Timeline of 9/11

Flight 77's intended and actual routes. Note the strange loop off course about halfway along the route to the west. This loop doesn't show on most flight route maps. [USA Today]

(8:20 a.m.): Flight 77 departs Dulles International Airport near Washington, ten minutes after the scheduled departure time. [8:20, CNN, 9/17/01 , 8:20, Washington Post, 9/12/01 , 8:20, Guardian, 10/17/01 , 8:21, Associated Press, 8/19/02 ]

8:25 a.m.: 2004-04-08 Boston flight controllers notify other flight control centers of the Flight 11 hijacking, but supposedly they don't notify (NORAD for another 6 or 15 minutes (see 8:31 a.m. and (8:40 a.m.)). [8:25:00, Guardian, 10/17/01 ] Note that this means the controllers working Flights 77 and Flight 93 would have been aware of Flight 11's hijacking from this time. [ Village Voice, 9/13/01 ]

8:43 a.m.: NORAD is notified that Flight 175 has been hijacked. [8:43, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 8:43, CNN, 9/17/01 , 8:43, Washington Post, 9/12/01 , 8:43, Associated Press, 8/19/02 , 8:43, Newsday, 9/10/02 ] Apparently NORAD doesn't need to be notified, because by this time NEADS technicians have their headsets linked to the FAA in Boston to hear about Flight 11, and so NORAD learns instantly about Flight 175. [ Newhouse News, 1/25/02 ]

8:46 a.m.: At the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base 10 miles from Washington are flying an air-to-ground training mission on a range in North Carolina, 207 miles away. Eventually they are recalled to Andrews and land there at some point after Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. [ Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02 ]

American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757.

(8:46 a.m.): Flight 77 from Washington goes severely off course. It heads due north for a while, then flies due south and gets back on course. It is off course by around 15 miles, and stays off course for about five minutes, judging from flight path maps. [See USA Today's Flight 77 flight path]

8:50 a.m.: The last radio contact with Flight 77 is made when the pilots ask for clearance to fly higher. But then they fail to respond to a routine instruction. [ Guardian, 10/17/01 , Boston Globe, 11/23/01 , 8:50:51, New York Times, 10/16/01 (D) ]

(After 8:50 a.m.): “During the hour or so that American Airlines Flight 77 [is] under the control of hijackers, up to the moment it struck the west side of the Pentagon, military officials in [the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (see (After 8:46 a.m.))] [are] urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do.” [ New York Times, 9/15/01 (C) ]

(8:56 a.m.): Flight 77's transponder signal is turned off. [8:56, Guardian, 10/17/01 , 8:56, Boston Globe, 11/23/01 , “six minutes before” Flight 175 hits WTC, Newsday, 9/23/01 ] Just prior to this, Flight 77 turns around over northeastern Kentucky, and starts heading back toward Washington. [ Washington Post, 9/12/01 , Newsday, 9/23/01 ] 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. [ Newsday, 9/23/01 ]

(8:56 a.m.): The New York Times later writes, “‘American 77, Indy,’ the controller said, over and over. ‘American 77, Indy, radio check. How do you read?’ By 8:56 a.m., it was evident that Flight 77 was lost.” Yet the same newspaper then points out NORAD is not notified about it for another 28 minutes and doesn't find that strange! [ New York Times, 10/16/01 (D) ] Another New York Times article points out that flight controllers learn Flight 77 has been hijacked “within a few minutes” of 8:48. [ New York Times, 9/15/01 (C) ]

9:00 a.m.: The Pentagon moves its alert status up one notch from normal to Alpha. It stays on Alpha until after Flight 77 hits, and then goes up two more notches to Charlie later on in the day. [ USA Today, 9/16/01 ]

(After 9:03 a.m.): Controllers at the New York traffic center are briefed by their supervisors to watch for airplanes whose speed indicated that they are jets, but which either are not responding to commands or have disabled their transponders. “Controllers in Washington [get] a similar briefing, which [help] them pick out hijacked planes more quickly.” [ New York Times, 9/13/01 (F) ]

