Survivor of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 tells his escape story

It has been 23 years since the deadliest attack on American soil. As 9/11 commemorations continue, a survivor who escaped the North Tower of the World Trade Center looks back on the resilience shown that day and encourages a new generation of learners to listen.

Michael Hingson, a best-selling author and public keynote speaker, was a computer hardware sales manager who was recruited in 1999 to open an office and lead a team of employees on the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center.

“We were going to do some sales training that day,” Hingson said during a video interview with Fox News Digital.

On a crisp, clear September morning, the world stared in horror at their televisions and radios 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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Michael Hingson began working as a sales manager in the North Tower of the World Trade Center in August 2000, when his offices opened on the 78th floor. (Michael Hingson)

“I was in my office. A colleague, David Frank, was with me,” Hingson said. “He was from our corporate office. We were both going to hold these sales seminars.”

At 8:46 a.m., jihadist terrorists aboard American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.

According to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Boeing 767 with 92 people on board crashed into floors 93 to 99.

What they did not know, however, was that Hingson, his colleague, and the frightened survivors in the upper 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 hit, the media still did not understand the extent of the attacks and Karen was unable to pass on any information to her husband.

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Michael Hingson and his guide dog Roselle were in the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when the building was hit by American Airlines Flight 11. (Michael Hingson)

“Tall buildings are designed to bend in storms, and the building just kept tipping over,” Hingson said.

“We actually moved about 20 feet. David and I actually said goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to fall 78 stories to the street. But then the building stopped bending, came back and became vertical.”

As soon as the building was upright, Hingson, who was blind, returned to his office and found his guide dog, Roselle, sleeping under his desk.

“At about that point, the building sank about six feet,” Hingson said. “The reason for that was that the expansion joints went back to their normal configuration. The building was doing everything it was supposed to do.”

While the sky above the city was covered in smoke and debris and panic and chaos reigned inside the building, Hingson remained calm.

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The former sales manager spent a lot of time getting used to his surroundings, finding exits and consulting with the New York Port Authority, police officials and firefighters. In the event of an emergency, Hingson knew where he was so he and his team members could easily escape the North Tower in an emergency.

Roselle was wagging her tail at this point, giving Hingson the clarity he needed to help coordinate the evacuation.

“She showed no fear at all, which told me that whatever was happening was not such an immediate threat that we could not try to evacuate in an orderly manner and that we did not need to panic,” Hingson said.

Guide dogs are trained to work as a team with their handlers and are certified when they demonstrate obedience and master the commands and signals to help their owners navigate safely.

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According to Hingson, Roselle was sleeping under Michael Hingson’s desk in the North Tower when the plane hit the building. (Michael Hingson)

“Guide dogs don’t know where we’re going,” Hingson said. “The dog’s job is to make sure we go safely. It’s a team effort. We have to work together.”

The decision to escape from the 78th floor was made quickly, 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 going to die. We’re not getting out of here,'” Hingson said. “I just said, ‘Stop, David. If Roselle and I could walk down those stairs, you can too.'”

“I did it very consciously and with a very sharp voice because I had to win him back,” Hingson said.

Hingson later said his colleague told him that his snapping at David had brought him back down to earth.

According to Hingson, to distract himself from the uncertainty, David decided to walk one floor ahead of him to inform him of the upcoming situation and the safety precautions during the descent.

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The US flag flies on the memorial in Boston for the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 in Massachusetts. (Reuters)

“David, the moment he called up to me, was actually a magnet to anyone who was within earshot of his voice and could hear him,” Hingson said.

“Anyone who could hear him knew that somewhere on the stairs there was someone who was OK and was going down the stairs. That had to stop a lot of people from panicking. And we all worked really hard to stop any panic from breaking out on the stairs. I think that’s one of the most miraculous things I saw that day.”

At 9:03 a.m. the South Tower was hit by the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175.

At 9:49 a.m., one hour and two minutes after the North Tower was hit, the South Tower collapsed.

As Hingson and David stood in the middle of the streets of New York City, they heard the deafening noise of the World Trade Center building collapsing 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 is columns of smoke hundreds of feet high,'” Hingson said. “‘It’s gone.'”

Hingson said David indicated that a cloud of dust was approaching, so they ran through the streets of Lower Manhattan’s financial district with Roselle by their side, losing sight of each other for a short time.

At 10:28 a.m. the North Tower had disappeared.

In the 102 minutes that passed between the plane crashing and the building collapsing, Hingson, David and the others with whom they had fled were able to escape.

“Less than three hours ago, we had just gone in to do our work and mind our own business, and in the blink of an eye, basically everything was gone,” Hingson said.

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At various memorials in the USA, people can pay their respects to the fallen victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. (Liao Pan/China News Service via Getty Images)

In Arlington, Virginia, 184 people were killed, both on board American Airlines Flight 77 and in the Pentagon when a third hijacked plane crashed into the government building at 9:37 a.m.

At 10:03 a.m., four al-Qaeda members aboard United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to crash into the country’s capital, but 40 passengers and crew heroically recaptured the plane to save lives.

On September 11, 2001, almost 3,000 people lost their lives.

“It really happened, and we should remember it and learn from it in how we prepare for emergencies and deal with the things that happen,” Hingson said. “How we work together as a team.”

Family members of September 11 victims and others pay tribute to their loved ones on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City on September 11, 2023. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Hingson, the author of “Thunder Dog,” “Running with Roselle” and “Live Like A Guide Dog,” said he expected Roselle to protect him during his escape, and he said she did.

“The dog was not trained to handle these types of emergencies,” Hingson said. “None of us were trained to do that.”

However, Hingson points out that preparation in advance of an emergency can help save lives and keep calm afterward.

“We are so afraid of everything in our world,” he said. “Fear is all around us. And we usually fear things that we have no power or control or influence over, but we worry about them and get afraid anyway.”