>> from americans news headquarters i'm marianne rafferty. water soaking mississippi and downstream. memphis going door to door urging to get out. some people spend weeks stacking sandbags in order to protect their property. the mayor talked about the flooding. >> the crest will exceed historic limits, we still will be prepared for that. we're fortunate that memphis is built up on the bluff. but as you can see here, some of the low lying areas will experience some water coming on to the street. >> officials in louisiana also warning its residents to expect flooding even at the spillway northwest of baton rouge is open. into houston where a two hour standoff ends with a suspected gunman dead. he s. a accused of shooting two officers and nigd a parking garage. exchanged gunfire with tactical unit officers. he was later found inside a garage with a gunshot wound to

the head. it isn't known if it is self-inflicted. the two officers are expected to be okay. in libya, government forces destroying four large field tanks in the rebel held city of misurata. rebels saying it could create critical fuel shortages making it difficult to defend the city. the last city in rebel control has been under siege for two months. coalition aircraft continue bombing government military targets and enforcing a no-fly zone. a special honor for the navy's newest destroyer. thousands gathered in maine for the uss michael murphy. named after navy seal killed in afghanistan. the mother celebrated by breaking champagne bottle on the unfinished ship. he died trying to save his team in 2005. he was awarded a posthumous medal of honor. back to 9/11 as it happened. first a special message from our troops on this mother's day. >> sergeant matt graham serving

here at afghanistan. i want to say happy mother's day to my wife son i can't. you are a great mother to our son aden. and i love you very much. happy mother's day. >> well, it was a gorgeous day. the president arrived just as

usual for an event, two tiered event, a reading snreent a small classroom and a crowd in a gym about education. >> welcome aboard, it's "fox & friends" two minutes after 8:00 in the east. two after 5:00 out west. >> it was just a regular day. >> i started my day at brian part at a fashion shoot. >> this is got something a little extra. >> item on the front page -- >> encouraging reading programs. >> california grand jury has decided against investigating gary condit. >> tell me from brunswick, maine is our pet of the day. we're taking a time out. plus a preview of the very latest fall tv show. you are watching fox, friends,

we're nuts about nuts. >> i was in the battle cap. we were starting an exercise. we have a couple of those a year. also because of the exercise we had fighters on alert with a little extra gas. with more weapons on board than they normally would. >> the morning of the 11th, i received a call from an individual who i assumed was the exercise coordinators asking if we had gotten a notification of a hijack situation approaching from the northeast. >> i'm number three on flight 11. >> okay. >>

>> a note was handed to me just as we were coming out of our video teleconference. boston center has a suspected hijacked airplane. i have put the f-15's at ottis international guard base on battle stations. scramble them. we will hold them out over the water until we get the permission as necessary. hijacked airplane. we know nothing about it at all. we do not know where it is. >> what's going on, betty bete, talk to me.

>> we just had a plane crash into the upper floor of the world trade center. the world trade center tower number 1 is on fire. the whole outside of the building. >> we have a very tragic alert for you right now. an incredible plane crash into the world trade center here at the lower tip of manhattan. >> it's believed the 737 has crashed into this. speculation at this point. but at least three floors taken out. crashed into the side of the building. joining us right now one of the producers with fox report. owen on the scene where are you. >> i'm on the roof of my building about five blocks south to the world trade center. i'm looking right now at the world trade center. there is a massive gapping hole on the second tower. it's about 15 stories from the roof. it's just unbelievable to look at. there is a massive hole.

>> fire department, 40. where is the fire? >> yeah. i'm on the 105th floor we just had explosion up here. >> 106 floor? what building are you in, sir one or two. >> one world trade. seat smoke coming from outside the windows. >> okay. just sit tight. we're on the way. >> all right. see you. hurry. >> steve: the plane obviously went in on one side and came out of the other. this is horrible. >> right now let's hand it over to jon scott. >> you can see the smoke. the smoke tower is growing. there is quite a bit of flame inside the building. i was just walking into the studio that day. i wear this little wireless ifb we call it i heard this very urgent voice get in my ear and say jon scott, "studio b," now! >> it was just a minute or two that we got the pictures up from the fox 5 helicopter.

two towers are home during the day to 50,000 workers. >> i understand that. >> we have a number on fire. it looked like the plane was aiming towards the building. >> i was on othe 67th floor when the first plane hit and it took me a second or two to catch my breath. >> i'm walking on b floor going towards the parking lots, all of the sudden the whole floor, the whole building just rocked. it just rocked and threw you. it just threw you. you didn't know what happened. >> at 8:46 when -- boom! there is this loud explosion noise somewhere. i didn't know exactly where. all i saw right up against the glass was fire, flame. just a big fireball.