(After 9:03 a.m.): A few minutes after 9:03 a.m., the Secret Service calls Andrews Air Force Base, located 10 miles from Washington. They are notified to get F-16s armed and ready to fly. Missiles are still being loaded onto the F-16s when the Pentagon is hit over half an hour later. [ Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02 ] The problem with this account is that prior to 9/11, the District of Columbia Air National Guard (located at Andrews) had a publicly stated mission “to provide combat units in the highest possible state of readiness.” Shortly after 9/11 this mission statement on its website is changed, so it merely has a “vision” to “provide peacetime command and control and administrative mission oversight to support customers, DCANG units, and NGB in achieving the highest levels of readiness.” [ DCANG Home Page (before and after the change)]

(9:05 a.m.): 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. [“About 9:05”, Newsday, 9/23/01 ]

Bush listens to the Pet Goat story.

(9:06-9:16 a.m.): Bush, having just been told of the second WTC crash (see (9:06 a.m.)), does not leave the Sarasota, Florida, classroom he entered around 9:03. Rather, he stays and listens as 16 Booker Elementary School second-graders take turns reading a story called Pet Goat, about a girl's pet goat. [ AFP, 9/7/02 ] They are just about to begin reading when Bush is warned of the attack. One account says that the classroom is then silent for about 30 seconds, maybe more. Bush then picks up the book and reads with the children “for eight or nine minutes.” [ Tampa Tribune, 9/1/02 ] In unison, the children read out loud, “The—Pet—Goat. A—girl—got—a—pet—goat. But—the—goat—did—some— things—that—made—the—girl's— dad—mad.” And so on. Bush mostly listens, but does ask the children a few questions to encourage them. [ Washington Times, 10/7/02 ] At one point he says, “Really good readers, whew! … These must be sixth-graders!” [ ] In the back of the room, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer catches Bush's eye and holds up a pad of paper for him to read, with “DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET” written on it in big block letters. [ Washington Times, 10/7/02 ] CNN reported in 1999, “Only the president has the authority to order a civilian aircraft shot down.” [ CNN, 10/26/99 ] The pilot of one of the planes flying to catch Flight 175 notes that it wouldn't have mattered if he caught up with it, because only Bush could order a shootdown, and Bush is at a public event at the time. [ Cape Cod Times, 8/21/02 ]

9:09 a.m.: Supposedly, NORAD orders F-16s at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, on battle stations alert. Around this time, the FAA command center reports 11 aircraft either not in communication with FAA facilities, or flying unexpected routes. [ Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/02 ] One of the pilots who actually takes off from Langley later says the battle stations alert isn't sounded until 9:24. [Among the Heroes, by Jere Longman, 8/02, p. 64-65]

9:16 a.m.: The FAA informs NORAD that Flight 93 may have been hijacked. No fighters are scrambled in specific response, now or later (there is the possibility some fighters sent after Flight 77 later head toward Flight 93). Although this is what CNN is told by NORAD, its not clear why NORAD claims the flight is hijacked at this time (and NORAD's own timeline inexplicably fails to say when the FAA told them about the hijack, the only flight for which they fail to provide this data). [ CNN, 9/17/01 , NORAD, 9/18/01 ] However, there may be one explanation: Fox News later reports, “Investigators believe that on at least one flight, one of the hijackers was already inside the cockpit before takeoff.” Cockpit voice recordings indicate that the pilots believed their guest was a colleague “and was thereby extended the typical airline courtesy of allowing any pilot from any airline to join a flight by sitting in the jumpseat, the folded over extra seat located inside the cockpit.” [ Fox News, 9/24/01 ]

