First plane

FIRE MARSHAL STEVEN MOSIELLO

Witness to 1^st plane crash: prop jet

I was told by somebody that we had an eyewitness who happened to be an off-duty firefighter who

told me that he saw the first building get hit and it was hit by a prop jet, which I think turned

out to be the wrong information, but everybody sees things differently. But he said

he was an eyewitness. I gave him to a fire marshal. I never got his name personally.

LIEUTENANT MURRAY MURAD FDNY

fireman witnessed plane hitting WTC from firehouse on Greenwich and Liberty

It was about 8:41 t h a t we heard a plane hovering over the firehouse. It sounded like the plane was right on top of us. At that time the captain was upstairs .

The captain came out and said : "What's going on? This is a no-fly zone. There should be no planes over here unless this is a military plane, a plane in trouble . "

Other than that , there was really no clue . So about two or three minutes after hearing it, you heard something like revving. We took a look , and, boom, t h e north tower is hit .

I just saw the fire -- the smoke coming out from the top from the north tower. Q. Was there any debris?

A. No. Stuff was coming down, but nothing real major.

FIREFIGHTER KENNETH ESCOFFRY FDNY WTC1

On the morning of September 11th about 8:45, I was relieved, and a few of us were standing in front

of quarters when we noticed a plane came directly over the firehouse maybe around 8:45, somewhere

around that time. One of the guys mentioned that the plane looked like it

was really low. Before we could really think of what he said, the next thing we heard an explosion. We saw smoke.

FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH CASALIGGI saw the plane hit

On the morning of September 11th we were operating a box up on Church Street Near Canal. There was an odor

of gas in the area. While we were out operating, we heard the first plane coming in. I turned around and

I watched the plane crash into the north tower. ...

LIEUTENANT WILLIAM WALSH

WTC1 airplane

SO EVERYBODY LOOKED UP TO WHERE THEY THOUGHT THEY HEARD THE SOUND COMING FROM. AND WE SAW AN AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE TO ME IT

LOOKED AS THOUGH IT WAS GOING TREETOP LEVEL RIGHT DOWN WEST STREET. THEN HE APPEARED TO RISE LITTLE BIT. WE WERE UNDER THE IMPRESSION

HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS GOING DOWN, BUT WE DIDNT HEAR ANY MECHANICAL DIFFICULTY WE COULDNT FIGURE OUT WHY AN AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE

WOULD BE SO LOW IN DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN WE SORT OF EXPECTED HIM TO VEER OFF AND GO INTO THE HUDSON. BUT HE JUST ROSE LITTLE BIT HIS

ALTITUDE LEVELED OFF AND HE WAS HEADED STRAIGHT FOR THE TRADE CENTER SO JUST BEFORE HE GOT TO THE TRADE CENTER IT SEEMED AS THOUGH

HE GAINED POWER. WE WERE JUST WATCHING THIS AIRPLANE ON TARGET FOR THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. ALL OF SUDDEN BOOM HE DISAPPEARS INTO THE

TRADE CENTER YOU HEAR THIS SICKENING NOISE AS IF TWO PIECES OF FIBERGLASS HAD HIT YOU HEAR THIS LOUD EXPLOSION. HE JUST DISAPPEARED INTO THE

TRADE CENTER YOU COULD SEE HUGE FIREBALL COME OUT FROM WHERE HE HIT. I GUESS IT WAS ABOUT TEN STORIES HIGH OF BROWN SMOKE COMING OUT

AND THOUSANDS OF PIECES OF PAPER BEING THROWN THROUGH THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.

EMT-D RALPH RAMOS

Witnessed first plane hit WTC1

We witnessed the first plane hit the first tower. Saw it flying low and we thought, that plane's flying kind of low, and then it hit the building and we went over the radio and we told central that we had witnessed a plane hitting the building.

The second plane hit right over top of us and all the debris started

falling down on top of us.

FIREFIGHTER ROY CHELSEN -firefighters leaving WTC1 find lobby blasted

we proceeded in Tower 1. I think the revolving doors were kind of busted up, so I think we went through a window. At that point we were still not sure that it was a plane that had hit the tower. There was some talk from the civilians coming down that a plane hit. The consensus was that it was a small plane.

