Betty Ong

Betty Ong

Betty Ann Ong (Chinese: 鄧月薇; February 5, 1956 – September 11, 2001) was an American Airlines flight attendant who was on board American Airlines Flight 11, the first airplane hijacked during the September 11 attacks. She was the first person to alert authorities to the hijackings taking place that day.

Shortly after the hijacking, Ong notified the American Airlines ground crew and remained on the radiophone for 23 minutes, relaying information that led the FAA to close U.S. airspace for the first time in the nation's history. The 9/11 Commission described Ong as a hero for her actions.

Life and career

Betty Ong

Betty Ann Ong was born on February 5, 1956, in San Francisco. She was of Kaiping descent, part of the broader Sze Yup Cantonese community, and was the youngest of four children. She had two sisters, Cathie and Gloria, and a brother, Harry. She attended George Washington High School, graduating in 1974. As an adult, she enjoyed collecting Beanie Babies.

Ong was once approached about modeling, but her mother disapproved of that career, so she worked instead at her parents' beef jerky factory. According to an account related by her sister Cathie Ong‑Herrera in the New York Post, an armed robbery at the factory illustrated Ong's steady nerves in a crisis. As Cathie described it, "Betty was out in front and had a gun held to her head. My mom said she never panicked. All she said was, 'Dad, we're being robbed.'" The robbers were given the money they demanded, and Cathie said of her sister, "She was never shook up."

In the early 1980s, Ong joined Pacific Southwest Airlines and worked in the airline's baggage claim department. She later worked as a ticket agent with Delta Air Lines. In 1987, she became a flight attendant with American Airlines.

In 1987, while driving south on U.S. Highway 101 in San Francisco, Ong witnessed a car roll over twice after being hit by a speeding pickup truck. She ran to the vehicle and found its occupant, Jo Ellen Chew, a woman she had met a month earlier at a bowling alley. Chew later described Ong's "courage, kindness, [and] compassion" exhibited by Ong, saying, "Most people would just pass by. But to stop and run up to me? A miracle!"

Ong was engaged to Robert Landrum. At the time of her death, she lived in Andover, Massachusetts.

Death

Betty Ong

On September 11, 2001, Ong assigned herself to Flight 11, so she could return to Los Angeles and go on vacation to Hawaii with her sister. During the hijacking, she used a telephone card to call American Airlines' operations/reservations center in Cary, North Carolina, from the plane's rear galley; she identified herself and alerted the supervisor that the aircraft had been hijacked. Along with fellow flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney, she relayed the seat numbers of three hijackers. During her Airfone call, she reported that none of the crew could contact the cockpit or open its door; that passenger Daniel Lewin and flight attendants Karen Martin and Barbara "Bobbi" Arestegui had been stabbed; and that she believed someone had sprayed Mace in the business-class cabin.

Phone call details

Phone call

Transcript of the last 8‑minute, 26‑second conversation between Ong, American Airlines' operations/Raleigh reservations, Nydia Gonzalez (Operations Specialist on duty on September 11), and American Airlines' emergency line, beginning with Ong in mid‑sentence, her voice audible only during its first four minutes:

At 8:46 a.m., Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower at 440 miles per hour (710 km/h), between floors 93 and 99. Ong was killed instantly, along with everyone on the plane and hundreds of others in the building.

Memorials and legacy

Betty Ong

Ong's name is located on Panel N-74 of the National September 11 Memorial's North Pool, along with those of other occupants of Flight 11.

On September 21, 2001, about 200 members of the Chinese American community in San Francisco gathered in a small park to pay tribute to Ong. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who attended, issued a proclamation honoring those who died in the attacks and declared September 21 "Betty Ong Day".

In 2002, Ong, Sweeney, and Flight 11 Captain John Ogonowski were the inaugural recipients of the Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery, an honor established by the Government of Massachusetts to recognize at least one Massachusetts resident each year for extraordinary courage in defending or saving the lives of others.

In March 2002, Ong's remains were recovered from Ground Zero and identified. She was cremated, and her ashes were entombed at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.

In 2011, the recreation center in San Francisco's Chinatown where she had played as a child was renamed the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center.

Ong's name is located on Panel N-74 of the National September 11 Memorial's North Pool, along with those of other occupants of Flight 11.

Ong is memorialized on Gold Mountain, a mural dedicated to Chinese contributions to American history on Romolo Place in North Beach, a street where she used to skateboard and play as a child.

Betty Ann Ong Foundation

The Betty Ann Ong Foundation was founded to honor Ong's interest in the welfare of children by providing, in the words of board member David Huff, "training and guidance on nutrition, health, physical activities, leadership skills, critical thinking skills, planning, group and team activities, and community awareness and cohesiveness". Its activities include contributions to groups such as the Bakersfield Police Activities League and the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center in San Francisco's Chinatown.

In March 2013, the foundation publicly opposed the Transportation Security Administration's decision to allow knives with blades up to 2.36 inches long back onto aircraft for the first time since the 9/11 attacks. Ong's sister, Cathie Ong-Herrera, speaking as the foundation's president and CEO, stated, "The horrific events that took place on the morning of September 11, 2001 began with the takeover of American Airlines Flight 11. Terrorists took control of the aircraft by first fatally stabbing two flight attendants with box-cutters. My sister, flight attendant Betty Ann Ong, along with the entire flight crew and passengers were murdered. There are no words to describe the gut-wrenching pain and grief our family has experienced—things that no other family should ever have to endure. I support the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions' position to reverse the TSA's decision to allow knives and other dangerous objects on aircraft because it's about everyone's safety." The foundation was among a coalition of groups opposed to the move, and the TSA abandoned the plan as a result.

In media

Betty Ong

Ong was portrayed by Jean Yoon in the 2006 ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11, and by Jane Zhang in episode two of the 2004 BBC docudrama Zero Hour.

An extensive clip from Ong's call to headquarters was used for the beginning of the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty. The clip was used without attribution and without the consent of Ong's family or the airline. The family asked Sony Pictures Entertainment, the film's U.S. distributor, to make a charitable donation in her name, credit her onscreen, state on its website and in home‑entertainment versions that the Ong family does not endorse torture (which the film depicts in the manhunt for Osama bin Laden), and acknowledge these points during the 85th Academy Awards ceremony.