Pavel Hlava (born April 24, 1963) is a Czech laborer. He is most prominently known for his recordings of both the Twin Towers being struck during the September 11 attacks.

Early life

Hlava was born on April 24, 1963, in Brno, Czech Republic to parents Marie Hlavová and Karel Hlava, with brother Josef. He and his family lived in a terraced house in Nové Sady for the beginning part of his life. When he was 13, his father passed away. A year after his father's passing, he and his family were informed that their house was to be torn down, and in replacement were to be given an apartment in Brno-Bohunice. Hvala has stated that this move improved his family's situation.

In 1978, Hvala moved to Ostrava to train as a mine locksmith. In 1981, Hvala finished school and a year later enlisted in the Czech military, where he trained there as a tank driver. Half a year later he transferred to Janovice nad Úhlavou and completed his military service there. After graduating, he spent the next few years in the Ostrava region working as a miner. He got married in 1986.

Immigration and life to and in America

Sometime in the late 1990s Hvala and his wife divorced. Wanting to move into an apartment back in Brno, he wondered how could gain money for that. Motivated by his brother-in-law Jiří Kukla, he contacted him in regards to moving to America, and eventually flew to America on December 30, 1999. When first arriving in America, he worked at a Polish company.

After a while, he quit his job at the Polish company and began working at a Jewish food company as a maintenance worker, working under boss Mike Cohen. He lived in Ridgewood.

He later bought a Video camera in order to show his family still in the Czech Republic his life in the USA.

September 11 attacks recordings

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Pavel Hlava, his brother Josef Hlava, (Who had been visiting Pavel), and Pavel's boss Mike Cohen gathered in an SUV heading down to Pennsylvania for business, with Cohen driving. Pavel started recording a video postcard for his family back in the Czech Republic, starting near the entrance of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. He started filming around the entrance of the tunnel, such as once panning on a billboard for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Collateral Damage, in which in a sort of foreshadowing way, is about Schwarzenegger fighting terrorists.

After panning around the entrance, Pavel Hlava pans the camera quickly onto the Twin Towers in the background, where you can see American Airlines Flight 11 crash into the North Tower, one of the only few recordings of such event. Hlava zooms out, not realizing what has happened because of the blurriness of the camera monitor.

As the 3 drive through the tunnel, news breaks on the radio that the tower has been struck. As they exit the tunnel, they come up close to the true scarceness of the event and see the North Tower up in flames and smoke. Surrounded by traffic and no sign of moving, Hlava asks Cohen if they can park so he can record what is going on. Cohen eventually agrees and they get out of the car. Hlava begins recording again. During this second recording, the sound of a second jet begins to get louder, with the jet then striking the South Tower. With these recordings, Hlava is the only person in history to have recorded both the North and South Tower being hit.

The 3 try to find their way out of the area, with Cohen finding out 30 minutes later that the George Washington Bridge had opened. Making their way to the bridge, the South Tower began to collapse, which Hlava recorded as well.

In all, Hlava recorded the North Tower being struck, the South Tower being struck, and the South Tower collapsing.

Later life

In 2003, Hlava did eventually move back to Brno and got an apartment there. With the leftover money, he and his nephew Jan opened up a bar called "Twins".

Every year, Hlava commemorates the anniversary of the attacks, signifying how the day will forever be with him.