What did you do on 9/11, 2001?

[scouterjim]

I was pretty well incapacitated with a severe back problem, but I went to a rec centre near Vancouver airport, and helped to entertain kids who were stranded. I read them stories (about all I could do), and I spoke with some parents. Many of the kids could not speak English (mostly Chinese), but the stories still seemed to hold their interest. There were a goodly number of volunteers. What amazed me was the food donated by local pizza, sandwich, bakery and candy businesses. It was good to see how many people truly cared.

[Moonlight Graham]

A friend woke me up just after the 3rd plane crashed into the Pentagon. I was off that day so i spent the day watching the news, so the 2 towers collapse live on TV.

Later i found out that a poster from another message board i frequented worked in the WTC and died, that really hit it home for me.

[jbg]

When I got upstairs to my office, an elderly attorney approached me and said "Jim, did you hear, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center"? I asked if the pilot wsa OK, if anyone was hurt, assuming it was some wayward Cessna. He said, "I don't know Jim, there's a fire". Minutes later we learned of the second plane crash. Around noon all office buildings in Westchester County were evacuated.

I then took my older son, who was still on a half-day schedule at school, out for pizza and then to the playground. I did not want him watching TV that day. I later went for a jog on that warm, 80-ish day (about 27 in your terms) and when my head cleared, I thought "we're going to declare war on Afghanistan". I got the invasion right, declaration of war wrong.

The saving grace was that even my son and his six year old buddies seemed to understand, and played so nicely. It was as if the nature of humans to squabble was suspended. If only it could be.

[eyeball]

As transfixed as anyone, I watched events unfold. About 20 minutes after the 2nd plane hit a question, like a murder of crows, fluttered across my mind.

Why on Earth would anyone want to attack a country that was so kind and so gentle? I posted the question on a web-board much like this one and went to work.

Ten years after and it's clear the same sort of people who were apoplectic at the question then are still just as apoplectic today. Maybe it was tone I used.

[dre]

I got a phonecall when it started going down. I watched until the second tower fell, then I went to a hockey practice at lunch then off to work.

[Bonam]

I was in high school. We went from class to class as normal throughout the day but the teachers just put on the news on TVs and we watched it all day. And we had an assembly at the end of the day where the principle said some stuff about it (I forget what).

[GostHacked]

Hear about it when I went to class for college.

over at a classmates place after, the thing that stands out the most was watching WT7 fall to the ground around 5:30. CNN had announced that another building was about to come down. I was ready to leave to see another friend, but a couple of us sat back down and said 'wtf', and watched it come down on live TV.

[Argus]

I was on a bus on my way to work listening to my walkman when the announcement came over the radio. I thought at first it was probably a small plane, but I also doubted it was an accident. I got off the bus and walked a couple of blocks to my office tower complex. HRDC were having rotating strikes so I waited in line outside to pass through their line and show my ID. I heard that a second plane had hit a second tower and there were massive fires. When I got upstairs I told a few of my colleagues. They hadn't heard a thing, and everyone tried to get information over the internet. The news sites kept freezing, though, and our TVs were only equipped to play from VCRs. I remember hearing the reporter on the radio describe the tower falling, and dismissed it. I thought he was hysterical, and probably had seen a piece fall but maybe due to smoke he wasn't seeing things clearly. How could a great big building like that simply collapse?

One of my co-workers lived nearby. Another had a car, so four or five of us left work, drove to his place, and watched it on his tv, more than a little astonished. There was a lot of panic going on in Ottawa when we finally went back to work (not intending to stay). They were evacuating a number of buildings just in case, and it occurred to me as I left that the buildings where I worked bore a remarkable resemblance to the world trade center towers, only far smaller, of course. I didn't think any attack here was likely, though. Went home and spent the rest of the day watching things unfold on television feeling a great sense of anger over those who had caused so much misery, heartache and sorrow.

[Jack Weber]

I happened to be off work that day...

I got up a little after 9 AM and turned on the TV to CNN...

They were showing,at least to a recently awaken bleary eyed individual,what looked like a smoke stack!!!

I was thinking this is another piece by some Environutter about global warming...As I soon found out,it was definately NOT somethin about the environment...

After that,I watched the whole thing unfold...

One of the worst things I remember was watching people literally jump from the windows and holes in both buildings...It was horrifying!!!I can't imagine being faced with that type of either/or situation where I could try to hope someone might rescue me in a building that was creaking and groaning as it was about to come down,or jumping because there was a 1 in a million shot I might survive the fall...

I also remember later that day vascillating between deep sorrow for what happened and visceral anger at wanting to see the streets of Mecca and Medina run with the blood of those who perpetrated that act.

Edited September 10, 2011 by Jack Weber

[RB]

I was at work, and a co-worker who heard the news on his way to work told us about a plane crash. We got more info from Internet - Yahoo news as it unfold.

As we had visited NY only a few days prior to 9/11 and have beautiful memories and pictures, it was particularly difficult to explain to our young one later that day.

We have had a chance to visit NY and ground zero numerous times since but still it is sad around this time plus now the TV keeps showing the images all the time again least you forget.

I cannot begin to imagine how the folks who were directly affected is able to cope but god bless them to rise above this sadness.

[Sir Bandelot]

I played the violin...