i'm looking at something that -- all of a sudden it's ripped like it's paper because whatever just passed through there big heat comes to blowing through the corridor that i'm in. and then there is silence. for no apparent reason, i just turned looking injuriesy -- jersey hudson. i see fireballs falling down out of the sky. i don't know what's happening. what's going on. >> these are coming to you live now. debris raining down from 110 floors up. as you can see, this is a clear blue sky day in manhattan. if this was an accident, it would be a needle in a hay stack kind of accident. [sirens. >> i was actually in new york in my office like everyone else or

most other people. i thought my god, how could this possibly happen. but never suspected the magnitude of what was facing us. >> i was in my office with my speech writer, the secretary called in to say that a plane had hit the trade center. turned on the television. and sat there wondering how could an airplane hit the world trade center. it's a clear sky. no weather problems how do you account for. this one of those tuesday morning. i was standing at my desk getting ready for my staff meeting downstairs with my senior people. executive assistant walked in and said a plane had hit the world trade center. immediate lively my mind went to perhaps a twin engine plane of some kind. i said that's a terrible accident. >> as i was leaves the motorcade i got a page telling me the world trade center had been hit by the airplane. as the president was shaking hands going into the school. karl rove got to the president first and tell president world trade center.

the president went direct fly a holding room. >> i called the president and said mr. president, a plane has hit the world trade center. he said that's strange, a strange accident. i said i would call him back when we had more information. >> first moments i called mayor giuliani right away and got ahold of him right after i got off the phone with rudy. i called the president. he was in florida at the educational conference. i was able to get him out of the conference. urge him to shut down the airspace over new york. >> the walk down was very calm. people in the staircase were well-behaved. they were calm, occasionally, somebody would be become anxious but somebody else in the stairwell would put them arm around them and say it's okay. we're doing fine. got around the mid 20's we began to see firemen walking up the stairs. and for the people walking down, the sight of the firemen was a very calming experience.

when i got into the lobby, the full impact is really beginning -- >> now you hear silence and it's a dead calm of dust and smoke and all of a sudden you hear people slowly -- somebody starts screaming, someone starts yelling. someone starts saying you are hearing, you are hearing help. you are hearing please. you are hearing very, one at a time you are hearing it. it just started and then all of a sudden everybody started screaming what happened? what happened? what happened? >> as one of the volunteer fire marshals on our floor i jumped up, grabbed my flashlight over overhead yes denzel. put a whistle in my neck into the larger office and said come on, everybody, let's go, there has been an explosion upstairs. we have got to move. let's get out of here. >> elevator came, we went downstairs. we were on the ground floor now about to get through the turnstile. the security guard asked us, where are you going? >> said well i saw fireballs coming. we are getting out of here. no. go back to your office.

the building is secured it is safe. >> there was an announcement, the strobe lights flashed normally. siren a little bit. there was this very clear announcement, building two is secure. >> well that took a little bit of pressure off. i went for a walk to the east floor, which is where our trading floor is and walked up to the north wall. and there were a lot of our people against the glass looking up to their left, you could see the north tower. and very sadly, at that moment what they were looking at was people jumping. >> it was all smoke and fire and the walls walls were caving -- u couldn't even see the exit getting into tower one. you couldn't get back into tower one. i'm saying let's go. it looks like a clear shot home. you are going towards building two. whoever can make it, let's go. >> 9500. 9,000 now. >> do you know who he is. >> we don't know who he is. we are just picking him now.

>> heads up, man. looks like another one. >> hey, this is craig, are threw? >> i had two messages left on my answering machine. one just saying, st. >>stace, it's me, pick um. another message him again letting me know that i was going to be hearing on the news that the other tower had been hit. >> search okay. it's kind of pandemonium because we don't know what the heck happened there. so, give me a call when you get, this okay? , bye. >> he was eye level with tower

one. he was watching people jump to their death. and then to know that he was about to die after his tower was hit. there is some pain and suffering. >> north side of the building. at least one floor. heavy smoke is all over the front and top of the building. >> stepped off the elevator two steps and the plane hit. had no idea what it was. a lot of the walls just disintegrated. the elevator doors blew out and flames shot out. so, a few minutes after this happened, it was obvious that this was something a lot worse than what i originally thought it was. >> 0th -- 10th floor, units on the way up. fire 78th floor. >> i worked my way over to the exit stairwell it was probably in the middle of the building. somewhere in the middle of the tower. and started going down 78 floors. we heard another noise and the building shook again. not as much as the first time. that had to be the second plane

