9:45 a.m.-9:55 a.m. September 11, 2001: American Airlines Briefly Loses Contact with Third Plane, Thinks It Is Hijacked

American Airlines employees are panicked when they lose contact with a third of their aircraft, and mistakenly think this flight has been hijacked. At 9:45 a.m., the airline loses radio contact with the plane, which is flying from Boston to Seattle. Personnel at the American Airlines System Operations Control (SOC) center in Fort Worth, Texas, are convinced it is a third hijacking, following American Airlines Flights 11 and 77. But, according to the Wall Street Journal, the loss of communication is due to a “radio glitch,” and everyone calms down when contact with the aircraft is restored after 10 minutes. [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/2001]