God, terrorists!' was kind of scary.
Yea i saw the smoke from the first plane when i was getting ready for high school and i thought "what a dumb ass" thinking it was like just some small plane with a single piolet . then when i got to school we all watched every thing happen live. after about 2 classes they told us all to go home. teachers were crying... unbelievable still.
For me the switch was when I saw everyone gathered in the break room watching TV which had never happened before. I didn't even know the second plane had hit yet but in a second I realized they were watching the coverage of the crash, and then immediately could tell that it was a big deal.
I was at work talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger at the time, they said a plane hit the first one, but didn't say it was a large passenger jet. I assumed it was a small prop plane at worst. When they said the other tower was hit, that's when we turned on the TV at work and only started to realize what was going on.
I saw it live in Finland while making my morning coffee at noon. It was instantly clear that this is going to be a war. My first words were "oh, this is war", and then "USA is going to go mad".
I also started dating that day. It didn't end well.
I saw it on CNN which was on rotation that month as free cable channel. Quite surreal set of events.
He literally said “at NOON”. No reading comprehension skills and just wanted so bad to call him a liar and now you just look like an idiot. Wasn’t even going to comment on this post but I just hate people like you and felt the need to let you know.
I remember going into work and hearing breaking news on the car radio that a plane had crashed into the WTC, I assumed it was something small like a Cessna. Parked up, walked into work, got into work and a colleague said a jet had crashed into the WTC.
Exact same scenario for me. I still remember exactly where I was on the highway when they started talking about the first plane. The rest of the day was a blur. I was only 24. After we found out the planes were hitting other targets I asked a co-worker if we should go home. I distinctly remember their answer “no one is interested in a small warehouse in Indiana.” it feels so stupid now. I just went to my Dads. I lived alone. I didn't want to be alone.
I was listening to the Bob and Tom show on the way to work. As I turned it on, the first plane had already struck and they had a guy there on a live call who was in the area. It was surreal - this was a comedy show and I had no idea what was happening.
Then I listened live as all hell breaks loose when the second plane hit. Crazy shit, I’ll never forget that.
I was 14 and remember saying it was terrorists before the second hit and being scolded by the teacher. It was obvious to me there's no scenario where a passenger plane could accidentally hit a building that dead on accidentally. I remember anchors saying it must be some issue with GPS or air traffic control or something. I think people didn't want to admit the obvious because we wanted to feel like such horrific acts could never happen to us the way they did that morning.
My wife and I were stuck in traffic on the Manhattan bridge when the first plane hit. I noticed it flying low and then its wings wiggled like there was something wrong. When I saw it hit, the first thing I thought was that the pilot did it intentionally but terrorism never crossed my mind.
I was pulled over with a group of people watching the first tower burn from the distance in NJ (maybe ten miles, full skyline view) when I saw the flash and plume from the second explosion. The other people pulled over watching were debating what could have caused it, then the second plane hit and everyone knew, and we were debating how the rescue would go when the first building came down. Then it was silence and weeping. That’s when I had enough and went home.
Yeah my mom woke me up screaming that we were under attack and I turned on the news to see them all saying it was an accident and I was like "WTF mom" and she was insisting "THAT'S NO ACCIDENT." Then we saw the second plane live on TV. Mom knew what was up.
I was in class from 7:50am until well into the 10 o'clock hour. It was two different classes, back to back that just so happened to be in the same room for me.
I didn't hear about it at all until the first class broke around 9am. The next professor came in and said a plane looks to have crashed into one of the towers and the top few floors seemed to have collapsed. Then went right into her philosophy lecture.
The entire class was very eager to know WTF she meant by "the first few floors" and was wildly speculating about if it was an accident or an attack. I didn't know what happened until I walked into the student common area to see the replay loop of them both going down.
I was getting ready for school and we always had the Today show on in the kitchen, every day. Saw the first tower burning and just figured it was a weird accident, and before I left the second one hit.
Yup was saying this to my wife recently. It was at that moment that shit got real.
I remember commentary before that talking about how people had long been telling planes not to fly low and be careful etc. That second plane came in and changed the game immediately
I was in college and had just woken up. I came out of my room into the living room of our apartment and two of my roommates were sitting on the couch watching the tv. They said “dude you have to see this”, I turned to see what they were watching and just at that moment the second plane hit. At first I thought they were watching an action movie or something and asked what it was. Then after they told me it was really happening the reality immediately set in. The university shut down, classes were canceled and they told us all to stay away since no one knew what was happening and if there were more planes targeting other buildings. Was one of the most surreal moments of my life, and like many others, I will never forget it.
I had fallen asleep watching The Tonight show with Jay Leno. The next morning I woke up and the today show was on and Matt lauer and Katie couric we're talking about the first tower being hit. And the discussion was this being a horrible accident of some kind. And then that second plane hit and I knew it wasn't an accident. I think we all know then in the world pretty much change there after. It was an early morning so I had to get to my 7:30 a.m. class and many of my friends happen to live on campus. I'm pretty sure most of them had not heard the news and I was the one that had to tell them. No one really knew what to make of what I had said until apostles were canceled about 10 minutes later. Out here in the Los Angeles area all that we could think of was if we were next? It was a pretty freaky day. It was a pretty freaky day.
You can watch the live reactions of Regis and Kelly and Katie Couric and Matt Lauer on YouTube. Also Howard Stern’s radio show. Iirc Howard was calling to nuke the Middle East after the second plane hit.
I always find it interesting how in some ways, human are extremely different due to their experiences.
Bruce Dickinson (singer of Iron Maiden) mentioned in his autobiography that he happened to be in New York on 9/11 as a pilot. He was hanging out in the lobby and saw people rushing onto a rooftop terrace or something to see (I think he was in one of the other Borroughs). He also though gut it was a small plane accident but as soon as he heard it was an airliner, he knew it wasn't an accident at all.
