NEVER Forget.

[Nextmanup]

I was less than a mile away from the Pentagon that day, working in Crystal City.

 

Probably the most interesting, exhilarating, but frightening day of my life.

 

I won't ever forget all the details of which there are many.

 

As a long time aviation fan and the kind of guy who attends air shows, the one thing that I will always remember is being on the 8th floor right next to the main runway at National Airport in Crystal City.

 

I was looking out the window with a pack of colleagues and a single F-16 went tear assing by, at maybe 100 feet above the Potomac....making a SONIC BOOM.

 

He was flying a defensive triangle.  Going from National Airport to the Capitol Building over in DC to the Pentagon and back to the airport, etc....

 

The building was shaking when he came by and people thought it was new airplanes hitting targets close to us. 

 

It was just a sonic boom.  Felt like maybe a 4.0 earthquake inside the building.

 

I have always been very interested in 9/11 and seen 10,000 documentaries about it.

 

I have never seen anything on video chronicling the lone F-16 making sonic booms and flying this triangle.

 

I know it happened because I saw it/felt it! 

 

 

[Sig1Hunter]

2 hours ago, LB3 said:

I see this story every year. I weep every time.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I’ve seen it many times, but always a good reminder of the good that exists. The good that always overcomes evil. 

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

👍

 

And all the families of the first responders who have lost their life since that day due to the health consequences of being at ground zero. I think it’s important that we don’t forget them (not saying you did or anything).

I want to say like over 300 firefighters died that day!  I mean that is almost like a combat casualty count.  

 

I have seen documentaries about the various fire house around the NYC area and THEY ALL have a string of photos of the guys who died on 9/11 up on the wall somewhere as a memorial.  No one was spared.  Just incredible.  

[sherpa]

22 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I was less than a mile away from the Pentagon that day, working in Crystal City.

I was looking out the window with a pack of colleagues and a single F-16 went tear assing by, at maybe 100 feet above the Potomac....making a SONIC BOOM.

 

It was just a sonic boom. 

 

 

 

Not to quibble, but whatever you heard was not a sonic boom.

Makes no tactical sense to do that, and nobody went supersonic in that area that day.

Late edit.....

If someone flew supersonic at the altitude you describe, there would have been no windows left in Crystal City.

I've heard and cased them, but fortunately, legally.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by sherpa

[Nextmanup]

3 minutes ago, sherpa said:

 

Not to quibble, but whatever you heard was not a sonic boom.

Makes no tactical sense to do that, and nobody went supersonic in that area that day.

 

 

Well, I will probably sound like a jerk as you have mentioned you are an ex Naval aviator and I am not.

 

But you don't need to play the "I know everything" card, man.

Believe me, the F-16 was going supersonic.

 

Of course it makes sense.  The pentagon had already been hit, and this plane was clearly scrambled, from Andrews in MD (20 seconds away flight time?) to intercept the NEXT plane, if there was one.

 

And at that time the plane that went down in PA was still flying.

 

The F-16 was literally defending where all the juicy targets are around the Mall in DC.  Pentagon/airport/White House, Capitol Bldg. etc.

 

I have been at about 10,000 air shows in my life and know what an F-16, or F-15, or F-18, or F-4 (in the good old days) looks like going just under the sound barrier at like 600  knots or whatever those guys like to fly at during peace time air shows on a high speed pass. 

 

This F-16 was getting to the target zone as fast as he could, and LOW over the river.

 I was on the 8th floor; he was nearly at our height.

 

F-16 has plenty of horsepower to go supersonic at sea level.

 

I'm curious: since you are omniscient, what shook a 10 story office building like an earth quake just an F-16 flew by if not a sonic boom?  

 

 

[Blokestradamus]

9/11 is probably the first news event that I have a completely visceral memory of.

 

I was 11 years old, just moved in with my dad and had gone back to my mum's house to pick some stuff up. Let myself in and turned on the TV. The pictures on BBC News were of the first tower on fire. I was a dumb kid, I didn't quite understand the gravity of what that meant. Then I remember the live shot of the second plane making contact with the tower and I don't think I'll ever forget the events that followed as long as I live.

