The Only Plane in the Sky

by Garrett M Graff

  America’s innocence didn’t end at 8:46, it ended at 9:03, when the second plane crash made clear it was a coordinated attack. The attacks transformed our daily lives in America. We forget that before 9/11, it wasn’t common to see men with big guns in the course of an ordinary commute. We forget how lax airport security was. How open and welcoming so many of our public buildings really were until then. Today, we default to the opposite of our reaction at 8:46 a.m. on 9/11: We default to terrorism until proven otherwise. A helicopter crashes into a building in New York City, a car veers off the road and into a crowd, a loud sound goes off in a crowded place. At moments like these, our first thought is to flee.

  As you wrote the book, how present was the issue of balancing out the three locations most impacted by the attacks—New York, Shanksville/Somerset County, and the Pentagon? At one point in The Only Plane in the Sky, a person says that it frustrates them that people conflate Arlington—where the Pentagon is located—and Washington, D.C.; how aware were you of the protectiveness of those spaces and experiences?

  I tried to be deeply respectful of balancing this story, not just of the physical locations, but of mentioning as many of the agencies, companies, and organizations that were affected or were involved in the response. Many of the first responders are rightly quite proud of their own heroic efforts that day, and while I certainly couldn’t tell every story, I tried to ensure a well-rounded narrative.

  Were there any moments or memories that surprised, touched, or impacted you as you collected the material for this book?

  I’ve never worked on any project as emotional as this one, and even knowing how wrenching the day was, I was unprepared for how emotional writing this book turned out to be. I cried most days while I was compiling the first draft of the book, poring over the oral histories and the words of those who lived through the day. My wife and I had had our first child just as I was starting writing, and, man, I just wept over the stories of children losing their parents that day. But there were all manner of moments I found myself moved by—the undocumented immigrants who wanted to show up at the Pentagon, the coworkers who carried their colleagues down the stairs of the Twin Towers, the phone calls from those trapped to their loved ones. At the same time, I’m always amazed at the bravery of the firefighters and first responders who went up the stairs of the Twin Towers even as everyone else fled. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a more perfect distillation of what heroism and duty really means.

  Though the United States has seen other moments of tragedy—Pearl Harbor, Columbine and other mass shootings, the Boston Marathon Bombing—there is something about 9/11, no matter how much time passes, that is hard to talk about. Why do you think this day is still so difficult for people to revisit?

  I think that the answer is simple, actually: 9/11 was the first modern global catastrophe. We watched it unfold, for hours, on live television; hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers saw the attacks first-hand and millions more Americans watched the attacks in real-time on TV. Anyone who was in front of a TV on 9/11 lived through that day and was traumatized by the scale of the tragedy. People remember hearing the news of other events—Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion—but we’ve never before or since witnessed such a monumental event collectively as a nation.

  Over the years, 9/11 has often been politicized or invoked for larger cultural messaging purposes, for better and worse. What do you think is the lasting legacy of the day? Did your view of it change as you wrote The Only Plane in the Sky?

  One of the sad parts of looking back at 9/11 from 18 years on is realizing how the tragedy of that day continues to unfold—the distrust and hate it stirred up in our society, the still-ongoing wars that it launched, the collective global unity that was squandered. I still stop in wonder when I read over the parts of this book about how America had no better friend on 9/11 than Vladimir Putin, for instance. We forget today, too, that the one time NATO has ever invoked “Article 5,” declaring an attack on one member an attack on all, was in the wake of 9/11 when it stepped up to support us.

  I look back and think about all the paths not taken from that day—and the transformative good that could have unfolded but didn’t. There was a Wall Street Journal article earlier this year about how the U.S. Marines have started training recruits in the events of 9/11, because kids today are too young to remember it, and one private in the story told the reporter he didn’t know much about 9/11 before arriving at Parris Island except that “it was a turning point in our nation’s history.” The reporter asked, what kind of turning point? “I would have to say negative,” he said.

  What role do you hope The Only Plane in the Sky plays in our national and historical conversations about 9/11? What would you want a reader to take away from their reading experience?

