American Airlines Flight 11

American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, killing everyone aboard the flight and resulting in the deaths of more than one thousand people in the top 18 stories of the skyscraper in addition to causing the demise of numerous others below the trapped floors. The crash of Flight 11 stands as the deadliest of the four suicide attacks executed that morning in terms of both plane and ground fatalities, the single deadliest act of terrorism in human history and the deadliest plane crash of all time. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 767-200ER with 92 passengers and crew, was flying American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental service from Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport in California.
The airplane left the runway at 07:59. Less than fifteen minutes after takeoff, the hijackers injured two flight attendants, murdered one passenger, and breached the cockpit while forcing the passengers and crew to the rear of the aircraft. The assailants attacked both pilots, allowing lead hijacker Mohamed Atta to take over the controls. Air traffic controllers suspected that the flight was in distress because the crew became non-responsive. They realized that the plane had been hijacked when Atta's announcement to the hostages was accidentally transmitted to air traffic control instead of through the aircraft's PA system. Also, two flight attendants were able to contact American Airlines and pass along information relevant to the situation, including casualties suffered by the crew and passengers.
Atta flew the hijacked plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center from floors 93 through 99 at 08:46 local time. The impact was witnessed by people on the streets of New York City as well as the nearby state of New Jersey. The media quickly began reporting on the incident and speculated that the crash had been an accident. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower at 09:03, dispelling any notion it was accidental.
The damage caused by the plane and the fires ignited by its crash caused the North Tower to collapse at 10:28 that morning, resulting in hundreds of additional casualties. While the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site did lead to the discovery and identification of body fragments from certain individuals who boarded Flight 11, many have not been identified.

Flight

The aircraft involved in the hijacking was a Boeing 767-200ER with registration number, built and delivered in 1987. The capacity of the aircraft was 158passengers, but the September11 flight carried 81passengers and 11crew members. This was a light load at 58percent capacity, but higher than the average load factor for Flight11 on Tuesday mornings of 39percent in the months preceding September11. The crew members were Captain John Ogonowski , First Officer Thomas McGuinness Jr. , purser Karen Martin and flight attendants Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, and Amy Sweeney.

Role	Name	Age
Captain	John Ogonowski	50
First Officer	Thomas McGuinness Jr.	42

McGuiness picked up the assignment for that flight the day before around 3:00 pm, after celebrating his birthday with his family on September 10. Another pilot was originally scheduled for the flight.

Position	Name	Age	Jumpseat	Class of Service
1	Karen Martin	40	1L	First Class Cabin
2	Kathleen Nicosia	54	3L	Coach Class Galley
3	Betty Ong	45	3R	Coach Class Cabin
4	Dianne Snyder	42	2R	Business Class Galley
5	Barbara Arestegui	38	1R Center	First Class Galley
6	Jeffrey Collman	41	2L	Coach Class Cabin / Assist First Class Cabin If Needed
7	Sara Low	29	2R	Business Class Cabin
8	Jean Roger	24	1L Center	Business Class Cabin
9	Amy Sweeney	35	3L	Coach Class Cabin

All 92 people on board were killed, including Frasier creator and executive producer David Angell, his wife Lynn Angell, actress Berry Berenson,, Akamai Technologies co-founder Daniel Lewin, and astronaut Charles Edward Jones. The oldest victim of the September 11 attacks, Robert Grant Norton was on Flight 11. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had been scheduled to be on the flight but overslept due to a hangover and arrived at the airport too late. Actor Mark Wahlberg was also scheduled to be on the flight but changed his plans and canceled his ticket the day before. Actress Leighanne Littrell had also previously been booked on the flight but, like Wahlberg, changed her plans. Actress Jaime Pressly originally scheduled to be on the flight, but she cancelled at the last minute because "it's too early".

