All flights stopped nationwide
Posted: September 11, 2001
(CNN) -- All airports in the United States have been closed
by order of the Federal Aviation Administration -- the first time
in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.
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PLANE CRASHES · American Airlines Flight 11 en route from Boston to Los Angeles · American Airlines Flight 77 en route from Dulles Airport near Washington to Los Angeles · United Airlines Flight 93 en route from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco · United Airlines 175 en route from Boston to Los Angeles |
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CONTACT NUMBERS Friends or family members who want more information on the crashes should contact: · American Airlines - 1-800-245-0999 · United Airlines - 1-800-932-8555 |
By midafternoon all domestic flights that had been in the air when the closings were ordered had landed, said FAA spokesman Less Dorr.
"The earliest the national groundstop will be lifted is noon tomorrow. And that's at the very earliest," said Dorr.
All international flights heading for the U.S. have been diverted to Canada.
In what appeared to be coordinated acts of terrorism, two jets crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center Tuesday morning, collapsing them in clouds of smoke, while another aircraft crashed into the Pentagon.
A fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania with 45 people on board.
Senior FBI sources said they are working on the assumption that all four planes were hijacked as part of a terrorist attack.
American Airlines reported two of its jetliners had been lost in "tragic incidents."
One was a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles with 81 passengers, nine crew members and two pilots. Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center at 8:48 a.m. ET.
The other was a Boeing 757 -- Flight 77 from Dulles Airport outside Washington, also headed to Los Angeles, with 58 passengers, four crew members and two pilots. It crashed into the Pentagon at 9:38 a.m. EDT.
A United Airlines jetliner airliner crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:20 a.m. EDT. Flight 93 was headed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco. Police said there were no survivors. There were 38 passengers, five flight attendants and two pilots.
United also said its Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles with 56 passengers, two pilots and seven crew members had crashed. The FBI said it was the second plane to hit the second World Trade Center tower at 9:04 a.m. EDT.
United Airlines has grounded all of its flights worldwide.