hitting the other tower. somewhere in the 30's, 30's or 40s, first firemen and policemen started coming up. and i finally made it down to the ground floor. we came out right in front of the plaza of, which is the area between the two towers, where the found is. and that was honorable. that was a war scene. there was fire, debris falling from both towers. dead bodies out there. right in front of the window. right in front of me there was a body strapped to an airplane seat. >> there was another one. we just saw. we just saw another one. we just saw another one apparently go -- another plane just flew into the second tower. this raises -- this has to be deliberate, folks. we just saw on live television as a second plane flew into the the second tower of the world

trade center. now, given what has been going on around the world, some of the key suspects come to mind, osama bin laden. >> my first instinct was, what is going on? how many planes are there? where are they coming from? where are they? >> and who do i call for air support. i'm the police commissioner and i have 41,000 uniform members. 55,000 people work for me. and i -- we're prepared for anything you could imagine. this was something you couldn't imagine. >> walked back down to my desk and the phone is ringing again. this time it's a young lady from chicago one of our offices. stanley, are you okay? i'm fine. for no apparent reason in mid sentence. i happened to raise my head watching straight to the statue of liberty. what i'm see something a big

giant aircraft gray with red letter on the wing and the tail coming straight eye contact, eye level towards me. the next thing i know, i dove under my desk, huddled in a fetal position, screaming, crying, the plane crashed in the building. the plane was coming straight toward me and the bottom wing just went in my office door 20 feet from where i was under the desk. >> i know whatever blew up in the building, a lot of it came down the shafts and blew out everything. elevator cables snapped. when you hear a 10,000-pound. 20,000-pound elevator coming down the shaft. hear people screaming. you don't hear people screaming. whatever was over there died. was just silence. >> you have a second plane into the other tower. the tower of the trade center major fire. >> 9:03. whatever it was when apparently the second plane hit, went boom, boom. there was a double explosion. i learned later it was the plane

hitting the building and then it exploding. and for the next 10 seconds. i was terrified. >> the impact was so great and the sound that it made was so loud that i got temporarily deaf. i couldn't hear anything. it looked like a demolition crew came in and just knocked everything over. >> the building just continued to move, left, left, left toward the hudson river. a long, long way. itself like yards. whether it was or not, i don't know. the sensation was we are going too far. we are going to fall over. something has happened. i also knew in an instant it was terrorism. the room just fell apart on that second explosion. >> be advised. reports we have a second plane that crashed into the second tower about two thirds of the way up. we recommend you transmit a fifth alarm for that as well. >> walls tore in jagged angles, some door frames fell out of the

walls it was a mess. it was as if somebody had ripped over a concrete sack and waived it in the air there was yellow white dust everywhere. i'm crying and saying lord, i don't want to die. i don't want to die here. i have two little children. please take me. send somebody to help me. >> the building swayed one way but came back to vertical. i snapped out of it and somebodied up. turned-sobered up. i got a second page telling me the second tower had been hit. right away i knew it was terrorism. shortly after i got that page, andy card walked in and was whispered in the president's right ear that the second tower has been hit. america is under attack. >> i remember i put my back to the press pool. i wrote on the back of a yellow legal pad, don't say anything yet. i held it up for the president -- >> our wendell goler is at the white house, rather.

sarasota. he is traveling with the president. wendell goler, what's the reaction from the president? >> john, the president is here promoting a reading initiative on the second day of a two-day trip to florida. he just finished reading to some children at the emma booker elementary school and was asked about the incident. he said he was aware of it and that he would have something to say about it later. >> i'm going to dye. >> no, no, no. ma'am, say your prayers. >> i'm going to die. >> think positive. you have to help each other get off the floor. >> i'm going to die. i don't want to die. >> you are doing a good job. >> it's so hot. i'm burning up. >> jumpers. >> be advised battalion 2 be advised we have jumpers from the world trade center. >> it's beyond belief. both towers of the world trade

center are burning. both have apparently been hit by aircraft. >> my first reaction was to get down to the scene as fast as i could. as i was driving down, emergency vehicles were going, obviously, flying down to the scene. and i jumped behind a police car and drafted it all the way down and pretty much got two blocks from the scene. >> very first thing we did was we got some establishing shots. >> i got close to the tower and shooting it. it was so tall that i had to keep backing up to get a better shot and when i got the first tight shots i realized what was happening up at the top of the towers. i look up and people start shouting they are jumping. i look up. just in time to see someone leap from what must have been the 108th floor. >> it's ridiculous.

