Phone calls from American Airlines Flight 11 were made by two flight attendants, Betty Ong and Madeline "Amy" Sweeney.
About five minutes after the hijacking began, Betty Ong contacted the American Airlines Southeastern Reservations Office in Cary, North Carolina, via an AT&T airphone to report an emergency aboard the flight.
Betty Ong's call lasted approximately 25 minutes, as she calmly and professionally relayed information about events taking place aboard the airplane to authorities on the ground.
Her first phone call came at 8:19, to American Airlines. It took several minutes for the American Airlines agent and then the supervisor to figure out who was calling (the flight attendant) and to understand that people had been stabbed. In this call, she reported: "The cockpit is not answering, somebody's stabbed in business class-and I think there's Mace-that we can't breathe-I don't know, I think we're getting hijacked." She then told of the stabbings of the two flight attendants. She repeatedly mentioned that the cockpit was not answering.
This phone call was the first of several occasions on 9/11 when flight attendants took action outside the scope of their training, which emphasized that in a hijacking, they were to communicate with the cockpit crew.
Starting at 8:22, Amy Sweeney attempted by airphone to contact the American Airlines flight services office at Logan, which managed the scheduling and operation of flight attendants. Sweeney's first attempt failed, as did a second at 8:24. At 8:25, and again at 8:29, Amy Sweeney got through to the American Flight Services Office in Boston but was cut off after she reported someone was hurt aboard the flight.[1]
Three minutes later, Sweeney was reconnected to the office and began relaying updates to the manager, Michael Woodward. Sweeney calmly reported that the flight had been hijacked, and provided information. She said that two flight attendants had been stabbed #1 flight attendant (Karen Martin) in the first class section, and the #5 flight attendant (Bobby Arustigue) in business class. Martin was seriously hurt and was on oxygen, while the Arustigue's wounds seemed minor. Sweeney also said that one of the hijackers had slashed the throat of a passenger in business class, and she thought that passenger was dead.[2]
Sweeney believed there were three hijackers, all of Middle Eastern descent. She noted that one of the hijackers spoke English very well, though another spoke poor English. She also provided seat numbers of the hijackers. She also described "the atmosphere in the aircraft as calm while the hijacking was carried out" and that the hijackers gained access to the cockpit. After the hijackers entered the cockpit, the plane changed direction and began to descend rapidly. Sweeney also said that the flight attendants were unable to contact the cockpit, and thought that there was a bomb in the cockpit. She did not believe the captain was flying the airplane.[2]
Sweeney told Woodward that she and Ong were trying to relay as much information as they could to people on the ground. At 8:41, Sweeney told Woodward that passengers in coach were under the impression that there was a routine medical emergency in first class. Other flight attendants were busy at duties such as getting medical supplies while Ong and Sweeney were reporting the events. About 8:44, Sweeney reported to Woodward," Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." Woodward asked Sweeney to look out the window to see if she could determine where they were. Sweeney responded: "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." Seconds later she said, "Oh my God we are way too low." Then, the phone call ended.[3]