9:24 a.m.: The FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 77 “may” have been hijacked and appears to be headed toward Washington. [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 9:24, Associated Press, 8/19/02 , 9:25, CNN, 9/17/01 , 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01 , 9:25, Guardian, 10/17/01 ] CNN notes that “after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned the military's air defense command that a hijacked airliner appeared to be headed toward Washington, the federal government failed to make any move to evacuate the White House, Capitol, State Department or the Pentagon.” [ CNN, 9/16/01 ] A Pentagon spokesman says, “The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way.” Even Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his top aides in the Pentagon remain unaware of any danger up to the moment of impact 14 minutes later. [ Newsday, 9/23/01 ] Most senators and congresspeople are in the Capitol building, which is not evacuated until 9:48 (see 9:48 a.m.). Only Vice President Cheney, National Security Advisor Rice and possibly a few others, are evacuated to safety a few minutes after 9:03 (see (After 9:03 a.m.)). Yet, since at least the Flight 11 crash, “military officials in a command center [the National Military Command Center] on the east side of the [Pentagon] [are] urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do.” [ New York Times, 9/15/01 (C) ]

9:24 a.m.: A fighter pilot codenamed Honey who flew one of the F-16s from Langley offers a different story than the official one. He claims that at this time a battle stations alert sounds, and two other pilots are given the order to climb into their F-16s and await further instructions. Then, Honey, who is the supervisor, goes and talks to the two other pilots. Then, “five or ten minutes later,” a person from NORAD calls, and Honey speaks to him at the nearby administrative office. He is told that all three of them are ordered to scramble. Honey goes to his living quarters, grabs his flight gear, puts it on, runs to his plane, and takes off. It's hard to know exactly how long all of this takes, but clearly his recollection doesn't jibe with the official timeline, that NORAD orders the fighters scrambled at 9:27 and they take off at 9:30. [Among the Heroes, by Jere Longman, 8/02, p. 64-65]

Ted Olson. [Salon] Since 9/11 he has been trying to prevent the release of Vice President Cheney's energy task force papers. [Telegraph, 3/5/02]

(9:25 a.m.): A passenger on Flight 77, Barbara Olson, calls her husband, Theodore (Ted) Olson, who is Solicitor General at the Justice Department. Ted Olson is in his Justice Department office watching WTC news on television when his wife calls. A few days later, he says, “She told me that she had been herded to the back of the plane. She mentioned that they had used knives and box cutters to hijack the plane. She mentioned that the pilot had announced that the plane had been hijacked.” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] He tells her that two planes have hit the WTC. [ Telegraph, 3/5/02 ] She feels nobody is taking charge. [ CNN, 9/12/01 ] He doesn't know if she was near the pilots, but at one point she asks, “What shall I tell the pilot? What can I tell the pilot to do?” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] Then she gets cut off without warning. [ Newsweek, 9/29/01 ] Ted Olson' recollection of the call's timing is extremely vague, saying it “must have been 9:15 or 9:30. Someone would have to reconstruct the time for me.” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] Other accounts place it around 9:25. [About 9:25, Miami Herald, 9/14/01 , about 9:25, New York Times, 9/15/01 (C) , “by 9:25,” ] The call is said to have lasted about a minute. [ Washington Post, 9/12/01 (B) ] By some accounts, his warning of that planes have hit the WTC comes later in a second phone call (see (After 9:30 a.m.)). [ ] In one account, Barbara Olson calls from inside a bathroom. [ Evening Standard, 9/12/01 ] In another account, she is near a pilot, and in yet another she is near two pilots. [ Boston Globe, 11/23/01 ] Three days after 9/11, he says, “I found out later that she was having, for some reason, to call collect and was having trouble getting through. You know how it is to get through to a government institution when you're calling collect.” He says he doesn't know what kind of phone she used, but he has “assumed that it must have been on the airplane phone, and that she somehow didn't have access to her credit cards. Otherwise, she would have used her cell phone and called me.” [ Fox News, 9/14/01 ] But in another interview on the same day, he says that she used a cell phone and that she may have gotten cut off “because the signals from cell phones coming from airplanes don't work that well.” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] Six months later, he claims she called collect “using the phone in the passengers' seats.” [ Telegraph, 3/5/02 ] Many other details are conflicting, and Olson faults his memory and says that he “tends to mix the two [calls] up because of the emotion of the events.” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] The couple liked to joke that they were at the heart of what Hillary Clinton famously called a “vast, right-wing conspiracy.” Ted Olson was a controversial choice as Solicitor General, since he argued on behalf of Bush before the Supreme Court in the 2000 presidential election controversy before being chosen. Barbara Olson was known for her extremely partisan attacks on President Clinton. For instance, a few weeks before 9/11 she had called Clinton's mother a “barfly” who let herself be used by men. [ Telegraph, 3/5/02 ] Some have questioned if Ted Olson can be trusted in his account of the call, since he has stated that lying to the public is justifiable. [ Sydney Morning Herald, 3/20/02 ]

