September 11: FAA Closure of US Airspace

This animation was created by NASA using FAA air traffic control data from September 11, 2001. It shows the rapid grounding of air traffic across the US, and redirection of incoming international traffic, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Time is at lower left, number of planes in the air lower right. At 9:06am, FAA issued a ground stop to all traffic not yet departed that would encounter NY airspace ["tier one"- NY, DC, Boston, Cleveland] . A series of rapid decisions followed, including redirecting inbound traffic away from NY and warning airplanes in the air of potential cockpit intrusion. At 9:45am, FAA Command Center decided to close all US airspace for the first time in history. Within a few hours, all commercial air traffic was grounded. This animation is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum's "America by Air" exhibition.

[RockHardTrucker]

The international planes that were already in US airspace were allowed to land immediately. When the order came down a lot of that traffic had already crossed the border from Europe. The planes that hadn't crossed the border were typically rerouted to New Foundland. Something like 40 planes and 10, 000 people were diverted to small airports in New Foundland. There were a lot of nice stories about the locals welcoming people into their homes.

[Fideli-imperatori]

My friend's dad was a pilot Flying over LA when it happened, he was ordered to land and when he asked why, ground control said that the airspace of the United States was closed and that the country is at state of war

[PhotonBread]

I’ve heard so many people talk about what it was like not hearing a plane for days. People hearing birds chirping for the first time. Crazy stuff man

[mgabrysSF]

It was creepy that day, I was living near a commuter field and the sky always had contrails from that airport and the international field. For days, the skies were just - empty. One of those things you didn't notice until something was missing.

[allonshaftoe]

The person who decided to ground everything had some balls to call it and undoubtedly saved lives.

[magicrat]

On this day I was living in Memphis, Tn. which happens to be the home hub of FedEx. At any time of the day or night it seems like you can hear airplanes approaching and taking off from Memphis International. This was especially true at my apartment complex which was less than a mile from there. When I realized what was happening I drove to an observation point close (semi) to the airport. I've never seen so many planes circling that airport in my whole life. They were parking planes on any bare spot of pavement they could find. After they ran out of space they started diverting planes to the then closed Millington Naval Airstation for additional parking space. That evening at the usual FedEx rush hour it was absolutely dead silent. For the first time I could hear birds and crickets chirping. The eeriest feeling and cold chills ran all thru my body. I hope I never again experience anything like that. 

[justisolated]

It's creepy knowing that somewhere, Flight 11, 175, 77, and 93 dissapeared in this radar

[jackson]

That was just incredible that they could land all those aircraft in that short a period of time.

[JYMAHJAMES]

look at how many planes came in top right at the end. Huge respect to how ATCs handled this so quickly

[pinkwings]

i like how you can see the Canada diversions building up. Thanks for the huge help, Canada!

[karthor]

I was 19 on 9/11. One of the most chilling things I remember about that day was how silent the sky was. I never realized how much noise there actually is up there. We just don't really notice because of how normal it is. We drown it out or don't really pay attention. Combine that with the fact that pretty much everyone went home and stayed inside glued to their TV instead of being out and about, mowing their lawns, playing in the yard, etc. If you walked outside in the afternoon that day it was like being on the surface of the Moon. At least in my neighborhood. It really was chilling, and crazy to think that part of the experience alone will end up being forgotten in the history books. Let alone ever be experienced again by any other generation.

[Human_Spawner_]

Look at how busy the east coast airspace is on any given day. It must be exhausting working as an ATC in cities like NYC or Boston, yet on 9/11 they got all the flights on the ground by 12:15. I applaud their work effort on this day.

[IntrovertExplorer]

I was 12 when 9/11 occured and lived not too far from JFK. When planes passed over, the house would shake at times. After not hearing planes for a while after 9/11; I woke up to an extremely load noise and everything in the house started shaking like it was an earthquake. It was a fighter jet passing over. One of the scariest feeling I've ever experienced. At least once a year I get this recurring dream of the US being attacked where I'm always looking out that living room window and see hundreds of planes. I'm guessing that's where it came from.

[jamessnedeker]

One of the crazy stories about this day involves a guy in Florida who ended up being bitten by a venomous snake on that day. They permitting a single flight from San Francisco with a fighter jet escort to bring antivenim to the man.

[cyndischoenbrun]

I live in the NJ/NY area and I remember hearing military jets flying that day. When I heard a commercial jet several days (a week?) later, I was frightened.

[Arkiasis]

Damn in 30 minutes they were able to land 50% of the planes. Nice job ATC.

[mrAZcardinal]

You can see all the planes above Nova Scotia coming in from Europe still in the air when the rest have grounded. They almost look so confused- lost on what to do now that they can't even enter the USA.

[Charlesslides]

I was at the top of the Sierras, solo rock climbing with a buddy and no ropes. The stillness combined with the lack of contrails was incredible.

[mizalcor]

At 9:42, five minutes after the Pentagon was hit, Ben Sliney said "That's it! I'm landing everyone!" - "Regardless of destination, Let's get them on the ground!" Every one of the thousands of planes in the sky were preparing to land. All but one, flight 93. I think you can just barley see it disappear over southwestern PA between 0:12 and 0:13.

They were the only set of passengers that fought back because they were the only ones fully aware that these were not "normal" hijackings ("normal" being the terrorists making demands, landing the plane at an airport, and releasing the hostages when they're met, or when the hostages are rescued) They knew their plane was about to be turned into a fuel-laden guided missile, and stopped It from making it to its target. (The Capitol or White House, likely the Capitol)

[bracita]

I was living in Los Angeles on September of 2001. My sister, who lived in the apartment below mine, had just flown to Puerto Rico to be at our dad’s side as he lay in a hospital bed close to death. I don’t remember when she left. What I do remember is that on September 11th, I was home in bed. Somehow, I aggravated my low back pain and had to miss work. I woke up some time after 10:00 a.m. I noticed that I had a new message on my answering machine. It was my sister calling from Puerto Rico. “Mija, don’t be scared but terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and they knocked both buildings down.” The message might’ve said something about the 2 other flights. I don’t remember. What I do remember is that when I heard about the World Trade Center, I said the following words out loud; “What’s she talking about?! They couldn’t have fallen. Those buildings are HUGE!”
I remember walking to the living room very slowly because of my back pain after listening to the message, turning on the tv, and laying down in the twin bed in the living room to watch the replay of both towers going down over and over. I realized then that since air space was closed, my sister was stuck in Puerto Rico for who knows how long. Air travel resumed on September 13th. My sister opted to stay with dad. He died on Friday, September 14th. We’d just lost mom that April. That was a not a good year to put it mildly.
Now cut to a couple of weeks later. Air travel is back. Our apartment building was very close to downtown L.A. in fact, I could see the tallest building from my patio. It used to be called The Library Tower. It’s the one that the aliens blew up in the movie Independence Day. One day I was driving to my place down the streets. I noticed an airplane flying kinda low and making a turn over downtown. From my angle, I thought it was another hijacked plane aiming for that building. Man that freaked me out. Later on I mentioned that to my sister and she told me that she’d seen it and thought the same thing. That particular flight only did that once a week. It scared me every. Single. Time.