Watching Sept. 11 on a Flight Screen

Aug. 12, 2002 -- Air traffic controllers were among the first to know on Sept. 11 that something was horribly wrong. One by one, they lost contact with the hijacked planes and then watched on radar as they headed toward their targets.

For those agonizing minutes — beginning at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center — the head of a New York air traffic control center watched helplessly as United Airlines Flight 175 headed for the South Tower.

"For those 11 minutes, I knew, we knew what was going to happen and that was difficult," said Mike McCormick today as he and his fellow regional air managers offered the first detailed chronology of Sept. 11 from the perspective inside the nation's flight control towers.

"My priority at that time was to ensure that everybody understood that it wasn't just a single event, that there wasn't just one aircraft involved … and to be prepared for any eventuality. … That 11 minutes was difficult, but it was full of activity," McCormick said.

As soon as the second tower was hit, McCormick acted quickly: He issued an unprecedented order to clear the skies over the Northeast.

"At one time it was the hardest decision to make and at the same time it was the easiest decision to make," he said.

It was a decision — like virtually all others that fateful morning — made without consulting superiors, and without the knowledge of the White House.

'You Had to Take Action'

At 9:26 a.m. the next order came from the Federal Aviation Administration's command center: No more planes were to take off anywhere in the nation.

"You didn't have time to weigh consequences," said Dave Canoles, the FAA's director of emergency operations. "You had to take action."

Meanwhile, controllers were tracking American Flight 77 as it sped toward Washington. At about 9:40 a.m., they lost radar contact.

"My colleague came back in the room and reported that there was smoke coming from the Pentagon," Canoles recalled. "Pretty awful moment."

Once again, FAA managers acted decisively. "Once the third plane hit the Pentagon, we made the decision to land all aircraft regardless of their destination," said Linda Schuessler, the FAA's manager of air traffic evaluations who was in charge of the command center on Sept. 11.

Never Done Before

It was 9:45 a.m. Emptying the skies like this had never been done before. There were 4,546 planes are in the air. By 12:15 p.m. — just two and half hours later — the airspace over the continental United States was clear of all commercial and private aircraft. It would be days before airports opened again.

"The thought was certainly that this would only last a couple of hours and that we would get all the aircraft airborne again," Schuessler said. "But it was not to be."

Some U.S. airliners from overseas were diverted to Canada. At 40,000 feet over the Atlantic, American Airlines pilot Beverley Bass, headed from Paris to Dallas, watched as European airliners turned around and headed back east.

"To be sitting there, flying westbound, and seeing all the airplanes peeling off, turning around, was a sight that none of us had ever seen before," Bass said.

For air traffic controllers, too, it was a day like no other.

"In this instance, we had to give up one part of our mission," said McCormick, head of the New York air traffic control center, "that was getting everyone where they wanted to be on time, and instead ensure their safety. And that's what our job was — it became out first priority, ensuring your safety."