A Nation Under Attack:

A timeline of events as history unfolds

• 8:45 a.m. (all times are EDT): American Airlines Flight 11 departing from Boston, Mass., crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, leaving a hole and starting a fire.
• 9:03 a.m.: Another plane, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are ablaze.
• 9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.
• 9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.
• 9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
• 9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports for the first time in history.
• 9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, evacuation begins immediately.
• 9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.
• 9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.
• 10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
• 10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.
• 10:10 a.m.: A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
• 10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, also hijacked, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, the target now believed to be either the White House or the Capital building.
• 10:13 a.m.- 11:22 a.m.: Several agencies are evacuated in New York City and Washington, D.C., to include the state and justice departments, the United Nations, and the World Bank.
• 10:24 a.m.: The FAA orders all inbound transatlantic flights diverted to Canada.
• 10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses.
• 10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
• 10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.
• 10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the plane crash in Pennsylvania.
• 10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.
• 10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed.
• 11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.
• 11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.
• 11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175.
• 11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175, from Boston to Los Angeles, has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard. It hit the World Trade Center's south tower.
• 12:04 p.m.: Los Angeles International Airport, the destination of three of the crashed airplanes, is evacuated.
• 12:15 p.m: San Francisco International Airport is evacuated and shut down. The airport was the destination of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.
• 12:15 p.m.: The Immigration and Naturalization Service says U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are on the highest state of alert, but no decision has been made about closing borders.
• 12:30 p.m.: The FAA reports 50 flights in U.S. airspace, but none are reporting any problems.
• 1:04 p.m.: Bush, speaking from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, says that all appropriate security measures are being taken, including putting the U.S. military on high alert worldwide. He asks for prayers for those killed or wounded in the attacks and says, "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."
• 1:27 p.m.: A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington.
• 1:44 p.m.: The Pentagon says five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack and to reduce the number of ships in port. The two carriers, the USS George Washington and the USS John F. Kennedy, are headed for the New York coast. The other ships headed to sea are frigates and guided missile destroyers capable of shooting down aircraft.
• 1:48 p.m.: Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base aboard Air Force One and flies to an Air Force base in Nebraska.
• 2 p.m.: Senior FBI sources say they are working on the assumption that the four airplanes that crashed were hijacked as part of a terrorist attack.
• 2:30 p.m.: The FAA announces there will be no U.S. commercial air traffic until noon EDT Wednesday at the earliest.
• 2:49 p.m.: At a news conference, Giuliani says that subway and bus service are partially restored in New York City. Asked about the number of people killed, Giuliani says, "I don't think we want to speculate about that - more than any of us can bear."
• 3:55 p.m.: Karen Hughes, a White House counselor, says the president is at an undisclosed location, later revealed to be Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and is conducting a National Security Council meeting by phone. Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are in a secure facility at the White House. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at the Pentagon.
• 3:55 p.m.: Giuliani now says the number of critically injured in New York City is up to 200 with 2,100 total injuries reported.
• 4 p.m: CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor reports that U.S. officials say there are "good indications" that Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, suspected of coordinating the bombings of two U.S. embassies in 1998, is involved in the attacks, based on "new and specific" information developed since the attacks.
• 4:10 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex is reported on fire.
• 4:25 p.m.: The American Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange say they will remain closed Wednesday.
• 4:30 p.m.: The president leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska aboard Air Force One to return to Washington.
• 5:20 p.m.: The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses. The evacuated building was damaged when the twin towers across the street collapse earlier in the day.
• 6 p.m.: Explosions are heard in Kabul, Afghanistan, hours after terrorist attacks targeted financial and military centers in the United States. The attacks occurred at 2:30 a.m. Kabul time. Afghanistan is believed to be where bin Laden, who U.S. officials say is possibly behind Tuesday's deadly attacks, is located. U.S. officials say later that the United States had no involvement in the incident whatsoever. The attack is credited to the Northern Alliance, a group fighting the Taliban in the country's ongoing civil war.
• 6:40 p.m.: Donals Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary, holds a news conference in the Pentagon, noting the building is operational. "It will be in business tomorrow," he says.
• 6:54 p.m.: Bush arrives back at the White House aboard Marine. The president earlier landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland with a three-fighter jet escort.
• 7:02 p.m.: CNN's Paula Zahn reports the Marriott Hotel near the World Trade Center is on the verge of collapse and says some New York bridges are now open to outbound traffic.
• 7:45 p.m.: The New York Police Department says that at least 78 officers are missing. The city also says that as many as half of the first 400 firefighters on the scene were killed.
  

Back to Guidon index