Posted: 2/9/2005 3:00:07 PM EDT
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Don't know of any site, but I recall that within 2 hours of the second hit, I saw 180° contrails in the sky from commercial jets turning around. It could have been sooner, but I was indoors listening to the radio. I saw the contrails on the way home. ETA: Mrs. DzlBenz was supposed to fly to Boston that day. |
not refering to attackers Bama-Shooter, meant the saudis and "others" allowed to fly with 'permission" from our politicos |
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I was at NORAD that day. Took about 45 minutes to clear the skies after they made the call, but they didn't make the call until 0930 eastern, 45 minutes after the last attack. Here's the best source: 9-11 Commission report ETA: Here's a good graphic timeline, but it editorializes a bit. 9-11 timeline |
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The FAA and the military grounded all flights within an hour of the last attack. All commercial and civilian aircraft within US airspace were ordered to land at the nearest suitable facility, all routine flight and training military aircraft were to RTB. Only the aircraft that were controlled by the E-4B NEACP or NORAD were allowed to fly (meaning the fighters, AWACS, tankers, Looking Glass, AF1). There were a few US and international flights that were grounded in Canada since they were refused permission to return to the USA. The aircraft from my squadron left NAS Whidbey for Nellis AFB and arrived on Sept 10th. The US Navy C-9 that was to carry the squadron personnal on Sept 12th was grounded, so everyone had to take a BUS from NAS Whidbey to Nellis AFB. They spent 32 hours on the bus and only stopped two times. |
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here is a snippit to the final stopping of all civilian aircraft activity 09:00 09:03: President George W. Bush enters an Emma E. Booker Elementary School classroom in Sarasota, Florida, as part of a scheduled visit to promote education and the Bush administration education policies. Bush is (only) aware that a commercial airline has struck one of the World Trade Center towers and elects to continue his schedule for the moment. 09:03: NORAD (NEADS) is notified by FAA's New York Center of the hijacking of Flight 175. 09:03:02: Flight 175 crashes with a speed of about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south side of the south tower, banked between floors 78 and 84. By this time, several media organizations are covering the first plane crash; millions see the impact live. Parts of the plane leave the building at its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away. A massive evacuation begins in the south tower below its impact zone. One of the stairwells in the south tower remains unblocked, but filled with smoke. This led many persons to mistakenly go upwards towards the roof for a rooftop rescue that would never come. CNN's headline now reads 'Second plane crashes into World Trade Center'. 09:04 (approximately): The FAA's Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center stops all departures from airports in its jurisdiction (New England and eastern New York State). 09:06: The FAA bans takeoffs of all flights bound to or through the airspace of New York Center from airports in that Center and the three adjacent Centers - Boston, Cleveland, and Washington. This is referred to as a First Tier groundstop and covers the Northeast from North Carolina north and as far west as eastern Michigan. 09:06: After brief introductions to the Booker elementary students, President Bush is about to begin reading with the students when Chief of Staff Andrew Card interrupts to whisper to the president, "A second plane hit the other tower, and America's under attack." The president elects to continue the lesson rather than alarm the students. 09:08: The FAA bans all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New York Center airspace. 09:13: The Otis Air Force based F-15 fighters leave military airspace near Long Island, bound for Manhattan. 09:16: President Bush leaves the classroom he has been in since 9:03, and is whisked to another, commandeered by the secret service. It contains a telephone, television showing the news coverage, and several senior staff members. Bush accumulates information and prepares brief remarks. 09:20: CNN's headline makes reference to foul play for the first time: 'AP: FBI investigating report of plane hijacking'. 9:22: 'AP: Plane was hijacked before crashed'. 09:24: The FAA notifies NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector about the suspected hijacking of American Airlines flight 77. The FAA and NORAD establish an open line to discuss Flight 77, and shortly thereafter, Flight 93. 09:25: The Otis Air Force based F-15s establish an air patrol over the city of Manhattan. 09:26: The FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft regardless of destination - a national groundstop. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks_timeline_for_the_day_of_the_attacks |
+1 Yeah, the controllers pretty much told everyone to land. IIRC, some guys I worked with said the centers didn't even use the words "nearest suitable" in their instructions. They just said "You need to land immediately". We had airplanes and aircrews stuck all over hells half acre. I had started a trip on the 10th, overnighting in Newburgh, NY...awoke to the phone in my hotel room on the 11th with the Captain telling me to turn on the TV. I remember looking at those images and thinking (in a fog mind you)...cool special effects, what movie is this. Traffic in the northeast corridor was pretty restricted for the remainder of the week. It took us until the 17th to get back to CVG. Cavu |
