Survivor of 9/11 shares unparalleled story of resilience, bravery while fleeing 78 floors of the North Tower
It’s been 23 years since the most deadly attack on American soil and, in the wake of the commemoration of Sept. 11, 2001, one survivor who escaped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center is looking back at the resilience shown that day and encouraging a new generation of learners to listen in.
Michael Hingson, a best-selling author and keynote public speaker, was a computer hardware sales manager recruited in 1999 to open an office and manage a team of people on the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center.
"We were going to be doing some sales training that day," Hingson told Fox News Digital during a video interview.
On a crisp, clear September morning, the entire world fixated on their televisions and radios in horror as four American planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, the Pentagon and the Twin Towers in New York City.
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"I was in my office. A colleague, David Frank, was also with me," Hingson said. "He was from our corporate office. The two of us were going to be doing these sales seminars."
At 8:46 a.m., jihadist terrorists on American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
The Boeing 767 with 92 persons aboard plowed into floors 93 through 99, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Unbeknownst to them, Hingson, with his colleague and terrified survivors at the top half of the North Tower, were the first victims of a terrorist attack on the United States of America.
"None of us knew what happened," Hingson said.
Hingson called his wife, Karen, at 8:47 a.m.
Only seconds after the first tower was struck, the media had yet to understand the magnitude of the attacks, and Karen could not relay any information to her husband.
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"Tall buildings are made to flex in windstorms, and the building just started tipping and tipping," Hingson said.
"We actually moved maybe about 20 feet. David and I actually said ‘Goodbye’ to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78-floor plunge to the street. But then the building stopped flexing, and it came back and became vertical."
As soon as the building stood upright, Hingson, a blind man, returned to his office and met his guide dog, Roselle, who was lying under his desk sleeping.
"About that time, the building dropped straight down about six feet," Hingson said. "The reason it did is because the expansion joints went back to their normal configuration. The building did everything that it was supposed to do."
As the city skies were clouded with smoke and debris, and amid panic and disarray inside the building, Hingson remained calm.
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The former sales manager spent a lot of time adapting to his surroundings, locating exits and consulting with the New York City Port Authority, law enforcement officers and the fire department. In case of an emergency, Hingson learned his whereabouts to easily retreat both himself and his team members out of the North Tower.
Roselle, at the time, was wagging her tail, which provided Hingson with a clear mindset to help coordinate the evacuation.
"She was exhibiting no fear at all, which told me that whatever was occurring wasn’t such an imminent threat that we couldn’t try to evacuate in an orderly way and that we didn’t need to panic," Hingson said.
Guide dogs are taught to work with their handlers as a team, and when they demonstrate obedience and knowledge of commands and cues to assist their owners in safe navigation, they are certified.
"Guide dogs don't know where we want to go," Hingson said. "The job of the dog is to make sure we walk safely. It’s a team effort. We have to work together."
The decision to flee the 78th floor was quick, and a group of people, including Hingson, began the hellish journey to the first floor.
"At about the 50th floor, David suddenly said, ‘Mike, we’re gonna die. We're not gonna make it out of here,'" Hingson said. "I just said ‘Stop it, David. If Roselle and I could go down these stairs, so can you.’"
"I did that very deliberately and in a very sharp voice because I needed to get him back," Hingson said.
Later, Hingson said his colleague revealed that snapping at David regrounded him.
By way of distracting himself from the uncertainty, Hingson said David chose to walk one floor in front of him to advise him on the scene ahead and safety precautions while descending.
"David, by shouting up to me, was actually a focal point for anyone within the sound of his voice who could hear him," Hingson said.
"Anyone who could hear him knew that somewhere on the stairs, there was someone who was okay and going down the stairs. That had to keep a lot of people from panicking. And we worked really hard, all of us, to keep panic from occurring on the stairs. I think it's one of the most miraculous things I saw that day."
At 9:03 a.m., the South Tower was hit by hijacked United Airlines Flight 175.
At 9:49 a.m., one hour and two minutes after the North Tower was struck, the South Tower collapsed.
With their feet planted on the New York City streets, Hingson and David heard the deafening sound of 2 World Trade Center plummeting just feet away from them.
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"David looked around and said, ‘Oh my God, Mike, there’s no Tower 2 anymore.' And I asked him what he saw, and he said ‘All I see are pillars of smoke hundreds of feet tall,'" Hingson said. "'It’s gone.’"
Hingson said David indicated to him that a dust cloud was coming, so with Roselle by their side, they ran through the streets of the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, losing each other for a short while.
At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower was gone.
In the 102 minutes it took from the time the plane crashed to the shattering of the building, Hingson, David and the others they fled with escaped.
"Less than three hours before, we had gone in just to do our jobs and mind our own business and in the blink of an eye, essentially it was all gone," Hingson said.
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In Arlington, Virginia, the lives of 184 people, both on board American Airlines Flight 77 and in the Pentagon, were taken when a third hijacked plane crashed into the government building at 9:37 a.m.
At 10:03 a.m., aboard United Airlines Flight 93, four members of al Qaeda meant to crash into the nation’s capital, but 40 passengers and crew heroically took back the plane in an attempt to save lives.
Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It really did happen, and we should remember it and we should learn lessons about how to prepare for emergencies, how to deal with things that come along," Hingson said. "How to work together as a team."
Hingson, the author of "Thunder Dog," "Running with Roselle" and "Live Like A Guide Dog," said that he expected Roselle to keep him safe amid his escape, which he says she did.
"The dog wasn’t trained to deal with that kind of emergency," Hingson said. "None of us were."
However, Hingson advises that preparedness ahead of an emergency situation can help save lives and maintain calmness in the wake of one.
"We are so afraid of everything in our world," he said. "Fear is all around us. And usually, we’re afraid of things over which we have no power, no control or no influence, but we worry about them, and we become afraid anyway."