"Man, that thing is low!"

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BBC

'I saw the people in the cockpit'

Mr Sleigh watched the first tower collapse as he was put on an ambulance A British-born architect has spoken of the moment he saw the people in the cockpit of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, it has been reported.

George Sleigh, originally from Gateshead, was in his 91st floor office in the North Tower as the doomed plane closed in.

The 63-year-old heard the engine noise from the American Airlines Boeing 767 and glimpsed the interior of the cockpit, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle reported.

After the impact floors above his office, Mr Sleigh hid under his desk from the debris raining down and he fled down a fire escape to eventual safety.

He told the Evening Chronicle: "I was at my desk in the morning looking forward to a normal day when I heard this loud noise.

Wheels down

"I looked up out of the window and just a few feet away from the building was this huge jet plane.

"The wheels were down and I could see the people in the cockpit.

"I thought to myself 'Man this guy is low in the air' but I still thought it would clear us.

"But then it smashed into the tower a few floors above me.

"I couldn't believe it, even now it seems insane that anyone would do that, even a crazed terrorist.

"When I close my eyes and picture that airliner coming towards me and the people in the cockpit it is like a dream."

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 15, 2001

Answers

More like a nightmare, I'd say.

-- R2D2 (r2d2@earthend.net), September 15, 2001.

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