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In March of 2001, Fox Broadcasting aired the pilot episode of the X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen. In the beginning of the pilot, the three geeky "conspiracy theorists" first try to obtain a new PC processor that is alleged to have a feature built into it which deprives its users of their privacy.
That then leads into the Gunmen learning of a plot hatched by a "small faction" of the US government that involves bringing down "a fully loaded 727 in the middle of New York City" to start a war with the Middle East to increase arms sales. "The Cold War is over... but with no clear enemy to stockpile against. The arms market is flat," declares the whistleblower who knows the when, where and why and how of the scheme, and is consequently now the target of assassination.
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Later in the episode, one of the Gunmen, John Byers, is on a flight to New York with the whistleblower, when the pilots and other two Gunmen, Frohike and Langley, discover that the plane is being remote control piloted by the aforementioned rogue faction. Frohike and Langley are on the ground trying to break the remote access when they realize that the flight path has a final destination of the "corner of Liberty & Washington--the World Trade Center."
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At the last minute--right before the plane hits the tower--the remote link is hacked and the pilots get "manual override" and pull the plane up to avoid collision with the towers. The plane pulls up and barely misses the North Tower, knocking off the antenna as it passes overhead.
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