Name: Full interview: Surviving 9/11
Uploaded: 2011-09-08T19:59:00-0400
Duration: 1378200
Description: Paul McHale reflects on Sept. 11, 2001, and how his life has changed since that day.

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Paul McHale reflects on Sept. 11, 2001, and how his life has changed since that day.

You know, we want to reflect back on 10 years ago you were saying, does it feel like it's been now? Sometimes? Does sometimes it feels longer sometimes, like I said, I can't believe it ever happened at all. Yeah, I mean you do you question, wow. Yeah. So I guess it all depends. Do you, do you still think about it every day? Not every day, at least once a week, I would say a couple of times a week. And what do you think about, Do you picture yourself back there or you just, I don't really think about it. I see things that remind me of it, if even a plane I look up, if I hear a loud plane going by or an engine, fire engine going by that automatically triggers it right away, you know, So I don't really give it too much thought at all, but brings it back really instantly. Mhm. You picture yourself back there. So tell us where you were. I was on the 39th floor of one World Trade Center, is that the north tower, that's the north town. And I was just doing my normal normal things. And uh I was walking out of my office, I was going to break room for to get, I'm not sure coffee or whatever and I just heard a plane and the thought process was like a second and that's close and it hit the building and as I was walking the building just swayed and I took a few steps forward and I thought this is going to snap. I thought the building was just going to go over and then it just came back again. And uh that was that the whole thing just swayed, stayed there and came back and that whole process took five seconds from hearing the plane the impact, it's waiting to come back, that's how fast everything started. What did you think happened? I heard the plane so I knew plane struck the building and I went to my window which faces north, which is where the plane came from. And the building across the street from me had a glass front so I could look at my window and I saw the reflection of the silhouette of where the plane went into the building. And I just saw that so many papers floating down to the streets. I knew right away it was a plan. And what did you think to do just that? Just I called my wife to let him know, I think a plan, I knew a plane hit the building. I was 99.9% sure, but just said, yeah, quite sure plane hit the building, we're going to start to leave. And the other lady came into my office and she didn't hear the plane, she said, what was that? And uh, I told her, I think a plane to sit out building and we walked down to the hallway and everyone was, there were different offices, different companies on the same floor and they just came running out, pushing each other, running nothing like the fire drills you go through when you worked there, everyone lined up orderly. That didn't happen. And uh we went back in, I said, let's get out things together and we'll leave, we'll just walk down together. And she went back in, she changed her shoes, I grabbed a few of my belongings, locked the door, they'd show that was locked. And uh we went into the stairwell and that was already full with people walking down and we just got in line and started walking down and we made it to about the The 28th floor. And that's when we saw the firefight, they started to come up and that's when everything kind of slowed a bit because they were carrying all their equipment upstairs, what were they carrying? They had extra oxygen tanks, crowbars, stretches, things like that. So they're trying to come up and we're going down and how are you? I mean there were, it was a narrow staircase and there were people on one side, people on the other and they were firefighters coming up between us. Then every now and then you would see someone who was injured from the upper floors come down, uh severely burnt and in pretty bad condition that someone was helping them come down. So we just wait for them to pass, You would let them pass. Of course you had to and so my gosh, how terrible was it to see? It was shocking. There was people who were severely burnt that were crying with it looked like it was there close, we're hanging, it was actually their skin that was hanging off. And so they came down and of course everyone let them go first. But at this point, I mean, are you like, oh my gosh, this is real. And I yeah, I mean, I still was, no one was really panicking. Everyone just thought they were going to walk down and everything is going to be fine and then, you know, things are to happen in the second plane, hit the building next to us and we all felt that the concussion, but no one guy next to me looked at me, he said, what was that? I had no idea, no one had any communication about what was going on outside and uh we had no windows, it's just a stale. Well, so we just kept walking down. And as we got down closer to about the 20th floor, the firefighters asked us to come out, they found another stairwell on the other side of the floor which was not being used. He said, let's get all the civilians into that so they can exit faster. So that helped a bit and doing that as I'm walking across the floor to the other end, they had all the firefighters that were just lined up against the wall, relaxing, taking a break, taking over for the year and they were joking with each other once you get back to the firehouse they're gonna get on that treadmill, I didn't know I was in this bad of shape, I guess they were, the older guys had just climbed up 20 flights of staffs in full gear and they would go, they were getting on each other, you know, you're on board your worst shirt shape than I am and it that's what they were and they had no idea at all what kind of danger they were in. A lot of those guys probably never they never made it out and they were all together and I think part of the reason they never found a lot of the firefighters remains were these guys had taken off all their jackets too, take a break and there was at least a dozen of them right there and they were just going back and forth and get your father talking