(After 9:25 a.m.): Theodore (Ted) Olson, the Justice Department's Solicitor General, calls the Justice Department's control center to tell about his wife's call from Flight 77 (see (9:25 a.m.)). Accounts vary whether the Justice Department already knows of the hijack or not. [ Washington Post, 9/12/01 (B) , Channel 4 News, 9/13/01 , New York Times, 9/15/01 (C) ] Olson merely says, “They just absorbed the information. And they promised to send someone down right away.” He assumes they then “pass the information on to the appropriate people.” [ Fox News, 9/14/01 ]

Flight controller Danielle O'Brien. [ABC]

(9:27 a.m.): Vice President Cheney and National Security Advisor Rice, in their bunker below the White House, are told by an aide that an airplane is 50 miles outside Washington and headed toward it. The plane is Flight 77. Federal Aviation Deputy Chief Monty Belger says, “Well we're watching this target on the radar, but the transponder's been turned off. So we, have no identification.” They are given further notices when the plane is 30 miles away, then 10 miles away, until it disappears from radar (time unknown, but the plane is said to be traveling about 500 mph and was 30 miles away at 9:30, so 50 miles would be about 3 minutes before that). [ ABC News, 9/11/02 ] The Dulles tower flight controller who is said to first spot Flight 77's appearance near Washington, Danielle O'Brien, previously claims she doesn't find its radar blip until it is around 12 and 14 miles from Washington, and that Cheney is notified only after that. [ ABC, 10/24/01 , ABC, 10/24/01 (B) ]

(9:27 a.m.): NORAD orders three F-16 fighters scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to intercept Flight 77. Langley is 129 miles from Washington. Ready aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base, 15 miles away, are not scrambled. [ Newsday, 9/23/01 ] [9:24, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 9:27, CNN, 9/17/01 , 9:25, Washington Post, 9/12/01 , 9:35, CNN, 9/17/01 , 9:35, Washington Post, 9/15/01 ] One of the three pilots, Major Dean Eckmann, later says he is told before scrambling that the WTC has been hit by a plane. [ Associated Press, 8/19/02 (C) ]

A typical F-16.

9:30 a.m.: Radar tracks Flight 77 as it closes to within 30 miles of Washington. [ CBS News, 9/21/01 ]

9:30 a.m.: The three F-16s scrambled toward Flight 77 get airborne. [9:30, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 9:30, ABC News, 9/11/02 , 9:35, Washington Post, 9/12/01 ] The pilots' names are Major Brad Derrig, Captain Craig Borgstrom, and Major Dean Eckmann, all from the North Dakota Air National Guard's 119th Fighter Wing but stationed at Langley. [ Associated Press, 8/19/02 (C) , ABC News, 9/11/02 ]

(9:30 a.m.): Chris Stephenson, the flight controller in charge of the Washington airport tower, says that he is called by the Secret Service around this time. He is told an unidentified aircraft is speeding toward Washington. Stephenson looks at the radarscope and sees Flight 77 about five miles to the west. He looks out the tower window and sees the plane turning to the right and descending. He follows it until it disappears behind a building in nearby Crystal City, Virginia. [ USA Today, 8/12/02 ] However, according to another account, just before 9:30 a.m., a controller in the same tower has an unidentified plane on radar, “heading toward Washington and without a transponder signal to identify it. It's flying fast, she says: almost 500 mph. And it's heading straight for the heart of the city. Could it be American Flight 77? The FAA warns the Secret Service.” [ USA Today, 8/13/02 ] So does the Secret Service warn the FAA, or vice versa?

