The Only Plane in the Sky

by Garrett M Graff

  Our principal introduced him to the children: Cullen Murphy and Todd S. Purdum, “Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House,” Vanity Fair, February 2009, at https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/02/bush-oral-history200902.

  I remember him being all happy: “Florida Students Witnessed the Moment Bush Learned of 9/11 Terror Attacks.”

  I can remember seeing his expression change dramatically: Rob Shaw, “Students witnessed history,” Tampa Tribune, September 11, 2011, at: http://www.charlesapple.com/2011/09/wednesdays-notable-911-anniversary-pages/.

  I’ll never forget the look on his face: Running Toward Danger, 60.

  My notes say we took off: Ibid., 80.

  First Reactions in D.C.

  My Secret Service agent, the head of my detail: Smithsonian Channel, “9/11: Day That Changed the World.”

  I thought, Well, that’s a strange accident: University of Denver, “Recalling 9/11: Condoleezza Rice,” YouTube video, 2:08, September 16, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYRK-lKmvlY.

  I heard of the disaster occurring: “Barbara Olsen Remembered,” CNN.com, December 25, 2001, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/25/lkl.00.html.

  It was the moment that changed everything: Evan Thomas, “The Day That Changed America,” Newsweek, December 30, 2001, at https://www.newsweek.com/day-changed-america-148319.

  Radar caught sight of an airliner: Jimmy Orr, “Nope, Dick Cheney Didn’t Change His Mind. . . ,” Christian Science Monitor, May 21, 2009, at https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2009/0521/nope-dick-cheney-didnt-change-his-mind.

  We learn that a plane is five miles out: Thomas, “The Day That Changed America.”

  My Secret Service agent said: “9/11: What Really Happened?,” CNN.com, September 14, 2002, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/14/cp.00.html.

  The Secret Service came in: Interview with Rice, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SDtt5QUMg4.

  They practice this: Thomas, “The Day That Changed America.”

  The look on the faces of the Secret Service agents: Kate Anderson Brower, “Inside the White House on September 11,” Fortune, September 11, 2016, at http://fortune.com/2016/09/11/the-residence-kate-andersen/.

  A few moments later, I found myself: Orr, “Nope, Dick Cheney Didn’t Change His Mind.”

  American Airlines Flight 77

  One of the secretaries rushed in: “Barbara Olson Remembered,” CNN.com, December 25, 2001, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/25/lkl.00.html.

  We were trying to juggle big decisions: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  I was in shock and horrified: CNN, “Barbara Olsen Remembered.”

  There had never been a situation where hijackers: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  I’ll never forget—it was a military transport: Ibid.

  The pilot came right back: Ibid.

  I called some people: CNN, “Barbara Olsen Remembered.”

  I noticed the aircraft: “Air Traffic Controllers Recall 9/11,” ABC News, October 24, 2011, at https://web.archive.org/web/20130929181230/http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123822&page=1.

  I dreaded the realization: “On Sept. 11, Former Bush Solicitor General Remembers His Late Wife,” NPR, September 11, 2016, at https://www.npr.org/2016/09/11/493491949/on-sept-11-former-bush-solicitor-general-remembers-his-late-wife.

  I had the scope focused: Filson, Air War Over America, 65.

  We waited, and we waited: “Air Traffic Controllers Recall 9/11,” ABC News.

  After the second phone call: “On Sept. 11, Former Bush Solicitor General Remembers His Late Wife,” NPR.

  The Washington National Airport controllers: “Air Traffic Controllers Recall 9/11.”

  The Third Plane

  Instantly, 400,000 square feet of the Pentagon: Patrick Creed and Rick Newman, Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 (New York: Presidio Press, 2008), 31.

  I immediately ran down to the Operations Center: Oral history in the collection of the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia).

  People were told to get out—run: Oral history in the collection of the U.S. House of Representatives Historian’s Office (Washington, D.C.).

