American Airlines Flight 77

About

American Airlines Flight 77 was an American domestic passenger flight from Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in California that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked Boeing 757 was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., killing all 64 aboard the flight and another 125 in the building.

Flight 77 became airborne at 08:20 EDT (UTC−04:00). Thirty-one minutes after takeoff, the attackers stormed the cockpit and forced the passengers and crew to the rear of the cabin, threatening the hostages but initially sparing all of them. Lead hijacker Hani Hanjour assumed control of the aircraft after having undergone extensive flight training as part of his preparation for the attack. Because Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control was unaware of the hijackings of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, Flight 77 was initially wrongly treated as a presumed plane crash. Police services were dispatched to southwestern West Virginia, above which Flight 77 had vanished from radar. In the meantime, two people aboard discreetly made phone calls to family members and relayed information on the situation without the knowledge of their assailants.