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Air traffic was shut down by something like 0930. I was working under one of the major flightpaths into Dulles International here in Northern VA, and when I stepped outside my (then) agency's HQ building, one of the first things that I noticed was how quiet it was. With the amount of traffic that was always in and out of there, it was really strange driving home, and seeing no planes anywhere. Only air traffic I saw was around 1030, when two Falcons flew past Dulles, pretty low on the deck. |
| All you had to do was look up. I was on a graintrain coming from IL to IN that morning. Skies where clear. I remember looking at all the contrails that morning thinking "it'd be cool to trade places". You can see St. Louis and Indianapolis bound flights from out there. As I was coming into Sullivan my wife called and told me about the first plane. I figured it was a Cessna or some small plane. I stopped my train at a crossing to turn it over to the relief crew, and she called again to tell me about the second strike. We stood at the jeep for an hour listening to the news. When we left to drive back to our home terminal, we didn't see any contrails. None. Didn't see any for a few days after, either. That was the thing I remember most about September, 2001. The skies were empty. |
The sound files were released on the net and I found them on an airline related website. Didn't know her at all. The files are about 3.7 MB |
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i live very near, and worked even closer to dtw on 911 it was very quickly when the skies were empty the landing planes went right over my building al day, one per evry third minute or so, till 911 they stopped completely for a looooong time |
yes that is correct , we we're given the instruction that all civilian aircraft VFR, IFR whatever SHALL be cleared to land at the nearest available airport I work south Texas enroute & it was interesting to say the least places like CRP, SAT, HRL, MFE, & BRO where all filling up fast with planes on the tarmac we where literally running out of concrete for planes to land we had many planes inbounnd from Mexico to places like DFW I remember clearing one AAL pilot to SAT via direct due to a national emergency & he just kind of laughed with the response, " no sir, we're proceeding to DFW" to which I responded "well sir in less than 30mins the only aircraft that will be authorized to fly in my airspace will be F-16's, & due to a national emergency if you are not on the ground in SAT you will be considered a hijacked aircraft " he got the picture after that , it was a surreal day at work to say the least especially once the skies were clear of all aircraft except for a few fighters & tankers |
you up in Anchorage ?? NATCA ? is that still considered a CENRAP ?? 
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Here's what the Villuj_idiot was doing: I was walking out of my hotel at Fayetteville, dragging my suitcase and heading for the airport. I passed a small crowd of people craning their necks at the TV in the lobby. I looked out of curiosity, saw one of the trade towers burning, asked what was going on. "Airplane hit it. Accident or something." At that moment, the second plane hit the other tower. "Shit! That was no accident!" I hauled my ass to the airport. Got there in 20 minutes. There was already a state trooper there, waving me away from the terminal. 20 minutes. |
I was airborne during the morning commute and we were giving info to the tower as they did not know what was happening. At first, they thought that a catastrophe had closed a major hub and was shingling the IFR system. Later, we were told to land at the nearest airport but I was allowed to return to my home airfield about 15 miles away. F-16s were intercepting any traffic that day and one old coot comming in from nowhere in northern Nevada got a rude wake up call. He lived on a ranch and as of the afternoon of the 11th he had no idea of the airspace closure and was intercepted over southern Idaho. The airspace closure for the next three weeks included ALL traffic watch proceedures so I ended up flying a lot of "light pollution surveys"
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Wasn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. I was in the headquarters building at Peterson AFB, not in the mountain (about 13 miles away). My job at the time was space systems requirements (making sure new space systems acquired by NORAD met all of our needs). But, since NORAD wasn't going to need an emergency acquisition of a new satellite/computer system to respond to the threat, they sent me home. Still pissed about that--I spent my life in the uniform of my country, and when it gets attacked, I get sent home.  I watched the first two planes hit at home, ran into the office, helped organize a little bit, heard they had grounded all the aircraft, then got sent home as they locked down the base and the mountain. Stayed home for three days, then spent the next three months working on the NORAD Battle Staff doing Operation Noble Eagle. That was educational, especially since I'm an ICBM/space guy, not an air defender. Learned a lot those three months; wish I didn't have the opportunity. |
Sadly I remember that day very well. I do not know of any non US GOVT controlled AC that flew after the attacks, however I do remember hearing all the stories about what had happened with our diverted planes. Here's a pic from Gander Intl Airport in Newfoundland, most Delta flights inbd from Europe landed there.  
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