Time-line of the September 11 terrorist attacks
[Testimony of Col. Alan Scott of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), speaking before the National Commission on September 11 Terrorist Attacks, May 23, 2003]
Good morning Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. It is my pleasure to be here with you today. General Arnold and I worked together that day on September 11th. What I will walk you through here is a chronology of the attacks and I presented it in a matrix form. And the only thing I lay claim to is having studied all of the attacks and how they were interwoven together. This was not a linear sequence of events where one attack began and ended and then a second attack began and ended. This was a coordinated, well-planned attack. We had multiple airplanes in the air. The fog and friction of war was evident everywhere in the country both on the civil side as well as the military side. And this hopefully will show you how those interwoven events came about. I will tell you that the times on this chart come from our logs. The time on the chart is the time that's in the log. It may not be the exact time the event happened. It may be the time when the log keeper was advised or became aware of the event.
The first thing that happened in the morning, related to, related to the events at 9:02 ... A.M., EST, is when American Airlines 11 took off out of Boston. American Airlines 11 was a 767 and it was headed, I believe, to Los Angeles
Fourteen minutes later, also coming out of Boston Logan, United Airlines 175, a 757, also headed to Los Angeles, took off out of Boston and initially took roughly the same ground track as American 11. Three minutes later American Airlines 77 took off out of Dulles here in Washington, also headed to Los Angeles and also a 757 and proceeded westbound towards the West Coast. So now the first three airplanes are airborne together.
The first time that anything untoward and this was gleaned from FAA response and anything out of the ordinary happened was at 8:20 when the electronic transponder in American Airlines 11 blinked off, if you will, just disappeared from the screen. Obviously, the terrorists turned that transponder off and that airplane, although it did not disappear from the radar scope, it became a much, much more difficult target to discern for the controllers who now only could look at the primary radar return off the airplane. That was at 8:20. At 8:40, in our logs is the first occasion where the FAA is reporting a possible hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11. And the initial response to us at that time was a possible hijacking; it had not been confirmed.
At that same moment, the F-15 alert aircraft at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, about 153 miles away were placed immediately on battle stations by the Northeast Air Defense Sector Commander.
At 8:43, as this is going on, the fourth airplane, United 93 takes off out of Newark, New Jersey. It's a 757; it is headed for San Francisco....
At 8:46 ... the first impact on the Trade Center. At that minute is when the Otis F-15s were scrambled and, again, they are 153 miles away. And that scramble came and Gen. Arnold, I'm sure can address this, based on the conversation between the Northeast Sector Commander and himself.
Those F-15s were airborne in six minutes. That is well inside the time that is allowed for them to get airborne. But because they were on battle stations, the pilots were in the cockpits ready to start engines, that scramble time was shortened by a significant amount of time.
At 8:53, that's a minute later, in the radar reconstruction, we are now picking up primary radar contacts off of the F-15s out of Otis.
At 8:57 ... the FAA reports the first impact. And about this time is when CNN coverage to the general public is beginning to appear on the TV, not of the impact, but of the burning tower shortly thereafter. So, you can see what in the military, I'm sure you have heard us talk to the fog and friction of war. And as the intensity increases, the lag tends to also increase for how quickly information gets passed....
United 175 ... crashes into the North Tower, at 9:02. The distance of those fighters which had been scrambled out of Otis, at that particular point they were still 71 miles away, about 8 minutes out and going very fast.
At 9:05, FAA reports a possible hijack of United 175. Again that's 3 minutes after the impact in the Tower. It's how long it is taking now for the information to flow through the system to the command and control agencies and through the command and control agencies to the pilots in the cockpits.
At 9:09, Langley F-16s are directed to battle stations just based on the general situation, and the breaking news and the general developing feeling about what's going on. And about that same time, kind of way out in the west is when American 77, which in the meantime has turned off its transponder and turned left back toward Washington, appears back in radar coverage. And my understanding is the FAA controllers now are beginning to pick up primary skin paints on that airplane and they don't know exactly whether that is 77 and they are asking a lot of people whether it is, including a C130 that's westbound toward Ohio.
At 9:11, the FAA reports a crash into the South Tower. You can see now that lag time has increased from 7 minutes from impact to report, and now it's 9 minutes from impact to report and you can only imagine what's going on on the floors of the control centers around the country....
9:16, now FAA reports a possible hijack of United Flight 93, which is out in the Ohio area. That's the last flight that is going to impact the ground.
At 9:24, the FAA reports a possible hijack of 77. That's some time after they had been tracking its primary target. And at that moment as well is when the Langley F-16s were scrambled out of Langley.
At 9:25, American 77 is reported heading toward Washington, D.C., not exactly precise information, just general information, across the chat log.
9:27, Boston FAA reports a fifth aircraft missing, Delta Flight 89. And you people have never heard of Delta Flight 89. We call that the first red herring of the day because there are a number of reported possible hijackings that unfolded over the hours immediately following the actual attack. Delta 89 was not hijacked. It enters the system. It increases the fog and friction, if you will, as we begin to look for that. But he lands about 7 or 8 minutes later and clears out of the system.
At 9:30, that Langley F-16s are airborne. They are 105 miles away from the Washington area.
At 9:34, through chat, FAA is unable to precisely locate American Airlines Flight 77.
At 9:35, F-16s are reported airborne. And many times, reported airborne is not exactly when they took off, it's just when the report came down that they were airborne.
At 9:37, we have the last radar data near the Pentagon and 9:40, immediately following that, is when 93 up North turns it transponder off, out in the West toward Ohio and begins a left turn back toward the East.
At 9:49, FAA reports that Delta 89, which had been reported as missing, is now reported as a possible hijacking so again, he is.... I'm sorry 9:41. Again he is in the system. He is kind of a red herring for us.
Now the only thing that I would point out on this chart is that this says 9:43, American Airlines 77 impacts the Pentagon. The timeline on the impact on the Pentagon was changed to 9:37. 9:43 is the time it was reported that day. It was the time we used. And it took about two weeks to discover in the parking lot of the Pentagon this entry camera for the parking lot, which happened to be oriented toward the Pentagon at the time of impact. And the recorded time is 9:37. And that's why the timeline went from 9:43 to 9:37 because it is the best documented evidence for the impact time that we have.
Getting toward the end now, 9:47 is when Delta 89 clears the system by landing in Cleveland. So he is not a hijack. Lots of things are going on now in the system as the Sectors begin to call both units that are part of First Airforce and NORAD as well as units that have nothing to do with us. We are beginning to call everyone now and the 103rd Air Control Squadron, for instance, stationed in Connecticut is an Air Control Squadron, a radar squadron, and they got their radar online operational and begin to link their radar picture into the Northeast system. They are not normally part of NORAD. This is really the initial part of a huge push the rest of that day to link as many radars in on the interior as we can, and to get as many fighters on alert as we can.
At 10:02, United 93, last radar data and the estimated impact time for United 93 is 10:03.
At 10:07, FAA reports that there may be a bomb on board 93. That's four minutes after the impact.
At 10:15, they report that it's crashed and you can see now the fog and friction lag time has increased from 7 minutes to 9 minutes to 15 minutes because of the level of activities that are going on.
And there are notations here about other airplanes as we begin to divert other airplanes that are just out intended for training that day. We're picking up the phone, calling Syracuse the Air National Guard. They are beginning to get flights airborne. They are beginning to arm those aircraft with whatever weapons they have handy so we can posture that defense.
That is how the timeline unfolded. As you can see, there is a fabric of interwoven actions, which is not just a linear event. So lots of things going on, lots of activities, lots of CQ centers. Sir, that concludes my piece.
See the Warbird's Bookshelf