They arrived at work as airline employees do every day.

They checked in, collected paperwork, attended briefings and prepared their aircraft. Some had spent decades in aviation; others were still relatively early in their careers. Between them were military veterans, parents, newlyweds, volunteers and colleagues who had built lives far beyond the uniforms they wore.

Eight pilots and 25 flight attendants were working aboard the four aircraft hijacked during the terrorist attacks of the 11th September 2001.

None returned home.

Much has been written about the events of that morning, the security failures which preceded them and the ways in which aviation changed afterwards. Less attention is sometimes given to the 33 airline professionals who began that day expecting to fly passengers across the United States.

This is their story – told without speculation and with a focus on the people behind the four flight numbers.

American Airlines Flight 11 was scheduled to fly from Boston Logan International Airport to Los Angeles aboard a Boeing 767.

The aircraft carried 11 crew members: Captain John Ogonowski, First Officer Thomas McGuinness and nine flight attendants.

John Ogonowski was an experienced American Airlines captain and a veteran of the United States Air Force.

Away from aviation, he was a farmer in Dracut, Massachusetts. He allowed Cambodian immigrants to use part of his land through a sustainable farming programme, helping families establish agricultural livelihoods after resettling in the United States.

Thomas McGuinness was a former US Navy fighter pilot who later joined American Airlines. He was a husband and father of two.

On the morning of the attacks, Ogonowski and McGuinness were responsible for operating the Boeing 767 across the country to Los Angeles, a familiar transcontinental journey which should have been little different from the thousands of flights completed safely that day.

The cabin crew represented an enormous range of experience and backgrounds.

Betty Ong had worked for American Airlines for approximately 14 years. Born in San Francisco to Chinese-American parents, she was remembered for her calm nature, professionalism and care for others.

After the hijacking began, Ong contacted American Airlines on an airphone. She calmly provided information about conditions aboard the aircraft, including injuries among the crew and the apparent location of the hijackers.

Her call became one of the first direct alerts received from aboard any of the four aircraft.

Madeline Amy Sweeney also contacted colleagues on the ground. She had taken the flight as an additional assignment after another crew member became unavailable.

Sweeney reached American Airlines flight service manager Michael Woodward at Boston Logan and relayed information from the cabin. The official 9/11 Commission Report records that the call lasted approximately 12 minutes.

The information provided by Ong and Sweeney helped those on the ground begin to understand that this was not a conventional hijacking.

Their composure has since become an important part of their professional legacy, but they should not be remembered only for those telephone calls. They were colleagues, friends and members of families whose lives were permanently changed that morning.

The other seven flight attendants, Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Jean Roger, Sara Low and Dianne Snyder, were positioned throughout the aircraft.

The surviving evidence does not provide a complete account of everything that happened inside the cabin. It would therefore be inappropriate to invent actions, conversations or final moments for them.

What can be said with certainty is that all nine cabin crew members went to work that morning with responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of the passengers aboard Flight 11.

At 08:46, the aircraft struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Everyone aboard was killed.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has separately documented Amy Sweeney’s life and work, including the family life which existed beyond her American Airlines uniform.

United Airlines Flight 175 was also travelling from Boston to Los Angeles. It was operated by another Boeing 767.

It aircraft carried nine crew members, Captain Victor J. Saracini, First Officer Michael R. Horrocks and seven flight attendants.

Victor Saracini was an experienced United Airlines captain and a former US Navy pilot. He lived in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters.

Michael Horrocks was a former United States Marine Corps pilot who had also played college football. He later moved into commercial aviation and joined United Airlines.

Shortly before the aircraft was hijacked, the pilots assisted air traffic control by reporting a suspicious transmission they had heard from another aircraft. The transmission is now understood to have come from the cockpit of Flight 11.

They could not have known that their own aircraft would be taken over shortly afterwards.

Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn LaBorie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou and Alicia Titus were working across the aircraft’s First Class, Business Class and Economy cabins.

The Commission’s records establish their assigned working areas, but the available evidence leaves considerable gaps about events in the cabin.

At least one flight attendant contacted United Airlines on the ground and reported that the aircraft had been hijacked. The publicly available evidence does not establish with certainty which crew member made that call, and it would be wrong to attribute it without firm confirmation.

Each of the seven had a life and identity far beyond Flight 175.

Alfred Marchand had previously served as a police officer before becoming a flight attendant. Alicia Titus had worked in several countries and was remembered by her family for her international outlook. Amy King and Michael Tarrou were engaged to be married.

They were aviation professionals aboard what should have been another ordinary morning service to California.

At 09:03, Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. All those aboard were killed.

Unlike Flight 11, its final approach was witnessed live by millions of people watching television coverage from New York. Those images became some of the most recognisable and distressing footage of the attacks.

Behind those images were individuals. The nine crew members were not anonymous figures aboard an aircraft: they were pilots and flight attendants with careers, families, colleagues and futures.

American Airlines Flight 77 departed Washington Dulles International Airport for Los Angeles and was operated by the Boeing 757.

It carried six crew members, Captain Charles F. Burlingame III, First Officer David M. Charlebois and four flight attendants.

Charles Burlingame, known as Chic, was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former US Navy fighter pilot. He had worked for American Airlines for more than 20 years.

David Charlebois had also served in the US Navy before beginning his commercial flying career. He was an active member of the Washington aviation community and lived with his husband, Tom Hay.

Their presence among those lost has particular resonance within aviation’s LGBTQ+ community. Charlebois is remembered through charitable and scholarship work established in his name, ensuring that his contribution to aviation continues beyond the events of 2001.

