9/11/2001

[mpaer]

That's really blaming the wrong people. No, the screeners didn't catch them but you have to consider the volume they dealt with. I'll bet their criteria didn't allow the time, detail, intrusiveness or authority to do much , if any, better. The breakdown was months prior including ignoring the direct warnings about Bin Laden from the previous administration and ignoring some suspicious behavior they were alerted to. In fairness, I suspect those agencies also had a deluge of things they were alerted to.

Sure-And I was responding to the comment that "TSA costs sooo much " And my point was you get what you pay for...Prior to TSA the screening was minimal

 

[MOUNTAINH33L]

I was working the lunch shift at Makoto's in Boone on that day.

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

President Bush vowed on Sunday to "rid the world of evil-doers," then cautioned: "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while."

It was a poor choice of words but I don't believe his intended meaning was anywhere close to how it was portrayed. He was attempting to use the definition in about every dictionary that does not refer to the crusades.

Merriam Webster: a remedial enterprise undertaken with zeal and enthusiasm

Google: a vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change.

So this was very dumb because of how it would play in the Muslim world but that was entirely unintended.

 

[Charlotte1204]

I was 26 and working at the newspaper here in Greensboro. I was on the copydesk so I worked nights. My now-husband also worked nights, but happened to be working dayside for a couple of days of training. He had to call several times to wake me up. I turned on the TV and watched and we were calling back and forth. Around 11, he told me to get dressed and get to the newsroom because we were going to put out an extra edition for that afternoon.

I will never forget driving to the office in downtown Greensboro that day. It was around noon and it felt like no one was on the road. Quite eerie.

 

[ZenMode]

My wife and I were living with her parents while having a house built. I remember coming out of the bedroom, into the living room, and seeing my mother-in-law sitting on the couch with her hands over her mouth, staring at the TV in shock.

We went to NY during covid and went to the 9/11 memorial site where the twin towers used to be. It was VERY surreal. Almost nobody talked and whispered if they did. I'm sure many here have seen it, but the memorial consists of two large square holes going deep into the ground with waterfalls on all sides. Around the perimeter are metal plates with cutouts of all of the names of those who died on 9/11.

NY puts a white rose in the name of the person on their birthday.

 

[mpaer]

We went to NY during covid and went to the 9/11 memorial site where the twin towers used to be. It was VERY surreal. Almost nobody talked and whispered if they did. I'm sure many here have seen it, but the memorial consists of two large square holes going deep into the ground with waterfalls on all sides. Around the perimeter are metal plates with cutouts of all of the names of those who died on 9/11.

NY puts a white rose in the name of the person on their birthday.

Glad you went I have not been to the Vietnam Memorial nor the Holocaust Museum nor this Memorial you post. I need to.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Keep in mind that terrorists didn't bring explosives, guns, etc onto the plane. They brought box cutters. I'm very skeptical, prior to 9/11, that a TSA-type of government airport security program would have disallowed box cutters.

Were there ever any US airline incidents prior to 9/11? I don't recall hearing about explosives or guns being used on airplanes when private airport security was used.

A lot of hijackings and bombings in the 70s and 80s. Also I believe an airliner crashed in California in the 1980s due to an unhappy employee bringing a gun on board and attacking the pilots.

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

Agree, but we didn't need the TSA, and the associated long lines/high costs, to disallow box cutters.

I don't think you are going to get much agreement with the idea that a patchwork of private screening companies is preferred over DHS. The impact of a 9/11 attack is just far too high - causing thousands of lives (multiples more than the 3000 that died on that day) and an estimated $33 billion.

I would agree that limiting the people who can go through security (to reduce the flow of people needing to be checked), securing the cockpit doors, a general attitude of not submitting to hijackers, and better coordination between intelligence services has probably been the most effective changes rather than just better screening.

In my eyes, with the newer scanners and better flow, going through security at airports is easier now than it was pre-9/11. There was a period after 9/11 where it sucked but now it is far improved.

