Coincidence? Exactly 2 Commercial Jets Pass Over Manchester's Annual 9/11 Ceremony

MANCHESTER, CT — Was it a symbolic coincidence? Divine intervention? Who knows. But exactly two commercial planes Thursday flew over the annual Manchester 9/11 ceremony at nearly the exact times they flew over New York City before hitting the World Trade Center towers 24 year ago.

One passed over at 8:51 p.m.

The second passed over at 9:09 a.m.

Both were headed to Bradley International Airport, so they were relatively low in the sky.

When the timing of it all was mentioned to Manchester Mayor Jay Moran, he thought about it and said, "That's pretty wild."

Indeed it was. On Sept. 11, 2001, a Boeing 767 hit the north tower of the trade center at 8:46 a.m. A steel column from the plaza of the north tower sits at the Manchester Firefighters Memorial; Garden at Station 5, where the annual ceremony takes place.

A plane then struck the south tower at 9:03 a.m.

In 24 years, attendance at the Manchester ceremony has not dwindled. Moran said it is a testament to remembering those who died in the terrorist attacks, their families and commemorating the devotion of first responders in general.

As Moran was saying those words Thursday, that second plane flew over the fire station.

In his invocation, Seth Johnson, the chaplain of the Connecticut Air National Guard, said the hope is that the event does not "pass onto a dusty shelf and unopened history books."

It was the first Manchester ceremony for David Willis, a Manchester native and as former teacher and coach in the local public school system. He has been back in the area for about seven years now and is even running for a seat on the board of directors. But he said he will never forget working for a New Jersey company in 2001 — Compact Computers — and losing 5 colleagues.

Willis also directed two employees that survived to a ferry by phone.

He attended the ceremony with a photo collection from that day.

"Thousands of cars pass by this place each day and we hope the children in those cars ask their parents what happened," Johnson said in his benediction.