David Paventi, a survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, shares his gripping account of escaping from the 81st floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower.
David Paventi, a banker from Charlotte, North Carolina, found himself in New York City on September 11, 2001, on business. He was on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower when the first plane struck.
Recalling the day before, Paventi remembers looking out the window and observing the thick fog that obscured the streets below. A colleague had remarked, "How do airplanes not hit this building?" A question that would haunt him in the hours to come.
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
On September 11th, just before Paventi's scheduled meeting, American Airlines flight 11 pierced the 93rd floor of the North Tower, just 12 floors above his office. The impact reverberated through the building, sending tremors that felt like an earthquake.
"I remember looking up, and the light was just shaking back and forth over the table," Paventi recalls. "My initial instinct was to get under the table because I didn't want the light to fall on my head."
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
As chaos erupted, Paventi followed his coworkers out of the office and down several flights of stairs. The stairwells were crowded and oddly silent, save for the hushed whispers of survivors.
Descending the dozens of stories to the first floor was a painstaking process, with the flow of people constantly halted and restarted. Throughout the evacuation, Paventi and his friend Bob noticed an unfamiliar smell, later identified as jet fuel.
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
On one of the lower floors, Paventi and Bob encountered a group of people assisting a badly burned man. As they passed by, they heard the firefighters encouraging evacuees to keep moving.
"One of the firemen looked up and said, 'I get to do all this for 35 grand a year,'" Paventi recalls. "Talk about a gut check."
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
Finally, after an hour and a half, Paventi and Bob reached the building's lobby, a scene of utter devastation. Broken windows and debris littered the floor, and an official told them to run without looking back.
As they emerged from the building, Paventi couldn't resist a glance at the destruction. "I remember looking over, and, at that point, the second tower started to fall, and it literally melted," he describes. "It looked like it just melted into the rest of the city. It was ... disturbing and eye-opening."
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
Evacuating the city was no easy feat. Determined to avoid underground transportation, Paventi and Bob walked to the nearest bridge. As they crossed, they witnessed the collapse of the South Tower.
Eventually, they hitched a ride to JFK and rented a car to drive back to North Carolina. Along the way, they encountered roadblocks, detours, and a heightened sense of fear.
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
In the days following the attacks, Paventi experienced moments of anxiety. Loud noises startled him, reminding him of the terror he had faced. Over time, he began to reflect on the lives lost, the sacrifices made by first responders, and the impact 9/11 had on the nation's security.
"It's sad to me that it takes an event like that for people to recognize the level of freedom that we enjoy in this country," Paventi concludes. "And then to think about some of those freedoms that have been taken away in response to everything that happened."
9/11 Survivor Recalls Harrowing Escape from 81st Floor of World Trade Center
