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AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 11

08:13 transponder is switched off

08:14 two controllers are recorded discussing the fact that the pilot is out of contact.

08:24 a hijacker's voice is heard. "We have some planes," it says. "Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport." (Guardian)

A controller asks "Who's trying to call me?"

08:25 air traffic control centres are told that a plane has been hijacked.

08:31 Air National Guard Lt. Col. Dawne Deskins is notified of the hijacking - this time was later corrected to 08:40

08:36 flight attendant Betty Ong reports that the plane tilts all the way on one side and then becomes horizontal again. Flight attendant Amy Sweeney then reports on her phone that the plane has begun a rapid descent.

08:40 FAA alerts NORAD AA11 has been hijacked (now-official version)

08:41 The pilots of Flight 175 tell ground control about Flight 11, "We figured we'd wait to go to your center. We heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston. Someone keyed the mike and said: 'Everyone stay in your seats.' It cut out."

08:45 Just prior to the crash of Flight 11, flight attendant Amy Sweeney is asked on the phone if she can recognize where she is. She says, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings," then after a pause, a quiet "Oh, my God!" Mere seconds later the line goes dead. Meanwhile, flight attendant Betty Ong ends her call repeating the phrase "Pray for us" over and over. Apparently there is quiet instead of screaming in the background

08:46 NORAD orders 2 F-15 jets from Otis Air National Guard Base in Falmouth, Mass.

08:47 Plane crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Centre

08:52 the F-15's are airborne

12 minutes from 08:25 when hijacking was confirmed to 08:47 crash, almost half an hour until the F-15's are scrambled after the hijack got reported!

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 77

8.50:51 there is the last radio communication with aircraft

08:57 transponder contact is lost.
For some minutes the plane is missing because flight controllers are looking for the radar signal toward the west and don't realize the plane is headed east. Rumors circulate that the plane might have exploded in midair

08:58 Brian Sweeney on Flight 175 tries to call his wife but can only leave a message. "We've been hijacked, and it doesn't look too good." He calls his mother and tells her what's happening onboard

09:05 West Virginia flight control notices a new eastbound plane entering its radar with no radio contact and no transponder identification. They are not sure it is Flight 77. Supposedly they wait another 19 minutes before notifying NORAD about it. (!)

09:24 FAA notifies NORAD about the hijacking

09:25 the controller observes the plane moving towards Washington

09:30 fighters are scrambled

09:38 American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington.

08:57 - 09:24 it took half an hour to notify NORAD after the signal was lost, and there were 14 minutes between notification and the crash

Considering what happened just before one would excpect a faster response.

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 175

08:41 The pilots of Flight 175 tell ground control about Flight 11, "We figured we'd wait to go to your center. We heard a suspicious transmission on our departure out of Boston. Someone keyed the mike and said: 'Everyone stay in your seats.' It cut out."

08:42 Flight 175 veers from its official course without authorization. A flight controller says of Flight 175, "... looks like he's heading southbound but there's no transponder no nothing and no one's talking to him."

08:43 NORAD, their headsets linked to Boston Center, heard of a second plane, United Flight 175, that also was not responding

08:44 The pilot of US Airlines Flight 583 tells flight control, regarding Flight 175, "I just picked up an ELT [emergency locator transmitter] on 121.5 it was brief but it went off."

08:46 Two F-15 fighters are ordered to scramble from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts

08:46 Flight 175 stops transmitting its transponder signal (?!) - see 08:42 (!) and starts sending a different one (!) (was that really the same airplane?)

08:53 Controller: "We may have a hijack. We have some problems over here right now."

09:00 Last radar reading is seen at an altitude of 18,000 feet as flight is descending at a ground speed of 480 knots.

09:03 Plane crashes into south tower of World Trade Centre
F-15's still about 70 miles from the WTC

08:43 - 09:03 twenty minutes

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 93

09:00 + (just after 09:00) United warns all of its aircraft of the potential for cockpit intrusion and to take precautions to barricade cockpit doors. Flight 93 pilots acknowledge the message

09:16 FAA informs NORAD that United Airlines flight 93 may have been hijacked. (according to CNN)

09:27 Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena and says, "I'm on United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. The plane has been hijacked. We are in the air. They've already knifed a guy. (One of them has a gun - this was later dismissed). There is a bomb on board. Call the FBI." Deena connects to emergency 911

9:28 there are the first audible signs of problems, in background cockpit noise.

