American Airlines Flight 77

American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in California, which was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, and deliberately crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks.

Background and Flight Details

American Airlines Flight 77 was a regularly scheduled flight operating between Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). On the morning of September 11, 2001, the aircraft assigned to the route was a Boeing 757-223, registered as N644AA. The plane had a capacity of 188 passengers, but on that day, it carried only 58 passengers and a crew of six, including Captain Charles Burlingame, First Officer David Charlebois, and four flight attendants. The low passenger load was typical for a Tuesday morning in early autumn.

The hijacking team consisted of five al-Qaeda operatives led by Hani Hanjour, who served as the hijacker-pilot. The other four hijackers were Nawaf al-Hazmi, Salem al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar, and Majed Moqed. Hanjour had received flight training in the United States and was specifically chosen by al-Qaeda leadership to pilot the aircraft into its target.

Hijacking

Flight 77 departed from Gate D26 at Dulles International Airport at 8:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), approximately ten minutes behind schedule. The hijacking began at approximately 8:51 AM, when the terrorists breached the cockpit. Unlike the other hijacked flights that morning, reports suggest that the hijackers on Flight 77 may have used knives and box cutters to force the crew and passengers to the rear of the aircraft, though the exact method of gaining control remains partially undocumented due to the lack of survivors.

At 8:54 AM, the aircraft deviated from its assigned flight path, turning south. The transponder was switched off at 8:56 AM, causing the plane to disappear from secondary radar screens. Air traffic controllers at the Indianapolis Center and later the Washington Center struggled to locate the aircraft. For several minutes, officials mistakenly believed the plane might have crashed in the mountains of West Virginia. It was not until primary radar picked up an unidentified, fast-moving aircraft heading toward Washington, D.C., that the severity of the situation was realized.

During the hijacking, two passengers managed to make phone calls. Flight attendant Renee May called her mother, reporting that the flight had been hijacked and that the crew and passengers were being forced to the back of the plane. Passenger Barbara Olson, a conservative television commentator, called her husband, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, twice. She informed him that the plane had been hijacked, that the hijackers were armed with knives and box cutters, and that the pilots were likely incapacitated.

Crash into the Pentagon

At 9:37 AM EDT, after flying in a wide circle to descend and align with its target, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the western facade of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The aircraft was traveling at an estimated speed of 530 miles per hour (850 km/h) when it struck the first floor of the building.

The impact and subsequent explosion caused a massive fireball and led to the partial collapse of the Pentagon's western wing. The section of the building that was hit had recently undergone renovations to improve blast resistance, which structural engineers later credited with saving numerous lives and preventing a more catastrophic collapse. Nevertheless, the crash resulted in the deaths of all 64 people on board the aircraft, including the five hijackers. Additionally, 125 military personnel and civilian employees inside the Pentagon were killed. In total, 189 people lost their lives in the attack.

Aftermath and Investigation

Immediately following the crash, rescue and recovery operations commenced at the Pentagon. The intense fires burned for several days, complicating the efforts of first responders. The recovery of victims' remains was a painstaking process that took weeks, with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System utilizing DNA analysis to identify the deceased.

The investigation into the September 11 attacks, spearheaded by the FBI and later the 9/11 Commission, revealed extensive intelligence failures and coordination among the hijackers. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from Flight 77 were recovered from the rubble on September 14 and September 15, respectively. While the flight data recorder provided crucial information about the aircraft's final maneuvers, the cockpit voice recorder was severely damaged, and no audio could be retrieved.

The 9/11 Commission Report detailed the timeline of the hijacking and highlighted the confusion within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Fighter jets were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, but they were initially directed out to sea due to miscommunications and were too far away to intercept Flight 77 before it struck the Pentagon.

Legacy and Memorials

The destruction of American Airlines Flight 77 and the attack on the Pentagon had a profound impact on national security and aviation protocols. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States government implemented sweeping changes to airport security, leading to the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the reinforcement of cockpit doors on commercial airliners.

To honor the victims of the attack, the Pentagon Memorial was constructed just southwest of the building, near the crash site. Dedicated on September 11, 2008, the memorial features 184 illuminated benches, each inscribed with the name of a victim. The benches are arranged according to the victims' ages, from the youngest, three-year-old Dana Falkenberg, to the oldest, 71-year-old John D. Yamnicky.

American Airlines retired the flight number 77 for the Washington-to-Los Angeles route shortly after the attacks. The events of September 11, 2001, remain a defining moment in modern history, with the loss of Flight 77 serving as a somber reminder of the vulnerabilities exposed on that day and the resilience of the nation in the years that followed.