Pentagon attacked (11 Sep 2001)

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, killing its 64 passengers and crew members and 125 people working at the Pentagon. The remains of all but five of the victims were identified through DNA analysis.

American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 aircraft, departed Dulles Airport, in the Washington suburbs, at 8:20 a.m. on September 11, 2001. Five al-Qaida hijackers seized control of the aircraft at some time between 8:51 and 8:54, turning it south, off its assigned flight course, at 8:54.

At 9:12, passenger Renee May called her mother to report that the plane had been hijacked. Shortly afterwards, passenger Barbara Olson called her husband, U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, with the same news. At 9:29, the plane was flying at 2,130 meters (7,000 feet) altitude, approximately 61 kilometers (38 miles) from the Pentagon. At 9:34, 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Pentagon, it began a 330-degree descending turn toward the building. At 9:38, it crashed into the Pentagon at approximately 853 kilometers (530 miles) per hour.