From the archive: On September 11, Capt. Jim Hosking is stunned as he reads the message from the cockpit printer aboard United Flight 890. Hijackings? Terrorist attack? Sent at 9:37 a.m. Eastern Time, the pilot of 34 years wonders: What the hell happened down there? And then, even more chilling: What's going to happen up here? At the Federal Aviation Administration's command center in Herndon, Virginia, air traffic managers also struggle to make sense of what's happening. Already, terrorists have deliberately flown two jets into the World Trade Center. These managers can think of only one way to stop further hijackers. Minutes after another jet smashes into the Pentagon at 9:38 a.m., the managers issue an unprecedented order to the nation's air traffic controllers: Empty the skies. Land every flight. Fast. The skies have never been emptied before, and controllers, pilots and aviation officials have never faced such pressure. Rerouting so many flights seems a logistical nightmare with no margin for error. And no one knows how many terrorists might still be in the air. During these hours, those who run the nation's aviation system will come to believe as many as 11 flights have been hijacked. To read more about how the planes were landed on Sept. 11, visit USATODAY.com.