Michele Heidenberger was the senior flight attendant aboard Flight 77 and had worked for American Airlines for approximately 30 years.

Earlier in 2001, American Airlines had recognised her with a Professional Flight Attendant Award. The Pentagon Memorial records both her long airline career and the extensive time she gave to organisations supporting children, schools and the American Red Cross.

Jennifer and Kenneth Lewis were married and working the flight together. They had met through American Airlines and shared both their professional and personal lives.

Renee May had worked for the airline for several years and was expecting her first child. During the hijacking, she called her parents and told them that the aircraft had been taken over. They passed the information to American Airlines.

As with the other flights, surviving records cannot tell us everything that each crew member experienced or did. Their final minutes should not become a space for speculation.

At 09:37, Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. The six crew members and 53 passengers were killed, along with 125 people inside the building.

The Pentagon Memorial now contains 184 individual memorial units, each dedicated to someone who died aboard the aircraft or inside the Pentagon. The benches commemorating those from Flight 77 are positioned so that visitors face towards the sky when reading their names.

United Airlines Flight 93 was scheduled to fly from Newark International Airport to San Francisco aboard a Boeing 757.

Its departure was delayed by congestion, meaning the aircraft remained in the air as information about the attacks began reaching passengers and crew through telephone calls.

There were seven crew members were aboard, Captain Jason M. Dahl, First Officer LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr. and five flight attendants.

Jason Dahl had flown for United Airlines for more than 15 years and had become a Boeing 757 and 767 captain. He was married to fellow United pilot Sandy Dahl.

LeRoy Homer had developed an interest in aviation as a child. He entered the United States Air Force Academy and served as a military pilot before joining United Airlines. He was 36 and had a young daughter.

Shortly before Flight 93 was hijacked, the crew received warnings about cockpit intrusions aboard other aircraft. The transmission came too late to prevent the takeover.

The five flight attendants had very different levels of experience.

Lorraine Bay had spent 37 years flying for United Airlines. Deborah Welsh was the lead flight attendant aboard Flight 93. Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green and CeeCee Lyles were working elsewhere in the cabin.

Some members of the crew were able to contact people on the ground.

Bradshaw called United Airlines and later spoke with her husband. Lyles contacted her own husband and left a message expressing her love for her family. Their calls form part of the established historical record of Flight 93.

Evidence gathered by investigators shows that passengers and surviving crew members decided to challenge the hijackers after learning what had happened in New York.

The precise role played by each person during the attempt to regain control cannot be reconstructed completely. It is important not to assign specific actions where the evidence does not support them.

What is known is that the collective resistance prevented Flight 93 from reaching Washington, where investigators believe the intended target was either the United States Capitol or the White House.

The aircraft came down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03. All seven crew members and 33 passengers were killed.

Today, the Flight 93 National Memorial identifies every passenger and crew member individually. Their names appear on the Wall of Names beneath the flight path of the aircraft.

Aviation often talks about crews collectively.

We refer to “the pilots”, “the cabin crew” or simply “the crew”, particularly when recounting an accident or significant event. It is useful operational language, but it can obscure the individuals behind those titles.

The crews of Flights 11, 175, 77 and 93 were not a single anonymous group.

They were 33 different people, at different stages of their careers and lives. Some had worked in aviation for decades. Some had served in the military or other public services. Some were parents; some were preparing to become parents. Several had volunteered within their communities.

They had reported for four normal assignments connecting the East Coast of the United States with California.

Their professional responsibility was to operate those flights safely and care for the passengers entrusted to them. They were confronted with circumstances for which the aviation industry of 2001 had not adequately prepared them.

The actions which can be documented, including the telephone calls made from the cabins, provided vital information to colleagues and authorities on the ground. But remembrance should not be conditional upon a recorded call or an individually verified act of bravery.

Every one of the 33 deserves to be remembered.

Captain John A. Ogonowski
First Officer Thomas F. McGuinness Jr.
Barbara Jean Arestegui
Jeffrey David Collman
Karen Ann Martin
Kathleen A. Nicosia
Betty Ann Ong
Jean Destrehan Roger
Sara Elizabeth Low
Dianne T. Snyder
Madeline Amy Sweeney

Captain Victor J. Saracini
First Officer Michael R. Horrocks
Robert John Fangman
Amy Nicole Jarret
Amy R. King
Kathryn LaBorie
Alfred Gilles Marchand
Michael Clinton Tarrou
Alicia Nicole Titus

Captain Charles F. Burlingame III
First Officer David M. Charlebois
Michele Marie Heidenberger
Jennifer Lynn Lewis
Kenneth Edward Lewis
Renee A. May

Captain Jason M. Dahl
First Officer LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr.
Lorraine Grace Bay
Sandra Waugh Bradshaw
Wanda Anita Green
CeeCee Ross Lyles
Deborah Jacobs Welsh

Twenty-five years have passed since these 33 aviation professionals reported for work.

For those who joined the industry afterwards, the world in which they operated can seem almost unrecognisable. Security, cockpit procedures and crew training have all been reshaped by what happened that morning.

However, the human foundations of the profession remain familiar.

Airline crews continue to arrive before dawn, introduce themselves during briefings and prepare aircraft for passengers they have never met. They accept responsibility for safety, reassurance and care, often while working far from their own families.

The crews of Flights 11, 175, 77 and 93 were doing precisely that on the morning of the 11th September 2001.

Thirty-three colleagues. Thirty-three aviation professionals. Thirty-three lives never forgotten.