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But why did the firemen tell her to run like hell, assuming she was in the lower floors. Nobody could predict that the south tower was to go down?
I'll take this one, even though you were asking NYCHistoryGal. I was in the north tower and got down and out of the building just a few minutes after the south tower was hit (around the fourth floor, there was an explosion and the whole building shook--everyone stopped in their tracks, and when I got out there were burning pieces of airplane all over the Plaza, so I put that together later).
From the time of impact, there were pieces of debris falling off the buildings, some of it on fire--in addition to the people jumping. I've only recently realized that people don't seem to know that. A couple of other people I've talked to in RL or on line have asked a similar question.
When I got out, I was right under the wound in the north tower where AA11 had gone in, but I didn't know it--first thing I saw was a little bird quivering on the ground dying, then I noticed some other dead birds, then my friend said, "Oh my God, look at the Plaza", and I saw the plane. THEN a cop was in my face pointing at the North Bridge (pedestrian walkway connecting the WTC and WFC) and telling me "Run over that bridge and don't look up." So I looked up (DUH) and saw all this stuff raining down and only then did I realize that I was hearing bang! bang! bang! as it was hitting the ground all around us...and I ran.
It was dangerous out there long before the collapses. As a matter of fact, that was the reason why the fire safety coordinator in the south tower put out the public announcement for people to stay in their offices--it was for their own safety. It also cost many of them who heeded the message their lives.
There was a secretary in my department who had just moved to New York from Arizona a few weeks before and started working at the WTC. She was running across the Plaza and saw a man slightly ahead of her impaled with a piece of metal. She left New York after 9/11 and as far as I know, she never came back.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 05-06-2011 at 12:26 PM..
It took me a while before I could read and watch some of these things, but in the past year I've been reading and watching things off and on. Another decent book was Covering Catastrophe, which is first-person accounts from the reporters who were covering the news that day on the different sites.
I also heard the author speak who wrote Touching History, which is the story of what went on in the skies that day. She is a Continental pilot who interviewed hundreds of commerical and military pilots who were in the air or sent out (in the case of the military). Really interesting information about the response of the FAA and the military, false reports that had to be dealt with and how the budget had been cut so much over the years for NORAD that they had 1970's radar equipment. It's also about how things have changed in aviation since then. One interesting remark she made was that pilots are now allowed to carry weapons. They take their training at the FBI facility outside DC. She said she is not allowed to tell us the percentage of pilots who now carry, but that the number would surprise us.
To answer the original OP question, I was in Middletown, Bronx. My then girlfriend woke me up to watch the news, I said gunna go to the towers with your car to see the whole thing, she said the traffic is jammed, I said gunna take the subway then? Aint working she said. We watch the news then the whole day about to 11.45 p.m. Same old story that most of we have.
It took me a while before I could read and watch some of these things, but in the past year I've been reading and watching things off and on. Another decent book was Covering Catastrophe, which is first-person accounts from the reporters who were covering the news that day on the different sites.
I also heard the author speak who wrote Touching History, which is the story of what went on in the skies that day. She is a Continental pilot who interviewed hundreds of commerical and military pilots who were in the air or sent out (in the case of the military). Really interesting information about the response of the FAA and the military, false reports that had to be dealt with and how the budget had been cut so much over the years for NORAD that they had 1970's radar equipment. It's also about how things have changed in aviation since then. One interesting remark she made was that pilots are now allowed to carry weapons. They take their training at the FBI facility outside DC. She said she is not allowed to tell us the percentage of pilots who now carry, but that the number would surprise us.
MQ, I admit to having a distorted handle on time that day. Some things were slow motion, others seemed really fast. But just on your comment about the military planes - is it just me, or didn't it take a REALLY long time for them to show up? I certainly know they were there in the evening and the endless days afterwards - but other than news helipcopters and NYPD copters, I have no clear memory of military aviation. It was like finally getting home to Brooklyn that day and eventually getting into my apartment (my bag was back at WFC). I turned on the TV expecting to see the President but he didn't appear until hours later either. Or so it seemed in my admittedly warped sense of time.
All i know is when the first firechief and 2 fire trucks arriwed at the north tower lobby, seen it on film. No panic anong them (two pepole burning in the lobby) get the hose and start climbing. No elevators. They knew then that its gunna take time, climbing, but no one suspected that whole thing is gunna come down.
To answer the original OP question, I was in Middletown, Bronx. My then girlfriend woke me up to watch the news, I said gunna go to the towers with your car to see the whole thing, she said the traffic is jammed, I said gunna take the subway then? Aint working she said. We watch the news then the whole day about to 11.45 p.m. Same old story that most of we have.
I had no idea that there was a neighborhood called Middletown in the Bronx. Learn something new every day.
MQ, I admit to having a distorted handle on time that day. Some things were slow motion, others seemed really fast. .
I hear ya, so do I.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cokatie
But just on your comment about the military planes - is it just me, or didn't it take a REALLY long time for them to show up? I certainly know they were there in the evening and the endless days afterwards - but other than news helipcopters and NYPD copters, I have no clear memory of military aviation. It was like finally getting home to Brooklyn that day and eventually getting into my apartment (my bag was back at WFC). I turned on the TV expecting to see the President but he didn't appear until hours later either. Or so it seemed in my admittedly warped sense of time.
I cannot recall exactly when I first saw the jets, but it was before the south tower collapsed. As I said, I got out a few minutes after 2 was hit, ran over the south pedestrian bridge, through the Winter Garden atrium and out the other side. At that point I looked up and saw just how big the hole in 1 was, and I said to the coworker I ran out with, "$#!+, I don't think they're going to be able to fix that."
From there we went to the Embassy Suites hotel and used the ladies room and threw water on our faces. My friend wanted to get a phone call home (neither of us yet owned cell phones, lol, not everyone did then) but the lines in the hotel were too long, so we went up a couple of blocks north of the WTC. A block or two before Chambers, I'd say, around West Broadway or Greenwich. We were there a few minutes milling around with other people, I know I grubbed a cigarette off of someone because mine were in my backpack on the 72nd floor. I remember wondering if anyone else outside of lower Manhattan had any idea that this was all going on, and it was right around then that we heard this roar and looked up and saw two fighter jets overhead. A lot of people, myself included, shrieked and kind of crouched down low--we didn't know WHOSE jets they were and if they were going to bomb us or what. At that point I remember saying to my friend, "This is some kind of war."
Anyway, that had to be within 20 minutes to half an hour after I got out of the building.
In high school, saw all the sud and particles in the sky in brooklyn. School let us go home, it was chaos. When i saw the towers collapse it was disbelief.
I was in my 7th grade homeroom, heard an announcement on the speaker from our principal saying that there was a terrible tragedy and for everyone to pray for those "poor poor people". My first thought for some reason was that the president was assassinated. I asked my teacher what happen exactly, cause everyone wasn't really saying anything, and she said "Oh nothing, a small plane just hit the twin tower". I thought to myself big deal. Kids started to get picked up from school, and eventually I was too. We picked up my brother and headed home. When I looked at the news I saw how serious it really was. I trespassed on the roof of my Bronx building and saw the all the smoke, clear as day.
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