Anthony Bartolomey EMT varied descriptions of plane that hit WTC

Numerous civilians were telling me that a plane had hit the building. There were discrepancies as to the type of plane. Some were saying it was a Cessna or Leer jet type, a small jet plane. Some said it was a large passenger plane. One person actually said that it was like a military style plane that actually shot missiles into the building.

FIREFIGHTER RICHARD CARLETTI (claims he saw the plane that hit)

I was coming up Allen, which turns into First. When I was crossing Delancey Street, I saw a jet in front of me, which was the first jet. He was pretty low. He was probably about 30 stories. Now I'm heading north and crossing Delancey Street on Allen and I see the jet make a move toward the Trade Center. It made a southwesterly turn from that point.. I proceeded up First Avenue, left on 14th, parked in front of the firehouse. Fireman Lynn was there. He said they were out on a box, they wouldn't let him on because they thought they had a good job, and right then he told me a plane just crashed into the Trade Center. It was the same exact plane I just saw.

We stood there for about ten minutes and I just heard a loud groan by everyone in the street. I guess the south tower started to lean. The top 30 floors leaned over. I was looking up at the north tower. I was trying to monitor more what was going on in the north tower with the radio, and they were on three different channels at this point.

Second Plane

LIEUTENANT MURRAY MURAD FDNY

I ran downstairs. No sooner did I run downstairs and look up, that I saw the second plane strike the south tower. When the second plane hit, it was just a lot of fire, a lot of black smoke. I only saw two people come out. Evidently from the explosion up on those floors they got blown out.

I walked about two, three minutes, and all of a sudden I heard a plane. I said oh, my God, we're being attacked again. Someone said it could have been a B15, a U.S. plane up in the air. Actually, what I think it was, was simultaneously the plane and the north tower coming down. So that's what the sounds were. I heard that rumble.

FIREFIGHTER JAMES MURPHY firefighters see 2^nd plane hit

After that I ran up to the roof on the third floor with me and Eric Bernsten. We were watching it. We could see it from here. We have an unobstructed view. The other guys came up too. All six of us were on the roof.

Then we saw the second one come up. It looked like it was coming up the East River from here. I guess it was coming from the south. I thought it banked over the East River, which is what it looked like. I thought it made a left over the East River and went right into it going

from east to west. But as it turns out, it came from the south. Then we saw it just go right into the building and explode.

I remember talking to Eric. I remember Eric saying something, "Oh, my God, there's another plane." I was saying to him, "That plane is closer to us. It's really not a big plane going towards the building." Two seconds later it rammed into the building.

EMT ORLANDO MARTINEZ 2^nd plane & plane parts

Once the second plane hit, the shrapnel from either the plane or the building started hitting the top of the bus and the area around us.

Anybody who was near the ambulance ran inside the ambulance and ducked for cover.

(the shrapnel included part of plane landing gear) (Church & Vesey)

BARRETT HIRSCH EMS WTC2 plane

as I'm walking towards the Engine to find out what Lieutenant Walsh wanted us to do, I heard the sound of a jet plane. I looked up and saw it pretty close and I was like holy shit. What's going on with the with the flight patterns. All of a sudden, the wings turned and it dove right into the building and it was screwed up.

PARAMEDIC KENNETH DAVIS plane hit WTC2

As we were driving over the 59th Street bridge, just looking out the window, we saw a plane hit the World Trade Center, what we thought was a plane. When they looked, you could see the flames and the smoke starting and they're like, wow, it must have been one of the little planes. I said, no, it looked like a jet.

CHIEF OF THE DEPARTMENT DANIEL NIGRO FDNY

At some point after our arrival and after we had moved to the west side of West Street, I heard a loud roar of a jet, looked up and saw the second plane impact the south tower. At that point it was clear to

me it was a terrorist attack. We stepped over small airplane aviation

parts, on Vesey, continued west, continued looking at the building.

CAPTAIN MICHAEL DONOVAN FDNY WTC2 2^nd plane hits

We were actually still on Church Street. We heard the plane briefly, the earth shook, the buildings shook, a tremendous fireball overhead.

I thought there was a bomb or an explosion. A tremendous fireball, flaming debris, pieces of the airplane, fuselage, landing gear, pieces of the building.