(9:30 a.m.): The hijackers make an announcement to the passengers on Flight 77, telling them to phone their families as they are “all going to die”. They also tell the passengers that they are going to hit the White House. [“When they took over the controls,” Sunday Herald, 9/16/01 , “around 9:30,” Cox News, 10/21/01 ]

Right wing author and political commentator Barbara Olson. [CNN]

(After 9:30 a.m.): About five minutes after Barbara Olson called her husband Ted Olson, the Justice Department's Solicitor General, she calls again (note the timing of both calls is extremely vague.) [About 9:30, five minutes after first call, Miami Herald, 9/14/01 ] A few days later, Ted Olson describes the conversation: “She said the plane had been high hijacked shortly after takeoff and they had been circling around, I think were the words she used. She reported to me that she could see houses. I asked her which direction the plane was going. She paused—there was a pause there. I think she must have asked someone else. She said I think it's going northeast…. She told me that [the hijackers] did not know she was making this phone call.” [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ] She doesn't mention the nationality, number, or other details of the hijackers. Then the phone goes dead, he doesn't know why. [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) , Washington Post, 9/12/01 (B) ] He also says that she said, “The pilot had announced that the plane had been hijacked. She said it had been hijacked shortly after takeoff.” [ Fox News, 9/14/01 ] Her last words before she was cut off were, “What do I tell the pilots to do?” [ BBC, 9/13/01 ] She had asked this already in her first phone call. [ Washington Post, 9/12/01 (B) ] Then the phone goes dead supposedly “moments before” the plane crashes [ Newsweek, 9/29/01 ], but actually Ted Olson's timing recall is so vague that it isn't clear if this is when the call happens, and he says he doesn't know why the call ends (see [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ]). The call is originally said to last about a minute [ Washington Post, 9/12/01 (B) ], but Olson later says it could have lasted up to four minutes. [ CNN, 9/14/01 (C) ]

9:33 a.m.: According to the New York Times, Flight 77 becomes lost at 8:56 when it turns off its transponder, and stays lost until now. Washington flight controllers see a fast moving blip on their radar at this time and send a warning to Dulles Airport in Washington. [ New York Times, 10/16/01 (D) ] However, at 9:24 the FAA notifies NORAD Flight 77 is headed toward Washington (see 9:24 a.m.), and Vice President Cheney is told around 9:27 that radar is tracking Flight 77 heading toward Washington (see (9:27 a.m.)).

(9:33-9:38 a.m.): Radar data shows Flight 77 crossing the Capitol Beltway and headed toward the Pentagon. But the plane, flying more than 400 mph, is too high when it nears the Pentagon at 9:35, crossing the Pentagon at about 7,000 feet up. [ CBS News, 9/21/01 , Boston Globe, 11/23/01 ] The plane then makes a difficult high-speed descending turn. It makes a “downward spiral, turning almost a complete circle and dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes. The steep turn is so smooth, the sources say, it's clear there [is] no fight for control going on.” [ CBS News, 9/21/01 ] It gets very near the White House during this turn. “Sources say the hijacked jet … [flies] several miles south of the restricted airspace around the White House.” [ CBS News, 9/21/01 ] The Telegraph later writes, “If the airliner had approached much nearer to the White House it might have been shot down by the Secret Service, who are believed to have a battery of ground-to-air Stinger missiles ready to defend the president's home. The Pentagon is not similarly defended.” [ Telegraph, 9/16/01 ]White House spokesman Ari Fleischer suggests the plane goes even closer to the White House, saying, “That is not the radar data that we have seen. The plane was headed toward the White House.” [ CBS News, 9/21/01 ]

A typical C-130.

