2001

September 11th

We were watching the TV when we saw the second plane
crash into the second tower.
(photo New York Daily News)

On Tuesday September 11th I got up and went into work getting to my cubicle by 8:15 as usual. I was an early bird as they say for most of the people in Internet Services got in closer to nine. I liked the first hour or so before everyone got in as it was more peaceful and quiet. I had been at my desk working on some project or another when Barbara, the administrative assistant, came running over to my cubicle and said a plane crashed into the World Trade Center and it was on the TV in the VP’s office.  I got up and quickly followed Barbara to the VP’s office.  Barbara’s cubicle was one row over from mine and directly across from the door to the VP's office which was the corner office on the 6th floor of CC3. The VP was not in that morning, he was on the AOL corporate jet headed to a meeting in California. The VP’s office was nice, the size of six cubicles like mine, with large windows on two sides overlooking the AOL campus. For whatever reason, the VP also had a TV in his office, I’m sure justified for some project or another. After getting me, we went to the VP’s office, and turned on the TV. We were stunned, one of the World Trade Center towers was on fire, the newsperson on TV says an airplane crashed into the tower. They didn’t know why, they speculated all sorts of reasons.  By this time eight or ten of us had gathered in the office watching the TV when sixteen minutes later, the camera shows another airplane approaching, it gets closer, and closer and then at 9:03 it crashes into the second World Trade Center Tower. It was clear, it was intentional, it was some sort of attack, a terrorist attack.  We continued watching in stunned silence as the fire in each building grew larger and then the first building collapse followed shortly by the second. AOL sent all the employees home shortly thereafter. No one knew how widespread the attacks were, it was said that there was one on the Pentagon which is only about 25 miles from the Dulles Airport and the AOL campus. The datacenter building was right next to our CC3 office, the VP’s office had a great view of it. They said they built the datacenter building to withstand an airplane crash, we didn’t wait around to see if it might be true. With all the employes leaving it was almost gridlock trying to get out of the parking garage and down the street.

It took a little longer to get home but no more than a half hour. I turned the TV on and continued watching the news. It soon was determined that it was a terrorist attack in which commercial airplanes were hijacked and driven into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. All air traffic in the U.S. was halted and all planes immediately grounded. Later it was determined there was a fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.  We were told to work from home for the next couple of days until more was known about what was happening. 

The following week we found out that our VP was on the AOL corporate jet on the way to California along with about six or eight others when the air-traffic was halted, and the jet had to land at some small airport out in the Midwest. The airport was so small that it didn’t even have a car rental. The nearest town a few miles away had a car rental but by the time they took a taxi to it there were no cars available. Wanting to get back to their families back in Virginia, they went to the only car dealership in two and bought two brand new Ford Expeditions and they drove non-stop back to Virginia.  

Travel by airplane was forever changed after the attack.

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