the morning began like any other blue skies stretched over New York City the usual hum of traffic and the hustle of the city's Workforce moving swiftly in and out of towering skyscrapers life ticked on predictable orderly but in the blink of an eye that routine would be shattered aboard a commercial flight high in the skies the passengers were completely unaware of what was about to happen among them one traveler glanced out of the window at the city below do you think we're on time he asked his seatmate a woman flipping through a magazine she gave him a quick nod but didn't bother looking up minutes later everything would change at 8:46 a.m. the first plane slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center an explosion tearing through the pa the building and sending debris raining onto the streets below