  For 18 years, our mantra on 9/11 has been “never forget” but while I think we don’t forget, I’m not sure we remember either. We know the facts of the day without remembering what it was like to experience the day with all its confusion, fear, and tragedy. We don’t remember—and many of us never knew in the first place—what it was like to go down the stairs in the Trade Center. We don’t know what it was like to stand on the plaza outside and realize people were jumping. We don’t know what it was like to feel the rumble of the Towers’ collapse, to pry the loose concrete from our mouths, to search for people we didn’t know whether we would find. We don’t remember how scary it was to see smoke rising from the Pentagon, the center of our military, nor the fear in the faces fleeing the White House or Capitol Hill. We don’t remember the profound silence that had settled over America by that afternoon, as all of the nation’s aircraft were grounded, as schools and businesses let out early, and the country convened around television sets from coast to coast.

  My hope for the book will be that, nearly two decades after the attacks, we remind Americans—and particularly a new generation that doesn’t remember it at all—how much 9/11 affected and shaped those who lived through it. We’re still living everyday with the consequences of the decisions made amid that fear and confusion; 9/11 was the separation point, in many ways, between the 20th Century and the 21st Century. Understanding everything that’s come since requires first understanding where everything began.

  More from the Author

  Raven Rock

  About the Author

  Garrett M. Graff is a journalist and historian who has written for publications including WIRED, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, and edited two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine. Graff’s previous books include The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI and the national bestseller Raven Rock. Today, he is a contributor to WIRED and CNN and works with the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity & Technology Program. He lives in Vermont.

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  ALSO BY GARRETT M. GRAFF

  Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die

  The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI and the War on Global Terror

  The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House

  Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat (with John P. Carlin)

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  Notes />
  Aboard the International Space Station

  the only American off the planet: https://web.archive.org/web/20090423055604/ https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/culberts.html.

  On September the 11th, 2001, I called the ground: Megan Gannon, “Astronaut Frank Culbertson Reflects on Seeing 9/11 Attacks from Space,” Space, September 11, 2017, at https://www.space.com/27117-nasa-astronaut-saw-9-11-from-space.html.

  September 10th

  I’d been off most of the summer: Newseum, Cathy Trost, and Alicia C. Shepard, Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 60.

  I was on maternity leave: Mitchell Fink and Lois Mathias, Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 (New York: William Morrow, 2002).

  Tuesday Begins

  My wife, Barbara, was supposed to travel: “Barbara Olson Remembered,” CNN.com, December 25, 2001, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/25/lkl.00.html.

  I’d spent most of the morning going over the briefing: Smithsonian Channel, “9/11: Day That Changed the World—Laura Bush: Extended Interview,” YouTube video, August 29, 2011, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEX32oeaCdI.

  That was my first day on the job: “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, September 11, 2010, at https://www.c-span.org/video/?295417-1/aviation-officials-remember-september-11-2001.

  One of the prettiest days: Leslie Filson, Air War Over America: Sept. 11 Alters Face of Air Defense Mission (Tyndall Air Force Base, FL: Headquarters 1st Air Force, Public Affairs Office, 2003), 60.

  The bluest of blues: Mel Allen, “9/11 Started Here,” New England Today, September 11, 2017, at https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/ticketagent/.

  Checking In

  Everybody was in a good mood: Jerry Harkavy, “Encounter Haunts Ex–Ticket Agent,” Press Herald (Portland, ME), September 11, 2006, at https://www.pressherald.com/2011/08/25/michael-tuohey-september-11-hijackers-atta-alomari-portland-jetport-maine/.

  These two guys came running: Ryan Hughes, “Va. Man Unintentionally Linked to 9/11 Still Works With His Feelings of Guilt,” WJLA (Washington, D.C.), September 9, 2016, at https://wjla.com/news/local/va-man-unintentionally-linked-to-911-works-with-his-feelings-of-guilt.

  I saw these two fellows standing there: “The Footnotes of 9/11,” CNN Presents, September 11, 2011, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/11/cp.02.html.

  We just finished the morning check-in: Ibid.

  I said, “Mr. Atta, if you don’t go now: Mel Allen, “9/11 Started Here,” New England Today, September 11, 2017, at https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/ticketagent/.

  The Hijackings

  Boston Center, good morning, American 11: Rutgers University Law Review, September 7, 2011, at http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/2011/full-audio-transcript/.

  Inside Air Traffic Control

  I was the national operations manager on 9/11: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  There was a huddle of people: Filson, Air War Over America, 55.

  At this point our mind-set was the 1970s-vintage hijack: Ibid.

  A scramble order was issued: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  I left it in full afterburner: Filson, Air War Over America, 57; see also “Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Duffy and Leslie Filson” at https://www.scribd.com/document/18740499/T8-B22-Filson-Materials-Fdr-Lt-Col-Tim-Duffy-Interview-Typed-Notes-321.