about, you know, they're gonna start jogging, they're gonna start working out more mm I don't know if they ever made it out, do you think about that? Yeah, I sure do. And I wish I knew who they were their names who want not but they were all together having a, having a I'm not a good time but they were relaxed with each other together like they do. Yeah, no idea. No idea at all. Yeah. Yeah. And so we made it to the other staircase and that was going, we're moving faster than, and then the, this, uh, south tower collapsed. And when that went down it was just like an earthquake. The whole building was shaking. Uh, they had this huge cloud of smoke just came up from downstairs. And when someone yelled out, the floors below us are collapsing. And that's when the people, some ladies behind me started to scream, go up, go up. And they ran back upstairs and I know that was not the right decision to make. And second later all the lights when I was completely black and that lasted for about two seconds. And the firefighters that were with us, they had flashlights on their helmets. They just came on. They just click those and those are the only lights we had just to follow them through the buildings. And where were you when that happened? That was the 10th floor. That was the 10th floor. Yeah. So you still had 10 floors to go. 10 flights. You don't know what's going on below, you know? No idea what means. You think I gotta keep getting out of here at that point. Um, I don't know why I took over. I just said I'm not going back up. I'm going back down. I'm heading down and I don't know what it was. Something guided me saved your life decision. Mm hmm. So you finally get down to the lobby area or we made it through just following the firefighters and one of them up ahead said, okay, we're here, we're at the lobby. And I was thinking, all right, the lobby in the World Trade Center was all marble and chandeliers and always spotless. And I walked out there and I assume that would be ambulances outside helping people. And it was devastated. I was devastated to see what had happened, chandeliers were falling down the marble slabs on the wall. So, coming off and so we had an inch our way along the side of the wall and someone had uh, one of the firefighters had smashed a hole in the glass, forced to walk out. And so and just as we're doing that, you could tell the whole building, I didn't even realize that then the whole building was collapsing with everything that was falling off the walls. And so I walked outside and there was just debris. I don't know if it was from the plains that crashed or the other tower that fell and there was no one around. And where is everyone? And I looked over to where the south tower was, where it used to be. And it was just a big cloud of smoke that you saw, right? And when it collapsed, and I just assumed the south tower was right behind that smoke said, okay. And they were Mhm. A lot of I don't know if there's people that have jumped on the people that were in the plains, just torsos and what not that I can't even think about and uh I started walking to where I knew there were a flight of stairs, I was in the plaza outside and there was a flight of stairs with an elevator that went down to the street and I knew to go there and some firefighter came running by and just run and run and he just kept running. So running from what I looked up in the tower was still in flames and we we walk, me and the lady I was with and a few other people that have followed us out and we made it to west broadway and I started going up broadway and Grace, the lady I was with said we made it and we'll see you tomorrow. And so she turned up I think it was Chambers Street, I'm not sure now. And I started walking north and it was only about a block north of the trade center and I saw a lady walking towards me and she was looking up over my shoulder and she just screamed all there it goes. I said that goes what? And I turned around and building was just going down and so I just took off running. How long had you been out of the building? It's less than five minutes. Oh my God. So I thought uh more buildings are going to collapse. I knew all the gas pipes that were on the streets, I thought these are going to blow up. And so I just made my way up town to penn station, which is how I took my click the train home. So when did you talk to your wife again? I guess it was about noon. We had cell phones, but nothing was working. All the antennas were on the trade center and they still had pay phones back then, believe it or not, and most of those were not working. There were a few here and there that had a line of people waiting uh to get in line to call someone. And finally I was up about 5th was on 5th Avenue and 25th Street I walked up to and there was one lady on the phone and I saw it was working, she was speaking to someone. So I stood behind her and that's when I finally called and I guess I'm not sure exactly when it was about noon and that was the first time she knew she watched the whole thing on tv with my Children. And so yeah, what did she say? Where are you, let me come and get you. I said, hey, I don't think you can come and get me right now. And so I said, and I'll see you soon. And I looked up and there was I was on 25th and 5th, I looked up and there was the empire state building right, that might be next. So uh I didn't know this by now. We had f 16, f sixteen's crisscrossing Manhattan, which I've never seen before. And I was like, I think something else is going to happen. So I made my way uh to the east side of Manhattan and I woke up to Penn station and that was shut down and people are just milling around trying to get on a train home and that took a few hours. I don't think I got home about two o'clock, maybe about three in the afternoon that day I finally got on the train, but you were still anxious at this point we want to believe I didn't know what was if I was going to get home that day, if I was going to be stuck in Manhattan overnight because then there were rumors on the street that there were bombs and the subways and bombs in Penn station and the cotton, the police are going through there, making sure there was no suspicious packages or anything. And I finally got on the train, It