American Airlines Flight 77 Timeline
Timeline
- (7:15 a.m. and later) September 11, 2001: Initial flight check-ins
Hani Hanjour, Khalid al Mihdhar, and Majed Moqed were flagged by CAPPS.The Hazmi brothers were also selected for extra scrutiny by the airline’s customer service representative at the check-in counter. He did so because one of the brothers did not have photo identification nor could he understand English, and because the agent found both of the passengers to be suspicious.The only consequence of their selection was that their checked bags were held off the plane until it was confirmed that they had boarded the aircraft.
Page 3, Chapter 1
9/11 Commission Report
- (7:29 a.m. and later) September 11, 2001: The other hijackers check in
11. The Hazmis checked in at 7:29; the airline has not yet been able to confirm the time of Hanjour’s checkin. However, it had to have taken place by 7:35, when he appears on the checkpoint videotape. See AAL record, SABRE information for Flight 77, Sept. 11, 2001;AAL response to the Commission’s February 3, 2004, requests,
Mar. 15, 2004; Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority videotape, Dulles main terminal checkpoints, Sept. 11, 2001.Note 11 to Chapter 1
9/11 Commission Report
- (7:35 - 7:50 a.m.) September 11, 2001: The security checkpoint
About 20 minutes later, at 7:35, another passenger for Flight 77, Hani Hanjour, placed two carry-on bags on the X-ray belt in the Main Terminal’s west checkpoint, and proceeded,without alarm,through the metal detector... A short time later, Nawaf and Salem al Hazmi entered the same checkpoint.
At 7:50, Majed Moqed and Khalid al Mihdhar boarded the flight and were seated in 12A and 12B in coach. Hani Hanjour, assigned to seat 1B (first class),soon followed. The Hazmi brothers, sitting in 5E and 5F, joined Hanjour in the first-class cabin.Page 3/4, Chapter 1
9/11 Commission Report
- (8:09 - 8:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 leaves
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- (8:40 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 handed off to Indianapolis ATC
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- (8:46 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Cruising altitude
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- (8:51 a.m.) September 11, 2001: The last routine radio communication
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- (8:51 - 8:54 a.m.) September 11, 2001: The hijack begins
Neither of the firsthand accounts to come from Flight 77, from a flight attendant and from a passenger, mentioned any actual use of violence (e.g., stabbings) or the threat or use of either a bomb or Mace. Both of these witnesses began the flight in the first-class cabin.
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- (8:54 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 changes course
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- (8:56 a.m.) September 11, 2001: The transponder is turned off
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Shortly after 8:56 A.M., the Indianapolis Center controller reached out to controllers in other sectors at Indianapolis Center to advise them of the situation. The controllers agreed to "sterilize the air space" along the flight's projected westerly route so that other planes would not be affected by Flight 77. Two Indianapolis Center managers joined the controller responsible for Flight 77 in searching for the flight. The managers did not instruct other controllers at Indianapolis Center to turn on their primary radar coverage to join in the search for Flight 77.
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- (8:58 a.m.) September 11, 2001: American Airlines are alerted
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- (9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001: American Airlines ground some flights
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- (Some time between 9:00 and 9:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001: American group stop goes nationwide
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- (9:02 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 location is lost
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- (9:05 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 still undetected
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- (9:07 a.m.) September 11, 2001: A change in course
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- (9:08 a.m.) September 11, 2001: American Airlines believe Flight 77 may have crashed into the WTC
The FAA's Indianapolis Center contacted Air Force Search and Rescue in Langley, Virginia, to request that they be on the lookout for an accident involving Flight 77 because of the simultaneous loss of radio communications and all radar contact.
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- (9:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Indianapolis alert the FAA
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- (9:11 a.m. and later) September 11, 2001: Renee May places a phone call about the hijacking
At some point between 9:12 A.M. and the crash of Flight 77 into the Pentagon (9:37:46 A.M.), Renee May's parents reached an American Airlines employee at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., giving her the information provided by their daughter, including her phone number on board and the flight number. Initially, the American employee thought the Mays were talking about the aircraft that had crashed into the World Trade Center. May's mother reiterated that she was speaking of Flight 77, still in the air. At some point after completing the call, the American employee was told to evacuate the building. On her way out, she heard explosions from the direction of the Pentagon, though she was not sure that it was the crash of an aircraft. She informed a flight services manager at the airport about her conversation with May's parents.
