Thunder Dog - Michael Hingson [70]
9:35 a.m. Michael, Roselle, and David reach the first floor and run through the fire sprinkler waterfall to come out in the lobby.
9:37 a.m. American Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
9:45 a.m. Michael and Roselle leave the World Trade Center and step outside. The White House evacuates.
9:59 a.m. The South Tower, Tower 2, collapses.
10:01 a.m. Michael and Roselle find an entrance to the Fulton Street Subway Station and take refuge inside. A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
10:06 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
10:17 a.m. Michael and Roselle leave the station, evacuated by a police officer, and go back up to street level.
10:24 a.m. The FAA reports all inbound transatlantic aircraft are being diverted to Canada.
10:29 a.m. The North Tower, Tower 1, collapses.
10:32 a.m. Michael gets through to Karen on his cell phone and tells her that he is alive and has made it out of the World Trade Center.
10:58 a.m. Michael, Roselle, and David rest on a bench at a small plaza near Broadway and Canal Street.
11:00 a.m. Michael listens to his radio and hears Mayor Giuliani telling everyone to remain calm. The mayor orders lower Manhattan evacuated to points north of Canal Street, and he tells everyone else to stay home.
11:30 a.m. Michael, Roselle, and David stop at a small Vietnamese restaurant to rest. Michael has a bowl of soup. Military jets race by.
12:02 p.m. Michael’s boss, Rich Dickson, sends an e-mail to his staff: “Michael just was able to get through to me by cell phone. He and David Frank are together and are being evacuated even further from the area. Both are a bit dirty and tired but OK. Both got out just before our tower collapsed. . . . We really thought we lost both Mike and David as we watched our tower crash to the ground.”
12:45 p.m. Michael, Roselle, and David walk toward Nina Resnick’s apartment. They catch a ride with some friendly strangers.
1:15 p.m. Nina is out shopping for groceries, so Michael, Roselle, and David wait in the lobby of her apartment building.
1:44 p.m. Five warships and two aircraft carriers leave Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack.
1:50 p.m. Nina arrives, loaded down with grocery bags. The trio and Roselle go upstairs and clean up, talk, listen to the news, eat, and write notes on the day’s events.
2:49 p.m. Mayor Giuliani announces that subway and bus service will be partially restored.
4:00 p.m. Karen leaves a message on Michael’s cell that a friend has made it home to New Jersey from Manhattan by train. Michael calls her back, then decides to try for home. CNN reports that U.S. officials have evidence that Saudi militant Osama bin Laden is involved in the attacks. (Osama bin Laden, who later claimed direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, was shot and killed May 2, 2011 in Pakistan by U.S. Navy Seals in a covert operation.)
4:30 p.m. Michael, Roselle, and David thank Nina for her help and leave the apartment building. A few blocks away they board a bus to Sixth and Thirty-third, near Penn Station. All transportation is free. President Bush, who has been transported from Florida to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, boards Air Force One to return to Washington, D.C.
5:21 p.m. Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses.
5:30 p.m. Michael and David say a quick, emotional good-bye. David heads to a friend’s place on the Upper East Side.
6:05 p.m. Michael boards a train to Newark, New Jersey. People on the train see the dust on Michael and question him about his experiences.
6:10 p.m. Mayor Giuliani asks New Yorkers to stay home on Wednesday.
6:37 p.m. Michael and Roselle arrive at the Newark station and transfer to a Westfield, New Jersey, train on track 5. Michael calls Karen to tell her he has boarded the Westfield train, because she is standing by to pick him up if the Westfield train had not been running.