What Were You Doing When The 911 Attack Occurred?
This is our contribution to a similar question on XANGA:http://bfields1.xanga.com/
Saturday, 12 September 2009
What were you doing when you first heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks?
I work at home and usually get up between 8:00 and 8:30. That morning I was still in bed when the first plane was making its approach from the north. I could hear its jet engines which were on full throttle as the plane drew nearer, waking me and sending a chill through my body. I live in Soho, only a handful of blocks from the World Trade Center, have a few hundred hours flying a Cessna myself so I realized that something was very wrong. First of all, no flight paths to La Guardia, Kennedy or Newark bring large planes over the middle of Manhattan at what sounded like just a few hundred feet! I felt that it was coming right at me and I actually believed I was going to die. There was no place to go in the 10 seconds it would take for it to reach me, so I forced myself to relax and thought how grateful I was for the good like I have had. I closed my eyes as the roar shook my loft building . . . .and heard it pass directly overhead.
The roar slowly diminished . . .for about 5 seconds. Then it stopped. Stopped? I thought I heard a “thump” and immediately pictured a commercial jet making an emergency landing in the Hudson River. What else could it be? I imagined what was happening . . . .big yellow slides popping out of the aircraft, people sliding down to safety, a big story on the evening news. “I’m sure they will all be fine,” I thought as I considered catching another few minutes. But I was sitting bolt upright and realized that was not happening. I threw on my jeans and a t-shirt (it was an absolutely beautiful day) and walked outside, People on the street were all looking in the same direction and it took a second to realize that the WTC North tower was in flames, “What kind of an idiotic pilot would let that happen?” I thought. I knew he had plenty of time to maneuver away from any buildings.
I was thinking “This might be intentional” but was very uncertain that such an event was too strong a possibility. That was, until we saw approaching from the West and suddenly turning North the second plane. Oh my God! The street was filled with incredulity and awe. We couldn’t believe what we know was now the fact. We were under attack.
What happened to us downtown in the next several hours, days and weeks is a series of stories that could be told for hours, so won’t be here. But to me, having not died as I expected on the initial pass, melodramatic as that might seem right now, what actually was happening seemed a lot, lot worse.
Bruce Fields
www.oneheadsup.org