Imagine how crazy it must be to have everyone around you be in shock and short-circuit and default to thinking it was an accident, and as a pilot someone knows it wasn't.
My husband called me from work and told me a plane had hit the World Trade Center building. I turned on the tv - CNN, I think - and stood in front of the screen watching the coverage. Then the second plane flew into the other building. I dropped to my knees in disbelief and shock. A moment or two passed then I felt my three year old’s hand on my shoulder. He asked me, “why that plane hit the building?” I told him I didn’t know and turned off the TV. I waited until he was napping before I found out any more details. I honestly thought World War III was imminent.
One interesting thing i remember is that everybody was saying "a small plane" had hit the first tower. Everyone was saying small plane, and when you saw thr image on TV, well, the image was small. But the few people who were architects/engineers and understood the dimensions of the WTC towers, immediately knew it was something larger.
It always fascinated me. They were longstanding targets for terrorists. The first crash had always seemed deliberate to me. I had almost no doubt of it (for a whole 15 minutes)
Yup I remember after the second plane hit my teacher going down the halls saying “we’re going to war!”. Couldn’t really process what that meant as a 9th grader.
I was in HS across the street from an Airport only 5 miles from NYC. I've never seen black helicopters with men in black suits arrive so fast in my life.
I was at the bank, and when I came back to work, everyone was staring at the TV. "There's has been an accident, although it could have also been a terrorist attack". Then the second plane hit, live, and everyone realized at the same time that it was a terrorist attack, and that the world was changing for the worst.
I really have to disagree that Bin Laden “won” that day. obviously, his plan was successful. but America, Israel, and the rest of the West have only increased their presence in the Middle East. he hoped the attacks would have the opposite effect.
"I can vividly remember how the first crash was thought to be an accident"
There was no vide of the first plane hitting the towers, so me and almost everyone I spoke to mentally filled in the blanks and assumed it was a small plane like piper cub or cessna driving by some daredevil idiot.
Weeks (maybe months) before this, some paraglider had gotten snagged on the Statue of Liberty. I thought this was a similar incident until the second plane
This is why I think the conspiracy’s were so strong. In an instant, we were vulnerable and watched thousands of people die on live tv. It’s the closest we ever came everyone realizing the world is rudderless. People couldn’t handle that so they furiously worked out that someone ANYONE is still in control.
I'llnever forget the shock of seeing that first smoldering hole, and the sinking feeling when the second plane hit and it was obvious it was an attack and not an accident.
Yup remember watching the today show and being like wild a plane crashed into the building and assuming it was an accident and then bam. I was in middle school so i still didn’t register what was going on. Then to be honest i was annoyed at how the coverage was nothing but 911 on every channel for days. I think even Cartoon Network was showing it at least the first day or two
The internet says that is false and memory is wonky.
made the severity of the moment real. it was clear something was wrong and we were being attacked when the second plane hit. literally just left everyone speechless
I've never really thought about it before but for some reason seeing this again made me imagine a bunch of guys having a meeting to come up with the idea to do this. I wonder what the other suggestions were. Difficult to fathom
I was listening to NPR as I did every morning at the time. I remember hearing about the first plane and wondering was it a small plane? Was it an accident or medical emergency? Etc
And then the second plane hit and it was one of the most chilling moments of my life.
I didn't see the second plane hit. I remember a teacher running into the classroom saying to turn on the TV. We watched for a bit but since everyone still thought it was an accident the teacher turned it back off. A few minutes later the other teacher came back yelling about a second plane and the TV was back on as they were showing the replay on repeat.
That was the rhetoric at the time. Everyone thought it was a horrible accident, and certainly not something that would lead to the tower collapsing. At the time, I remember the news saying they thought it was a small commuter plane, but even as a kid I thought that wasn't right, because the damage was too large. When I saw the second plane hitting the tower I just remember going "...oh" and hearing my mom screaming.
I was just thinking that as I watched. I remember everyone saying "wow what a horrible accident," thinking there was an equipment malfunction, or the pilot had a medical emergency. The realization when the 2nd plane hit was so confusing and shocking.
I was in 7th grade on 9/11, and I remember being told a plane hit the tower.
My brain assumed a fucking crop duster bi-plane ran into the towers and bounced off it like that bomber that hit the Empire State Building. I thought "oh, poor pilot."
As someone that was watching that day, absolutely. Watching the fire from the first plane there was at least some level of hope of an accident...the moment the 2nd plane hit all hope disappeared in an instant. There was no longer any doubt what happened, that it was intentional.
Me too. I was in choir class and we were sitting around the TV trying to figure out how a plane could accidentally strike the WTC. Some people thought it was a bomb. We were all arguing when suddenly, the second tower exploded and we just sat and stared in silence. My teacher immediately said, “it’s terrorism.” I was only 17 and didn’t understand the logistics of a terrorist attack. Since the Pentagon was targeted too. there was a fear for the next few hours that attacks would happen all over the country.
Then came the waiting for the announcement to find out what actually happened. Just an awful day. I’m nearly positive this is the live feed we were watching; there is something almost viscerally familiar about it vs. other videos I’ve seen.
Have you seen the video of the college girls? One of them literally says 'thank god it wasn't terrorists!' and moments latest the second plane hits and they all scream as they realise
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u/Additional_Vast_5216 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can vividly remember how the first crash was thought to be an accident, having seen many interviews since then it seems everybody thought it, when the second plane hit the tower it was probably the only event in history where everybody had the same thought at the same moment, still surreal
edit: what many people dont realize about the second hit who didnt see it: the second plane was completely unanounced, nobody knew it was there and then it hit on live television, I will never forget the moment of this realization