Remembering September 11 (as we do in the United States), I've been mesmerized by this 23 second video showing the halt of air traffic in the USA on that day in 2001.
This animation was created by NASA using FAA air traffic control data from September 11, 2001. It shows the rapid grounding of air traffic across the US, and redirection of incoming international traffic, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Time is at lower left, number of planes in the air lower right. At 9:06am, FAA issued a ground stop to all traffic not yet departed that would encounter NY airspace ["tier one"- NY, DC, Boston, Cleveland] . A series of rapid decisions followed, including redirecting inbound traffic away from NY and warning airplanes in the air of potential cockpit intrusion. At 9:45am, FAA Command Center decided to close all US airspace for the first time in history. Within a few hours, all commercial air traffic was grounded. This animation is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum's "America by Air" exhibition.
It was the day our skies were silent for the first time in many decades.
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Wow, I thought I had seen almost every type of report from 9/11. This is the first time that I\'ve seen this. I had just left my house for a flight from Denver International Airport. The 1st plane hit as I was leaving my house. The 2nd plane hit when I was 15 minutes from the airport. It was then that I looked in the sky and saw dozens if not a hundred planes circling the Denver airport. Now I see it happen on the recording on the post and it brings back those memories. Thanks for posting this.