  Flight 93 in Peril

  The first official report of trouble: Jane Pauley, “No Greater Love,” NBC News, September 11, 2016, at http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14789502/ns/dateline_nbc/t/no-greater-love/#.W_GqmWRKjqI.

  The phone rang: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The call came in at 6:37 in the morning: Ibid. NOTE: Hoagland in Fink and Mathias’s oral history says the call came in at 6:44 a.m., but according to the FBI reconstruction, the call happened at 6:37 a.m. PT, so I use that time here.

  As I was explaining: Ibid.

  I must have gotten up: Ibid.

  A news reporter came on: Ibid.

  Tom Burnett was in 4B: Ibid.

  Then Jeremy started asking me: Ibid.

  The phone rang again: Ibid.

  Honey, are you there?: Pauley, “No Greater Love.”

  Jeremy said he didn’t think: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I asked the caller his name: Ibid.

  We knew how bad things were: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  We had a report from a small, private aircraft pilot: Ibid.

  He called back: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The World Trade Center Evacuation

  Inside the [North Tower grand-floor] lobby, I think we knew less: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We tried every possible means of communication: Ibid.

  People saw the helicopter: Ibid.

  Groups of firefighters were coming in: Ibid.

  I crawled the entire length of the loans department: “9/11 Stories: Stanley Praimnath and Brian Clark,” BBC News, September 5, 2011, at https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-14766882/9-11-stories-stanley-praimnath-and-brian-clark.

  Our offices occupied the entire 84th floor: Ibid.

  This man behind the wall: “9/11 stories: Ibid.

  Suddenly he said, “Can you see my hand?”: Ibid.

  He said, “Come on, buddy”: Ibid.

  No, it’s so hot I’m burning up: Exhibit P200016, United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Criminal No. 01-455-A, “Melissa Doi 911 tape,” at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/P200016.html.

  We made it to the ninth floor: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We encountered maybe 20 to 25 firemen: Ibid.

  As they walked past us: Ibid.

  We started to make our way down the staircase: Ibid.

  We wanted to make time: Ibid.

  We kept switching our team: Ibid.

  The firemen cheered us on: Ibid.

  I just kept climbing: Ibid.

  The dumb sons of bitches: Michael Grunwald, “A Tower of Courage,” Washington Post, October 28, 2001, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/10/28/a-tower-of-courage/c53e8244-3754-440f-84f8-51f841aff6c8/?utm_term=.7fb8b3cba7aa.

  We walked toward Battery Park: Mike Magee, All Available Boats: The Evacuation of Manhattan Island on September 11, 2001 (West Hartford, CT: Spencer Books, 2002), 128.

  I have the greatest admiration for the private security officers: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Jumping

  It was a sight and sound that I’ll never forget: 9/11 Tribute Center.

  You’d hear this whoosh: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The clothes of the jumpers: Edward Cone, “A New Beginning at Ground Zero,” EdCone, June 30, 2002, at https://edcone.typepad.com/wordup/2002/07/a_reluctant_her.html#more.

  I did see one jumper actually hit a fireman: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I must’ve blessed myself: Ibid.

  I’ve been in this business 26 years: Ibid.

  The FAA Makes Historyr />
  As soon as Flight 77 hit the Pentagon: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  The controllers were telling the pilots: U.S. Department of Transportation, “Ten Years Later: Air Traffic Controllers Remember 9/11,” YouTube video, 5:37, September 1, 2011, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7vWcQZjEwM.

  Every plane was considered a threat: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  When the order came out to land: Ibid.

  To put 4,500 aircraft on the ground: Ibid.

  To give some perspective, I believe 700 landed: Ibid.

  They did an incredible job: U.S. Department of Transportation, “Ten Years Later: Air Traffic Controllers Remember 9/11.”

  I do not think the aviation industry got the thanks: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  We were the next-to-last aircraft: Ibid.

  The Trade Center Rescue Continues

  Everyone from my company got out but one: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I stood at the door off of Church Street: ABC News, “9/11 WTC Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and Chairman Howard Lutnick,” YouTube video, 9:43, June 15, 2011, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rf35t4d214.

