'Oh my God, here comes one this way': Galway man witnessed plane approach before hitting Pentagon on 9/11
Eric was speaking on the phone to his wife in Tuam from Washington when he saw a low-flying aircraft approach his hotel
A Galway man who was in the US during the 9/11 attacks has recalled the moment that he witnessed a plane strike the Pentagon while speaking on the phone to his wife back home in Tuam.
Eric was in Washington, DC for a medical conference, and had made contact with his wife after news emerged that two passenger planes had crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York.
He was looking out the window of his hotel across from the White House as they discussed the shocking developments, and spotted a plane heading straight towards him at full speed.
“It’s hard to forget,” Eric told Andrea Gilligan on Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “It’s been 25 years on, and I can still see it fresh in my mind.
“I was staying in a hotel across from the White House, and I had a pretty high floor on it. While the planes were crashing into the two towers, I was talking to my wife in Tuam,” he recalled.
As they talked about the incredible scenes in New York, Eric suddenly interjected and said, “Oh my God, here comes one this way.”
“And I look forward, and there’s a plane coming in towards the hotel where I’m at, just skimming the trees with the engines full on,” said Eric, who is an American citizen living in Galway.
“As it approached the White House, it just veered to its right a little bit, and then I saw it go down and hit the Pentagon, and everything went up in flames there.”
He said his wife was “speechless” after he reported seeing a plane heading in his direction. “When you say, ‘Here comes one this way,’ what do you say?” he said.
Eric said he initially thought the plane had been heading for the White House, and looked to see if a missile barrage would be launched to take out the plane before impact.
In the wake of the explosion at the Pentagon, Eric said the skies over Washington were “full” with F-16 fighter jets, fully armed with missiles, and the roofs of surrounding buildings were littered with snipers.
“It’s embedded in my memory now,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing the flames come up from the plane hitting the Pentagon.”
After the attack, Eric went downstairs in the hotel and walked outside. He spoke to others who believed a missile had struck the Pentagon, but he was able to tell them that it had been a plane.
“I think it took maybe a month or two before footage actually came up from a parking lot that had footage of the plane crashing into the Pentagon, and I was one of the few people who could actually stand up and say, ‘Yeah, it was a plane.’”
Eric also described the panic on the streets in the wake of the crash.
“There were a lot of people running around, not knowing what to do. A lot of people were on their cell phones talking to people as well. People were running back and forth, and sirens going everywhere, and the police coming in and blocking off roads,” he said.