Pittsburgh 9/11 (live, road, time)

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

I was tired of hearing about it ten minutes later.

The ah... pleasure of hearing about it non-stop has surely increased since then.

[Burghgirl17]

I was in undergrad at Pitt at the time. As I was leaving to go to my first class of the morning, friends were sitting in our living room watching coverage of the first plane hitting. Then as we were watching the second plane hit. I then had to go to class, a poli-sci class being held in the Cathedral of Learning. The enormity of the situation, as well as going to class in a skyscraper immediately after it happened, hadn't quite hit me. We discussed it at length in class. I then was going over to the student union for a meeting after class, and ended up joining the crowd in the lobby watching tv and learned of the crashes in Shanksville and the Pentagon. The rest of the day's classes were canceled by then. I was still terrified, as I lived very close to the Cathedral. Lots of friends from the greater NYC area were frantically trying to get in touch with their loved ones.

[BrianTH]

Our experience was largely typical of the experience of most people in the country. The only thing I remember being specific to Pittsburgh was that for some short period of time, people were wondering if the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania might have been heading for Pittsburgh.

[Cam34]

I was working in USX at the time the planes hit the towers. Shortly there after USX (at least the company I was working for at the time) was evacuated and told it is in best interest to leave the city. Catching a bus to leave the city was pandemonium. It took me 3.5 hours to get home on a normal 40 commute. The feeling that you could be next was overwhelming at times, but the ability of trying not to panic was just as strong.

[I_Like_Spam]

At 10 to 9 on 9/11 I got into my car to go to Pitt to have my bridge cemented in, I was a little antsy and annoyed at the temporary bridge I had.

I turned on the radio and they were talking about a plane crash at the WTC- thought it was a terrible accident and felt I didn't need to hear that so I popped in a Hendrix tape and drove to Oakland from the South Side.

It was surreal as they were playing the radio in the treatment room as the student was adjusting and cementing in the appliance and they were talking about the towers falling as it was happening.

They just kept the gates open at the parking garage across from the Falk and I drove back to South Side spending much of the day at Jack's which did a good business that day.

[Tallysmom]

We were living in California at the time, and husband listened to Howard Stern in the morning on his bedside radio, which started out here at 6AM. So we were listening to Howard and dozing like we always did, when Howard went into newscaster mode -- excitable newscaster mode, but newscaster mode.

I threw my arm into Brent's chest and yelled "Something's wrong. Something's happened."

Keep in mind -- this was already way in progress, because we're three hours behind.... and we woke up to Howard talking about it three hours later than he really did.

Brent said -- "This could be a bit...." and then Live 105 broke in and basically said this is a rebroadcast of the attacks ....

I popped out of bed and headed for the TV.... and FREAKED when I heard the plane went down in Somerset County..... where a large number of relatives live.

And then the towers went down.

We went to work, because that's what we do, we carry on. But at work, I took a break and went out side and sat. Where I work, we're in the flight paths of both Oakland Airport and San Francisco airport. There's planes overhead ALL the time at various heights. But remember they stopped them. They grounded all the planes.

It was so quiet. All I could hear was the birds tweeting, and the leaves rustling in the breeze. I couldn't believe the quiet. It was almost creepy to not have the hustle and bustle from above.

[youngabe]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

The first plane hit the tower in the ten minutes after I parked but before I got into the office, and my office mates didn't have any idea. I was checking emails and looking at news sites and wondering "wait, what's going on in New York?"

I also remember that it was a beautiful clear fall day, and it seemed like such a disconnect that something so horribly wrong was happening.

As bizarre as it sounds, that's my clearest recollection...the weather. It was SO perfect that day. I can remember everything being so calm and quiet after all the pandemonium died down. I still remember standing in my living room just watching the TV. It's amazing what sticks out and what doesn't---I remember watching Channel 4 and Sally Wiggin was broadcasting the news.

[nuwaver88]

I was working from 11am to 7pm that day in a pizza shop, so I did not wake up until around 10am. I did not turn on the tv or radio. I just showered etc. and was ready to head out the door when my cell phone rang.

