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Stunning video captured by the NYPD in a helicopter flyover of the 9/11 Memorial Tribute in Light art installation on Saturday night shows two blue lights lit up in commemoration of the victims of the attacks.
After the tradition was cancelled last year, in a controversial move designed to prevent crowds gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lights were once again blazing in a poignant tribute.
Deputy Commissioner John Miller posted the video to Twitter just after 11pm on Saturday.
‘A skyline changed forever 20 years ago illuminated to honor the tragedies we will #NeverForget — and the courage, resolve, and American spirit that continues to endure,’ Commissioner Miller captioned the video.
The three sites where planes crashed on September 11 – in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field – were intitially lit up on the eve of the anniversary as the nation readied to pay tribute to the almost 3,000 people killed in the attacks.
People visit the Tribute In Lights in Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2021 in New York City
1: Buildings in Midtown Manhattan are bathed in blue light in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on September 11, 2021 in New York City
People visit a 9/11 memorial while the Tribute in Light art installation and the One World Trade Center are seen in the background on the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks
: A woman photographs the Tribute in Light as it is illuminated above lower Manhattan in New York City on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey
The Tribute in Light is illuminated above lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City behind a row of candles and flags on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
The Statue of Liberty is flooded in blue light to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11
The Tribute in Light was first presented six months after 9/11 and then every year thereafter, from dusk to dawn, on the night of September 11
The Tribute in Light was first presented six months after 9/11 and then every year thereafter, from dusk to dawn, on the night of September 11.
All three sites feature beams of light soaring into the night sky, visible for miles around.
In New York City, the installation is assembled on the roof of the Battery Parking Garage south of the 9/11 Memorial, rather than being at the site itself.
The twin beams – representing the Twin Towers that fell – reach up to four miles into the sky and are comprised of 88 lights.
The designers use 7,000-watt xenon lightbulbs, which are positioned into two 48-foot squares, echoing the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers.
Two planes crashed in New York City, ultimately bringing the towers down.
The installation can also be viewed from a 60-mile radius around lower Manhattan.
The nation marked the 20th anniversary on Saturday of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, when the terrorist group al-Qaeda flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center
Nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
After the tradition was cancelled last year, in a controversial move designed to prevent crowds gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lights were once again blazing in tribute
At the Pentagon, the Tower of Light is made up of 44 individual lights, representing the third plane that crashed.
And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the Flight 93 Tower of Light is made up of 40 lights to symbolize the 40 passengers and crew who lost their lives in the fourth plane.
Their plane was the last to crash and, knowing what had happened at the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, they stormed the cockpit and forced a crash landing in an empty field, before the plane could reach its intended target of the Capitol.
The Tribute in Light, a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, lights up the Manhattan skyline in New York
The Queensboro Bridge is seen at night on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on Saturday
The light beams can reach 18,000 feet into the air on a clear night
The light beams can reach 18,000 feet into the air on a clear night.
‘We hope that these lights will remind people not of the darkness of that day, but that light will always conquer the dark,’ said Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of Tunnel to Towers, which coordinated the Pentagon and Pennsylvania tributes.
‘I hope that everyone who sees these lights, which are visible for dozens of miles, will pause to remember what happened on 9/11.
‘For those Americans who are too young to remember, I hope they see this tribute and ask question so they can learn about what happened, and the heroes who lost their lives that day.’
Source: dailymail
