'We have some planes': The 20 minutes of 9/11 nobody can explain. Inside NORAD’s delayed response

It was September 11, 2001. The day was Tuesday. Millions of people were in New York, busy with their usual chores, some heading to the Twin Towers, the signature structure of the World Trade Center of the city. As per the 9/11 commission report released by the US government, Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al Omari were among the travellers heading to the flight from Portland to Boston's Logan International Airport. They boarded the flight at 6 am.

The report said, "Between 6:45 am and 7:40 am, Atta and Omari, among with Satam al Suqami, Walil al Shehri and Waleed al Shehri, checked in and boarded American Airlines Flight 11," which was en route to Los Angeles.

The first sign of trouble came at 8:14 am, and America’s air defense system - NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command)- was caught unprepared. The flight stopped responding to the controllers. Initially, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assumed it was a radio problem. But within a few minutes, controllers heard a chilling accidental transmission: “We have some planes.” It was from hijacker Mohamed Atta, the US 9/11 Commission Report said.

Within nine minutes of receiving the message, Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Quickly, the US Air Force acted - but without any target. The FAA hadn’t given NORAD accurate real-time tracking of the hijacked planes.

The 20-minute mystery

The fighters were airborne by 8:53 am, still when the United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03 am, there were no military jets anywhere near New York City. NORAD had 10 minutes to react to the situation, but it had not been directed toward the incoming aircraft. The FAA failed to pass precise radar information, and NORAD’s own systems were not designed to track domestic flights.

Why was the delay?

The US report claimed the FAA controllers were not trained to call the military immediately. They spent the limited time they had confirming the hijack.

At 9:24 am, when both towers were already hit, the FAA notified NORAD about American Airlines Flight 77. By then, it was already hijacked. At 9:37 am, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

The period between 8:46 am (North Tower impact) and 9:03 am (South Tower impact) remains one of the most scrutinised gaps in US air defense history. The commission said, “The defense of U.S. airspace on 9/11 was not conducted in accord with pre-existing training and protocols.”