September 11, 2001

I was concerned about being late for work that morning. It was a crystal clear cloudless morning when I left my apartment and headed into work at 888 7th Avenue in Manhattan. My appointment was for 8:30 to meet with my department head in the corner office of one of this building’s uppermost floors.

I arrived approximately 15 minutes late and was approaching his office, laptop computer still slung over my shoulder, jacket still on, when the loud sound of an approaching plane began to fill the air. An employee with an office immediate adjacent to the corner office I was approaching could suddenly be heard yelling out “Oh My God!” as a very large commercial jet passed over our building. This was a very low flying plane, and given its size we all felt the effects of the illusion that it had almost hit our building. In all probability it was not as close as it felt, and the noise this plane made probably added to the effect of a perceived near miss. But it was indeed flying too low for Manhattan.

My manager, and one other employee already attending the meeting in his office, rose to their feet and stood at the very large panoramic windows looking south, watching the plane move towards downtown. I clearly saw American Airlines written on the plane.

“That’s very low” was the remark of the original employee who now had come out of his office and had moved to my side at the window just outside my manager’s office, looking in a southerly direction. We all held our breath as, from the perspective we were looking, the plane appeared to be headed towards the very tall central building of Rockefeller Plaza. It of course passed this building unscathed and continued heading south. It appeared to me to be moving slowly, rocking from side to side, from wing to wing, unsteady. The employee still standing in my managers office remarked, “He’s in trouble.” Another employee added, “He’s headed to JFK.” I remember wondering why a pilot in trouble would fly over the densely populated skyline. And why was he not veering off to the left to make JFK?

The plane continued south plowing straight into the North Tower. It was completely silent except for the gasps of all the employees who were watching. I remember yelling “holy shit!” and just staring at the huge ball of smoke that rose up from the tower. I moved to my desk (which was just steps away) and quickly plugged my laptop in and attempted to dial my wife, despite the fact that I KNEW there was no possible way that she could be at her office. She had been running later than me that morning (since she had to be in by 9:00), and was still in the apartment when I left.

There was a lot of excited shouting in my office as people all talked at once and started recounting to each other what they had just seen to new people who were now streaming out of their offices - to see what all the noise was about. The long hallway with the panoramic window facing south became very crowded. Everyone just stood there dumbfounded staring at the burning tower and its ominous black smoke.

I was busy logging on and attempting to go to MSNBC to see if there was any news – which there was not. Soon the internet and email went down completely. I spent the next 15 minutes walking back and forth to the window and my desk, dumbfounded over what I had just seen and still attempting to call my wife. It seemed like no time at all had passed before an employee pointed to another plane that was making an elliptical slow curved approach towards the towers. No one seemed alarmed. It was just a curiosity that another plane was in the sky. It was a very clear day, and as anyone who has looked out from a skyscraper knows, visibility can stretch almost to the horizon on a clear day. It was therefore no problem making out that this was another wide-bodied commercial jet. This was my initial impression when I saw it, and seemed to be the shared impression of those I spoke to after it struck the tower.

Again a silent explosion followed by gasps and small cries from my fellow employees. Some employees immediately started streaming towards the exits. The realization that commercial jets were intentionally being flown into skyscrapers was now apparently dawning on people – and people were beginning to panic. The word terrorism immediately started to be uttered by people. Someone had a radio going and people were crying standing around the radio attempting to understand what was going on. i had the strange feeling of emotions that well up in your chest and makes your voice quiver ever so slightly. I was continuing to attempt to reach my wife, although now the phones seemed to be hit and miss. Sometimes I would reach her office when I dialed (and get their voicemail), and other times I just received a tone indicating that the phones were down. Heavy traffic – no doubt. My cell-phone was even worse. No dial tone at all.

Eventually, I decided to start heading downtown to my wife’s office, where together we witnessed the panic in the streets and the collapse of the North Tower. But, I’ll leave that story for Part 2.