  There was nothing we could do: Barbash, On Top of the World, 18.

  I’ve known the mayor for about 11 or 12 years: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  She was a little hysterical: “Three Families Share Stories of Last Communications From Loved Ones on 9-11,” CNN, September 8, 2002, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/08/sm.18.html.

  Minutes later, Melissa Harrington Hughes called her husband: “On September 11, Final Words of Love,” CNN.com, September 10, 2002, at http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/03/ar911.phone.calls/.

  Jan’s normal shift was lunch: “The Long Good-Bye,” New York magazine, undated, http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5788/.

  We have speakerphones in each office: ABC News, “9/11 WTC Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and Chairman Howard Lutnick.”

  My brother, Gary, was in the building: NPR, “CEO Howard Lutnick Remembers Sept. 11: How His Company Survived After Great Personal Loss.”

  My husband called to let me know: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  The First Collapse

  It was this rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat: Gray, After the Fall.

  We’re talking to [NYPD officer] Glen Pettit: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I’m looking at the building, and Sean’s facing me: Ibid.

  I was looking away from the building: Ibid.

  The loudest sound I’d ever heard: NPR, “CEO Howard Lutnick Remembers Sept. 11: How His Company Survived After Great Personal Loss.”

  I can’t even give you an analogy: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Like an incoming missile: Ibid.

  Like an avalanche: Gray, After the Fall.

  Like a giant chandelier: DuLong, Dust to Deliverance, 55.

  Like a machine gun: Magee, All Available Boats, 108.

  I suddenly heard this loud explosion: StoryCorps, “Beverly Eckert,” Vimeo video, 2:45, at https://vimeo.com/180606992; “Sean Rooney’s Last Goodbye,” 9/11 Memorial & Museum, February 17, 2017, at https://www.911memorial.org/blog/sean-rooney%E2%80%99s-last-goodbye.

  I ran into a woman on the street: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  In seconds, it was gone: Ibid.

  We went into silent mode: Covering Catastrophe, 84.

  The hardest words I’ve ever spoken on TV: Ibid., 102.

  We stood there for a minute: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Inside the Cloud

  The South Tower collapsed: Thomas W. Eagar and Christopher Musso, “Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineering, and Speculation,” JOM: Journal of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society 53, no. 12 (2001): 8–11, https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/0112/eagar/eagar-0112.html.

  I looked over my shoulder: NPR, “CEO Howard Lutnick Remembers Sept. 11.”

  Your brain couldn’t adjust: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We were docked near the pier: Ibid.

  We were yelling for people in the water: Ibid.

  I heard all the crashing and the steel: Ibid.

  The pummeling by debris: 9/11 Tribute Center.

  I could feel stuff going up my legs: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I’ve never heard screaming: Ibid.

  After the building collapsed, there was a calmness: Ibid.

  People I was standing with: Garrett Kling, “The Burdens of Prayer: FDNY Chaplains Remember 9/11 Every Day,” A Journey Through NYC Religions, September 11, 2015, at https://www.nycreligion.info/burdens-prayer-fdny-chaplains-remember-911-day/.

  Picture taking a handful of flour: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Inside the PEOC

  In the years since: Orr, “Nope, Dick Cheney Didn’t Change His Mind.”

  Many of us thought that we might not leave: Richard Clarke, “Cheney and Rice Remember 9/11: I Do, Too,” Washington Post, May 31, 2009, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/29/AR2009052901560.html.

  Norm Mineta, the transportation secretary: Interview with Rice at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SDtt5QUMg4.

  My first thought was: Ibid.

  We were in foreign territory: Filson, Air War Over America, 73.

  Our chain of command: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011, at https://www.c-span.org/video/?300959-1/major-heather-penney-september-11-2001.

  I handed our wing commander: C-SPAN, “Pilots Remember September 11, 2001,” at https://www.c-span.org/video/?295417-2/pilots-remember-september-11-2001.