[capricorn]

I was home doing light housework while listening to local radio. There was a federal public service strike on and my spouse was on picket duty at a federal building in Gatineau/Hull. A breaking news alert said a plane had hit the World Trade Center in NY. I switched on CNN and saw what I thought was a small plane that had accidentally hit the tower. Then the second plane struck. I could not believe what I was seeing! I called my spouse on his cell to tell him what I was viewing. He called me back around 10 minutes later and told me the picket line was disbanded by the picket captain and everyone was told they could go home.

I felt helpless alone at home watching, and feeling a sense of horror as events unfolded. I recall kneeling and praying to God to stop the madness and to help those poor souls caught in the destruction. After what seemed like an eternity my spouse arrived and we sat, speechless and misty eyed as we watched the towers crumble.

I had never felt such depth of sadness in all my life. I don't want to live through another one like it.

[WWWTT]

I was roughing in the plumbing for a new house in Mississauga just west of Pearson int.

Chester(colluege) came into the house with his Dewalt job site boom box and turned it on.After listening to what happened he said "We're going to war!"

WWWTT

[Wilber]

I was on vacation and camping at the time. All I had was a radio. It was a couple of days before I got a newspaper and I didn't see any of the TV footage for almost a week. Probably a good thing because at the time my job was flying one of Al Queda's weapons of choice.

[Guest American Woman]

I was on vacation and camping at the time. All I had was a radio. It was a couple of days before I got a newspaper and I didn't see any of the TV footage for almost a week. Probably a good thing because at the time my job was flying one of Al Queda's weapons of choice.

Ok, I have to ask. What was al Qaeda's weapons of choice? - were you flying extremist Muslims? Seems to me they sacrifice their own for the cause. Not 'their own lives,' of course, but the lives of 'their own.' Those they can enlist for 'the cause.' Seems to me other Muslims are their "weapon of choice."

[Wilber]

Ok, I have to ask. What was al Qaeda's weapons of choice? - were you flying extremist Muslims? Seems to me they sacrifice their own for the cause. Not 'their own lives,' of course, but the lives of 'their own.' Those they can enlist for 'the cause.' Seems to me other Muslims are their "weapon of choice."

On the day, their weapon's of choice were B767's at the trade center and B757's at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. At the time I was flying B767's.

[Guest American Woman]

On the day, their weapon's of choice were B767's at the trade center and B757's at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. At the time I was flying B767's.

Ohhhhhh. Of course. Their weapons were the planes. I was thinking of the terrorists on the plane who were on a suicide mission - that they were being used, in effect, as human weapons (like suicide bombers). I knew you were a pilot, but my thoughts went to who/what was in the plane you were flying - I should have made the connection.

I'm sure it must have given you a strange feeling ...........

Edited September 12, 2011 by American Woman

[Wilber]

Ohhhhhh. Of course. Their weapons were the planes. I was thinking of the terrorists on the plane who were on a suicide mission - that they were being used, in effect, as human weapons (like suicide bombers). I knew you were a pilot, but my thoughts went to who/what was in the plane you were flying - I should have made the connection.

I'm sure it must have given you a strange feeling ...........

It did. Not much imagination required to put myself in their shoes.

[Sir Bandelot]

It did. Not much imagination required to put myself in their shoes.

I really would appreciate your insight into the ability to fly such a plane in the manner that they did. I heard at those speeds it would be difficult to make the turns and guide the plane into the building, without computer assistance. The Pentagon flight path as I recall was even more difficult to comprehend.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Sir Bandelot

[Guest American Woman]

It did. Not much imagination required to put myself in their shoes.

Did you feel pretty vulnerable until the cockpit doors were made secure?

[Wilber]

I really would appreciate your insight into the ability to fly such a plane in the manner that they did. I heard at those speeds it would be difficult to make the turns and guide the plane into the building, without computer assistance. The Pentagon flight path as I recall was even more difficult to comprehend.

Not really, they didn't need to learn how to takeoff and land. Most of what they did could have been done with the autopilot if they knew what they were doing. They had taken simulator training to do just what they did, just maneuvering the aircraft around in perfect weather after the operating crew had already got the aircraft all set up, not the difficult stuff. I looked at what was supposed to have been a simulator profile flown by the Pentagon aircraft. More difficult than the trade center true but not that hard if you don't expect to survive. It's a damn big target and hitting it anywhere would get the result they wanted. Sloppy flying but not close to losing control or even dangerous if you disregard the fact they were aiming for a building. They picked a good aircraft as well. The 767 and 757 are really nice aircraft to hand fly IMO. No bad habits.

[g_bambino]

I was in a hostel in Hong Kong; I'd just come out of the shower, getting prepared for my last night out before heading back to Toronto, after a year in Australia. There was a small TV in the four-bunk room I was in; the other guys were already watching when I came in. Like a few others here, my initial thought was: an accident had just happened, similar to when a B-25 bomber struck - and went right through - the Empire State Building in 1945. Once the second plane hit - which we saw happen live - that theory pretty much went out the window.

I won't recount the ordeal of getting home. It's petty in comparison to what happened to other people that day and in the days after.

[Wilber]

Did you feel pretty vulnerable until the cockpit doors were made secure?

I really can't/won't comment on any security measures that were taken.

[Sir Bandelot]

Thanks for your reply, Wilber.

[Guest American Woman]

American Woman, on 11 September 2011 - 05:59 PM, said: Did you feel pretty vulnerable until the cockpit doors were made secure?

I really can't/won't comment on any security measures that were taken.

Nor would I expect you to. To be clear, I wasn't asking about security measures that were taken (that was all over the news). Your comments just brought back my feelings the first time I flew after 9-11 so I wondered how it affected you. Totally cool that you don't want to respond.