police stop jumping. >> they really must have felt they had no other choice. that decision that they made remains for me the most horrifying part of the whole tragedy. >> i realized there were jumpers and people lining up in the window wells and i shot the first two that i saw and then turned off my camera because i was overcome with emotion, actually. >> you are conscious of what is happening. but it's looking through the view finder is sort of an insulator. it's black and white. it's not color. >> number two world trade center on the 3 and the 84 floor and 8-2 floor people trapped at this time. >> i think they knew early on they weren't going to be able to put the fire out. they wanted to get rescuers as quickly as possible, high as possible. not concerned about the fire at

that point. >> as i heard a banging. and a voice screaming for help. help, help. i'm buried. is anybody there? i can't breathe. help. >> this is stan from the -- please don't leave me to die. help me. >> stranger's voice kept correcting me come over here. >> even though he was responding, i couldn't hear. so i tried to get up from under the desk. i realized i was covered up in my shoulder and debris. i could peek through all the rubble and i saw the bottom wing starts to burn and my greatest fear is this plane was going to ignite. the flame was going toying night. the fuel tank was going to explode. i'm going to die. so i crawl the entire length of the loans department throughout lounge into the computer room, into the communication room and i couldn't go further because there was one sheet wrap wall which was blocking myself. jump over it. i'm going to grab you.

i got up from that prayer and i started punching, kicking as far as i can until a little hole appeared in the sheetrock. he said i see your happened. i said you see my head just yank me through. and i jumped and i grabbed and i stuck my head through. >> and i reached in, nothing happened. i said you must do this. and up he went again and i reached in and somehow got under his arm or grabbed on to something and i lifted him up and over this barrier and we fell in a heap on the floor. >> this man, he just give me a head lock. with all his might he just pulled. and just yanked me right through that wall. it was like a superman just yanked me through and i fell on top of him. i give him a big hug and a kiss and i said you are my guardian angels. my lord sent to you save me. >> we started down the stairs. the inner wall of the fire stairs had blown. in and we could look throughout cracks and you could see flames just licking up the other side of the wall as we went down

through this area. we. >> we stopped at a floor because i couldn't breathe properly. i couldn't walk down. i was cut, bloody, bruised, and the leg wound was opening up. >> went as slow as the 44th floor i know as a sky lobby, like an empty hotel lobby, until a security guard manning his booth looked at us wide eyed rather surprised to see us and quickly said you have got telephone? he said my phones don't work but i will stay with this man if you will get me help. >> the man was lying, his back was broken. he was covered with blood. please tell my wife and my baby i love them. but send somebody up for me. but a security guard stood like a hawk guarding that man. that man sacrificed his lifeguarding this man. because while we were going down, no e.m.s. worker came up. >> stanley called his wife, at his office, mr., but left messages that he was fine. and i called 911 and after some difficulty it, took me three or four minutes to really get the

message across that there was somebody down on the 44th floor. i know they were overwhelmed that day but stanley and i went back to the starts and we went all the way down to the plaza level without seeing a soul. nobody. on the plaza level we stared in awe at the plaza where the fountain is normally flowing and there is people coming and going. we know nothing about hijacked airplanes. about the pentagon, none of, this we are ignorant of all these facts. >> we got down to the ground floor: only cops and firefighters and e.m.s. workers were there. debris was falling down. it looked like confetti in a ticker tape parade. they were telling us to run. just go. run, run, run. they stayed back. sacrificing themself so that brian and i could live. >> attention all units. citywide call commander. all off duty firefighters and off duty officers are hereby recalled. repeating.

by orders of the citywide tour commander. all off-duty firefighters and all off-duty officers you are hereby ordered for recall immediately. >> jon: president bush is about to speak. he was in florida as what was supposed to be a joyous event at an elementary school. let's listen in. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for america. i, unfortunately, will be going back to washington after my remarks, secretary rod paste and lt. governor will take the podium and discuss education. i do want to thank the folks here at the booker elementary school for hospital tattle. today hospitality. today we have had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. i have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of new york, to the director of the fbi, and i have ordered that the full resources of the federal

government go to help the victims and their families and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act. terrorism against our nation will not stand. and now if you would join me in a moment of silence. may god bless the victims, their families, and america. thank you very much. >> saw the second airplane fly into the south tower of the world trade center, so, we decided to scramble the f-16's out of langley air force base. >> traffic is crawling around. actually flipping throughout radio. talking about how washington, d.c. is on high alert status. they think that might be the next target. >> i walked in states building.