was packed, it was standing room only and going through the tunnel, there was not a sound, people aren't speaking all, everyone was very nervous because now you're in a pitch black tunnel. And as soon as we came out of the tunnel, everyone just started clapping because the daylight hit the car And you could see outside again and that lasted for about 10 seconds and then we look to the side and you could see the trade center, burning you could just see the smoke out in the distance and then it was back to a boy reality Yeah. But yeah. Uh huh. I mean do you think about how lucky you were? I mean that you weren't higher up on the floor that you thought to go down that you're very lucky. Think about it. I can't tell you how much and how often you think about and your family, I mean were you thinking about them? Of course that was the whole everything that was on my mind and I think my girls, they didn't know exactly what was going on but my my two sons were in high school and my son kevin, he was walking by the principal's office, which to this day I still have to ask him why were you in the principal's office again? And and he had the tv on and they saw what had happened and he ran down to the gym were my oldest son was and uh he said dad's building just got hit by a plane that's on fire and they were only blocks from my house, we lived in a marathon in Long island and they both came running home and they watched it on tv with my wife, a lot of their friends in the years before that I had taken my sons and their friends to see the new york Yankees parade in Lower Manhattan when they won the world series. So of course all their friends knew I worked there and what not. So they were all calling up and coming over. It was concerned. Oh, everybody was wondering if you were right. Huh. Mhm. So this changed your life forever. I mean you lost your job then you change careers. I mean this, yep. Yeah, I changed everything familiar that day. Do you feel? I mean it's changed your life in a good way though. I mean, you found him, you've come to north Carolina, your family's here now. You ever wonder if that didn't happen? I sure do. I don't know what would have happened? Sleep? You know, the opportunity opened up for me to start a new career and start a new life in the a place where I billy chose to live. I mean I lived in new york because I was born there and we looked around for a nice place to relocate to. It just worked out this way. Do you have anger still do you? I don't know. Do you have hatred for people or you know, I mean, not at all, no. Maybe for the individuals themselves that uh you know, I don't understand what they thought they were accomplishing killing innocent civilians? But other than, you know, I wouldn't say it's hatred. There's no room for hatred. Does this anniversary mean anything to you, Will it be just another day? How have the other anniversaries coming, You know, you talked about the first anniversary, you still were, you know, panic, you know? Well, I certainly think about it, but for the past three years I've been doing something. We've uh my Children and I we run in the uh steven still, a five K run and wake far steven still, it was a new york city firefighter who died on september 11th and there's a five K run each year in Wake Forest that we take part in. And it goes, the money goes to a benefit foundation for Stephen still help certain different organizations out. Um and we do that each year. Yeah, daughters, Yes, yeah, and my son. And so a lot of the money goes to different funds. One of the funds it goes to is uh it helps fund scholarships for Children who have lost a parent serving in the armed forces in the Iraq and Afghan War, I think that's great. And steven still who um died on September 11, he was not working that day, he was off, he got his gear out of his car in Brooklyn and ran through the battery tunnel into Manhattan and was last seen going into the World Trade Center And he lost both his parents by the time he was 10 years old. And so that's why this foundation is uh it's for them, it's for Children who have lost a parent, So it gets you more involved in September 11, not just sitting home thinking about it going out and doing something and helping people. Yeah, something good can get out of it, you know, do something positive. Do you feel like you'll ever have closure? I know people hate that word. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'll know I'm never gonna forget it, I'll tell you that, and I'll never stop thinking about it, closure. I mean, I have no hater anger in my heart, but I don't think you want closure because you want to think about all the people that lost their lives. You know, you don't want to forget about them, so you don't want to forget about that. There must be weird though, to think that you saw faces of people, those firefighters, I wish I had their names that I could tell. You know, the relatives, there were so many people had stopped to help other people. Uh One gentleman was uh in a chair, he was having trouble breathing, he had his he must have been in his uh sixties and he was sitting down in just an office chair that someone had found. And the lady uh coworker was standing next to him and the firefighter had given him an oxygen mask to breathe through and someone said, so you know, come with us, the other firefighters can take care of him. And she said no, I know him, I want to stay with. And that was right before we left the building. Like she stayed to help that gentleman. And I don't think she ever made it out. And there were so many other people that I you know that I left that I could have gotten up and left. But they stayed to help others. And you wish you could tell their families exactly. They're dying moments. And there were gentlemen, younger guys who are helping firefighters carry some equipment up the stairs. I wish I knew their names so I could tell them. You know, they were there helping out the firefighters so well it's good you're telling us maybe, you know, people will, you know, people through the years have heard those types of stories and maybe thought, okay, maybe that was my husband that did that. And that's why you got kelly was helping. Exactly. That would make you feel better about it.

