The Falling Man  is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41:15 a.m. during the September the 11th attacks in New York City. The subject of the image, whose identity remains uncertain, was one of the people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who either fell searching for safety or jumped to escape the fire and smoke. At least 200 people are believed to have fallen or jumped to their deaths that day while other estimates say the number half of that or less. Officials could not recover or identify the bodies of those forced out of the buildings prior to the collapse of the towers. All deaths in the attacks except those of the hijackers were ruled to be homicides due to blunt trauma apposed to suicides.

The New York City medical examiner's office said it does not classify the people who fell to their deaths on September 11th as "A 'jumper' is somebody who goes to the office in the morning knowing that they will commit suicide. These people were forced out by the smoke and flames or blown out."

The photograph gives the impression that the man is falling straight down; however, a series of photographs taken of his fall showed him to be tumbling through the air. The photographer has noted that, in at least two cases,  newspaper stories            commenting on the image have attracted a barrage of criticism from readers who found the image "disturbing". Regarding the social and cultural significance of the Falling Man, the theologian Mark D. Thompson said that "perhaps the most

powerful image of despair at the beginning of the twenty-first century is not found in art or literature, or even popular music. It is found in a single photograph."

                                                                         The photograph initially appeared in newspapers around the world, including                                                                               on page 7 of  The New York Times  on September the 12th, 2001. The photo's                                                                             caption read "A person falls head first after jumping from the north tower of the                                                                           World Trad e Center. It was a horrific sight that was repeated in the moments                                                                               after the planes struck the towers." It appeared only once in the Times                                                                                         because of criticism and anger against its use. Six years later, it appeared on                                                                             page 1 of the New York Times Book Review on May the 27th, 2007.

                                                                         "The Falling Man" is the title of an article about the photograph by  Tom Junod                                                                            that was published in the September 2003 issue of Esquire magazine. The                                                                                 article was adapted as a documentary film by the same name. The article and                                                                             film reveal the "Falling Man" may have been Jonathan Briley, who worked on                                                                               the 106th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. If the falling man                                                                             was indeed Jonathan Briley, he may have fallen accidentally from the

                                                                         restaurant on that floor while searching for fresh air and safety, or decided to                                                                               jump. He was an asthmatic and would have known he was in danger when                                                                                 smoke began to pour into the restaurant.

9/11:

       The Falling Man is a 2006 documentary film about the picture and the story

behind it. It was made by American filmmaker Henry Singer and filmed by

Richard Numeroff, a New York-based director of photography. The film is loosely

based on Junod's Esquire story. It also drew its material from photographer  Lyle 

 Owerko's  pictures of falling people. It debuted on March the 16th, 2006, on the

British television network Channel 4. It later made its North American premiere on

Canada's CBC Newsworld on September the 6th, 2006, and has been broadcast

in over 30 countries. The U.S. premiere was September the 10th, 2007, on the

Discovery Times Channel. 

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 "I see water. I see buildings. I see buildings! 

 We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. 

 We are flying way too low. Oh my God we are flying way too low. Oh my God! —” – 

Flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney describing the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11 at the end of her phone call to a supervisor. 

 “Sept. 11, 2001, seems destined to be the watershed event of our lives 

 democracy in our lifetimes.” -- Lt. Col. Shelton F. Leskford, U.S. Marine  

 Corps, in 2008.