grouch people were sitting around the television. ready for our meetings. >> after the rush hour, would normally have ended. yet, i ended up getting stuck in rush hour like traffic on the road. >> we got a call that american airline 77 was a potential hijacked aircraft. >> as we sat down to have a meeting for this client. one of the people said well, barbara olson won't be here because she is on a plane to california. >> the plane took off at 8 o 10 in the morning or that's when it was scheduled to take off. i had been at my office at the department of justice justice. one of the gals in my office came in and said barbara is on the phone. i was at first relieved to hear barbara on the telephone because panic strikes immediately. then the next words out of her mouth were ted, my plane has been hijacked. >> we are watching all these aircraft on the system and trying to determine where

they're. >> put them back st. louis and put in whenever they want. >> shouting. >> the pilot had announced that the plane had been hijacked.

she said it had been hijacked shortly after takeoff. by this point the plane had been in the air shortly for an hour. circling around for a while. she and other passengers had been heard herded to the back of the airplane. i asked if the hijackers knew they were calling. she said no they don't know. she indicated they had used knives and box cutters to take over the plane. at some point we got cut off. i immediately called the command center of the department of justice to let them know to that my wife was on a plane that had been hijacked. >> i keep driving, i notice the plane coming in. really fast. and really low. and i notice silver, american airlines jet liner, obviously a passenger plane. a pretty big one. >> i told her in the first conversation that the two hijacked planes had hit the world trade center. her instinct was what shall i tell the pilot? what can i do? i asked where she was. she tried to tell me where she was and in what direction.

>> flight 77 made a left turn heading back after it was hijacked. they came back over washington fairly high. then he did a left descending turn which gave him good visual visibility of the pentagon. >> i heard it before i saw it. i looked up and then directly in front of my field of vision, parallel to the ground, i saw a jet airplane with the silver paint job with the red, white, and blue stripes underneath the windows, it was clearly an american airlines passenger jet come roaring by. >> we did not know where that aircraft was. and then just moments later, that aircraft hit the pentagon. and, of course, our aircraft are headed toward washington, d.c. are well south of there at that time. they were not yet over washington, d.c. >> it didn't veer from its course at all it was like a

missile right into the side of the pentagon. >> and then a huge fireball pop, comes up in the air. there is all kinds of smoke coming out. i could feel the actual impact as the explosion, because the ground really shook. even though my windows were up in the car, i could feel the heat from the fireball. >> david asman,. >> jon, we are hearing another explosion has taken place at the pentagon. we have the heart of the financial district of america being attacked. now we understand that there is an explosion. there has been an explosion in the pentagon. >> i began to hear reports of the explosion at the pentagon. and i knew in my heart that was -- that aircraft. >> we just had an airplane crash at the american airlines plane heading east over the pike possibly toward the pentagon. >> high visible smoke coming from that area. high visible smoke. >> it was instantaneous.

just a very loud noise. the lights went out. everything is black. very heavy smoke. debris piled on top of me. so, i'm pinned in my chair at my desk. >> as i came into focus a little closer. this pile of debris i saw what looked like a face. pretty sure it couldn't possibly be a live person but then i thought i saw it wink or blink. and i yelled for help and from outside came the commander. >> it feels like a furnace in there. and i couldn't believe there is anyone alive in there i saw captain thomas who was trying to pull some debris. i looked off to my side and i saw mr. henson about 10 feet away. inside this kind of cave of debris. already my uniform is starting to melt. my shoes are starting to melt. i'm really, really eager for him to get out of there and go, but he says he can't budge, under desperation i laid on my bang

underneath him and put feet on debris. i leg pressed as hard as i could. >> with me pushing with my back against this pile and him pushing up with his legs. he managed to get most of the debris far enough to extricate himself from this huge pile of rubble that pinned him to his desk. >> i think the total thing took about 30 minutes. i didn't think i had very much time left when the rescue team came. in. >> somebody was still up in there. we couldn't get everybody out. >> my boss didn't make it. section didn't make it. >> -- that survived. >> d.c. fire, e.m.s., is going to our plan e, that's an emergency plan which requires all off duty personnel to report back to the duty stations immediately. >> they are trying to evacuate the white house. >> the white house is being evacuated. that comes to us from one of our

