Twenty-three years after the deadliest attacks on US soil, and in the wake of commemorations of September 11, 2001, one of the survivors who escaped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center is reflecting on the resilience shown that day and urging a new generation of students to listen.
Best-selling author and keynote speaker Michael Hingson was a computer hardware sales manager who was hired in 1999 to set up an office on the 78th floor of One World Trade Center and manage his team.
“We were supposed to be doing sales training that day,” Hinson said in a video interview with Fox News Digital.
On a crisp, clear September morning, the world was glued to its televisions and radios in horror as four American planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into a Pennsylvania field, the Pentagon and the Twin Towers in New York City.
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Michael Hingson had worked as a sales manager in the North Tower of the World Trade Center since August 2000, when the company opened an office on the 78th floor. (Michael Hingson)
“I was in the office, and my colleague David Frank was with me,” Hingson said. “He was from corporate headquarters. The two of us were going to do a sales seminar.”
At 8:46 a.m., jihadist terrorists aboard American Airlines Flight 11 attacked the North Tower.
According to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the Boeing 767, carrying 92 people, crashed into the 93rd to 99th floors.
Unbeknownst to them, Hingson, along with his colleagues and the terrified survivors in the upper half of the North Tower, had become the first casualties of the terrorist attack on the United States.
“Nobody knew what happened,” Hingson said.
Hingson called his wife, Karen, at 8:47 a.m.
Just seconds after the first tower was hit, the media had still not grasped the scale of the attack and Karen was unable to share any information with her husband.
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On September 11, 2001, Michael Hingson and his guide dog, Rozelle, were in the North Tower when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building. (Michael Hingson)
“Tall buildings are built to withstand strong winds, but the buildings started to lean more and more,” Hingson said.
“It actually moved about 20 feet. David and I said to each other, 'Goodbye,' because we were about to fall from the 78th floor to the street. But then the building stopped bending, bounced back up and was vertical.”
As soon as the building was upright, Mr. Hinson, who is blind, returned to his office and found his guide dog, Roselle, asleep under his desk.
“About that time, the building fell about six feet straight down,” Hingson said, “and the reason for that is that the expansion joints went back to normal. The building did all the functions it was supposed to do.”
As smoke and debris filled the city's skies and panic and chaos erupted inside the building, Hingson remained calm.
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Hingson, a former sales manager, spent a lot of time adjusting to his surroundings, searching for exits, and consulting with the Port of New York City, police and fire departments. In the event of an emergency, Hingson knew where he was so he and his team could easily evacuate the North Tower.
At the time, Roselle was wagging her tail, giving Hingson a clear frame of mind to coordinate the evacuation.
“She showed no sign of fear whatsoever, which told me that whatever happened, it wasn't such an imminent threat that you couldn't attempt an orderly evacuation and there was no need to panic,” Hingson said.
Guide dogs are trained to work as a team with their owners and are certified when they demonstrate obedience and knowledge of commands and cues to help their owners navigate safely.
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Hingson said Rozelle was asleep under Michael Hingson's desk in the North Tower when the plane struck the building. (Michael Hingson)
“Guide dogs don't know where we want to go,” Hingson said. “Their job is to help us get there safely. It's a team effort. We have to work together.”
The decision to flee the 78th floor was made quickly, and the group, including Hingson, began the hellish journey to the first floor.
“Around the 50th floor, David suddenly said, 'Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to get out of here,'” Hingson said. “I just said, 'Don't do it, David. If Roselle and I could get down these stairs, you can too.'”
“I did it very carefully and with a very sharp voice because we needed to bring him back,” Hinson said.
Hingson said a colleague then revealed that he had become unsettled after yelling at David.
To distract from the uncertainty, Hingson said, David chose to walk one floor ahead of him, advising him on the situation ahead and safety precautions for disembarking.
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An American flag flies at a memorial in Boston commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks in Massachusetts. (Reuters)
“By yelling at me, David was actually attracting attention to anyone within hearing distance of him,” Hinson said.
“Anyone who heard him would know that there was someone safe somewhere on the stairs, coming down the stairs, and that would have prevented a lot of people from panicking. We all worked really hard to make sure there wasn't any panic on the stairs. I think that was one of the most miraculous things I saw that day.”
9:03 a.m. The South Tower was attacked United Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked.
At 9:49 a.m., one hour and two minutes after the North Tower was attacked, the South Tower collapsed.
As Hingson and David stepped onto the streets of New York City, they heard the deafening sound of World Trade Center Tower 2 collapsing just feet away.
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“David looked around and said, 'Oh my God, Mike, Tower 2 is gone.' So I asked him what he could see, and he said, 'All I can see is a column of smoke hundreds of feet high,'” Hingson said. “'It's gone.'”
Hingson said David warned her about the approaching dust cloud, so the two took Rozelle and ran through the streets of Lower Manhattan's Financial District, but they lost sight of each other for a while.
At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower was gone.
In the 102 minutes between the plane crash and the building collapsing, Hingson, David, and the others who fled with them escaped.
“Less than three hours later, we went in to just work and mind our own business and in the blink of an eye, it was all gone,” Hingson said.
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People can pay their respects to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at various memorials across the United States. (Liao Pan/China News Agency via Getty Images)
In Arlington, Virginia, a third hijacked plane crashed into a government building at 9:37 a.m., killing 184 people on board American Airlines Flight 77 and those at the Pentagon.
At 10:03 a.m., four al-Qaida members aboard United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to crash into the nation's capital, but 40 passengers and crew heroically recaptured the plane to save lives.
Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
“It really happened and we should remember this and learn lessons about how to prepare for emergencies, how to respond to what might happen,” Hingson said, “and how to work together as a team.”
Families and people of 9/11 victims remember their loved ones at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City on September 11, 2023, marking the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Hingson, author of “Thunder Dog,” “Running with Roselle” and “Living Like a Guide Dog,” said he hoped Roselle would keep him safe during his escape, and that's exactly what happened.
“The dog wasn't trained to deal with that kind of emergency,” Hingson said, “and neither were any of us.”
But Hingson advises that being prepared for emergencies can save lives and keep you calm after they occur.
“We're so afraid of everything in the world,” he said. “Fear is all around us, and we usually fear things that we have no power over, no control over, no influence over, but we still worry about them and we end up being afraid.”