 

[farce©]

I was in Princeville, Kauai. Even though I was up early, being 6 hours behind I was unaware what was happening until after the second tower fell. I woke up early and decided to check my email. My Yahoo home page had all kids of stuff about the towers collapsing and I was confused. Sitting in that dark hotel room early in the morning seeing those surreal articles on my computer screen seemed almost like an April Fool's joke page so I turned on the TV (pissing off my wife who was still sleeping) and we learned what had happened.

Hawaii suspended all inter-island flights and boats. I learned how eerily quiet Hawaii is when helicopters are grounded. We were scheduled to leave Friday which is the day all flights in the US resumed. The short flight from Lihue to Honolulu was uneventful, but the Honolulu airport was a complete mess, full of four days worth of passengers trying to get off the islands. People were screaming at the agents that they should be first in line for seats since their flights had been canceled and of course they were allowing those of us with prior Friday reservations to go ahead. The 3-4 hours we spent in the public area of that airport before we were able to clear security was one of the worst days of my life. Everybody was afraid and confused, and so many people were so angry they could't just leave. The people working in the airport that day deserve medals.

When we arrived back in LA (where we were living at the time) the streets were empty except some folks holding vigils on the sidewalk. We didn't really understand the impact of the event until we got back to the mainland. If you are going to be stranded for four days, there are many worse places than the Hanalei Coast to be stuck, but the uncertainty about when and how we were going to get home was very stressful.

 

[finesse]

A lot of hijackings and bombings in the 70s and 80s. Also I believe an airliner crashed in California in the 1980s due to an unhappy employee bringing a gun on board and attacking the pilots.

Fairly sure that in the 50s or 60s there were cases of bombs smuggled into luggage for the purposes of collecting on flight insurance. I found one and it seems like there was a copycat or copycat attempt.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/jack-gilbert-graham

 

[rodoheel]

Keep in mind that terrorists didn't bring explosives, guns, etc onto the plane. They brought box cutters. I'm very skeptical, prior to 9/11, that a TSA-type of government airport security program would have disallowed box cutters.

Were there ever any US airline incidents prior to 9/11? I don't recall hearing about explosives or guns being used on airplanes when private airport security was used.

We're not living prior to 9/11, we're living after 9/11, after people demonstrated how easy it was to hijack a plane with box cutters. I don't really see current airport security as a major inconvenience, and think most people generally agree that the security is necessary. What's the cost we're paying that is supposedly so high? I honestly don't know.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Fairly sure that in the 50s or 60s there were cases of bombs smuggled into luggage for the purposes of collecting on flight insurance. I found one and it seems like there was a copycat or copycat attempt.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/jack-gilbert-graham

Also important to point out that most of the hijackings that occurred weren’t as sinister as they could have been. People hijacked planes in order to flee to different countries, there was DB Cooper, etc. Plus some high profile hijackings of US airliners overseas.

 

[Igs149]

Was a junior at Chapel Hill for 9/11. Being an out of stater from Long Island with that LI accent to match … I was pretty much that “guy from NY”. It was a surreal day (well several days) because everyone who saw me would immediately want to know if everyone was OK.

Still remember that I was coming from a class when I found out. Notably, I did not have a cell phone at this time and was functionally in/on way to class when the planes hit and was in class when the buildings collapsed. A few people (with cell phones apparently) left class but that didn’t really register as no one else in the class (including the teacher) had any idea anything was happening.

As I rolled up to the Pit from my morning class … there was a big crowd (not too unusual again). A classmate with an huge camera on her neck came running up annd asked me if I heard. Heard what I replied? That the twin towers had been attacked, she said. I said no … then she said they’d been hit by planes and had collapsed. Looked her dead in the face when she said they collapsed and told her - that did not happen. This is some kind of preparedness drill.

She went off to snap photos. And then I really looked around for the first time and saw there were TVs in the Pit. And Walter Cronkite (perhaps?) was on TV with the pictures of the smoldering buildings. Found a teammate and asked him “is this real…”. He said “yeah”. I was stunned. He said “this will change everything”. I in a daze said I wasn’t sure.

Eventually, I kinda came to and headed into the Student Union to call the family (as it used to have a wall of pay phones almost immediately inside the door and I didn’t have a cell). There was a huge line of students calling home.