FIREFIGHTER PETE GUIDETTI

I was right on Broadway when the second plane hit . Shit and debris flying all over the place, people screaming, running for their lives ,

BATTALION CHIEF BRIAN OFLAHERTY

JUST THEN OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE COULD SEE THIS PLANE JUST REMEMBER THE DARK IT WAS IN THE SHADOW IT LOOKED LOW THOUGHT WHAT THE HECK IS THE GUY DOING WATCHED IT WATCHED HIM TURN AND CRASH RIGHT INTO THE SOUTH TOWER.

I SAID THOUGHT THAT THAT SECOND PLANE THAT WENT INTO THE SOUTH TOWER WAS MILITARY PLANE LIKE TRANSPORT OR SMALL CARGO MILITARY.

THE REASON THOUGHT THAT FOUND OUT LATER THE SUN NEVER SHINED OFF IT IT WAS DARK COLOR PLANE IT ENDED UP FOUND OUT LATER IT WAS WHY IT WAS UNITED AIRLINES. They PAINT THEIR PLANES DULL GRAY AND BLUE DIDNT SEE ANY SHINE OFF THE PLANE WHEN IT WENT FROM DARK TO SUN.

EMS CAPTAIN MARK STONE

I was looking up to see if I could do a little more initial size up. That is when I saw the second plane hit the building . I just watched it coming i n .

CHIEF ALBERT TURI FDNY

WTC2 plane

I turned around to assess the situation, and the fireball had pretty much dissipated, and what I actually thought at that time, and mistakenly so, was it's not as bad as it looks; most of the fuel was expended on the exterior of the building. So we ran back to the car and laying right in back of my car was a large object which I thought was probably part of one of the aircraft turbines.

EMT JARJEAN FELTON

WHILE WEWERE RIGHT UNDER HERE UNDER THE WESTSIDE HIGHWAY AND PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE I SEEN THE SECOND PLANE COMING I’M THINKING ISNT THAT PLANE TOO LOW I’M LIKETHEN NOTICED SEEN IT TURN IT TURNED AND WENT RIGHT IN THE BUILDING BUT WERE BEHIND LIKE THIS IS THE BUILDING IT WENT IN AND YOU SEE THE EXPLOSION IN THE front

FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH CASALIGGI saw the planes hit & bodies

It was at that time when I saw the second plane hit the building. I called a mayday. I told them the second plane hit the south tower of the building. I wasn't sure which floors it was, but I knew it hit the upper floors of the south tower. Debris was falling, body parts were

falling. We ducked for cover inside Engine 7, but the rig was getting bombarded with debris from the building, debris from the plane. We saw

bodies crash landing right next to the rig. So we couldn't stay there.

FIREFIGHTER THOMAS GABY

Q. The second plane?

A. I saw it coming in, I heard it, and bang, it hit

FIREFIGHTER STEVE PICCERILL

ALL OF A SUDDEN I TURNED AWAY AND HEARD A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION AND TURNED AROUND THAT WAS THE SECOND PLANE HITTING THE TRADE CENTER. WE WERE DRIVING OUT OF THE TUNNEL UP WEST STREET AND WE RE SEEING BODY PARTS IN THE STREET TORSOS CHUNKS OF FLESH PARTS OF THE AIRPLANE LANDING

GEAR CAR FIRES EVERYWHERE IT WAS LIKE WAR ZONE

PARAMEDIC JOEL PIERCE

WE PARKED THE VEHICLE ON KENT GOT OUT. I STOOD THERE STARING AND THEN WATCHED EVENTUALLY THE SECOND PLANE SAW IT IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS CIRCLING COMING SOUTH THEN CAME BACK NORTH STRIKING THE SOUTH SIDE OF TOWER NO 2.

West Street

EMS DIVISION CHIEF JOHN PERUGGIA (Battery tunnel & West)

I passed over some pieces of what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, fuselage, whatever, some body parts and bodies in various states, either people from the building or the airplanes. You couldn't tell. They weren't intact.

EMS CAPTAIN FRANK DAMATO (Battery tunnel & West)

I parked my car on West Street, right around near, right about, right at the -- almost to the exit of where the Battery Tunnel empties out.

Then actually when I found my car, I found my car like later, later on in the day, but I left it there, because it was not able to be moved because it was covered. There was an airplane tire about 10 feet away from it.