fox producers in washington. the us what is being evacuated. the pentagon as well. >> have you got to pack up and go. plane was just hijacked 20 minutes south from here and headed toward the capitol. >> get me on the 320 now. >> jim angle are you with us. >> streets around the white house were blocked seconds ago. there are emergency vehicles on almost every block around the white house. and as you know the white house is being evacuated. federal employees are standing on the street corners in and around the white house. having left the building for fear of another attack. >> get back! get back! >> got another inbound plane. >> as they brought me out, i could see people running. people are crying hurry up and get these people out because there is another one right behind. they must have had some input on the pennsylvania airplane. >> by now, we are firmly up on orbit over washington, d.c. and we are watching the united 93 now start very gradually to take up a flight path right

towards washington, d.c. and we were very concerned about that. >> >> started moving toward washington and we had f-16's over washington, d.c. i was probably energized to start moving those fighters toward that aircraft. we decided it would be wiser to keep the f-16's over washington, d.c. in case another aircraft were coming in from a different quadrant that we didn't see. >> all said sir, we have to leave now. there is no chance for debate. sort of propelled me out of the office down into the underground and we got down to the place,

tunnel, that is protected. so when i got down into the tunnel, we saw the pentagon had been hit. that was on television. i called the president again. he was then headed for the airport in florida. and urged him not to return to washington because washington was now under attack. >> flight 93 was the only aircraft that we could see on our radar at that particular time. it was either slightly before or right around the time that the american airline 77 had hit the pentagon. and we could see this aircraft flying around up in the ohio and pennsylvania area. >> united airlines called me and told me todd had made an aphone call to an operator. he had initially called just to report a hijacking. he felt at that time that this was a situation where the hijackers were going to return to the airport and there was going to be some demand made. >> i heard mark's voice saying i'm on a flight from newark to san francisco. there are three guys on board

who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb. and i'm calling you from the air phone. and then there was a long pause. mom, you believe me, don't you. >> i said yes mark i believe you. who are these guys? there was a long pause. then mark's voice came back on the line you believe me don't you, mom? i said yes, mark, i believe you. who are those guys? then we were disconnected. >> reach the mobile phone voice mail leave a message. >> mark, this is your mom, the news is it's been hijacked by terrorists. they are planning to probably use the plane as a target to hit some site on the ground. i would say go ahead and do everything you can to overpower them because they are hell-bent. i will try to -- try call me back if you can. >> he told me immediately that he was on a plane that had been hijacked. and he gave me a few details of what was going on. and told me to call the authorities. and he hung up. >> i said do you know who is flying the airplane? she said no, i don't.

we have all been herded to the back. >> he knew there were two people at the front of the plane who were hurt. they had pulled the curtain to first class so he couldn't see what was going on up there at that point. on the second phone call, i told him immediately that the world trade center had been hit. other airplanes had been hijacked. he paused and told the people sitting around him. he was alarmed and then he said my god, it's a suicide mission. >> the plane turned around and started to dip and things as they changed their course back to washington. >> the third phone call i told him about the pentagon. he told me at that point that he was putting a plan together to take back the airplane. and i asked who was helping him and he said there was s. a group of us. >> we are back here getting hot water together to throw on them. do you have any other ideas for us. >> they were going to rush this hijacker with a bomb and attempt to get into the cockpit. he said that's what we have to do. and it wasn't long after that that she heard him say ask the

men around him said are you ready? >> we are all runsing it to first class i have got to go. bye. he said let's roll. that's the last we heard. >> we know that the passengers made a rush on the cockpit and thwarted the hijackers we know that because the cockpit voice recording they knew that there was a movement afoot in the back. and that their moments were numbered up front. and we heard someone heard on the cockpit voice recording, they are coming, they're coming. there was a tremendous flash thrashes around of dishes and carts back and forth. this explain 30 degrees if not more. rapidly go to 45 degrees the other way. and rocking back and forth. i guess there was a fight going on. and the airplane was rolling from the right to left to right to left to right to left. >> we heard blood screams

happening more than once. i don't believe it was a passenger -- >> they were violently rolling back and forth. >> hijackers were panicked. they were talking with each other do you want me to end it now? and i believe that that was their signal that, hey, we're going to crash now because we're about to lose control of this airplane. >> i'm absolutely convinced that fourth plane would have hit the capitol but for those heros in pennsylvania. >> united 93, you have got information on that yet? >> yeah, he is down. >> he is down? >> yes. >> when did he land. >> he did not land. >> oh, is he down? >> yeah. somewhere up east of camp david. >> authorities at the airport confirm a large plane crash about 80 miles southeast of pittsburgh. you have got to assume that it's related to all of these goings on. >> and i told brian, i said this

is the lord's doing. i said i'm going to trinity church. he said look, i'm coming with you. and together we grab each other's hand and we started to run. surprising enough. not even one piece of confetti or broken glass touched us. and the next thing i know we bumped into a priest. >> that's where stanley broke down and he looked at me and he said this man saved my life. and i said to stanley, i think maybe you saved my life, too. he said, you know, i think that tower could go down. and i said there is no way. i said that's steel. that's a steel structure. i didn't finish the sentence -- >> we started to run. and we heard a strange sound like steel bending and creaking. and the buiing started to implode it came down like a pancake effect. >> collapse tower.