  It had to be done: Stephen Hayes, “Cheney Speaks,” The Weekly Standard, July 23, 2007, at https://www.weeklystandard.com/stephen-f-hayes/cheney-speaks-14972.

  Vice President Cheney was very steady: Ibid.

  As bad as the events of 9/11 were: “In Cody, Cheney Reflects On 9/11,” Powell (WY) Tribune, May 31, 2018, at http://www.powelltribune.com/stories/in-cody-cheney-reflects-on-911,14163.

  He was a calming influence: Thomas, “The Day That Changed America.”

  There were times that day: Ibid.

  The Military Responds

  My translation of the rules: Filson, Air War Over America, 82.

  As we’re going out to the jets: Nicole Weisensee Egan, “Inside a Hero Fighter Pilot’s Decision to Give His Life in Kamikaze Mission on 9/11: ‘We Were Going to Do the Unthinkable,’ ” People, September 9, 2016, at https://people.com/celebrity/911-f-16-pilot-marc-sasseville-was-prepared-for-kamikaze-mission/.

  We would be ramming the aircraft: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  We didn’t have a whole lot of options: Filson, Air War Over America, 82.

  I had never been trained: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  We did everything humanly possible: Steve Hendrix, “F-16 Pilot Was Ready to Give Her Life on Sept. 11,” Washington Post, September 8, 2011, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-give-her-life-on-sept-11/2015/09/06/7c8cddbc-d8ce-11e0-9dca-a4d231dfde50_story.html?utm_term=.2c051fdfcd6d.

  I just got my radios up: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  I was thinking, Wow: Filson, Air War over America, 82.

  Sass and I fully expected: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  I was going into this moral: Ibid.

  I genuinely believed that was going to be: Hendrix, “F-16 Pilot Was Ready to Give Her Life on Sept. 11.”

  Seeing the Pentagon was surreal: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  There was all this smoke in my cockpit: Nicole Weisensee Egan, “Inside a Hero Fighter Pilot’s Decision to Give His Life in Kamikaze Mission on 9/11.”

  The real heroes are the passengers:
Ibid.

  They made the decision: Filson, Air War over America, 82.

  I don’t remember how many miles: “Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001,” C-SPAN, August 8, 2011.

  The Fourth Crash

  We talked about how much we loved each other: Andrew Alderson and Susan Bisset, “The Extraordinary Last Calls of Flight UA93,” Telegraph (U.K.), October 21, 2001, at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1360088/The-extraordinary-last-calls-of-Flight-UA93.html.

  I didn’t want to listen: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  My dad stayed on the line: Ibid.

  I kept waiting: Ibid.

  Fear at the Pentagon

  It was on track to D.C.: Oral history in the collection of the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia).

  We were outside and heard the fire trucks: Ibid.

  We looked around and decided: Ibid.

  It was about 10 minutes after: Ibid.

  The First Casualty

  It’s fantastic how I can sometimes: Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Memories of Sept. 11’s First Recorded Casualty Endure,” NPR, September 5, 2011, at https://www.npr.org/2011/09/05/140154885/memories-of-sept-11s-first-casualty-burn-bright.

  Priests and firemen both enter people’s lives: Jennifer Senior, “The Firemen’s Friar,” New York magazine, undated, at http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5372/#print.

  There’s a very old postcard: Ibid.

  On 9/11, one of our friars: Fr. Michael Duffy, “Homily Preached at Funeral Mass for Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM,” September 15, 2001, Franciscan Friars Holy Name Province, at https://hnp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/09-15-01-mjhomily.pdf.

  I saw Mychal Judge: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  You could see it in his face: Anna Mehler Paperny, “For Five Men, Tragedy Remains Over Photo of 9/11’s First Casualty,” Global and Mail (Toronto), September 1, 2011, at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/for-five-men-tragedy-remains-over-photo-of-911s-first-casualty/article592945/.