FIREFIGHTER ROBERT NORRIS (Battery tunnel & West)

FROM THE BROOKLYN BATTERY TUNNEL AS REGULAR ENGINE COMPANY NOT THE SQUAD OR

ANY OTHER COMPANIES AND THERE WAS NUMBER OF AIRPLANE PARTS THROUGHOUT THE STREET LITTERING THE STREETS AS WELL CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF BODY PARTS THAT WERE ALL

OVER THE STREET THAT WERE GUESS EITHER FROM THE AIRPLANE PASSENGERS orTHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN UP ON THE TOWER WORKING

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER STEPHEN GREGORY FDNY

airplane was military type & green West near Vesey

I saw airplane parts on West Street. Q. How did you know they were airplane parts?

A. It looked like pieces of a plane, skin of a plane. I mean, they weren't really discernible. I couldn't say this was this part of a plane or that was that part. Just knowing a plane had hit the building and I looked and I saw it looked like the skin off a wing or a fuselage or wherever it came from. Q. Clearly not building material? A. No. The building material was sort of gray and you could see it, you know, how it differed from the plane. I was listening to the tape this morning of the people calling up and they were describing the

plane that hit the building. Actually, so many people saw it. They actually described the plane as it came in. They said it was a military-type plane and it was green and it was this. I mean, I never saw the color of the plane.

Several paragraphs blanked out

FIREFIGHTER KEVIN MCCABE West below Liberty

HEADING NORTH ON WEST STREET I’M LOOKING AHEAD I REMEMBER KIND OF LEANING FORWARD AND LOOKING UP AND SEEING THE SMOKE IN THE BUILDINGS. I REMEMBER AT ONE POINT SEEING WHAT LOOKED LIKE PIECE OF AN AIRPLANE. THAT PIECE OF PLANE LOOKED LIKE IT CRUSHED HALF THAT CAR.

EMT STEPHEN HESS West below Liberty

came through the tunnel, and our initial response was seeing body parts and airplane parts all over the west side. West HW

SUPERVISOR FIRE MARSHAL BRIAN GROGAN West below Liberty

So I was walking up West, and I noticed first block we passed I noticed in the street

at the end of where the Jersey barriers are, tunnel -- I guess it would be Carlisle -- I saw

the first body or parts of a body, upper torso, no head, no arms or legs. I saw another one

across the street.

Q. These are from the people that were jumping out of the building?

A. No, I don't believe so. I believe it was from the airplane, people in the building and

the airplane coming through and it blew these people out into the street, because you couldn't have jumped that far. It's impossible.

FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL HAZEL jet engine on West near Liberty

But we eventually got through the tunnel, and at first we started seeing bits and pieces, when we turned up West Street, of the plane and of what turned out to be body parts. But the closer we got, the bigger the parts got, the plane parts and the body parts, That's when he started trying to snake his way up West Street. There was a lot of debris in the street and I We just passed a compact car where the engine was running and the door was open, which looked to me like the driver had escaped, but from the back seat to the trunk was crushed by a jet engine. We started going up West Street. I believe that's when Smitty ran over the part of the plane, but he did that to avoid the bodies because there were obviously bodies in the street

BATTALION CHIEF EDWARD HENRY FDNY West below Liberty

THERE WERE BODY PARTS IN THE STREET ON WEST STREET AT THIS EARLY PART SO THE ONLY THING COULD FIGURE WAS THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE EITHER PEOPLE IN THE PLANE OR PEOPLE WHO WERE DRIVEN OUT OF THE BUILDING THERE WERE NO JUMPERS AT THIS TIME

FIREFIGHTER JOSEPH SULLIVAN West below Liberty

As we were riding in, we must have ran over some debris from the plane. We saw debris all over the floor. We saw a wheel. There was cars that were flattened. It was obvious that heavy things had fallen on them.

