- By Shivangi Sharma
- Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:23 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The morning of September 11, 2001, unfolded with confusion, missed signals, and a critical delay in America’s air defence response. At the centre of this mystery is a chilling 20-minute gap between the two attacks on New York City’s Twin Towers, an interval that remains one of the most scrutinised failures in US security history.
Between 6:45 am and 7:40 am, Mohamed Atta, Abdulaziz al Omari, and other accomplices checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles. By 8:14 am, air traffic controllers had lost communication with the plane. At the FAA’s Boston Centre, controller Joseph Cooper became alarmed and contacted Sgt. Jeremy Powell at NORAD’s Northeast Air Defence Sector (NEADS).
What came next still haunts investigators. A Boston FAA controller overheard a voice later identified as Atta’s: “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we’ll be OK”
The 20-Minute Mystery
At 8:46 am, Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. In that brief but devastating window, NORAD had scrambled fighter jets, but none were close enough to intercept the second plane.
Though fighters were airborne by 8:53 am, they were not directed toward New York. FAA controllers, untrained to immediately notify the military, spent precious minutes confirming the hijack instead of relaying exact radar coordinates. NORAD’s own radar systems, designed for threats from abroad, could not effectively track domestic aircraft.
By the time Flight 175 appeared over Manhattan, no military aircraft were within striking distance.
Cascade Of Delays
At 9:24 am, after both towers had already been hit, the FAA notified NORAD about American Airlines Flight 77. Thirteen minutes later, it crashed into the Pentagon. Flight 93, also hijacked, went down in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.
The 9/11 Commission later concluded: “The defence of US airspace on 9/11 was not conducted in accordance with pre-existing training and protocols.”
The period between 8:46 and 9:03 am represents not just a tragic gap but a collapse in coordination between agencies meant to protect the country. Those lost minutes set the tone for the rest of the day’s attacks, exposing vulnerabilities that terrorists had exploited with devastating precision. Two decades later, the words heard over Boston’s radio, “We have some planes”, still echo as a grim reminder of the moment the world changed forever.