“We’re Flying Way Too Low”: Madeline Amy Sweeney’s 9/11 Phone Call
Massachusetts 9/11 FundMadeline Amy Sweeney’s 9/11 phone call played a crucial role in informing people on the ground about the attacks.
Like Betty Ong and CeeCee Lyles, Madeline Amy Sweeney was a flight attendant on September 11, 2001. She, alongside Ong, boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which took off at 7:59 a.m. After about 15 minutes, al-Qaeda terrorists on the plane had commandeered the aircraft.
Shortly after Ong called for help, Sweeney did too. She called American Airlines flight services manager Michael Woodward, a friend and colleague, who was stationed back at Logan International Airport in Boston.
“This plane has been hijacked,” Sweeney told him, according to a Los Angeles Times article, published shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Two flight attendants had been stabbed, Sweeney said. She added that “a hijacker also cut the throat of a business-class passenger, and he appears to be dead.”
Sweeney described the hijackers as four Middle Eastern men (there were actually five hijackers; Sweeney apparently only saw four of them), most of whom had been sitting in business class. As she was talking to Woodward, the hijackers gained total control of the cockpit. Then, the plane made a sharp turn. Before long, the aircraft began to make a rapid descent.
Public DomainMadeline Amy Sweeney’s name at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.
Though Sweeney spent about 20 minutes relaying crucial information, she soon realized that she and everyone else onboard was in grave danger.
“I see water. I see buildings,” Sweeney told Woodward. “I see buildings! We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low. Oh my God, we are flying way too low. Oh my God!”
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower, killing Sweeney and everyone else aboard the plane.
Her final words — and the words documented in other 9/11 voicemails and phone calls — capture the true horror of the 9/11 attacks. Years after the tragedy, the last words of 9/11 victims are a stark reminder of the innocent lives lost that day — and the loved ones they left behind.
After looking through these 9/11 phone calls and voicemails, see how the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland took in 6,500 people after their flights were diverted during 9/11. Or, look through these photos of Windows on the World, the renowned restaurant at the top of the North Tower that was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks.