Luckily for me, despite being from NY, no one in my family worked in lower Manhattan at the time so I was pretty confident no one was there. Had a bro in the NYPD but he was out in Queens so I was pretty comfortable he was far from the events when they happened. Dad and another brother worked at the airlines. But doing maintenance….not as a pilot or crew member.

About 5-10 minutes into waiting on this long line… another classmate (who I cannot recall with specificity) rolls up. And asks if everyone is OK. I said I think so but calling home to be safe. Dude looks at me … at the line … and then points at me and loudly announces to the line “He’s from New York”. And everyone just kind of stepped out of the way and let me walk to the front and call home. All was OK.

Sat in the Student Union for the next hour or so and watched my city burning. Had a girl I had barely seen since summer orientation from frosh year (had been super cute on her but was too chickens**t to ask her out as an aside) sit with me and tell me it would be OK.

It was a crazy time to be away from home. Even though I was a suburbanite, watching the towers reduced to dust and feeling like I wasn’t in NY to be there … hit hard.

 

[haroldminer]

Could not do that today

Sharp knives could easily get right through security today. It wouldn’t be hard. It is all just theater.

 

[ZenMode]

We're not living prior to 9/11, we're living after 9/11, after people demonstrated how easy it was to hijack a plane with box cutters. I don't really see current airport security as a major inconvenience, and think most people generally agree that the security is necessary. What's the cost we're paying that is supposedly so high? I honestly don't know.

Two thoughts.....

1. I'm sure you'd agree that an entire government department wasn't needed to outlaw box cutters on airplanes
2. The fact that multiple planes, (with the exception of one) with grown men as passengers, ever allowed terrorists to take over a plane with ONLY box cutters is something that is not only embarrassing, but will is unlikely to happen again even if box cutters were still permitted onboard.

 

[Calheel]

Two thoughts.....

1. I'm sure you'd agree that an entire government department wasn't needed to outlaw box cutters on airplanes
2. The fact that multiple planes, (with the exception of one) with grown men as passengers, ever allowed terrorists to take over a plane with ONLY box cutters is something that is not only embarrassing, but will is unlikely to happen again even if box cutters were still permitted onboard.

But they didn't know they only had box cutters. They thought they had bombs. You can't judge actions with the benefit of after-acquired knowledge. Also, no one knew the hijackers planned to use the planes as weapons. That had never been done before. Once the passengers learned the truth through cell phone calls, they did act based on that knowledge.

 

[NOVAHEEL13]

My dad who was a federal prosecutor at the time and was supposed to be in a meeting at the pentagon because he was part of a team that was investigating some people who were in the military that were possibly committing fraud through shady contracts. That morning his boss said that instead of the meeting that he needed to go to Vegas for another one of his cases to fix a fuckup by a AUSA prosecutor that was left in charge while my dad was investigating the fraud.

I had just graduated undergrad and was working at a law firm before I went off to law school. I don't remember if the meeting was in the wing of the pentagon where the plane that hit but I do remember immediately calling both his personal and government phones and not getting an answer then calling my mom at the school she worked at to see what was going on. She said he had called her and was on the way home to pack and go to the airport so he was fine. The cell services were just as clogged in the DC area as they were in NYC so my calls just weren't going through.

Tragically, one of my roommates at the time who was LI had a 3rd or 4th cousin who worked in tower 2 and was one of the victims.

 

[ZenMode]

But they didn't know they only had box cutters. They thought they had bombs. You can't judge actions with the benefit of after-acquired knowledge.

You can't help what people think, obviously. Even with TSA in place, people can believe that terrorists have bombs and sit on their hands, right?

Also, no one knew the hijackers planned to use the planes as weapons. That had never been done before. Once the passengers learned the truth through cell phone calls, they did act based on that knowledge.

Right. Another thought that TSA couldn't prevent. Passengers probably thought, based on a multitude of examples, that the plane was being hijacked to take hostage.

 

[ktc4unc]

I was working and saw the second plane hit live on the TV in our patient waiting room. Crazy times.

 

[mpaer]

Okay ZenMode has me convinced
Lets get rid of TSA-its stupid wasteful Gubmnt spending