9.36 a.m.: The national airport instructs a military C-130 (Golfer 06) that has just departed Andrews Air Force Base to intercept Flight 77 and identify it. [ Guardian, 10/17/01 , New York Times, 10/16/01 (D) ] Remarkably, this C-130 is the same C-130 that is 17 miles from Flight 93 when it later crashes into the Pennsylvania countryside. [ Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/11/02 , Pittsburgh Channel, 9/15/01 ] The pilot, Lt. Col. Steve O'Brien, claims he took off around 9:30, planning to return to Minnesota after dropping supplies off in the Caribbean. He later describes his close encounter: “When air traffic control asked me if we had him [Flight 77] in sight, I told him that was an understatement—by then, he had pretty much filled our windscreen. Then he made a pretty aggressive turn so he was moving right in front of us, a mile and a half, two miles away. I said we had him in sight, then the controller asked me what kind of plane it was. That caught us up, because normally they have all that information. The controller didn't seem to know anything.” O'Brien reports that the plane is either a 757 or 767 and its silver fuselage means it is probably an American Airlines plane. “They told us to turn and follow that aircraft—in 20-plus years of flying, I've never been asked to do something like that.” [ Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/11/02 ]

(9:37 a.m.): The blip representing Flight 77 that radar technicians have been watching on their screens disappears. Its last known position is six miles from the Pentagon and four miles from the White House. [ CBS News, 9/21/01 , Newhouse News, 1/25/02 , ABC News, 9/11/02 , USA Today, 8/13/02 ] Supposedly, just before radar contact is lost, FAA headquarters is told, “The aircraft is circling. It's turning away from the White House.” The plane is said to be traveling 500 mph, or a mile every seven seconds. [ USA Today, 8/13/02 ]

This picture of Rumsfeld (center), taken from the US Army website, is captioned, “Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld returns to Pentagon inner offices Tuesday morning after surveying the damage from the hijacked plane which crashed into the building moments before.” This contradicts his claim that he was helping victims for nearly an hour after the attack. [US Army]

(9:38 a.m.): 2004-04-08 Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is in the Pentagon meeting with Representative Cox (R), and is apparently completely oblivious of the approaching Flight 77. As he watches TV coverage of the WTC, he says, “Believe me, this isn't over yet. There's going to be another attack, and it could be us.” Supposedly, “moments later, the plane hit.” [ Telegraph, 12/16/01 ] Rumsfeld's office is on the fourth floor of the Pentagon, relatively near the impact. He later says that just after the explosion, “I went downstairs and went outside. And around the corner and of course, there it was.” He claims he immediately began helping the wounded: “There was a, a young woman bleeding, sitting on the ground, and I think she said to me, she didn't know who I was, she said, she could see people holding, drips going into people, IV of some kind, and she said, something to the effect, if people would, if someone could bring that person over, I could hold it.” [ ABC News, 9/11/02 ] He helps load the wounded into ambulances until 10:30 (see 10:30 a.m.). [ Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/12/01 , CNN, 12/5/01 ]

Internet researchers have put together this image showing how an object the size of a jumbo jet clips a number of light poles and then destroys columns inside the Pentagon. [From this website]

(9:38 a.m.): As fireman Alan Wallace is walking in front of the Pentagon, he looks up and sees Flight 77 coming straight at him. It is about 25 feet off the ground, no landing wheels visible, a few hundred yards away, and closing fast. He runs about 30 feet and dives under a nearby van. [“About 9:40,” ] The plane is traveling at about 460 mph, and flying so low that it clips the tops of street lights. [ CBS News, 9/21/01 ]

