American Airlines flight 77

American Airlines Flight 77

AAL77 flight path from Washington Dulles to Arlington County
Hijacking summary
Date	Tuesday, September 11, 2001 (2001-09-11)
Summary	Terrorist suicide hijacking
Site	West wall of Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Passengers	58 (including 5 hijackers)
Crew	6
Fatalities	189, including: 64 (including 5 hijackers) in aircraft, 125 in Pentagon
Injuries (non-fatal)	106 (on ground)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Boeing 757-223
Operator	American Airlines
Registration	N644AA
Flight origin	Washington Dulles International Airport
Destination	Los Angeles International Airport

American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled American Airlines domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. The Boeing 757-223 aircraft serving the flight was hijacked by five men affiliated with al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. They deliberately crashed the plane into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., killing all 64 people on board, including the five hijackers and six crew, as well as 125 people in the building.

Less than 35 minutes into the flight, the hijackers stormed the cockpit. They forced the passengers, crew, and pilots to the rear of the aircraft. Hani Hanjour, one of the hijackers who was trained as a pilot, assumed control of the flight. Unknown to the hijackers, passengers aboard made telephone calls to friends and family and relayed information on the hijacking.

The hijackers crashed the aircraft into the western side of the Pentagon at 09:37 EDT. Dozens of people witnessed the crash, and news sources began reporting on the incident within minutes. The impact severely damaged an area of the Pentagon and caused a large fire. A portion of the building collapsed; firefighters spent days working to fully extinguish the blaze. The damaged sections of the Pentagon were rebuilt in 2002, with occupants moving back into the completed areas that August. The 184 victims of the attack are memorialized in the Pentagon Memorial adjacent to the crash site. The 1.93-acre (7,800 m²) park contains a bench for each of the victims, arranged according to their year of birth and ranging from 1930 to 1998.