Where were you surveying 25 years ago 9/11?

I was a Project Surveyor for a firm in Tucson. I arrived at work that morning, got in a little bit of work before another office surveyor came in and turned on a TV we had in the office because he'd heard something about what happened (a phone call from his wife, if I remember correctly). We were glued to the TV for awhile, before the manager called it for the day and sent us home. It was a very somber, sad day.

The first plane hit just about the time I got to the office, the reports came in and we watched the news. I had known about the plane hitting the Empire State Building years before and thought it would be a similar result. Then soon after the second plane hit and we all understood it was an attack. The Buildings did not fare as well as the Empire State Building did, it was a very sad time for all those people, responders, families. 

My connection was through a woman who worked in the one of the buildings for a long time and still worked with a company headquartered there when the attack happened. She was not in the building but she lost many friends and colleagues. Although I did not know her then, her daughter eventually married my son and we became close friends. 

We all became New Yorkers that day. 

I was doing topo at Quincy Marsh near Boston. There were two areas, a tidal area which we did on foot, and a marsh grass area that was too thick to walk through. On September 10 we decided to head back to Pittsburgh and buy an ATV to complete the survey. So I flew home from Boston on September 10. The plane that flew into the north tower left Boston at 7:59 AM on the 11th. 

@john-hamilton 

Wow, thank god you left a day earlier, to close for comfort. Many similar stories like that of people that were suppose to be at work in the WTC and for one reason or another didn't go in that day. 

On a side note the main air corridor out of Boston heading west passes over my house near the Hudson river. One or both of the planes from Boston used the Hudson River as a landmark to make a left turn and follow it down to NYC. If I was home and looking at the sky I would have seen them turn South.

The impact of those aircraft was felt worldwide.

The attacks were early in the morning here - we awoke to it all across the media.

Personally I had just signed a new contract, resigned my job and was in the throes of moving the family to another city.

The economic downturn that followed here awarded me yet another Dont Come Monday medal.

When the Oklahoma City federal building attack happened I was in El Salvador on a GPS project. The company I was working with had an ex special forces guy in charge there, they were doing land mine removal work  We were watching CNN, and right away he said "Fertilizer bomb"

i was working in the office in Bellevue, WA. Remember it like it was yesterday.  The internet related access was still new to most so they were all huddle in my office watching the updates.

One of those events that is forever etched in my memory. Brother called in the morning while getting ready for work and told me to turn on the television. At first I thought it was an accident, then the second plane hit.

I was party chiefing for a local surveyor and I opted to go out and carry on with the days work in an area called Big Lake. Normally small plane noise is a constant back drop there, but it was eerily quiet, except for the occasional pass of an F-15 flying a low pattern over the area. 

I remember listening to the radio coverage and thinking to myself, what's next.

We were headed to do an ALTA survey of an industrial plant in Fort Scott, KS just a few miles from Missouri.  We stopped at a little grocery store to get our provisions for the day.  The owner of the grocery was the only other person in the building.  He had a small television setting atop a meat chiller that gave him some distraction when there were no or few customers.  He looked over his shoulder to see us come through the door, pointed to the TV and said a plane had flown into one of the towers.  He had seen it happen.  We grouped around and asked each other silly questions and then....................the second plane hit the second tower.  We somberly went to the job site and watched the skies all day.  As we went to leave for the day, a very long line of cars out to top off their fuel tanks came into view at the one convenience store we needed to pass.

In a strange twist of fate, today I found myself surveying on the exact same piece of property I was surveying on this day exactly 25 years ago. When it hit me, it was rather surreal. At that time there was no development there, I had much darker hair and today a fancy brewery/ restaurant sits there, with their little outdoor music stage built into a section line easement they're not permitted for. Like who the heck cares against the back drop of what happened today 25 years ago. 

Somebody in the office told me the news and I went over to where somebody had it on their computer. Watched a replay and some talk for a little while and then decided I still needed to get work done.

Even the next day I saw long gas lines on my way to mix the audio for my first time at the arts venue, and was glad I had filled up earlier in the week. The show was not well attended.

This thread has nearly 2700 views in two work days.  That is insane. Especially compared to the number of posts.

On September 10th I had just finished up photo control job for a transmission corridor.  That evening, since my contact had gone home, I talked my way into a Trojan nuclear power plant to set a couple of panels.  Since it had been a long day I was still lounging around in bed when the news came across the radio that a plane had it the twin towers.  We spent the morning glued to the TV and I went back out to site later on that evening.  People were really freaked out.

After a long-delayed photo flight, I went out to get my second tie and remove panels when I was accosted by a fellow about my placement of painted target on the county road in front of his 40-year-old single wide.  He had called the local sherif worried that it could some kind marker for a future attack.  As for the power plant, I don't think I would have been able to BS my way in after the 11th.

We had stopped at local garage for an inspection on the work truck on the way to the site. An older retired surveyor who worked with us occasionally called us to say a plane had flew into the WTS. We continued onto the site. It was a boundary  survey for an older Lady who was wanting to subdivide her property for the kids. She  told us to come in the house to watch it on the tv. We sat in her kitchen and watched. She has pasted away now and I think about that day every time I past by here house and know exactly where I was.

I was in the field that morning driving a crew truck to check on a site, listening to Howard Stern when he was still on air out of NYC.  He said something like "this just in, a plane hit the WTC, we're sending a reporter" and he went back to his comedy.  I didn't think much about it until my wife called me a few minutes later and told what was happening just as the second plane hit.

I had a one year old daughter and my wife at home so I turned the truck around, took it back to the office and told by boss that I was going home to be with my family.  He argued with me about it and I left anyway.  On my way home I stopped and bought an American Flag after realizing we had been attacked and hung it out front of my house.  I flew the flag for a week, with it lit at night before taking it down, folding it into a triangle and vacuum packing it after hanging a replacement.  I still keep and honor that flag.

I'll never forget how the world seemed to stop turning that clear and crisp perfect fall morning in a split second.

I was having my morning coffee and saw that a plane had hit the first tower. Then watched in amazement the second plane hit.

"this was no accident" I told my self.

That day the office phone stop ringing, we were just getting started. Within 6 months we had to close up shop.

R.I.P. Wolf Surveying, Inc.

We were a three-man crew that day.  One had served on the frontlines during Viet Nam.  When we saw the second plane hit, his first words were, "Boots on the ground---again."  He immediately knew the attack would send soldiers somewhere in retaliation.  He commented several times through the day about the absence of planes in the air.

Another surveyor/engineer I know was flying to a project site when he was told to put his plane down at a specific little airport.  That really messed up his plans for the next few days.  Had to wait there to have an employee drive about 200 miles to pick him up so they could continue on to the project site.  They stayed there longer than intended so the employee could drive him back to his plane once he was cleared to fly again.

I had just gotten to work in the survey dept of the City of Lakewood in CO. Didn't know about it, just a normal coffee-filled morning when a crew chief came in and told us that the world trade center had been hit. I thought he was joking. We found a TV and watched the second plane hit. My thought/comment was  "they never had a chance". Just stunned. A few years later, I was surveying in Iraq in support of the Army in the war that event started.