What happened on 9/11/2001

Here is a timeline for September 11, 2001, when commercial airliners crashed into the New York World Trade Centre twin towers, the Pentagon and, after passengers mounted a counterattack, a Pennsylvania field.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including more than 2,600 at the World Trade Centre, 125 at the Pentagon, and 265 on the four planes.

The Hijackings

American Airlines Flight 11

0759 EDT: American Airlines 11 departs from Boston for Los Angeles

0814: The flight has its last routine communication with the ground

A helicopter flies past the World Trade Center after a commercial plane slammed into it, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0819: A flight attendant calls the airline's reservation office in North Carolina via an airphone and reports an emergency

0841: A duty manager in American Airlines' operations centre in Fort Worth, Texas, is told air traffic controllers have declared the flight a hijacking and think the plane is headed toward New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport

0844: North Carolina airline employee loses phone contact with the flight attendant. Another flight attendant in a phone call to American's office in Boston says: "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent." Asked to look out a window to try and determine where they were, flight attendant says: "We are flying way too low." Seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low."

0846: Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Centre's North Tower

People look out of the burning North Tower of the World Trade Center, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

1028: North Tower collapses

United Airlines Flight 175

0758: United Airlines 175 departs from Boston for Los Angeles

0842: The flight reports a "suspicious transmission" overheard from another plane (American Airlines 11). It is the flight's last communication with the ground

0852: A flight attendant calls the airline's San Francisco office and reports the plane has been hijacked, both pilots killed, a flight attendant stabbed and hijackers probably flying the plane

0858: The flight takes a heading toward New York City

The towers of the World Trade Center pour smoke shortly after being struck by hijacked commercial aircraft, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0903: The plane strikes the World Trade Centre's South Tower

0958: South Tower collapses in 10 seconds

American Airlines Flight 77

0810: American Airlines 77 departs from Dulles for Los Angeles

A group of firefighters walk amid rubble near the base of the destroyed South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0854: Flight deviates from assigned course. Two minutes later transponder is turned off

0900: An American Airlines executive learns communications have been lost with flight, making it American's second plane in trouble. All American Airlines flights in Northeast that have not yet taken off are ordered to remain on the ground. American makes the ground stop nationwide after learning a United Airlines plane is missing

0929: Flight 77 autopilot disengaged

Rescue workers carry mortally injured New York City Fire Department chaplain, the Rev. Mychal Judge, from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, 11 September, 2001. The chaplain was crushed to death by falling debris while giving a man last rites in the trade center. Photo: Reuters

0934: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advises U.S. Secret Service of unknown aircraft heading in direction of the White House. Plane makes a 330-degree turn and points toward Pentagon and downtown Washington

0937: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon

United Airlines Flight 93

Cars smolder in the street as the destroyed World Trade Center burns in New York, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0842: United Airlines 93 departs from Newark for San Francisco

0928: Flight 93 suddenly drops 700 feet (210 meters). Eleven seconds into the descent air traffic control in Cleveland receives the first of two radio transmissions; captain or first officer is heard declaring, "Mayday"

0958: Flight 93 passenger assault on hijackers begins

Workers at St. Vincent's Hospital wait for injured people from the World Trade Center towers in New York, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

1002: Flight 93 plows into field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Federal Aviation Administration acts

0906: FAA stops departures of all flights bound to or through airspace of airports controlled by New York air traffic control and adjacent control centres

0908: FAA halts takeoff of all civilian planes nationwide

The remaining tower of World Trade Center, Tower 2, dissolves in a cloud of dust and debris about a half hour after the first twin tower collapsed, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0945: FAA orders all civilian aircraft to land at nearest airport as soon as possible; 4,546 flights were airborne

The President

0905: President George W. Bush is seated in a classroom in Sarasota, Florida, when his chief of staff whispers to him, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." Bush remains in the classroom about five to seven minutes

President George Bush (2nd R) is pictured with Vice President Dick Cheney (R) and senior staff in the President's Emergency Operations Center in Washington in the hours following the attacks, 11 September, 2001. Photo: Reuters

0935: President's motorcade departs, arriving at airport between 0942 and 0945

0954: Air Force One departs without any fixed destination and lands at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana; soldiers encircle the plane before Bush descends. Bush is flown to Washington on Air Force One

*Sources: The 9/11 Commission report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States; the 9/11 Memorial & Museum; FBI archives on 9/11 investigations; Reuters article, "Witness: With President Bush after the planes hit on 11 September"