Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 »

Lynn Spencer is a pilot for ExpressJet Airlines as well as a certified flight instructor. She has been a commercial pilot for eleven years, and in that time has held the coveted position of Instructor for the airline. She graduated from Duke University with honors, before following her dream to become a pilot, and she completed her high-altitude training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her three children.

A nonfiction thriller chronicling moment to moment the riveting untold story of the drama that unfolded in the skies over America on 9/11 as the FAA, the military, and thousands of commercial pilots called on all of their rigorous training and their reserves of patriotism and courage to improvise a heroic response to the first attacks on American soil since Pearl Harbor and contend with a whole new kind of war in the skies.

Publishers Weekly

Through meticulous research and a talent for scene-setting, Spencer delivers a minute-by-minute account of the events of September 11, 2001, through the eyes of people in the flight industry and the military. Spencer's detailed account jumps from commercial airports to military bases to executive board rooms around the country as she depicts the events and actions of all those involved in responding to the terrorist attacks. The audio acknowledges the problems with the security system, but also the resourcefulness and determination of the many people who tried to prevent the catastrophe. At first, Joyce Bean doesn't seem the right voice in a book dominated by male voices. In some of the narrative and exhaustive parts of the text, her voice doesn't provide the energy and emphasis that is needed. However, her many masculine vocal projections are distinct and match the emotional projection of each character, making her performance a very strong one. A Free Press hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 14). (July)

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Foreword

Preface

Prelude: Skies Severe Clear 1

1 American 11, Do You Hear Me? 11

2 No Ordinary Hijacking 31

3 Another 45

4 Confusion in the Cockpits 55

5 The Unfathomable 67

6 A Nation Under Attack 79

7 Secure the Cockpit! 91

8 NORAD Responds 111

9 No More Takeoffs! 125

10 The Pentagon Is Hit! 137

11 Every Plane Out of the Skies 163

12 Generate! Generate! Generate! 177

13 Chaos in the Skies 191

14 Weapons-Free 213

15 Shoot-Down Authority 233

16 A Tightening Grip 251

17 The Longest Day 263

Epilogue 281

Afterword 285

Notes 293

Acknowledgments 297

Index 299