9:38 a.m.: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. Approximately 125 on the ground are later determined killed or missing. [9:37, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 9:37, Washington Post, 9/12/01 , 9:38, CNN, 9/17/01 , 9:38, Guardian, 10/17/01 , 9:38, USA Today, 8/13/02 , 9:38, ABC News, 9/11/02 , 9:38, CBS, 9/11/02 (B) , 9:39, Washington Post, 1/27/02 , 9:40, Associated Press, 8/19/02 , 9:43, CNN, 9/12/01 , 9:43, MSNBC, 9/22/01 , 9:43, MSNBC, 9/3/02 , 9:43, New York Times, 9/12/01 , 9:45, Boston Globe, 11/23/01 , At 9:39:02 on NBC News, reporter Jim Miklaszewski states that, “Moments ago, I felt an explosion here at the Pentagon,” Television Archive, WDCN 9:30 ] Flight 77 strikes the only portion of the Pentagon that had been recently renovated. “It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars to withstand bomb blasts. The area struck by the plane also had blast-resistant windows—2 inches thick and 2,500 pounds each—that stayed intact during the crash and fire. While perhaps 4,500 people normally would have been working in the hardest-hit areas, because of the renovation work only about 800 were there….” More than 25,000 people work at the Pentagon. [ Los Angeles Times, 9/16/01 (C) ]

This photo was taken mere moments after the Pentagon crash. [SIPA]

9:38 a.m.: NORAD states the fighters scrambled after Flight 77 took off from Langley at 9:30, 129 miles away, yet when Flight 77 crashes they are still 105 miles away. [ Newsday, 9/23/01 , NORAD, 9/18/01 ] The F-16 pilot codenamed Honey later offers a different explanation of where the F-16s are at 9:38. He says they are flying toward New York, when they see a black column of smoke coming from Washington, about 30 or 40 miles to the west. He is then asked over the radio by the North East Air Defense Sector of NORAD if he can confirm the Pentagon is burning. He confirms it. The F-16s are then ordered to set up a defensive perimeter above Washington. [Among the Heroes, by Jere Longman, 8/02, p. 76] One of the three pilots, Major Brad Derrig later claims their target destination all along is Reagan National Airport, in Washington near the Pentagon. [ ABC News, 9/11/02 ] Another pilot, Major Dean Eckmann, also later claims their destination all along was Washington. [ Associated Press, 8/19/02 (C) ] NORAD officer Major James Fox says he dispatches the jets without targets. “That would come later.” [ Newhouse News, 1/25/02 ] (Additionally, subtract 8-10 miles (Sidewinder missile) or 12-20 miles (Sparrow missile) from the flight distance required for the fighters. [ Slate, 1/16/02 ])

The Pentagon explosion.

9:38 a.m.: A C-130 transport plane that has been sent to follow Flight 77 flies a short distance from Flight 77 as it crashes. This curious C-130 is the same C-130 that is 17 miles from Flight 93 when it later crashes into the Pennsylvania countryside. [ Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/11/02 , Pittsburgh Channel, 9/15/01 ] A number of people see this plane fly remarkably close to Flight 77:

1. Kelly Knowles says that seconds after seeing Flight 77 pass, she sees a “second plane that seemed to be chasing the first [pass] over at a slightly different angle.” [ Daily Press, 9/15/01 ]
2. Keith Wheelhouse says the second plane was a C-130, two others aren't certain. [ Daily Press, 9/15/01 ] Wheelhouse “believes it flew directly above the American Airlines jet, as if to prevent two planes from appearing on radar while at the same time guiding the jet toward the Pentagon.” As Flight 77 descends toward the Pentagon, the second plane veers off west. [ Daily Press, 9/14/01 ]
3. USA Today reporter Vin Narayanan, who saw the Pentagon explosion, says, “I hopped out of my car after the jet exploded, nearly oblivious to a second jet hovering in the skies.” [ USA Today, 9/17/01 ]
4. USA Today Editor Joel Sucherman sees a second plane. [ eWeek, 9/13/01 ]
5. Brian Kennedy, press secretary for a congressman, and others also see a second plane. [ Sacramento Bee, 9/15/01 ]
6. An unnamed worker at Arlington national cemetery “said a mysterious second plane was circling the area when the first one attacked the Pentagon.” [ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/20/01 ]
7. John O'Keefe is driving a car when he sees the Pentagon crash. “The first thing I did was pull over onto the shoulder, and when I got out of the car I saw another plane flying over my head…. Then the plane—it looked like a C-130 cargo plane—started turning away from the Pentagon, it did a complete turnaround.” [ New York Law Journal, 9/12/01 ]

