American Airlines Flight 11 was the first hijacked airplane of the September 11 , 2001 attacks . It crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center . On Tuesday , September 11 , 2001 , the aircraft flying this routeâ '' a Boeing 767-223ER â '' was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists , and deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City , as part of the September 11 attacks .