Sept 11, 2001

xzanti

I was at work.

My Sister and Brother in Law had just landed back in Dublin after a weekend in NYC. The World Trade Centre was the last place they visited before they headed for their flight from JFK.

They were amongst the last group of visitors to the towers before close of business on September 10th 2001.

They have pictures of them circling the Towers on a helicopter ride with the date and time on the pictures.. The pictures were featured on the front page of my Brother in Law's local newspaper.

Had they been there one more day of their Holiday's, we may have lost them :eek:

rounding tattenham Corner

was driving home from college, thought it was a war of the worlds type thing on the radio, not much into si-fi so turned it off, saw it later on tv but to be honest did not take much notice of it, after all it was in New York so what did have to with me

KTRIC

I was working in a large financial institution in the IFSC, our office in New York was one of the ones that was attacked. One of the lads came into the office and we all thought he was taking the p!ss.

As long as I live I'll never forget that day

Seachmall

Was driving with my friend's mother to pick his sister up from the airport. Wasn't paying any attention to the radio and pretty much ignored my friend's mother's statements of "Oh, isn't that terrible" (I was 10 and she talked alot, I learned to ignore her). It wasn't until I was with my parents in a pub an hour later and saw it on TV I realized what was going on.

For the 10th anniversary I'll be in Boston (where 2 of the 4 planes took off from) so I'm not too sure what to expect.

4leto

I was at home and I flicked on Sky News, as I normally would, to be greeted by pictures of one of the towers on fire. At that stage everyone was talking about the terrible accident.

Then live I seen the second plane crash into the second tower, the news anchor seem to have missed it and said something like, now the fire has spread to the second tower and I was nearly shouting at the tele it was another plane, it was another plane, its an attack, its an attack. I was genuinely jaw gapingly shocked.

Then I was rooted to the chair and the news for the next 24 hours, I knew I was looking at an event that will change the world. I knew I was witnessing as billions were a major historical event.

It was the first time a foreign agency (apart from the Japanese vengeance balloon bombs in 1944) attacked actual american soil since the birth of that nation. Pearl harbour was not in the Union in 1941, that is how ballsy and significant it was.

It was a pity there was a monkey in the Whitehouse at the time who really made a bad situation worse.

Lord TSC

Was in classical studies class at age of 14. We walked in after lunch break and our teacher told us a plane had crashed into the WTC. I hate to say it but we all laughed when we heard; as 14 year old boys, we didn't register how many people were probably hurt/dead, and we thought it was funny a pilot could be bad enough to crash a plane into a building so big and prominant.

As the class went on, news started spreading that the second had hit the buildings. At that stage the laughing stopped. The principal came on the intercom and announced what was happening. Got quite scary then. Went home and ended up watching it all unfold on the news

teol

I was 15. Came home from school and heard it on the radio. Turned on the tv for about 10mins and remember Brian Dobson not having the words to explain the horror. Then I had to leave for training.

Sanjuro

On holidays from college, was sitting in the living room in a dressing gown and boxers, having just finished a bowl of cereal in front of Neighbours when the BBC interrupted with a news report. Found it very difficult to fap that afternoon in front of the television. Difficult, not impossible.

PurplePrincess

I was on a flight back to Dublin from Manchester and when we landed I saw a lot of long haul aircraft parked and thought that was strange. When we walked inside the terminal everyone was crowded around the tv's so we went over and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing as I had only come home from New York on the sunday and had been in the World trade centre on the friday. We sat there for a few hours just watching the news reports.

Later that day we found out that a close friend of the family had been working in the towers that week and he was missing. His body was found a few days later.

sensibleken

I was in USIT on the keys changing money as i was flying to scotland the next day when I saw that the WYC was on fire. Thats all the news said it was at the time. I thought it was some anti-capitalist arsonist at the time and first reachion was.

Went to a mates house then and saw that the towers have fallen and we sat there in stunned silence, breaking it to imagine what the tabloid headlines would be the next day. Best one was 'Islamic nutters give us the scutters!"

The flight the next day was interesting to say the least

Crazy Horse 6

It was'nt really the day the world changed you know.

py2006

sensibleken wrote: »

I was in USIT on the keys changing money as i was flying to scotland the next day when I saw that the WYC was on fire. Thats all the news said it was at the time. I thought it was some anti-capitalist arsonist at the time and first reachion was.

Went to a mates house then and saw that the towers have fallen and we sat there in stunned silence, breaking it to imagine what the tabloid headlines would be the next day. Best one was 'Islamic nutters give us the scutters!"

The flight the next day was interesting to say the least

Yea I say there was a few anxious faces on the flight!

4leto

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

It was'nt really the day the world changed you know.

I suppose the collapse of Lehmans was more significant, we are still living that one.

Derfil

I was working in one of those large American Banks over here. I'll never forget the management running around with their hands in the air screaming. Sprinting and roaring from one office to another. Dont know what was going through their skulls. I genuinely think they thought they were helping or their actions might make a difference. It was an awful day but I still sit back and have a laugh at them.

johngalway

I had been walking home from the beach, remember it was an absolutely beautiful day here. Walked in home and saw one tower burning on the TV. I was stunned, as many people have said it really was like something out of a film. Then the second plane hit the second tower.

I know they never expected the towers to collapse. But, my one abiding memory of that day is me asking the TV ( ) Why the hell aren't they using helicopters to rescue people from the roofs? Who cares about the fire risk, I am sure pilots and crew would have taken the risk when one saw the condition of the towers above the fires, people were dying. I thought that lack of action was callous to be honest.

sensibleken

py2006 wrote: »

Yea I say there was a few anxious faces on the flight!