>> tower 2. tower 2. >> the south tower. >> oh my god. oh my god, oh my god. >> we set up to go live. within a minute or two after he got the camera hooked up and we set up to go -- start reporting in the street, that's when the first tower fell. >> we heard the rumbling thunder but it wasn't as loud as i expected it to be. >> holy [bleep] dude, get the camera out there. what shot mass cam? look dude, look, point that way. oh my god. >> just as i was about to come up -- as i was going up the stairwell on the church street side, the building started shaking up and down a couple feet in either direction. a fireman at the top said hit the deck. >> we are on church street. we're not sure what happened. >> it fell down. >> there has been a huge explosion. everyone is running for their lives, literally. >> police, media. i see a woman pushing a baby

carriage. here comes the smoke. >> i couldn't see anything because of all the dust, all the lights were out. >> after the south tower fell, that was the first time the panic set in because realizing the south tower was hit second and fell first, now you really had to worry about getting people out of those towers as quickly as possible. >> i pushed up and out and realized i was still alive. i didn't even know if i was alive or not. >> gone. the whole tower. it's gone. holy crap! they knocked the whole freaking thing down. >> here comes the smoke. it's unclear what happened.

if the tower collapsed or what. i think we better get out of this mess. i think we better get out of this. >> we jumped in the truck with the camera. and left about an inch or two crack in the door with the cable being inside the truck. >> oh my god. we almost died here together, you and me. [coughing] >> you all right? >> we were in the dark literally it was frightening it was a frightening moment to have no connection to the outside world and have no idea what was going to happen next. >> we shouldn't be here, should we? >> everybody else [bleep] ran. cops, everybody. >> i don't know what to do. i mean assignment danger, bro. >> get out of the building. get out of building. >> jon, the scene is horrific. one of the two towers literally

collapsed. i was making my way to the foot of the world trade center suddenly while talking to an officer who was questioning me about my press kennels. we heard a very loud blast and explosion. we looked up. and the building literally began to collapse before us. there was debris falling, i would say, at least three quarters the height of the building. people in the entire perimeter began literally, including myself, that's why i'm out of breath to run for our lives. this is actually -- we believe debris from one of the planes that hit one of the towers on the world trade center, the fbi is here as you can see. they had roped this area off. they were taking photographs and securing this area just prior to that huge explosion that we all heard. [sirens] >> everything just all all of a sudden just imploded. i ran as fast as i could and then all of a sudden the building started filling up with smoke. we couldn't get out of the building because everything was

locked up. i came out, and everything was filled with ash. >> does anybody hear me? i'm a civilian. i'm trapped inside of one of the fire trucks underneath. i can't breathe much longer. save me. i'm in the cab of your truck. >> i can barely breathe, please save somebody. >> what happened? you were right there at the building. >> yes. >> a lot of people trapped. emt. guy needs help. can you talk to us for main and tell us what you saw and what you heard? how do you feel? are you all right? >> no. not at all. >> i feel bad approaching these people i mean, they are covered. they are obviously in pain.

>> let's go. >> in the place where that plane hit, the outer wall of the building. of course, that building as you know is a series of rings so that when you hit the outer wall of the building you are only affecting that part of it. that those walls are down and can you see the gutted area. >> whole place blew. everything came down. couldn't see. couldn't breathe. it's terrible. i never seen nothing like this it. i went through vietnam and i never seen anything like this. >> can they go in based on the conditions of the building? >> somebody is going to have to. that's what we get paid for. as soon as we heard the exno motion, we ran out of new york state supreme court and jumped on our jury bus. >> back it up. back it up. back it up. >> all right. here we go again.

here we go again. i don't know what's going on but this -- the second building is collapsing, i believe. >> coming down? >> i don't know. but this happened before. >> back up. come over this way, pat. fine, we will. we can see the top of the building from here. oh yeah. >> it goes. there it goes. there it goes. oh, we do need to put it down now. i think we need to put it down now. >> we had a crash of the second tower. everybody is running from there. >> you think you die three times and then people are screaming the building is coming down and then all of a sudden you feel the rumbling of the floor down the west side highway. you just think -- you just think it's going to -- something is going to fall on you. you just think you are going to die. >> mobilize the army. we need the army in manhattan.

