9/11 Remembered - 11:08 am

September 11, 2001, Tuesday, 11:08 am (Indiana East)

From the San Francisco Chronicle online:

Large plane crashes in Pennsylvania; unclear if it is related to day of attacks
A large plane crashed Tuesday morning just north of the Somerset County Airport, airport and county emergency officials said. The plane, believed to be a 747 jumbo jet, crashed about 10 a.m. about eight miles east of Jennerstown, according to county 911 dispatchers, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. Officials weren't saying what airline was involved. It was unclear if the crash was related to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington. Sean Cavanaugh, a commissioner in neighboring Fayette County, said his emergency management director, Barney Shipley, advised him that the plane originated in either Cleveland or New York and was bound for Chicago, WPXI reported. Contrary to earlier reports of the plane being a 767, Cavanaugh said he was told the airplane was a Boeing 747, the largest passenger jet flown domestically. The Somerset County airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, is a small, rural facility that does not handle such aircraft. Because of the attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all departing flights canceled nationwide, and any planes already in the air were to land at the nearest airport. The plane crashed shortly after the order was issued. It was not immediately known if the 747 might have been trying to land at the Somerset County airport when the crash occurred. The crash came the same morning that terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the twin 110-story towers collapsed. Explosions also rocked the Pentagon and the State Department and spread fear across the nation. There were no other immediate details on the Pennsylvania crash.

Also from the San Francisco Chronicle online:

Wall Street comes to halt on World Trade Center plane crash
The U.S. financial markets came to a halt Tuesday after two separate planes crashed into the World Trade Center and similar assaults occurred in Washington in what President Bush called an apparent terrorist attack. The Securities and Exchange Commission said all exchanges had decided to close. The announcement followed a suspension of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market. The American Stock Exchange had already decided to close for the day. "As a safety precaution while the tragic events of today are sorted out, the securities markets have decided not to open for trading today," SEC chairman Harvey Pitt said in a statement. "We strongly support that decision." It was unclear when trading would resume. Many of the nation's investment firms have at least some of their operations in the World Trade Center or surrounding buildings, possibly limiting their ability to restart quickly. And the New York Mercantile Exchange, where energy futures are traded, is located in the nearby World Financial Center. The reports of the Tuesday morning attacks on the State Department and on the Pentagon in Washington and the collapse of both of the World Trade Center skyscrapers added to the paralysis and terror already engulfing the financial district. "The two explosions were incredible and at the point of explosions all you could see outside were personal belongings and office supplies raining outside," said Bob Rendine, an American Stock Exchange spokesman, whose office is down the block from the NYSE. "We're staying here. We think it's safer to stay inside then go outside at this point." Much of the downtown district, including the World Trade Center and the World Financial Center, was evacuated. It was also difficult to make phone calls to the downtown business district and throughout Manhattan. Thousands of companies sent their employees home for the day, putting tens of thousands of New Yorkers into the streets after public transportation was shut down as a precaution against further attacks. Business and trading in other parts of the country also were affected. The Chicago Board of Trade also suspended all trading effective, 10:15 a.m. Overseas, the London Stock Exchange evacuated its building but said trade will continue from an alternate site. The Toronto Stock Exchange ended its trading in midmorning. Around the country and world, the investment community was focused on the fate of people working in the World Trade Center affected by the apparent terrorist attacks. There were reports of people jumping out of buildings. "I'm just worried about people who are there," said Robert Harrington, head of listed block trading at UBS Warburg's office in Connecticut.