 

They weren't trying to graphically show people jumping out of the windows but you could still see it on the broadcast. Then both towers collapsed and it struck me that I'd just watched hundreds, if not thousands of people die. I've seen atrocious scenes since, most recently the explosion in Beirut, but I don't think I'll ever feel sorrow like that ever again. I was just watching it absolutely dumbstruck.

 

In the years since, I've seen so many stories of bravery from that day. On a day that could be remembered for utter cowardice and disregard for human life, we can remember people that are truly the best of us. People that gave their lives to save others while those buildings burned, people that worked day and night trying to save people from the rubble it left behind. From an event that will live in infamy for its tragedy, heroes emerged.

[whatdrought]

2 hours ago, LB3 said:

I see this story every year. I weep every time.

 

 

This wrecked me. Thank you for sharing.

[K-9]

3 hours ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

Here is the column that I wrote shortly after the attacks. It went viral and was read by millions worldwide.

 

Never forget...

 

Two days, two outlooks. On Tuesday, Sept. 11, I joined the rest of America in officially packaging up our false sense of national security and mailing it back to the black-and-white, Ozzie-and-Harriet world from which it was unjustly spawned. There can be no doubt that from the moment, at 8:45 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, the future course of America was permanently altered.

 

Throughout the 20th Century the fight was always "over there." From the two World Wars, through Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm, we observed attacks from a safe, detached distance. This time it was a home game and the overflow crowd was sent scurrying from the stadium in a state of shock -- fleeing for their lives.

 

At the time of this writing, President Bush has promised a firm, calculated response, not only to the terrorists responsible for the attacks, but to the countries that financed or harbored them, as well. By the time that you read this we very well may have begun a full-scale war against any number of nations, including Afghanistan, Iraq and possibly even Pakistan.

 

I cannot improve upon the President's description of the prevailing emotion of the American people as one of "quiet anger." I join the multitudes in believing that this is not the hour for pacifism or turn-the-other-cheek ideology, but one for a quick, devastating response -- on a scale unmatched in American military history.

 

As the sun rose on a still smoke-covered, eerily deserted, Manhattan skyline on Wednesday morning, the initial shock of the attacks began wearing off and I found myself becoming increasingly angered. You see, my wife was 9 months pregnant and due at any moment.

 

Bob Dylan's words from the 1960's classic, "Masters of War," were pounding in my head:

 

"You go threatening my babies, unborn and unnamed.
You ain't worth the blood that runs through your veins."

 

Like an unwatched pot, my rage continued to fester and boil, reaching unprecedented heights -- until 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. It was then that I met my wife at her pre-scheduled doctor's appointment.

 

"My blood pressure's high, they're sending me to the hospital," she told me, tears spilling from her eyes in a sudden torrent.

 

"We'll probably induce her -- she'll be admitted," said Dr. Judith Ortman-Nabi, her OB/GYN.

 

Suddenly, my perspective shifted. My consciousness was forced from the Nation's heartbeat to that of the tiny one beating inside my wife's tummy.

 

Despite the inducement drugs administered by the nurses at the hospital, my wife's labor progression was nearly non-existent. The Thursday morning hours blended into the afternoon with little movement in the dilation of her cervix. Continuous network television coverage of the aftermath of the attacks served as a surreal backdrop to our labor room drama. Each hour brought new, disheartening statistics. 4,370 people declared missing. 94 already confirmed dead. Buildings adjacent to the World Trade Center on the verge of collapse. 20,000 body bags ordered. Many times I cried as the screen flickered with images of family members desperately seeking loved ones presumably buried under the tons of concrete, metal and soot.

 

At 4 p.m. the doctors broke my wife's water. An hour later, there still was no further dilation. Finally, at 5:15 p.m. the decision was made to perform a Caesarean section.

 

At 6:11 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13, Ryan Jacob Croisdale -- all 6 pounds, 11 ounces of him -- was born into the world. Only a little over 57 hours had passed since the first jumbo jet had flown into the World Trade Center tower.