  At Mach One, it would take them: Filson, Air War Over America, 59.

  The area was so congested: Ibid., 56.

  We picked up a search track: Ibid.

  The First Plane

  In Manhattan, you rarely hear planes: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I worked in One World Trade Center: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I watched the fuselage disappear: Ibid.

  Honestly, I think most people felt: Jessica DuLong, Dust to Deliverance: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11th (Camden, ME: Ragged Mountain Press, 2017), 15.

  It looked like a ticker-tape parade: Richard Gray, After the Fall: American Literature Since 9/11 (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).

  I told everybody to get in the rigs: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Our office was on the 85th floor: Ibid.

  I ran around the floor: Ibid.

  The first thing that came to my mind: Ibid.

  I saw two people out of the corner: Ibid.

  It’s a comedy of errors: Ibid.

  I was on the corner of Church and Thomas: Ibid.

  It was my son Kyle’s first day: “CEO Howard Lutnick Remembers Sept. 11: How His Company Survived After Great Personal Loss,” NPR, September 11, 2016, at https://www.npr.org/2016/09/11/493491879/ceo-howard-lutnick-remembers-sept-11-how-his-company-survived-after-great-person.

  We had a clear shot from the 40s: Tom Barbash, On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), 18.

  I was scheduled to host election night coverage: Oral history in the collection of the 9/11 Tribute Museum.

  I was having breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel: Ibid.

  I hailed a cab, jumped into it: Ibid.

  As we approached Manhattan, we discussed: “Nigro,” New York Times, undated, at http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Nigro_Daniel.txt.

  I’m a C5-C6 quadriplegic: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I have known John for a long time: Ibid.

  I had been there in 1993: Ibid.

  He seemed to be in shock: Ibid.

  They made it clear I was going with them: Ibid.

  There were thousands of people running: Ibid.

  I will never forget seeing an airplane engine: Oral history in the collection of the 9/11 Tribute Museum.

  I ordered the cop at the desk: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  A lot of patients were coming out of the plaza: Gray, After the Fall.

  All that morning, I don’t think I really had: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Nothing could have ever really prepared us: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, “Testimony of the Former Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department Thomas Von Essen,” May 18, 2004, http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/hearings/hearing11/essen_statement.pdf.

  The Military Gears Up

  We are looking at a host of potential problems: Filson, Air War Over America, 63.

  The guy from the sector: Ibid.

  I was the captain of the Midwest Express flight: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  I was flying Milwaukee to New York: Ibid.

  I was ordered to take evasive action: Ibid.

  As we’re watching the television: Filson, Air War Over America, 59.

  As we are coming out of the right turn: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  They say the second aircraft: Filson, Air War Over America, 60.

  We were about 60 to 70 miles outside Manhattan: “Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Duffy and Leslie Filson.”

  At that point, we had to figure out: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  They came back on and said: Filson, Air War Over America, 63.

  Shortly after takeoff, they changed our heading: Ibid., 65.

  The Second Plane

  It was a fairly light news day: Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11, ed. Allison Gilbert, Phil Hirshkorn, Melinda Murphy, Mitchell Stephens, and Robyn Walensky (Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003).

  I was awakened: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The first witnesses kept saying: Covering Catastrophe, Gilbert et al., 23.

  The phone rang: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We saw it live. As it rounded the corner: Covering Catastrophe, 31.

 
I simply put my hands in the air: Ibid., 34.

  Our helicopter was on the southwest side: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The second plane came in: Ibid.

  It proceeded to fly right through the building: Ibid.

  I was in my office in downtown Brooklyn: Ibid.

  I’m scared: “9/11 stories: Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark,” BBC, September 5, 2011, at https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-14766882/9-11-stories-stanley-praimnath-and-brian-clark.

  Debris and body parts and the plane: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Mayor Giuliani made a comment to me: Ibid.

  I remember seeing Ray Downey: Ibid.

  We got on a truck and it seemed like: Ibid.

  At Emma Booker Elementary School, Sarasota, Florida

  Everyone had their hair done: Ely Brown, “Florida Students Witnessed the Moment Bush Learned of 9/11 Terror Attacks,” ABC News, September 8, 2011, at https://abcnews.go.com/US/September_11/florida-students-witnessed-moment-bush-learned-911-terror/story?id=14474518.