And pretty much everyone turned into a racist

sensibleken

johngalway wrote: »

I had been walking home from the beach, remember it was an absolutely beautiful day here. Walked in home and saw one tower burning on the TV. I was stunned, as many people have said it really was like something out of a film. Then the second plane hit the second tower.

I know they never expected the towers to collapse. But, my one abiding memory of that day is me asking the TV ( ) Why the hell aren't they using helicopters to rescue people from the roofs? Who cares about the fire risk, I am sure pilots and crew would have taken the risk when one saw the condition of the towers above the fires, people were dying. I thought that lack of action was callous to be honest.

They couldnt the intense heat would have caused the air to be too unstable when it moved over the roof, plus the thick smoke made the whole thing impossible

LeeHoffmann

I'd just come home on a half-day from secondary school. Just before I got to my door, some kids ran up and told me a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers in New York. I went inside and watched the report on the news. They thought it was an accident. As I was watching, the other plane crashed into the second tower. That realisation seemed to hit everyone at once - this isn't an accident. I remember feeling stunned at that. The clearest image in my mind was watching people jump to their deaths from the second tower after the first one collapsed

cyrusdvirus

sensibleken wrote: »

They couldnt the intense heat would have caused the air to be too unstable when it moved over the roof, plus the thick smoke made the whole thing impossible

And the fact that the doors were locked since the 1993 bombing.

The NYPD helicopters had been picking people up from the roof and the FDNY had disagreed with this, calling it a publicity stunt.

In fairness, if the doors had been open no helcopter would have been able to get close anyway, as you said, the air was too turbulent.

And any helicopter attempting to rescue people could potentially been swamped by people in a panic and crashed itself..... I know i would have been panicking had i been in that situation

johngalway

Thanks, didn't know that!

Laois_Man

I was alone doing an outside painting job for my sister and I didn't know anything was happening until about 4:15 when I took a break and went inside to see if there was any soccer news on Teletext/Aertel. The TV came on RTE 1 and I had no idea what I was looking at for a few minutes.

I had just finished a Summer job the previous Friday where part of my job had been cold-calling into US companies all along the US Eastern seaboard. The WTC is where I made most of my calls to. In the days and weeks later, I saw the names of several devestated companies in the towers that were very familiar to me. Couldn't get it out of my head for a long time that some of those people we all say jumping were maybe people I had recently spoken to several times!

drquirky

I was just waking up in Brooklyn and heading into lower Manhattan- turned around fairly lively when things became more clear....

Azureus

I was going home for lunch in school...was in 1st or 2nd year I think, remember hearing it on the radio news in the car and us all running inside to the tv. Going back to school was eerie-nobody knew what to say.

kfallon

I remember it was the first day Liverpool were due to play in the Champions League, anyway was working US hours at the time so me and a few workmates were playing football that morning. Got into work at just before 1pm and we decided to grab some dinner. Came back around 1.30-2ish (our start time) and as I came in my boss said to me, "You won't believe what's happened!" and my first instinct was, "Oh no, Michael Owen has broken his leg!".

When he told me about a plane crashing into the WTC I thought it would be a light aircraft, two seater plane or something. Was only when I saw the scene on TV that I realised the enormity of it and then the second plane hit. The clients we worked for weren't in the Towers but were situated very close to them and I remember them calling to say they were evacuating. We spent the rest of the day basically watching the coverage on tv. I remember going home that night and being transfixed by Sky News and their CNBC coverage, crying at the sight of people throwing themselves to certain death rather than wait on the inevitable.

A horrible, heinous, odius, reprehensible and disgusting act and I hope those who planned and carried it out burn in hell for all eternity!

smokedeels

I remember being sick so I wasn't in school (I was 15)

My mother woke me up after the first plane hit, I've never felt so disorientated in my life... thought I was dreaming.

I genuinely thought that was it and the world was about to come apart at the seams, I was expecting attacks in Europe... bombs dropping, the whole enchilada.

I didn't foresee that the nutjobs would stop that day and despite a few attacks here and there would go relatively cold, and that Western government’s would spend the next ten years stripping away the civil rights of citizens and launching increasingly flimsy wars in the middle east.

It's probably been one of the biggest events since WWII in how it's been used by every ideology to push their own agenda and shape the way we all think.

SEPT 23 1989

My daughter was born a few weeks earlier and i thought to myself what sort of world have i brought her into?:(

Plumpynutt

I was 10, had just arrived in my aunties house from school and saw they were watching it on the telly.

I p1ssed myself laughing, exclaiming the pilot was an idiot for not seeing the tower and crashing into it.

my aunt had to explain what was happening, and i promptly shut up and became glued to the telly for the rest of the day

jonnyfingers

I was sightseeing in New York.

http://worldsfamousphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/tourist_guy_e-mail_hoax_september_11th_2001_new_york_city.jpg



But seriously I was working in a Cash and Carry for the summer. I was on break when I heard a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Then I heard a second plane had crashed into the other one. I thought, wow, that's bad luck.

Later I left the till and was glued to the TVs in the electrical section. I was made go back to work there and all the customers kept talking about it being the start of World War Three.

jonnyfingers

xzanti wrote: »

Is that a real photo? :eek:

No, Famous fake. Any camera that was on the roof when the plane hit stayed there until the whole thing collapsed.

I know everyone has these kind of stories but a friend of mine was going to visit the towers early that day. He overslept, missed the ferry he was planning to take and was on the later ferry crossing the river when the first plane hit.

That's why I never apologise for over sleeping. It might just save me life one day!

Hill St Blue

I was in London, doing a stint of gigs in Wembley arena. Had that day off so I was having a wander around Oxford St. I remember hearing the news as I was upstairs browsing around a book shop, so I retired to a boozer to watch the coverage.