 

As I held him for the first time, I contemplated the uncertainty of the world, which his mother and I had brought him into. A world that had just seen thousands of people senselessly murdered by unfeeling assassins cloaked in the shadows. It is also a world, however, that saw hundreds of brave police and fire personnel sacrifice their own lives to try to save others trapped in the burning towers. It is a world that most likely saw a group of passengers on United Flight 93, from Newark, over-power hijackers and crash the airplane into an abandoned field in Western Pennsylvania -- saving thousands of lives at the White House. It is a world that saw people from around the nation stand in line for hours to give blood to aid the Red Cross. And, most importantly, it is a world that saw billions of its citizens speak up -- in town squares and prayer circles -- about their resolve never to let the agents of darkness force the light from their souls.

 

In my head, Dylan's lyrics were supplanted by those of another 1960's icon, John Lennon:

 

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one."

 

When all of the retaliatory bombing and carnage is over, the truest response we can offer to this attack on our nation will come at the personal level. Ryan Jacob's mother and I will fight by empowering him with the concepts of compassion and tolerance. We'll teach him of the principles of freedom and democracy that this great country was founded upon. We'll make sure that he fully understands the storied history of the millions of brave men and women that have died in countless wars defending certain truths that we proudly hold to be self-evident -- among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

We'll also make sure that his spirit echoes those of the thousands of rescue volunteers that have bravely given of themselves to save their fellow Americans.

 

We'll do these things -- and many more -- to help ensure that the world that our son will one day introduce his own children into, will be a kinder, gentler and safer one than he met today.

 

https://niagarafallsreporter.com/croisdale26.html

My daughter was born a day after your son on 9/14, 2001. Your words captured the spirit of new parents everywhere at that time.
 

While my wife was recovering from her C section, I had the privilege of holding our girl for the first several hours of her life and I can remember looking at her and muttering similar words to her in that darkened hospital room at 3am on that morning. 
 

I wish I could sincerely say that we’ve given our children a kinder, gentler, safer world since then. But I can’t. So we will keep striving to be the change we wanna see. 

[sherpa]

26 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Well, I will probably sound like a jerk as you have mentioned you are an ex Naval aviator and I am not.

 

But you don't need to play the "I know everything" card, man.

Believe me, the F-16 was going supersonic.

 

Of course it makes sense.  The pentagon had already been hit, and this plane was clearly scrambled, from Andrews in MD (20 seconds away flight time?) to intercept the NEXT plane, if there was one.

 

And at that time the plane that went down in PA was still flying.

 

The F-16 was literally defending where all the juicy targets are around the Mall in DC.  Pentagon/airport/White House, Capitol Bldg. etc.

 

I have been at about 10,000 air shows in my life and know what an F-16, or F-15, or F-18, or F-4 (in the good old days) looks like going just under the sound barrier at like 600  knots or whatever those guys like to fly at during peace time air shows on a high speed pass. 

 

This F-16 was getting to the target zone as fast as he could, and LOW over the river.

 I was on the 8th floor; he was nearly at our height.

 

F-16 has plenty of horsepower to go supersonic at sea level.

 

I'm curious: since you are omniscient, what shook a 10 story office building like an earth quake just an F-16 flew by if not a sonic boom?  

 

 

 

I have never claimed to be "omniscient," nor ever play the "I know everything card," per your claim.

 

I do know what was done that day, and I do understand what happened.

Without stretching this into an argument, what you observed was not supersonic flight at 100' over that area.

To do so would be analogous to driving 70 mph in your garage.

Makes no sense, would not be survivable, and didn't happen.

 

The F-16's were scrambled from Langley, not Andrews, per you claim.

Andrews had no alert ready airplanes at that time.

 

Again, I am uncomfortable pointing these assumptions wrong,  but what you are saying did not happen.

 

It is physically impossible to fly at mach, or anything approaching mach, at 100' in that area, and survive.

[Mark Vader]

Living in California, I will never be able to fully grasp what it must have been like in New York City that morning.

 

I woke up after all the chaos had happened, and I was glued to the television all day.

 

I'll never forget going to Ground Zero in 2002.

 

All I can say is that I will never forget this day, and to all those who lost their lives and those who fought to save those who were in danger.

 

God Bless you all.

[Nextmanup]

1 minute ago, sherpa said:

 

I have never claimed to be "omniscient," nor ever play the "I know everything card," per your claim.

 

I do know what was done that day, and I do understand what happened.

Without stretching this into an argument, what you observed was not supersonic flight at 100' over that area.

To do so would be analogous to driving 70 mph in your garage.

Makes no sense, would not be survivable, and didn't happen.