Boarding

Portland, Maine

, the ringleader of the attacks, and fellow hijacker Abdulaziz al-Omari arrived at Portland International Jetport in Maine at 05:41 Eastern Daylight Time on September11, 2001. At the Portland ticket counter, Atta asked ticket agent Mike Tuohey for his boarding pass for Flight 11. When Tuohey told Atta he would have to check in a second time when he reached Logan, Atta appeared on the verge of anger, telling Tuohey that he had been assured he would have "one-step check-in." Becoming concerned he was racially profiling Atta, Tuohey, although uneasy with Atta's anger, simply told him that he would better hurry if he did not want to miss the flight. Although Atta still looked cross, he and al-Omari left the ticket counter for the Portland airport's security checkpoint.
They boarded Colgan Air Flight5930, which was scheduled to depart at 06:00 and fly to Boston. Both hijackers had first class tickets with a connecting flight to Los Angeles; Atta checked in two bags, a green Travel Gear bag and a black Travelpro bag, while al-Omari checked in none. When they checked in, the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System selected Atta for extra luggage scrutiny, but he boarded without incident.
The flight from Portland departed on time and arrived in Boston at 06:45. Three other hijackers, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, and Satam al-Suqami, arrived at Logan Airport at the same time, having left their rental car in the airport parking facility. At 06:52, Marwan al-Shehhi, the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, made a call from a pay phone in Logan Airport to Atta's cell phone. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin.

Boston, Massachusetts

Since they were not given boarding passes for Flight11 in Portland, Atta and al-Omari checked in and went through security in Boston. Al-Suqami, Wail al-Shehri, and Waleed al-Shehri also checked in for the flight in Boston. Wail al-Shehri and al-Suqami each checked one bag; Waleed al-Shehri did not check any bags. CAPPS selected all three for a detailed luggage check. As the CAPPS' screening was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint.
First Officer Lynn Howland had just arrived in Boston after copiloting the flight from San Francisco that would be redesignated American Flight 11. As she walked off the aircraft and entered the passenger lounge, Atta approached her and asked if she would be flying the plane back across the country. When Howland told him she just brought the aircraft in, Atta turned his back and walked away. As he boarded Flight 11, Atta asked a gate agent whether the two bags he had checked earlier in Portland had been loaded onto the plane. In the rushed check-in after the flight from Portland, airline officials did not load Atta's bags on Flight11.
By 07:40, all five hijackers were aboard the flight, scheduled to depart at 07:45. Atta sat in business class seat 8D with al-Omari in 8G and al-Suqami in 10B. Waleed and Wail al-Shehri sat in first class seats 2B and 2A. Shortly before takeoff, American Airlines flight service manager Michael Woodward walked aboard for a final check. He briefly passed Atta, later reporting him as having a brooding expression, and then left the plane. At 07:46, one minute behind schedule, the aircraft received clearance to push back from Gate B32, and was cleared to taxi to the runway at 07:50. The aircraft began its takeoff roll from Logan International Airport at 07:59 from runway4R.

Hijacking

The 9/11 Commission estimated that the hijacking began at 08:14 when the pilots stopped responding to requests from the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center. At 08:13:29, as the aircraft was passing over central Massachusetts at, the pilots responded to a request from Boston ARTCC to make a 20-degree turn to the right. At 08:13:47, Boston ARTCC told the pilots to ascend to a cruising altitude of, but received no response. At 08:16, the aircraft leveled off at and shortly thereafter deviated from its scheduled path.
At 08:17:59, flight controllers at Boston Center heard a brief, unknown sound on the radio frequency used by Flight 11 and other nearby flights, a noise that was later described as sounding like a scream. Boston ARTCC made multiple attempts to talk to Flight11 without reply. The commission believes that the hijackers were in absolute control of the aircraft by 08:20, six minutes after launching their assault. The flight's Mode-C transponder signal was then switched off by someone in the cockpit at 08:21. At 08:23 and 08:25, Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System tried to contact the flight. The first message read, "Good morning, ATC looking for you on 135.32"; the other read, "Please contact Boston Center ASAP. They have lost radio contact and your transponder signal." Flight 11 did not reply.