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- (Around 9:15 a.m.) September 11, 2001: American Airlines orders a ground stop
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- (9:16 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Confusion continues
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- (Some time between 9:16 and 9:26 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Barbara Olson makes a call about the hijacking
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- (9:18 a.m. at the latest) September 11, 2001: FAA aware
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- (9:20 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Indianapolis think Flight 77 may still be airborne after all
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- (9:20 - 9:31 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Barbara Olson calls with more information
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- (9:21 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Searching for Flight 77
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- (9:21 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Boston Center say Flight 11 is still airborne
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The Command Center advised the Dulles terminal control facility, which urged its controllers to search for the craft. The military's NORAD (North American Air Defense Command) did not know about the search for American 77. Instead, it heard once again about a plane that no longer existed, American 11. NEADS (the Northeast Air Defense Sector) received a report from the FAA around 9:21:
FAA: Military, Boston Center. I just had a report that American 11 is still in the air, and it's on its way towards -- heading towards Washington.
NEADS: OK. American 11 is still in the air?
FAA: Yes.
NEADS: On its way towards Washington?
FAA: That was another -- it was evidently another aircraft that hit the tower.
That's the latest report we have.
NEADS: OK.
FAA: I'm going to try to confirm an ID for you, but I would assume he's somewhere over, uh, either New Jersey or somewhere further south.
NEADS: OK. So American 11 isn't the hijack at all then, right?
FAA: No, he is a hijack.
NEADS: He -- American 11 is a hijack?
FAA:Yes.
NEADS: And he's heading into Washington?
FAA: Yes. This could be a third aircraft.
The mention of a "third aircraft" was not a reference to American 77. There was confusion at that moment in the FAA. Two planes had struck the World Trade Center, and Boston Center had heard from FAA headquarters in Washington that American 11 was still airborne.
The NEADS technician who took this call from the FAA immediately passed the word to the Mission Crew Commander. He reported to the NEADS Battle Commander:
Mission Crew Commander, NEADS: OK, uh, American Airlines is still airborne. Eleven, the first guy, he’s heading towards Washington. OK? I think we need to scramble Langley right now. And I'm gonna take the fighters from Otis, try to chase this guy down if I can find him.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1962742
<mp3>FAA AA11 still airborne.mp3|download</mp3>- FAA say Flight 11 is still airborne
<mp3>NEADS scramble re phantom AA11.mp3|download</mp3>- NEADS response
- (9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Great Lakes call FAA HQ
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- (9:25 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Nationwide ground stop
Ben Sliney, the Herndon Command Center National Operations Manager, ordered a "nationwide ground stop," which prevented any aircraft from taking off in the United States.
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- (9:29 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 autopilot is turned off
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- (9:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Dulles watch approaching target on radar
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Todd Lewis: One of my colleagues saw a primary target moving quite fast from northwest to the southeast. Nobody knew that was American 77. Brokaw: What did you think, it was a military flight of some kind—Lewis: I thought it was a military flight. I thought that Langley had scrambled some fighters and maybe one of ‘em got up there. Brokaw: It was really moving fast—Lewis: It was moving very fast, like a military aircraft might move at a low altitude.Brokaw: How long were you able to track what turned out to be American—Lewis: It was heading right towards a prohibited area in downtown Washington. And that covers the Capitol and the White House. We then called the White House on the hotline, and let them know.
Controllers activate a hotline to the Secret Service—and within seconds, agents are frantically evacuating the White House. The president is in Florida, but the secret service whisks vice president Dick Cheney into an underground bunker.
Lewis: Then it turned south and away from the prohibited area, which seemed like a momentary sigh of relief. And it disappeared. But it was going away from Washington, which seemed to be the right thing.(Source)
Note that most other evidence places the White House evacuation later. The Cheney timeline is also a matter of some dispute.
- (9:34 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 begins its right turn
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Also at 9:34 A.M., an update by the American Airlines SOC indicated that Flights 11 and 77 had been the aircraft that crashed into the World Trade Center.
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- (9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: C-130 tasked to report on radar target
The FAA's Boston Center – which had learned of the unidentified primary radar target tracking eastbound via an FAA conference call line – called NEADS and relayed the report of the aircraft closing in on Washington. The aircraft that still had not been linked with the missing Flight 77. Boston Center told NEADS: "Latest report. Aircraft VFR [Visual Flight Rules] six miles southeast of the White House...Six, southwest. Six, southwest of the White House, deviating away."
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- (Shortly after 9:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: NEADS redirects Langley fighters
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- (9:37:46 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon
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- (9:38 approx a.m.) September 11, 2001: C-130 reports crash
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- (9:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001: The news spreads
The Herndon Command Center learned from news reports that a plane had struck the Pentagon. The Command Center's national operations manager, Ben Sliney, ordered all FAA facilities to instruct all aircraft to land at the nearest airport. This was an unprecedented order. The air traffic control system handled it with great skill, as about 4,500 commercial and general aviation aircraft soon landed without incident.
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- (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001: United are alerted
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- (10:00 a.m. approx) September 11, 2001: Combat Air Patrol established
- (No later than 10:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Official confirmation