Flight-tracking providers were pivotal in identifying airliners
The chaos that erupted on the morning of September 11 brought a flood of questions.

The chaos that erupted on the morning of September 11 brought a flood of questions. Where were these airplanes coming from? Who was flying them? Why were they crashing into skyscrapers? In short, what on earth was happening?
For hours there was no official word from  Washington. Through a spokeswoman, the White House told the nation the President had been hurried onto Air Force One, which was in the sky headed for an “undisclosed location.”

Soon key details of the attacks started to emerge. Anchors on the major cable networks announced the flight numbers of all the aircraft involved, along with the aircraft types, departure airports and scheduled destinations.