EMS ROGER MOORE body parts on West below Liberty

WHILE WE WERE WALKING WE NOTICED THREE BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE TRADE CENTER THAT THERE WERE BODY PARTS SCATTERED ALL OVER THE ROADWAY AND THAT THERE WERE POLICE OFFICERS TRYING TO SAFEGUARD THE BODY PIECES. Q WERE THEY CIVILIANS OR YOU THINK THEY WERE

FROM THE AIRCRAFT? A. UNKNOWN

FIREFIGHTER HUGH METTHAM

debris from plane crash on West below Liberty

IT WAS JUST SOUTH OF LIBERTY ON WEST STREET THAT WE FIRST ENCOUNTERED DEBRIS FROM THE PLANE CRASHES

FIREFIGHTER CRAIG MONAHAN airplane parts on West below Liberty

That was before we got to the south pedestrian bridge, before Liberty Street . You could see airplane parts just littered across the street , across the highway

FIREFIGHTER KEVIN MURRAY

pieces of plane on West below Liberty

We got under the bridge that goes from the FDR into West Street and there was -- it was unbelievable. There was jumpers everywhere, there was bodies everywhere, pieces of plane everywhere.

EMT EDWARD MARTINEZ West Street

ONCE WE WERE DISPATCHED TO VESEY AND WEST STREET UPON ENTERING THE AREA WHAT WE SAW WAS LIKE TOTAL DEVASTATION I GUESS FROM THE FIRST PLANE THAT STRUCK THE TOWER. THERE WERE BURNT CARS. WE SAW It was like a foggy area.

Vesey

FIREFIGHTER ARTHUR RICCIO Vesey near Church St

We walked down Vesey Street, and it was like total silence,

nothing. It was eerie. There were police cars all parked on angles, metal going through their hoods. There was a tire of a plane on top of

one.

FIRE PATROLMAN PAUL CURRAN

fuselage of plane on Vesey St down from Church St

I parked the rig on Church right at Fulton, directly in front of the World Trade north plaza. My officer told us we're going to go into the north tower lobby. We proceeded down to Vesey. Walking down Vesey, we noticed large pieces of what looked like possibly the fuselage from the

plane. There was a caravan of motorcycle police coming up. We stopped them and we cleared the path of big O rings and pieces of fuselage of the plane. We threw it to the side, and we told the guys to go on. They went up towards Church

EMT RICHARD ZARRILLO Vesey near Broadway

Captain Nahmod and I were running down Vesey Street stepping over airplane pieces, several bodies and whatnot. There was what looked like the front wheel assembly of an airplane. Unknown the size of the plane that had hit, it just looked like it was one pair of wheels on an assembly, pieces of metal with rivets in them, a few body parts scattered around.

DR. MICHAEL GUTTENBERG Vesey near Broadway (WTC7)

The other thing that was actually evident, though, is what appeared to be some plane parts, like some circular pieces of a plane, the walk down Vesey Street

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER JAMES DRURY FDNY airplane debris on Vesey near WTC7

You could see airplane parts on the ground and although I didn't realize it at the time, I later realized there were body parts, both on the concourse and on the street. (some of these might have been jumpers) I now made a left on Vesey and walked down the street on the 7 World Trade Center side, where I could see more airplane debris

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER THOMAS FlTZPATRlCK FDNY near WTC7

Various pieces of the plane were falling on the street. As we went down the street you could see parts of aircraft with stencil numbers on it and things like that. There was a wheel, or like a wheel housing or something else there in the street.

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER THOMAS McDONALD pieces of a plane near Vesey & Broadway

I believe 8 World Trade Center. We came up, tried to find our way into the courtyard area and we hugged the side of the buildings and it was an overhang that we stayed under. We noticed metal that looked like it came from the plane, in retrospect

FIREFIGHTER PAUL HYLAND

Church and Vesey. We were coming across and we walked down. We had to go down to the command center. We carried all our tools, the bottles, everything, and as we're walking down, part of the plane engine was sitting right in the street, still burning. I said, look, this is the plane.

FIREFIGHTER ROBERT HUMPHREY

When I was on Church Street, I saw a lot of bodies laying all over the place

Liberty Street

BATTALION CHIEF BRIAN DIXON FDNY piece of a plane

I continued down Liberty, just west of 10 and 10. As I got down a little farther, there was what looked to be a piece of the cabin of the airplane, I guess. It looked like a piece of it about maybe six foot long. It looked like the windows.

CAPTAIN RAY GOLDBACH

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110150.PDF

it was Dey or Cortlandt Street. We walked down

that block. It was littered with airplane parts,

ROBERT KIMBALL EMS

Like I remember walking by with the chief, and I remember seeing the airplane engine.