Mom: "Paul we're being attacked!"
Me: "Who, You and dad? "I'll be right over!"
Mom: No, the United States! Didn't you hear? The World Trade Center, both towers, the Pentagon too!
Me: How?
Mom: Three seperate planes!

We talked a bit more. How after the first plane nobody thought it was terrorism, until the second plane hit. I immedialely put KDKA on in my car. When I was about halfway to work, they mentioned that a plane was down in Somerset County, which in and of itself would have been the story of the year.

Even though it was a Tuesday, which is normally not a very busy day for the pizza shop, the phone rang off the hook that day. People were glued to the TV and did not want to cook. As much as my boss liked the business, he said, "If anybody complains about their food being delivered late, just laugh in their face." We strongly agreed.

[ditchdigger]

It's funnny this should have come up. It's one of those events where just about everybody recalls just where they were when they heard the news. Just the week before last, I happened to be back in that spot, and I was reflecting on that day and the fact that that's where I'd been at the time.

I was working, and a friend called to ask me if I'd heard about the plane hitting the first tower. We discussed it some, and when he said it had been an airliner, not a small plane, I immediately speculated that it was a terrorist act. Obviously, when the second plane hit, there was little doubt left.

For the rest of the day, we didn't get a whole lot done on the job, I'd work for a few minutes, but couldn't help wandering back over to the truck and listening to the radio for the latest developments. At the spot where I was, it's not uncommon to see air traffic headed both for PIT, and in and out of Allegheny County Airport. There was, of course, none of that, although we could hear the fighters passing periodically, but they were almost impossible to spot, even, or maybe especially, in that clear sky. ( SKYbrary - Empty Field Myopia) The KC-135 tankers could be seen passing by periodically, but that was it as far as aircraft.

The FAA, at one point evacuated the tower at Pittsburgh International. Controllers were told, "There's a guy about ten minutes north of here, he's not talking to anyone (any ATC facility) and he's headed straight for us. Get out." That was, of course, Flight 93.

I'm not sure how many of us have paused to consider, at jet airliner speeds, how little margin exists between a crash site in rural Shanksville, and one in the heart of the Pittsburgh metro area.

I just happened to have my scanner along with me that day. It could receive transmissions on the air band. There is one frequency, called the "Guard" frequency, that all ATC facilities and aircraft, should monitor if they are equipped to do so. The old emeregency locator beacons broadcast on that frequency, and it's also used as a common frequency to communicate during emergencies.

I had turned the scanner on to see if there was anything at all to be heard. Sometime late in the morning, some poor private pilot, who was totally disconnected from the rest of the world apparently, decided to take advantage of that beautiful weather and go for a ride. I never heard any transmissions fro that guy, but what I did hear was pretty memorable, and probably something few of us have heard.

"This is Cobra One, on Guard, to the single engine aircraft (some number of miles) south of Pittsburgh. I suggest you return to your base and land."

No acknowlegement.

"This is Cobra One to the single engine aircraft (some fewer number of miles) south of Pittsburgh. Return to your base and land."

No acknowlegement.

"This is Cobra One, a flight of two F-16s, to the single engine Cessna south of Pittsburgh. Return to your base immediately and land. Acknowlege with a wing wag."

That afternoon, I had to go to the strip district to pick up a tire. I drove through downtown. It was about 2 p.m. It was really weird, because if you've ever driven up Grant St. at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, that's what it looked like. Practically a ghost town...

[Love2Golf09]

The thing that really sticks in my mind was what a beautiful day that was. Very sunny, perfect weather. I doubt that most pittsburghers realized at that moment how close the plane that went down in shanksville was to us. I was downtown that day and the evacuation went extremely smooth from what I remember. At that moment I assumed every major city was evacuating their downtown as a precaution, so I wasn't really concerned about anything happening here. Years later I learned that most cities did not evacuate like we did. Looking back on it, it's kind of shocking how smoothly the evacuation went. I wonder why PAT can't get people out of downtown that quickly after a stillers game?