 

The F-16's were scrambled from Langley, not Andrews, per you claim.

Andrews had no alert ready airplanes at that time.

 

Again, I am uncomfortable pointing these assumptions wrong,  but what you are saying did not happen.

 

It is physically impossible to fly at mach, or anything approaching mach, at 100' in that area, and survive.

 

Yeah, this is going to turn into an argument.

 

Your tone is analogous to trying to explain a complex subject to an 8 year old; it's kind of insulting.

 

But whatever.

 

You don't have to be a fighter pilot to understand physics.

 

Anyway, thanks for your input. 

 

 

[ChevyVanMiller]

56 minutes ago, K-9 said:

My daughter was born a day after your son on 9/14, 2001. Your words captured the spirit of new parents everywhere at that time.
 

While my wife was recovering from her C section, I had the privilege of holding our girl for the first several hours of her life and I can remember looking at her and muttering similar words to her in that darkened hospital room at 3am on that morning. 
 

I wish I could sincerely say that we’ve given our children a kinder, gentler, safer world since then. But I can’t. So we will keep striving to be the change we wanna see. 

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I wish we'd have grown more tolerant and kind since that day, but it seems we are moving in the other direction. I do think that the kids of my son and your daughter's generation are showing the older generations the proper path, though.

Happy early birthday to your daughter.

Edited September 11, 2020 by ChevyVanMiller

[sherpa]

36 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

 

Yeah, this is going to turn into an argument.

 

Your tone is analogous to trying to explain a complex subject to an 8 year old; it's kind of insulting.

 

But whatever.

 

You don't have to be a fighter pilot to understand physics.

 

Anyway, thanks for your input. 

 

 

 

You are correct.

You don't have to be a whatever to understand whatever.

 

The problem for the scrambled airplanes that day was identifying hostiles which were large, easily identified targets.

To do that, you fly at an intermediate altitude and turn you air to air radar on.

You certainly don't fly at mach at 100', guaranteeing worthless radar returns.

The F-16 doesn't have a particularly good air to air radar. It's better for ground stuff.

All of the folks who flew that day provided testimony.

That aside, there is no possible way one would fly at mach at 100' in that area.

Not only would you be worthless to the mission, you wouldn't survive, because you couldn't survive the turn radius, after destroying every window in every building within 10  miles.

 

[Chandler#81]

2 hours ago, sherpa said:

 

I have never claimed to be "omniscient," nor ever play the "I know everything card," per your claim.

 

I do know what was done that day, and I do understand what happened.

Without stretching this into an argument, what you observed was not supersonic flight at 100' over that area.

To do so would be analogous to driving 70 mph in your garage.

Makes no sense, would not be survivable, and didn't happen.

 

The F-16's were scrambled from Langley, not Andrews, per you claim.

Andrews had no alert ready airplanes at that time.

 

Again, I am uncomfortable pointing these assumptions wrong,  but what you are saying did not happen.

 

It is physically impossible to fly at mach, or anything approaching mach, at 100' in that area, and survive.

um, yes you do. You hijacked the Normandy Invasion thread with wildly inaccurate “corrections”. It’s what you do.

No worries. We accept you anyway. 

And, Hey! Thanks for the rides on your boats. We Jarheads appreciate you. Your Corpsmen too! Pilots? Not so much, no..

#MarineAviation 

[Seasons1992]

3 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

I was less than a mile away from the Pentagon that day, working in Crystal City.

 

Probably the most interesting, exhilarating, but frightening day of my life.

 

I won't ever forget all the details of which there are many.

 

As a long time aviation fan and the kind of guy who attends air shows, the one thing that I will always remember is being on the 8th floor right next to the main runway at National Airport in Crystal City.

 

I was looking out the window with a pack of colleagues and a single F-16 went tear assing by, at maybe 100 feet above the Potomac....making a SONIC BOOM.

 

He was flying a defensive triangle.  Going from National Airport to the Capitol Building over in DC to the Pentagon and back to the airport, etc....

 

The building was shaking when he came by and people thought it was new airplanes hitting targets close to us. 

 

It was just a sonic boom.  Felt like maybe a 4.0 earthquake inside the building.

 

I have always been very interested in 9/11 and seen 10,000 documentaries about it.