09:34 Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena a second time. He says, "They're in the cockpit." He has checked the pulse of the man who was knifed (later identified as Mark Rothenberg, sitting next to him in seat 5B) and determined he is dead. She tells him about the hits on the WTC. He responds, "Oh my God, it's a suicide mission." As they continue to talk, he tells her the plane has turned back. By this time, Deena is in constant communication with the FBI and others, and a policeman is at her house

09:35 the plane climbs without authorisation

09:37 Jeremy Glick calls his wife Lyz from Flight 93. He describes the hijackers as Middle Eastern, Iranian looking. They put on red headbands and the three of them stood up and yelled and ran into the cockpit. He was sitting in the front of the coach section, but was sent to the back with most of the passengers. They claimed to have a bomb, which looked like a box with something red around it. He says the plane has turned around. Family members immediately call emergency 911 on another line.

09:39 The hijackers probably inadvertently transmit over radio: ''Hi, this is the captain. We'd like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board. And we are going to turn back to the airport. And they had our demands, so please remain quiet.''

09:41 From Flight 93, Marion Birtton calls a friend. She tells him two people have been killed and the plane has been turned around

09:40 Transponder signal from United flight 93 ceases and radar contact is lost.

09:42 The Mark-Bingham phone call according to the Post Gazette:
"Mom? This is Mark Bingham," the voice said. It sounded strange for her son to introduce himself by his full name. She knew he was flustered.
"I want to let you know that I love you. I'm on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb," he said.
"Who are these guys?" Alice Hoglan asked.
There was a pause. Hoglan heard murmurs of conversation in English. Mark's voice came back.
"You believe me, don't you?" he asked.
"Yes, Mark. I believe you. But who are these guys?"
There was a pause. Alice heard background noise. The line went dead.

09:45 Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena for the third time. She tells him about the crash into the Pentagon. Tom speaks about the bomb he'd mentioned earlier, saying, "I don't think they have one. I think they're just telling us that." He says the hijackers are talking about crashing the plane into the ground. "We have to do something." He says that he and others are making a plan. "A group of us."

09:45 - 10:00 The "Let's Roll" Todd Beamer phone call

09:47 Jeremy Glick is still on the phone with his wife Lyz. He tells her that the passengers are taking a vote if they should try to take over the plane or not, and that the hijackers are only armed with knives - no guns

09:49 flight controllers called Pittsburgh flight control and said a plane was heading toward Pittsburgh and refusing to communicate

09:50 Sandra Bradshaw calls her husband from Flight 93. She says, ''Have you heard what's going on? My flight has been hijacked. My flight has been hijacked with three guys with knives."

09:54 the Thomas Burnett phone call

09:57 supposed start of the fight of the passengers against the terrorists. they may have used a fire extinguisher and the food cart as weapons / for ramming

09:57 - 10:00 several cell-phone calls from passengers saying "they are storming the cockpit", "everybody is running to first class", "they are doing it, they are doing it!"

09:58 phone call from a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer in neighboring Westmoreland County. The man repeatedly told officials the call was not a hoax. "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" Cramer quoted the man from a transcript of the call. The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said. (there never was an explanation for the explosion and smoke)

10:02 After a review of radar tapes, a radar signal is detected near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

10:03 According to the US government, Flight 93 crashes at 10:03

10:06 a seismic study authorized by the US Army to determine when the plane crashed concludes the crash happens at 10:06:05

When or if fighters have been dispatched at all, remains a mystery. There have been reportings of fighters that where later denied. Eyewitnesses talked of a second plane and explosion(s) before the plane hit the ground bot those reports have been dimissed. The last 5-6 minutes of the voice-recorder tape are kept secret.

The NORAD statement is also strangely unspecific about this flight.