I was already in the office at a desk working when one of the linemen ran in and shouted to turn on the TV. An airplane had just ran into a skyscraper in New York.
My first thought was that a smaller airplane, maybe a two, or four, seater had been shifted by a gust of wind into the side of a building, never mind what a small plane would have been doing that close to a building in New York.
Then we saw the damage, and the second jet hit the other tower on live TV.
It took a moment for it to sink in. Then we heard what must have been every fire truck, ambulance, and probably a lot of the police sirens in Charlottesville sound off. We were at such a juncture of intersections that we saw the emergency vehicles take off to the Pentagon, all in a caravan moving fast.
I was in Charlottesville for three weeks. The weekend after 9/11 I visited a friend in Deleware. I drove through Washington DC, past the Pentagon on the highway while I was traveling. It was a ghost town, with missile batteries set up.
Got home two weeks late, but got home.
It was a bright sunny autumn morning, my radar went off right away, this was no mistake.
Thanks for the link. It had to be eerie for their not to be traffic in DC. That’s unheard of.