>> every floor i was trying to be the last man to do a sweep to make sure nobody was left behind. >> experienced firefighter had to have an awful lot of fear and concern going into that building. that's what makes it such a heroic act. >> i got to about the sixth floor. all of a sudden, this tremendous noise started, went black, the building was shaking, it was rocking and rolling. we were getting tossed around. i knew the building was collapsing. i thought it was a matter of seconds. >> number of people trapped here from the previous collapse. >> all of a sudden i'm laying in blackness and went deafly silent. >> >> i was covered in approximately six inches of debris. the first few seconds i actually thought i was dead. saw nothing, heard nothing. i was covered.

started calling may days. calling for help. >> it's my understanding all the bridges and tunnels in the city are closed. >> signature of osama bin laden. he has had pilots on his payroll. not to say that's what happened here. but they seem to indicate this would have that signature. >> the fire continues to burn out of control at this hour. at this point no estimates from pentagon officials on the number of dead. >> i felt a shock of the airplane hitting the building. went through the building and then out into the area and they were bringing bodies out that had been injured. >> people hurt. that's the operational rule. >> we were focused on if anybody was crying out or called out. >> the people were almost like a still life. they were intact. it was very different.

especially because i had already found a bunch of people who were all burned up. there was this young woman there. she was in civilian clothes. she was very nicely dressed. her clothes weren't burnt. her name tag, she was the easiest id i ever did. chain around her neck and it was angela hotes. it was just being hit by a hammer. real person. beautiful young woman. she obviously was going to leave that evening or that morning or something and go out to her life. and she wasn't ever going to do that. >> a lot of volunteers were doing a terrific job helping to bring them out of the buildings. >> the president flew directly here from florida. he is all right. we flew for a couple of hours on air force one. we were not told where we would land until the time came. there were jet fighters accompanying the president's aircraft. >> make no mistake.

the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> by the time that the president had gotten off the air force base, nobody was going to tell the president that he couldn't come back. the first thing that he said when he got on the teleconference is i'm coming back tonight. >> the city of new york and the united states of america is much stronger than any group of barbaric terrorists that our democracy that our rule of law that our strength and our willingness to defend ourselves will ultimately prevail. >> today was supposed to be an election day, at least a primary run off day in manhattan for those who would succeeded mayor. that has been cancelled. >> it has the hardest thing i have ever had to do to try to maintain composure. i'm not trying to sound macho. i figured if i break down and cry which i was very close to doing a couple of times that

day, it's not going to help anybody at home process the information that we're trying to bring them. so, i just -- i said a little silent prayer and just tried to keep going. >> i hate to wonder how many of your people were around there around the base of the twin towers when they began collapsing. >> i am very worried about it. i saw some of them rush in and go in and was with them. we were in a building that was trapped for a while. >> thank god that i'm safe. i feel terrible for the people that we lost. some of whom i talked to just 15 minutes before we lost them. the city is going to survive. we are going to get through it? >> the only you could see from where we were was a big gouge in the earth and some broken trees. nothing that you could distinguish that a plane had crashed there. >> just a few moments ago world trade center number 7 collapsed.

earlier we had been warned by fire fighting sources that that building was in danger of collapse. engineers were on the scene they said the building was structure turleyly very weak. >> a lot of innocent people that died. all they did was a simple thing. all they did was come to work that morning. they didn't come to do battle. >> the people that went to vietnam knew what they were doing. they trained for that. you don't expect that just going to work in the pentagon in an office. >> he was already very focused and calm. it was remarkable to me. weighs not shaken in that sense. the one moment that i could see the horror in his face, his eyes was when of that famous picture of andy card telling him what had happened. he had remarkable composure through this whole period. in fact, was rallying other people.

>> terrorists attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings but they cannot touch the foundation of america. these acts shattered steal but they cannot dent the steel of american resolve. >> none of us will ever forget this day yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. >> what it did was reaffirm to me that this is a country worth living in and these are people worth defending and that there are things in this world that you had to be willing to die for. >> i look back and see all these firefighters and these cops who sacrificed their lives because of me. and i pick up the paper and i'm looking back, and i'm seeing the memorial service and the kids are in tears and i tell myself that could have been me. >> we shared such a powerful experience and depended on each other that day, perhaps, for

survival. we'll always be in touch. >> the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. [cheers] [chanting u.s.a.]