American Airlines Flight 11

**American Airlines Flight 11** was the first hijacked airplane of the September 11 attacks. It crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The American Airlines aircraft was a Boeing 767.  It was  (planned) to fly from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the hijackers forced their way into the cockpit.  One of the hijackers was a trained pilot.  He took the control of the aircraft and flew it into the North Tower. The hijackers were members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

All 92 people on the airplane died in the crash—11 crew members and 81 passengers; 5 of them were hijackers. The crash took place at 08:46 Eastern Daylight Time. Many people near by panicked as they saw the crash. A few people were able to capture the moment of impact; Jules Naudet, a French cameraman who was filming a movie, and Pavel Hlava, a Czech immigrant. Additionally, a webcam set up by Wolfgang Staehle at an art exhibit in Brooklyn that took pictures of Lower Manhattan every four seconds, and a newscamera that was left on the ground also captured the crash.  The crash and the fire that started right after it made the North Tower collapse within 102 minutes. The attack killed nearly 3,000 people and injured thousands more. It left a profound mark on American history and changed the system of airport security.

## Flight 
 that crashed]]
The aircraft flying American Airlines Flight 11 was a Boeing 767-200ER.  Even though it could carry a maximum of 158 passengers, the September 11 flight carried only 81 passengers and 11 crew members.  Flying the aircraft was pilot John Ogonowski and first officer Thomas McGuinness.  The flight attendants were Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder and Madeline Sweeney.

### Boarding 
 and Abdulaziz al-Omari going through security checks]]
Mohamed Atta, a member of terrorist group al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the leader of the terrorists and another hijacker, Abdulaziz al-Omari, flew together from Portland, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts early on September 11, 2001.  Both hijackers had first class tickets for a flight to Los Angeles, California.

Atta, the Egyptian leader of the terrorist attackers, sat in business class with al-Omari and al-Suqami. The al-Shehris sat in first class. The aircraft  away from Gate B32 and departed Logan International Airport at 07:59 from runway 4R after a 14-minute delay.

## The hijacking 
]]
It is thought that the hijacking of the plane started at 08:14. This was when the pilot and first officer stopped talking with air traffic control at Boston. During the four-minute call, Ong told the airline which seats the hijackers were sitting in and said no one could get into the cockpit, where the hijackers were now.

At 08:23:38, Mohamed Atta tried to talk to the passengers from the cockpit but he pressed the wrong message button and sent the message to air traffic control.  He said that "[They] have some planes, just stay quiet and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport." A minute later he said, "Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you'll  yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." In all, 92 people on board were killed.

Because of the angle the airplane struck, people could not  from at or above where the aircraft had crashed (floors 100 and up). All  and elevators from the 92nd floor to at least the 99th floor were blocked by fire or debris, trapping 1,344 people. Hundreds were killed right away by the . The rest either were trapped and died from the fire, smoke or the collapse of the tower, and some even died after they jumped or fell out the windows of the burning building.  More than one elevator shaft carried the burning fuel downward, exploding on the 44th floor sky lobby and the Lobby of the North Tower causing damage to the marble walls, shattering windows and causing severe burns to several people.

Jules Naudet, a French cameraman filmed the crash. A webcam set up at an art exhibition in Brooklyn to take pictures of Lower Manhattan, every four seconds, also filmed Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower.

News organizations first reported an explosion at the World Trade Center. CNN  a commercial at 08:49 with the headline that read "World Trade Center Disaster."  President George W. Bush was arriving at an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida when he was told about the crash. The president said, "This is pilot error. It's unbelievable that somebody would do this. The guy must have had a heart attack." The first news reports believed that the crash had been an accident until Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 09:03, minutes after.

## After the crash 
102 minutes after the crash, the North Tower burned and d in on itself.  Although the crash caused much damage, the fire caused by jet fuel was blamed for the damage and collapse of the tower. Hundreds of rescue workers also died when the tower collapsed.

Rescue workers at the site started to find remains of bodies from the victims of Flight 11 soon after the attack. Some workers found bodies strapped to airplane seats.  Reports that the body of a flight attendant with her hands tied up was released in the days after the attacks, meaning that the hijackers may have used handcuffs. However, little evidence has been provided after the events to confirm whether this is in fact true or not.  Within a year, remains of the 33&nbsp;victims that had been on Flight&nbsp;11 had been . They identified two other Flight&nbsp;11 victims, lead flight attendant Karen Martin and another person, after body remains were discovered near Ground Zero in 2006. In April 2007, examiners using newer DNA technology identified another Flight&nbsp;11 victim. The remains of two hijackers, who could have been from Flight&nbsp;11, were also identified and removed from Memorial Park in Manhattan. The remains of the other hijackers have not been identified and are buried with other unidentified remains at Memorial Park.
 
In a video recording found months later in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, seemed to say he planned the attack. He said he believed part of towers would collapse. The flight recorders, or tapes that record useful flight data, for Flight&nbsp;11 and Flight&nbsp;175 were never found.

After the attacks, the flight number for flights on the same route at the same takeoff time was changed to American Airlines Flight&nbsp;25, and a Boeing 757 was used instead of a Boeing 767.  An American flag was flown on the jet bridge from which Flight&nbsp;11 departed from Logan Airport.

## Related pages 
* American Airlines Flight 77
* United Airlines Flight 93
* United Airlines Flight 175

## References 
## Other websites 
* American Airlines Flight 11  - Brief background, as well as complete victim list
* American Airlines Flight 11  
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