Editing Marwan al-Shehhi (section)

==September 11 attacks and death==
{{main|United Airlines Flight 175}}

On September 9, Al-Shehhi flew from [[Florida]] to Boston and stayed in the Milner Hotel where he shared a room with 3 other hijackers [[Satam al-Suqami]], [[Fayez Banihammad]], and [[Mohand al-Shehri]], and it is also known that on September 10 Al-Shehhi had received a phone call from [[Abdulaziz al-Omari]] in which the call lasted 4 minutes and it remains unknown to authorities as to what the 2 men discussed.

At 5:01 a.m. on the morning of 11 September Al-Shehhi in [[Boston]] received a phone call from [[United Airlines Flight 93|Flight 93]] hijacker pilot [[Ziad Jarrah]] in [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]]. The call would be the last time Jarrah and Al-Shehhi spoke and is believed by authorities to be the two confirming to one another that the attacks were ready to begin.<ref>{{cite book |last=McMillan |first=Tom |date=2014 |title=Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXiFBAAAQBAJ&dq=Ziad+Jarrah+Marwan+Al+Shehhi+5:01+am+cell+phone+call&pg=PA64 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-1442232853 |access-date=January 18, 2023 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911040828/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Flight_93/MXiFBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ziad+Jarrah+Marwan+Al+Shehhi+5%3A01+am+cell+phone+call&pg=PA64&printsec=frontcover%3Dfalse |url-status=live }}{{rp|64}}</ref>

After arriving at [[Logan International Airport]] later that morning, al-Shehhi made a call to [[Mohamed Atta]] lasting from 6:52 to 6:55, who was elsewhere in the same airport as both American 11 and United 175 were to fly from Logan to [[Los Angeles International Airport]]. The call is believed to have served the same purpose as Al-Shehhi's earlier call to Jarrah.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|last=9/11 Final Report of the National Commission|title="We have some planes"|year=2004|url=https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|19}}