Full interview: Surviving 9/11

Paul McHale

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Get the latest WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast whenever you need it, including the DUALDoppler5000 and the 7-Day Forecast.

I'm meteorologist, Amy Wilmoth in the WRL severe weather center tracking a cold front that will move through the state throughout the day. Today, we'll have some light rain with this perhaps moderate rain at times, but most of you won't get a ton of rain. It's just going to be some light passing showers at four o'clock this afternoon, we'll still have some rain showing up on the radar scattered showers possible. Uh, basically anywhere aside from our northern counties, our northern counties should be dry at that point by 5 p.m. or so. The rain is south of the triangle impacting our southern counties during the evening. Commute, still some showers around in our southern counties at 7 p.m. But beyond that, the rain will start to move out and it will be dry overnight tonight. And we're back to sunshine as we head into tomorrow. Look at how much rain we could get. It's less than 1/10 of an inch of rain. So we're not going to get much out of this system, but at least it's something, it's our only rain chance in the next seven days. So we'll have some light rain moving through thanks to the cold front, temperatures will likely get into the low eighties in our southern counties where we'll have sunshine a little bit longer. 74 for the high in Raleigh and Durham, 75 in Roxboro, 73 for the high temperature in South Hill, Virginia. So temperatures running pretty close to normal throughout the day today. Good news. If you're headed to the Bulls game this evening at 635 it looks like the rain will be out of here. We have a 20% chance for rain, but the best chance will be in the southern part of the viewing area, 70 degrees, the expected temperature at 6 p.m. 68 by seven and in the mid six by 8 p.m. So maybe take the jacket or the sweater with you as temperatures fall into the sixties starting around seven o'clock or so. So we have passing showers today. Generally light rain a little breezy at times with the high of 74 tonight, we'll have mostly clear skies. We'll get down to 51 beautiful weather. Thursday, partly cloudy to mostly sunny with a high of 72. Pretty much the same thing on Friday. Temperatures will be in the low seventies for highs. We're up to 76 Saturday and then low eighties by Sunday, mid to upper eighties for high temperatures in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday of next week.

WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast

A UNC Health physician and pilot were taken to the hospital Wednesday after a small plane crashed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).


Sky 5 flies over plane crash at RDU

RDU Airport Authority gives an update on a plane crash that sent a physician and pilot to the hospital. The crash occurred Wednesday morning on a flight that took off from Wilmington.

Landguth first, I want to extend my thoughts to those affected by this morning's aircraft accident and thank our first responders for their quick action to respond. The airport authority and its mutual aid partners responded to an aircraft accident at RDU involving a general aviation aircraft. The accident occurred at approximately 10:10 a.m. in the grass next to runway five, right 23 left. The flight was arriving from Wilmington, North Carolina. The A the aircraft is owned by medical Air Inc and operated by UN C air operations. The aircraft had two people on board, one pilot and one passenger. Both were transported to area hospitals. The federal A Bush administration issued a ground stop that was lifted at approximately 1130 this morning. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have both been notified. The National Transportation Safety Board is en route and expected to arrive within the next hour at which time we will conduct an accident investigation. Rdu's runway five left 23 right reopened to departing and arriving aircraft around 11:30 a.m. this morning. Are you experiencing approximately 70 delays and several arriving flights were diverted to other airports? Until ground stock was lifted, travelers should contact their airline for the latest updates regarding the flight status. And of course questions about the identity and condition of the pilot and passenger should be directed to UN C health. And at this time I'll try to answer any questions. You may have, uh, the one, any other accidents in, in the past. I'm not familiar with any other accidents have occurred with that operation. I don't know, uh, that's the role of the National Transportation Safety Board. They'll actually come in and do the investigation. Uh, and at some point in the future, they write up a report and determine what the cause of the accident was. You know, that there was no notification to the airport authority or to the FAA uh about any type of emergency on board. Do we have a guy? We don't, all we know that we've got them out of the airplane and we've got them transported to local hospitals. We know situations like this and delays have a ripple effect on, you know, flights. Do you have any idea what type of impact we'll see here in our view and for not sure, but what we're going to encourage everybody to do is reach out to your airlines. We'll be able to give you real time information about the impact of your particular flight. Ok. I believe some of them went to Greensboro and I think a couple went to Charlotte as well. What, what to be impacted due to the NTSD. Say that one more time at this point in time, what we call the west side of our airport is now open the investigation they'll conduct will all be on the east side. So at this point, we are anticipating normal operations returning to normal operations from this point forward. I don't think that anything that they're doing regarding the investigation or where they would have to investigate would have any impact to the west side of the airport. No, the aircraft is still on the airfield itself. It's on the east side of the field. So terminal one that runways the east side of the field, that's where the debris field actually sits, the west side of the field is open and operational and safe to operate. Not that I'm aware of in operations for you throughout this event today. What was your main concern concerning the passengers that were in the internals? Right. I think our primary focus when, when that accident occurred were the two people sitting in that aircraft? Our primary mission is to make sure we can get to them and try to rescue them and try to make sure that we can get them in a safe condition as fast as we possibly can. Uh secondarily is trying to figure out then how we recover and get our operations back up and running. Mhm. How does that affect? What goes on term? Yeah, so great. Question. So the team has figured out a way to get all the aircraft they're gonna operate at terminal one. Your Southwest develops. Uh We've got a crossover taxi way that we can actually get them through our general aviation aircraft. We've got a crossover taxiway, we can get them to. But the rest of the uh accident scene is actually kind of isolated and closed and locked off. Yeah, you're terminal one at this point in time. Once they can get back on their schedule, it's going to be a normal operations. All right. Thank you guys. All right. Thank you. Grab your phone, right.

Update on RDU plane crash that sent 2 to hospital

A small plane crashed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) Wednesday morning.



WRAL News coverage: Plane crashes at RDU, pilot and physician injured

A small plane crash with injuries was reported Wednesday at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Emergency crews respond to plane crash at RDU

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Full interview: Surviving 9/11

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