(After 9:38 a.m.): A few minutes after Flight 77 crashes, the Secret Service commands fighters from Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles from Washington, to “Get in the air now!” [ Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02 ] Almost simultaneously, a call from someone else in the White House declares the Washington area “a free-fire zone.” Says one pilot, “That meant we were given authority to use force, if the situation required it, in defense of the nation's capital, its property and people.” Lt. Col. Marc H. (Sass) Sasseville and a pilot only known by the codename Lucky sprint to their waiting F-16s armed only with “hot” guns and 511 rounds of “TP”—nonexplosive training rounds. The pilots later say that, had all else failed, they would have rammed into Flight 93. Meanwhile, the three F-16s flying on a training mission 207 miles away return to their home at Andrews Air Force Base. Major Billy Hutchison's fighter still has enough gas to take off again immediately; the other two need to refuel. He supposedly takes off with no weapons. “Hutchison was probably airborne shortly after the alert F-16s from Langley arrive over Washington, although 121st FS pilots admit their timeline-recall ‘is fuzzy.’” This would mean Hutchison doesn't even leave Andrews until after 9:49 (see (9:49 a.m.)). His is said to be the first fighter to reach Washington. [ Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/02 ] There are multiple reports of Andrews fighters at the Pentagon before and of the above fighters were reported to have taken off. For instance, “Within minutes of the [Pentagon] attack … F-16s from Andrews Air Force Base were in the air over Washington DC.” [ Telegraph, 9/16/01 ] “A few moments [after the Pentagon attack] … overhead, fighter jets scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base and other installations.” [ Denver Post, 9/11/01 ] A year later, ABC News reports, “High overhead [the Pentagon], jet fighters arrive. Just moments too late.” [ ABC News, 9/11/02 ] Yet other newspaper accounts deny fighters from Andrews were deployed [ USA Today, 9/16/01 ], and some deny Andrews even had fighters at all! [ USA Today, 9/16/01 (B) ] NORAD commander Major General Larry Arnold has said, “We [didn't] have any aircraft on alert at Andrews.” [ MSNBC, 9/23/01 (C) ]

(9:49 a.m.): Three F-16s scrambled from Langley 129 miles away at 9:30 reach the Pentagon. The planes, armed with heat-seeking, Sidewinder missiles, are authorized to knock down civilian aircraft. According to NORAD, they were flying at 650 mph. The official maximum speed for F-16s is 1500 mph. [9:49, CNN, 9/17/01 , 9:49, NORAD, 9/18/01 , 9:56: “15 minutes after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon,” New York Times, 9/15/01 , “just before 10:00,” CBS, 9/14/01 CBS News, 9/14/01 ]

(After 9:56 a.m.): After flying off in Air Force One, Bush talks to Vice President Cheney on the phone. Cheney recommends that Bush authorize the military to shoot down any plane under control of the hijackers. “I said, ‘You bet,’” Bush later recalls. “We had a little discussion, but not much.” [“After Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon,” Newsday, 9/23/01 , time unknown, USA Today, 9/16/01 , “Once airborne, Bush spoke again to Cheney,” Washington Post, 1/27/02 , after Bush is airborne, CBS, 9/11/02 ] Flight 93 is still in the air, and fighters are given orders to intercept it and possibly shoot it down. [ ABC News, 9/11/02 ]

The wall where the Pentagon was hit after it has collapsed at 10:15.

10:15 a.m.: p The section of the Pentagon reportedly hit by the crash of Flight 77 collapses. [10:10, CNN, 9/12/01 , 10:10, New York Times, 9/12/01 , recorded live on WDCC-TV at 10:15, Television Archive, WDCC 10:00 ] A few minutes prior to its collapse, firefighters saw warning signs and sounded a general evacuation tone. No firefighters were injured. [ NFPA Journal, 11/1/01 ]