 

I have never seen anything on video chronicling the lone F-16 making sonic booms and flying this triangle.

 

I know it happened because I saw it/felt it! 

 

 

 

I've never heard of this either. I've seen virtually every doc there is.

2 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Living in California, I will never be able to fully grasp what it must have been like in New York City that morning.

 

I woke up after all the chaos had happened, and I was glued to the television all day.

 

I'll never forget going to Ground Zero in 2002.

 

All I can say is that I will never forget this day, and to all those who lost their lives and those who fought to save those who were in danger.

 

God Bless you all.

 

All Americans should visit the 9/11 Museum. It's by far the most important and spectacular museum in the US. Curated in "real time" as you walk through it."

[GoBills808]

3 hours ago, Blokestradamus said:

9/11 is probably the first news event that I have a completely visceral memory of.

 

I was 11 years old, just moved in with my dad and had gone back to my mum's house to pick some stuff up. Let myself in and turned on the TV. The pictures on BBC News were of the first tower on fire. I was a dumb kid, I didn't quite understand the gravity of what that meant. Then I remember the live shot of the second plane making contact with the tower and I don't think I'll ever forget the events that followed as long as I live.

 

They weren't trying to graphically show people jumping out of the windows but you could still see it on the broadcast. Then both towers collapsed and it struck me that I'd just watched hundreds, if not thousands of people die. I've seen atrocious scenes since, most recently the explosion in Beirut, but I don't think I'll ever feel sorrow like that ever again. I was just watching it absolutely dumbstruck.

 

In the years since, I've seen so many stories of bravery from that day. On a day that could be remembered for utter cowardice and disregard for human life, we can remember people that are truly the best of us. People that gave their lives to save others while those buildings burned, people that worked day and night trying to save people from the rubble it left behind. From an event that will live in infamy for its tragedy, heroes emerged.

I was in 9th grade at the time and I think I would have been too young to understand the enormity of it except that was the first time I saw my parents cry.

[sherpa]

27 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

um, yes you do. You hijacked the Normandy Invasion thread with wildly inaccurate “corrections”. It’s what you do.

No worries. We accept you anyway. 

And, Hey! Thanks for the rides on your boats. We Jarheads appreciate you. Your Corpsmen too! Pilots? Not so much, no..

#MarineAviation 

 

I didn't hijack any thread, and I have no interest in being "accepted."

Your reaction was ill informed and silly.

 

The fact is that what has been claimed is not only inaccurate, but impossible.

Completely, physically impossible.

 

I am extremely informed on what happened that day, and that didn't happen.

 

Your's is a really stupid post, as was your reaction to my suggestion that what happened on June 6 1944 was not perfect.

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by sherpa

[BillsFan4]

https://www.channelguidemag.com/tv-news/2020/09/11/friday-sept-11-9-11-the-final-minutes-of-flight-93-history/
‘Friday, Sept. 11: ‘9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93’ on History‘
 

Quote

9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93
History, 8pm

On Sept. 11, 2001, one hijacked plane never reached its target when United 93 crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Now, for the first time, previously classified streams of evidence are combined to piece together what really happened in a gripping minute-by-minute account. Evidence includes Secret Service documents, air traffic control transmissions, phone records, voicemails, first person testimony and a top-secret audio recording that may reveal the details of Flight 93’s crucial final moments. It’s the story of heroism in the face of tragedy, and it sheds new light on the biggest mysteries of that fateful flight.

 

 

[Marv's Neighbor]

Worked for United Airlines for 35 years.  We were home in bed, in Seattle, when this happened.  My wife worked for United for 15 years.  We lost friends and co-workers on two of those planes.  We have visited the UA93 site and AA77 site.  For some reason, we have not made it to Ground Zero in NYC.  The way things are going there, right now, we may not get there.

 

Met a lady, a few years ago that is a Pentagon survivor.  Had to crawl out on her hands and knees.  The W side of the Pentagon, is where the Joint Chiefs offices are located.  That's the side where the plane went in.  Fortunately that area was closed for renovation on 9/11, or the death toll could have been much higher there.

 

It's a sad day that we will Never Forget!

[Mike in Horseheads]

I wish everyone would watch this how it took Jon Stewart to fight for health benefits for FDNY