Between 7:23 and 7:28, the five hijackers each boarded the plane, with Al-Shehhi taking his seat in 6C.<ref name="auto"/>{{rp|21}} The plane became airborne at 8:14, only to be hijacked 28 minutes after takeoff. The terrorists gained access to the cockpit through unknown means<ref name="auto"/>{{rp|23}} and murdered both pilots, allowing Al-Shehhi to assume control of the flight.<ref name="auto"/>{{rp|25}} Shortly after the hijacking, the plane came close to [[mid-air collision|colliding]] with another aircraft in the vicinity, Delta Airlines Flight 2315.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20020912/NEWS/309129968|title=Report: hijacked plane nearly hit flight from Bradley|date=September 12, 2002|access-date=April 18, 2019|work=SouthCoastToday.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418010256/https://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20020912/NEWS/309129968|archive-date=April 18, 2019}}</ref> Approaching New York City, Al-Shehhi saw smoke and fire pouring southeast from the World Trade Center's North Tower after it was struck by Flight 11 at 8:46&nbsp;a.m.,<ref>{{cite book |last=McMillan |first=Tom |date=2014 |title=Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXiFBAAAQBAJ&q=The+sight+must+have+thrilled+him.+Atta+had+struck%3B+we+can+only+guess+that+it+was+a+final+motivation+for+him+to+do+the+same&pg=PA73 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=73 |isbn=978-1442232853 |access-date=January 18, 2023|archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911145616/https://books.google.com/books?id=MXiFBAAAQBAJ&q=The+sight+must+have+thrilled+him.+Atta+had+struck%3B+we+can+only+guess+that+it+was+a+final+motivation+for+him+to+do+the+same&pg=PA73 |url-status=live }}</ref> and narrowly avoided a second mid-air collision with Midwest Express Flight 7.<ref>{{cite book |title=Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 |first=Lynn |last=Spencer |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008 |isbn=978-1416559252 |pages=74–76 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/touchinghistoryu00spen/page/74 }}</ref>
[[File:WTC 2 plane crash (Myers clip6).webm|thumb|At 9:03 AM, Marwan al-Shehhi crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower, causing a massive explosion and catastrophic damage to the skyscraper.]]
Flying at speeds of around {{cvt|590|mph|kn m/s km/h}}{{efn|Sources disagree on the exact speed of impact. NTSB study in 2002 concluded around {{cvt|515|mph|kn m/s km/h}},{{sfn|NTSB|2002b}} whereas MIT study concluded {{cvt|503|mph|kn m/s km/h}}.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kausel |first1=Eduardo |title=Speed of Aircraft |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |url=http://web.mit.edu/civenv/wtc/PDFfiles/Chapter%20III%20Aircraft%20speed.pdf |access-date=15 August 2021 |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511123620/http://web.mit.edu/civenv/wtc/PDFfiles/Chapter%20III%20Aircraft%20speed.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>}} while carrying approximately 9,100 gallons<ref name="auto1">{{cite book|last=National Institute of Standards and Technology|title=Final Reports from the NIST World Trade Center Disaster Investigation|year=2005|url=https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/NCSTAR/ncstar1-5av1.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|88}} (approximately 34,447 liters) of jet fuel, Al-Shehhi crashed the plane into the South Tower at 9:03:02&nbsp;a.m.{{efn|name=Time|The exact time is disputed. The 9/11 Commission report says 9:03:11,<ref>{{cite report |title=Final Report of the 9/11 Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |date=July 22, 2004 |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=March 16, 2023 |url=https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf |ref={{harvid|9/11 Commission|2004a}} |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816164111/https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf |url-status=live |pages=7–8}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |title=Staff Report of the 9/11 Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States |date=September 2005 |orig-date=August 26, 2004 |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=March 16, 2023 |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/9-11/staff-report-sept2005.pdf |ref={{harvid|9/11 Commission|2004b}}|archive-date=July 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712075041/http://www.archives.gov/research/9-11/staff-report-sept2005.pdf |url-status=live |page=24}}</ref> NIST reports 9:02:59,<ref>{{cite report |title=Visual Evidence, Damage Estimates, and Timeline Analysis |author=Building and Fire Research Laboratory |work=National Institute of Standards and Technology |publisher=United States Department of Commerce |date=September 2005 |url=https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/NCSTAR/ncstar1-5av1.pdf |ref={{harvid|NISTb|2005}} |access-date=March 16, 2023|archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911011051/https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/NCSTAR/ncstar1-5av1.pdf |url-status=live |page=27}}</ref> some other sources report 9:03:02.<ref>{{cite news |title=Timeline for United Airlines Flight 175 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1962517 |newspaper=NPR |date = June 17, 2004|language=en |access-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824221736/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1962517 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<ref>Rinaldi, Thomas (2016), https://books.google.com/books?id=y_wlCwAAQBAJ&dq=south+tower+9:03:02+am&pg=PT80 Retrieved September 6, 2016</ref> between floors 77 and 85, instantly killing himself and everyone else aboard the flight in addition to many more inside the South Tower. More than 600 people were above the impact zone when the plane struck, half of whom were killed instantaneously. Thus, the estimated 300 people still alive following the impact were left stranded in the upper floors of the catastrophically damaged skyscraper, now set ablaze and rapidly filling with smoke.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 26, 2002|title=102 MINUTES: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/nyregion/102-minutes-last-words-at-the-trade-center-fighting-to-live-as-the-towers-die.html|access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref> Because all eyes were on the Twin Towers following the crash of Flight 11 seventeen minutes earlier, the impact of Flight 175 and the explosion that followed was seen by millions of people worldwide on live television, being filmed and photographed from numerous vantage points.<ref>{{cite news|author=Boxer|first=Sarah|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEED71F3EF932A2575AC0A9649C8B63|title=One Camera, Then Thousands, Indelibly Etching a Day of Loss|date=September 11, 2002|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 17, 2008|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=September 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911145703/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/us/eyewitnesses-one-camera-then-thousands-indelibly-etching-a-day-of-loss.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Although the angle at which Al-Shehhi crashed did not sever all means of escape from the impact zone, most of the people who survived the crash were unable to use the single intact stairwell before the tower fell less than an hour later.<ref>{{cite news|date=September 10, 2003|title=TWO YEARS LATER: THE 91ST FLOOR; The Line Between Life and Death, Still Indelible|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/us/two-years-later-the-91st-floor-the-line-between-life-and-death-still-indelible.html |access-date=December 5, 2022}}</ref>

Al-Shehhi flew the plane faster and lower into the tower than Atta did, into the eastern half of the South Tower's southern facade close to the southeast corner, causing the tower's structural integrity to be compromised far more severely than the North Tower's.<ref>{{cite news|date=February 23, 2002|title=A NATION CHALLENGED: THE TRADE CENTER CRASHES; First Tower to Fall Was Hit At Higher Speed, Study Finds|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/23/us/nation-challenged-trade-center-crashes-first-tower-fall-was-hit-higher-speed.html|access-date=January 18, 2023}}</ref> At 9:59 A.M. that morning,<ref name="auto1"/>{{rp|80}}<ref>{{cite book|last=9/11 Final Report of the National Commission|title=Collapse of WTC2|year=2004|url=https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|322}} the South Tower became the first tower to collapse, having stood for 56 minutes{{efn|NIST and the 9/11 Commission both give the time as 9:58:59 a.m., which is subsequently rounded to 9:59 for simplicity. If the Commission's claim that the South Tower was struck at 9:03:11 is to be believed, then it collapsed after 55 minutes and 48 seconds, not 56 minutes.}} after the plane crash.