The events of 9/11
Updated on 10 September 2006
How the events of 9/11 unfolded with the four hijacked planes.
The fifth anniversary of 9/11 recalls the day when four airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda supporters and almost 3000 people were killed.
The first two planes crashed into the World Trade Centre's twin towers in New York, the third into the Pentagon in Washington, and the fourth into a field in Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board and many on the ground.
Flight 11
The Boeing 767 bound for Los Angeles left Boston's Logan Airport bound at 7.59am. Only 15 minutes later it was hijacked. The hijackers stabbed two of the crew, forced their way into the cockpit and seized control.
The 9/11 Commission report said the hijackers used mace and the threat of a bomb to force other passengers to the back of the plane.
Travelling at 650kmh, the plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre at 8.47am. It hit the north tower between the 93rd and 99th floors, destroying all three stairwells and any possibility of escape for anyone on the 92nd floor or above.
All 92 on board, including two pilots and nine crew, were killed instantly, another 1462 died in the tower.
Four of the five hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. The ring-leader and pilot of flight 11, Mohamed Atta, was born in Egypt.
Flight 175
The Boeing 767 left Boston's Logan Airport at 8:14am. About 30 minutes later it was hijacked. Armed with knives and mace, the hijackers took control after forcing their way into the cockpit.
The hijackers were Mohand al Shehri, Hamza al Ghamdi and Ahmed al Ghamdi, from Saudi Arabia and Fayez Banihammad, from the United Arab Emirates.
The pilot was Marwan al Shehhi, also from the UAE, a longtime friend of Atta.
At 9.03am the plane crashed into the south tower of the world Trade Centre, travelling at 800km/h.
The plane hit the 81st floor, carving a hole from the 77th to the 85th floors. Some people on the upper storeys were able to escape down the one remaining undamaged stairwell. Of the estimated 8600 occupants, about 600 died in the tower and all 65 people on board died instantly.
The fate of the other planes on 9/11
American Airlines Flight 77
The Boeing 757 departed at 8.20am from Dulles Airport, Washington, bound for LA. About 30 minutes later the hijacking began.
The hijackers were Majed Moqed, Hani Hanjour, Khalid al Mihdhar, Nawaf al Hazmi and his brother Salem al Hazmi.
Apart from Mihdhar, who came from Yemen, the others were all from Saudi Arabia.
Hazmi and Mihdhar had both enrolled at a flying school in San Diego but their grasp of English was so poor they had to give up. Hani Hanjour was the pilot of flight 77.
At 9.38am the plane crashed into the Pentagon travelling at 530 mph killing all 64 on board, including six crew. On the ground, 125 military and civilian personnel died.
United 93
The Boeing 757 departed at 8.42am from Newark, New Jersey, for San Francisco. The hijackers struck three-quarters of an hour later.
The flight took off 25 minutes late, and news of the other hijackings was already beginning to spread. The hijackers stormed the cockpit moments after a warning was sent to the pilot.
According to a call from on board, passengers voted to storm the cockpit. Sounds of a sustained assault can be heard on the plane's voice recorder. A passenger can be heard shouting: "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die."
Mark Bingham, 31 - one of a group of passengers who tried to overpower the hijackers and regain control of the plane - called his mother to say goodbye.
"He said: 'I want you to know I love you very much, and I'm calling you from the plane. We've been taken over.
"There are three men who say they've got a bomb,'" recalled his mother, Alice Hoglan.
The hijackers were forced to ditch the plane early. It landed in an empty field, 20 minutes short of its Washington target.
The plane crashed at 10.02am into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 on board, including seven crew.
Flight 93 had only four hijackers: Lebanese-born Ziad Jarrah and from Saudi Arabia Ahmed al Nami, Saeed al Ghamdi and Ahmad al Haznawi. Mohamed al Kahtani, thought to be the fifth hijacker, had been refused entry to the US the previous month by suspicious immigration staff.
