2,977 Drones Recreate Twin Towers Over New York
2,977 Drones Recreate Twin Towers Over New York
The News
A drone display over New York Harbor on Wednesday night recreated the Twin Towers in light, using 2,977 drones — one for each person killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The show, titled "2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor," was staged to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks. Organizers said the lights "rebuilt the Twin Towers at full architectural scale."
Survivors, victims' family members and first responders helped create the aerial artwork. The Daily Mail reported it was funded entirely through private philanthropy.
How It Looked
Video of the display showed the drones forming a helix, swirling upward and assembling into the outline of the towers over the Hudson River, accompanied by recorded music.
Timeline
Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four passenger planes, flying two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. The fourth crashes into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fight back. In all, 2,977 people are killed.
The Tribute in Light, 88 searchlights arranged in two columns in the shape of the fallen towers, is held as a temporary commemoration. It later becomes an annual memorial organized by the Municipal Art Society of New York.
The 2,977-drone display lights up the sky over New York Harbor, staged alongside the Tribute in Light.
The city marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Reactions
"For my husband, Tom, and for all the beautiful souls we lost on September 11, may these lights carry their memory upward and remind the world that even in our darkest hour, their light still shines," said Terry Strada, president of 9/11 Families United, whose husband was killed in the attacks.
"To illuminate the sky is to remind a new generation not only of all we lost, but of who we became in the aftermath," she said.
FDNY responder Brenda Berkman, who helped organize the display, said memory of the attacks changes with time. "Art can help convey information, feelings and understanding of past events from one generation to the next," she said. Berkman noted that 100 million Americans have no personal memory of 9/11.
What's Next
New York holds its official memorial ceremony Friday, on the 25th anniversary.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is due to attend. The Daily Mail reported that Republicans and some victims' relatives have asked him to stay away, in a row centering on his appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city's chief legal counsel.
"What I want this week is there to be a focus on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city," Mamdani said in response to the criticism.
More
Family members of Tom Strada and Stephen Siller, both killed in the attacks, also helped organize the tribute, according to the Daily Mail.
The drone show did not replace the Tribute in Light, which ran the same night over lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center.
Poll
Twenty-five years on, what best honors the 9/11 dead?
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