The second plane struck the South Tower 17 minutes after the first plane hit the North Tower.

Quick Scoop

Exact timeline

  • At 8:46 a.m. , American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
  • At 9:03 a.m. , United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower.

That means the second crash happened about 17 minutes after the first impact.

To put it in context

In those 17 minutes, live television and eyewitnesses were still trying to understand whether the first crash was a tragic accident, and many people in and around the towers were evacuating or being instructed on what to do.

When the second plane hit, it became clear in real time that this was a coordinated terrorist attack, not an isolated accident.

TL;DR: The second plane hit the South Tower 17 minutes after the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.