Ezra Aviles, a Port Authority employee on the 61st floor of the North Tower, saw the plane out his window just before it crashed into floors above him. He worked to alert police and other authorities, making phone calls. He called one colleague, John Paczkowski, and left a message, "It seems to be an American Airlines jetliner came in from the northern direction, toward - from the Empire State Building, towards us." Aviles also called the Port Authority COO, "Smoke is beginning to come, so I think I'm gonna start bailing outta here, man... Don't come near the building if you're outside. Pieces are coming down, man. Bye."[1][2]
Karim Arraki - N. Moore and Greenwich St (ABC News)
David Blackford was walking toward work in a downtown building. He heard a jet engine and glanced up. "I saw this plane screaming overhead," he said. "I thought it was too low. I thought it wasn't going to clear the tower." Within moments, his fears were confirmed. The plane slammed into the north face of 1 World Trade Center. As he watched, he said, "You could see the concussion move up the building."[3]
Lindsay Grimm - World Financial Center (ABC News)
Mark Obenhaus - Franklin and W. Broadway, ABC News senior producer (ABC News)
Robert Pachino described, "It was a large plane flying low. There was no engine trouble. He didn't try to maneuver. This plane was on a mission."[3]
Eduardo Delos Santos - "I saw this American Airlines plane, it was wobbling out of control and it was aiming straight down at the building."[4]
Nicholas Scinicariello worked for the Port Authority on the 86th floor of Tower One. "I saw the plane come in. My office faces north. I just finished my coffee and I heard my friend say, 'Oh no, oh no.' This plane was coming right at us, then it went up and hit the upper floors. I opened the door to my office. The fire alarms were all going off, the fire doors were jammed because the building had been wracked. I finally made it to one of the stairwells. The lights started to flicker on and off. The stairwells were flooded. Firemen were passing us on the way up."[5]
John (spoke with CNN at 10:15 a.m.):
John (a pilot) - This morning we were at Midtown Manhattan, on the 31st story of a building, facing south. We saw a 767 flying low down the center of Manhattan island heading towards downtown Manhattan at about maybe 20 blocks north of the World Trade Center, we saw the plane veer to the left and fly directly into the north side of the south tower [he meant to say the north tower].
CNN - this was the second plane that hit the tower, correct?
John - This was the first plane.
CNN - Got it.
John - It was a 767
William Ross, PAPD - "At approximately 0845, I, Officers Patrick McNerney and Jose Sanchez, were on routine patrol at the corner of 42nd street and 8th Avenue. As I was looking east on 42nd Street, I observed a commercial passenger jet flying over at an extremely low altitutde, and heading south. I lost sight of the aircraft for a few seconds when it flew behind some buildings. I immediately realized than an aircraft of that size would never be given clearance to fly that low over a populated area. My first thought was that the aircraft was in distress. I thought that the pilot was attempting to make an emergency landing in the harbor off lower Manhattan. From the corner of 42nd Street, where we were standing looking east there is an unobstructed view ofthe top of the Empire State Building. We again spotted the aircraft for a few seconds. It was just east of the Empire State Building and, to my best estimatation, no higher than 500' above it. Duringthis time, I looked for signs of distress. I was trying to observe thge plane, as closely as I could for smoke, fire orany type of vapor trail. There was none. The landing gear was up and the doors that house the gear closed. The plane, was, as I stated, traveling south and was moving at a high rate of speed. It was flying level and straight. The pilot did not appear to be fighting to maintain control of the aircraft. Officers McNerney, Sanchez and I began to comment on the plane. I said if the plane was to crash I hoped the aircraft would make it to the harbor and not hit the Trade Center or the city. Several moments passed, we were listening for the sound of a crash and heard nothing. At approximately 0855, Sergeant Peter Schillizzi the Desk Sergeant broadcast a message over the radio for me, the Patrol Sergeant, Tour Commander and all Officers to return immediately to the Police Desk. At this time, I stated to Officer McNerney "That plane hit the Trade Center!"[6]
Jules and Gideon Naudet
Interview with Jules and Gideon Naudet (and James Hanlon) on the Charlie Rose Show:
Debris
Alan Reiss, who worked for the Port Authority and oversaw building operations for both towers, was having coffee in the underground mall, "I was in this restaurant. Everyone's running on the concourse in every different direction. First thought, someone has a gun 'cause no one's running in the same direction. I sprinted out, went up an escalator, directly to our police desk. I went with a detective right away out to the plaza and we opened the door to the plaza and looked up and the tower was on fire," says Reiss. "And there was a nose wheel laying on the plaza in front of us. And that's when we realized it was a plane. The detective and I dragged this nose gear back into the police desk and said, 'We were hit by a plane.' Didn’t know it was a 767 at that time."[7]