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9/11 survivor remembers the horrific terror attacks 20 years later | 60 Minutes Australia
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United Airlines Flight 175 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport. On the morning of September 11, 2001, it was hijacked by five men affiliated with al-Qaeda as part of the coordinated September 11 attacks. The Boeing 767-200 aircraft, registration N612UA, carried 51 passengers and 9 crew members in addition to the five hijackers. The hijacking team was led by Marwan al-Shehhi, who had trained as a pilot in South Florida alongside other hijackers involved in the broader plot, which was organized by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and planned by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The hijackers—al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, and brothers Hamza and Ahmed al-Ghamdi—forced their way into the cockpit approximately 28 minutes into the flight, injuring crew members and killing both pilots, Captain Victor Saracini and First Officer Michael Horrocks. Al-Shehhi then took control of the aircraft. Air traffic controllers noticed the plane's deviation from its assigned flight path several minutes after the takeover, and the aircraft narrowly avoided at least three separate midair collisions with other commercial flights as it was flown toward New York City.
During the hijacking, flight attendant Robert Fangman and passengers Peter Hanson and Brian David Sweeney made phone calls to family members, colleagues, and a United Airlines maintenance office, describing the hijacking, injuries to crew, and the erratic movement of the aircraft. At 09:03 a.m., approximately 21 minutes after the hijacking began, al-Shehhi crashed the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, striking floors 77 through 85. All occupants of the aircraft were killed instantly. The crash was captured live on television and by numerous photographers, since media were already covering the earlier crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower.
The impact and resulting fires caused the South Tower to collapse at 9:59 a.m., killing everyone who remained inside, including more than 600 people who had been on or above the impact floors. Only 18 people located above the impact zone were able to descend through an intact stairwell and escape before the collapse. Passengers of Flight 175 included the youngest and one of the oldest victims of the September 11 attacks. Flight recorders from the aircraft were never recovered, though debris—including landing gear, an engine, and later a wing flap fragment found in 2013—was located near the World Trade Center site. Remains of some victims, including Peter Hanson and Alona Abraham, were identified through forensic and DNA analysis in the years following the attack, though many victims' remains were never recovered.
Civil litigation followed on behalf of victims' families, with most cases settled confidentially; only one case, brought by the family of passenger Mark Bavis, proceeded to trial before being settled in 2011. The federal government also administered compensation through the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
