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Graphics on this page by C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News Terrorists seized four domestic flights Tuesday morning. Here are the planes' flight paths, before and after the terrorists took control.

The week's events
Hijackers' plan swift and destructive


By Special to The Detroit News

A comparison of downtown footprints The World Trade Center occupies an area roughly equivalent to the area in Detroit bordered by Fort and Jefferson and Woodward and Shelby. The 50,000 people who worked in the world Trade Center exceeded the population of Novi (47,386). C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News Downtown Detroit   C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News Lower Manhattan C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News The Pentagon C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News Tuesday's assault exposed unthought of vulnerability when the jetliner struck the embodiment of U.S. security, the Pentagon. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

   
Tuesday, Sept. 11
   7:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 leaves Boston's Logan Airport for Los Angeles.
   8:01 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 leaves Newark International Airport for San Francisco.
   8:10 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles.
   8:14 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 leaves Boston for Los Angeles.
   8:48 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, setting it afire.
   9:06 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.
   9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.
   9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.
   9:31 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Fla., says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
   9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
   9:45 a.m.: The FAA halts all U.S. flights for the first time in U.S. history. International flights are told to land in Canada.
   9:47 a.m.: The White House evacuates.
   9:57 a.m.: Bush leaves Florida.
   10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
   10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, Pa.
   Portion of Pentagon collapses.
   10:13 a.m.: The UN building evacuated.
   10:22 a.m.: State and Justice departments and World Bank are evacuated.
   10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft are being diverted to Canada.
   10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses.
   10 - 11:30 a.m.: All federal buildings across the country are evacuated.
   10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.
   11:40 a.m.: Bush arrives at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
   11:53 a.m.: Rail traffic suspended between New York and Washington.
   12:15 p.m.: The Immigration and Naturalization Service says U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are on the highest state of alert.
   1:44 p.m.: The Pentagon sends five warships and two aircraft carriers to protect the East Coast.
   1:48 p.m.: Bush leaves Louisiana aboard Air Force One and flies to Strategic Command Headquarters in Nebraska.
   3:55 p.m.: Bush conducts a National Security Council meeting by phone. Vice-President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are in a secure facility at the White House. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at the Pentagon.
   4:30 p.m.: The president leaves Nebraska to return to Washington.
   5:25 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses.
   6:40 p.m.: Rumsfeld holds a news conference in the Pentagon, saying they "will be in business tomorrow."
   6:54 p.m.: Bush arrives at the White House aboard Marine One.
   8:30 p.m.: Bush addresses the nation, saying "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil" and "these acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." He says the government will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed the acts and those who harbor them.
   
Wednesday, Sept. 12
   * Ban on commercial air travel remains.
   * Rescue efforts hampered by flames, smoke, debris and dust, along with unstable buildings.
   * Investigators begin tracing the hijackers' trails up to the attacks.
   * Two of the hijackers are discovered to have flown in from Portland, Me.
   * Passenger reports confrontation with men in Boston airport parking lot; leads to discovery of a car belonging to hijackers.
   * Investigators find two hijackers took pilot training at Huffman Aviation, Venice, Fla.
   * Pentagon reopens even as it burns.
   * The Capitol is closed to tourists.
   * Security increased at border crossings at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, Ambassador Bridge and Blue Water Bridge.
   * Nations express sorrow, including Palestinians.
   * Stock market remains closed.
   * Bush declares attacks "act of war."
   * A handful of survivors rescued from the World Trade Center wreckage.
   * NATO invokes the mutual defense clause (Article 5) of the charter for the first time, meaning that the attack is considered an attack on all 19 member states.
   * Bush vows war on terrorism.
   
Thursday, Sept. 13
   * Cheney moves to Camp David.
   * Airports reopen.
   * 10 detained at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.
   * Airports close again.
   * For the first time, Secretary of State Colin Powell names Osama bin Laden a prime suspect.
   * Pakistan agrees to work with U.S.
   * All but one of 10 detainees released.
   * American Express building collapses.
   * Black box found in Pennsylvania crash.
   * Black boxes found at Pentagon site.
   * Pentagon says fatalities at 190.
   * Bomb threats plague Washington, D.C.
   * Congress criticized by Justice Department for leaking classified information.
   
Friday, Sept. 14
   * Rain hampers rescue efforts.
   * Michigan Gov. Engler calls out National Guard to help at Canada border crossings.
   * Senate passes $40 million emergency aid bill for relief work and hunting those connected to attacks.
   * George and Laura Bush, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton attend memorial service in D.C.
   * Names of 19 hijackers released.
   * Bush travels to New York.
   * Three men arrested in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Friday after making threatening predictions Monday evening.
   * Bush authorizes mobilization of 50,000 reserves.
   * Afghanistan says bin Laden is not involved; if he is, he should be tried in Afghanistan in an Islamic court.
   * Kabul, Afghanistan, residents begin evacuating, fearing a U.S. attack.
   
Saturday, Sept. 15
   * President Bush orders Americans to prepare for war. Terrorists "have chosen their own destruction," he said.
   * First funerals for victims held.
   * Number of missing in World Trade Center raised to 4,972.
   * International airlines resume flights to the United States.
   
The Hijacked Flights:
   Terrorists seized four domestic flights Tuesday morning. Here are the planes' flight paths, before and after the terrorists took control.
   
The Targets
   The World Trade Center, in lower Manhattan, and the Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., both took direct hits from three of the four hijacked airplanes. To date there are more than 4,900 people missing in New York, and 188 confirmed fatalities from the attack on the Pentagon.
   
A Comparison
   The World Trade Center occupies an area roughly equivalent to the area in Detroit bordered by Fort and Jefferson and Woodward and Shelby. The 50,000 people who worked in the World Trade Center exceeded the population of Novi (47,386).
   
Target unclear
   Before crashing southeast of Pittsburgh, Flight 93 may have been heading for either the White House or the Capitol building.
   Sources: Gannett News Service, Associated Press, wire reports, EDS, Detroit News research

C. Chamberlin, R. Cosby, Jenny Nolan, Tim Summers / The Detroit News