this guy doesn t look like an arab terrorist. nobody does. i said three words. should i have said something else? what is more to the point than beware of cockpit intrusion. they are the people who awoke september 11th living ordinary lives. i was in my office sitting in that chair. reporter: suddenly thrust into one of the most horrific days in this nation s history. they said we have some planes. we clearly had a hijack in process. they said be prepared to shoot down the next hijack track. and they report ten miles from the white house. nine miles. eight miles. reporter: this is their story. if it was going to hit anything, it was going to hit us. reporter: the footnotes of 9/11. tuesday, september 11, 2001, dawned temperate and nearly cloudless. so begins the 9/11 commission report on what was about to become a day filled with dark skies. the first event of that day happened not in washington, boston or new york, but here in portland, maine, at the
like an arab terrorist. nobody does. i said three words. should i have said something else? what is more to the point than be wear of cockpit intrusion. they are the people who aswoek september 11th living ordinary lives. i was in my office sitting in that chair. reporter: suddenly thrust into one of the most horrific days in this nation s history. they said we have some planes. we clearly had a hijack in process. they said be prepared to shoot down the next hijack track. and they report ten miles from the white house. nine miles. eight miles. reporter: this is their story. if it was going to hit anything, it was going to hit us. reporter: the footnotes of 9/11. tuesday, september 11, 2001, dawn temperate and nearly cloudless. so begins the 9/11 commission report on what was about to become a day filled with dark skies. the first event of that day happened not in washington, boston or new york, but here in portland, maine, at the us airways ticket counte
he said, no, it s being hijacked. he said, don t think the pilot is flying the plane even now. he said, you ought to call united airlines and let them know, he says, because they may have turned off the equipment that can warn them of a hijacking. and he said, i ll get back to you. the controller responsible for flight 175 was looking for the already-crashed american flight 11. he didn t notice that united 175 had now veered off course. within ten minutes of united 175 s hijacking, a third plane, american flight 77, traveling from dulles to los angeles came under attack.
60 years of eye care expertise. in sarasota, florida, president bush was told about the first plane crash as his motorcade arrived at an elementary school at approximately 8:55 a.m. he called national security advisor condoleezza rice and asked to be kept informed. 45 minutes earlier, united flight 175 had taken off from boston to los angeles.
at 8:14 a.m., pilot victor saracini overheard the hijackers on flight 11 on his radio. two minutes later, united flight 175 was hijacked. in easton, connecticut, lee and eunice got a phone call from their son peter who was aboard the plane. when i first heard lee answer the phone say, hi, peter, i said, what s he calling for? and then i heard silence on his part. he said, dad, the airplane s being hijacked. i think my first thing was, come on, peter.