United Airlines flight 93


United Airlines flight 93 was one of the four planes hijacked as part of the
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. It was the only one of the four planes
that did not crash into a building.

Background

The other three planes hijacked that day were American Airlines flight 11,
United Airlines flight 175 and American Airlines flight 77.

The hijackers were Ziad Jarrah, Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Al Haznawi and Ahmed
Alnami.

The plane was a Boeing 757 on a morning route from Newark Liberty
International Airport (then Newark International Airport) near New York, New
York to San Francisco International Airport near San Francisco,
California(EWR-SFO). It had 182 seats but was only carrying 37 passengers
(including the hijackers) and 7 crew members. Some early accounts say 38
passengers - this was apparently due to the fact that one passenger had
booked two seats. The four hijackers were seated in first class.

At about 9:28 AM., when both towers of the World Trade Center had already
been hit, flight controllers in Cleveland overheard some commotion from
flight 93's cockpit: first screams and two cries of "Get out of here!", then
a 40 second gap, then more screams and a further cry of "get out of here!"
and then a voice saying something like "bomb on board". The flight
controllers tried to contact the pilot and received no reply. At 9:35 AM the
flight reversed direction and began flying eastwards at a low altitude. Air
traffic controllers overheard a man with a Middle Eastern accent saying
"This is your captain. There is a bomb on board. We are returning to the
airport." It is probable that the hijackers mistook the cockpit microphone
for the public-address system. Shortly before 10 AM the plane again changed
direction, this time south-east towards Washington.

It crashed into a reclaimed coal-mining area near Shanksville, Somerset
County, Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM. Other accounts give 10:06 and 10:10 AM as
the time of impact. According to eyewitness statements, the plane was upside
down and swaying when it crashed nose-first into the field. It landed at an
estimated speed of 575 miles per hour and left a crater about 35 metres
deep. There were no survivors.

Authorities have since ruled that the deaths of the hijackers were suicides
and that the deaths of the 40 others were homicides.

Passenger and crew phone calls

Much of what happened on the plane has been derived from the many phone
calls made by passengers and crew, mainly through mobile phones. This was in
marked contrast to the other three planes, where few phone calls were made.
It has thus been possible to assemble a detailed yet incomplete picture of
what happened on board through these calls.

All said that there were three rather than four hijackers. This has been
interpreted as meaning that one of them (probably Jarrah, who was seated in
the front row (seat 1B) and who is accepted as being the pilot) entered the
cockpit right away and did not reemerge. He was thus not seen by the others
on the plane.

In the passenger area, three hijackers wearing red bandannas herded most of
the passengers and crew to the back of the plane. Two were armed with knives
and the third held a box that supposedly contained a bomb. The remaining
passengers were kept in the first class area. One male passenger was
stabbed, probably before the herding started. This person was never named or
described in the phone calls, but is believed by authorities to be Mark
Rothenberg, the only first-class passenger who did not make a phone call.
The pilot and first officer were also stabbed, probably during the takeover
of the cockpit, and were critically wounded or dead. The passengers and crew
became aware through the phone calls of what had happened to Flights 11, 175
and 77. Eventually, it led to a decision to make an attempt to take over the
flight from the hijackers on or about 9:58 AM.

One first-class passenger, Tom Burnett, called his wife four times about the
hijacking; she alerted the FBI. He described the death of the male
passenger, asked about the other planes and stated at the end of the fourth
call that "Don't worry. We're going to do something."

Another first class passenger, Mark Bingham, rang his mother and reported
that three hijackers had taken over the plane. He gave little detail of
them. He was apparently cut off at the end of his brief call, and did not
return any of the phone calls sent to him by friends and family.

A coach-class passenger, Jeremy Glick, called his wife in New York and
reported that three "Iranian looking" men had hijacked the plane, one of
whom had a red box strapped to his waist which they claimed to be a bomb.
Jeremy asked his wife if it was true that planes had crashed into the World
Trade Center, as he had heard from other passengers. He then stated that he
was going to participate in the charge.

Todd Beamer, another coach-class passenger, tried to place a credit card
call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat but was routed to a
customer-service representative instead, who passed him on to supervisor
Lisa Jefferson. Beamer reported that one passenger was dead, and, later,
that the pilot and first officer were wounded. He was also on the phone when
the plane made its turn in a south-easterly direction, a move that had him
briefly panicking. Later, he told the operator that some of the plane's
passengers were planning "to jump" the hijackers. The last words Jefferson
heard from the plane were "Are you ready guys? Let's roll." (She later
called the FBI.)

Other persons who made phone calls to relatives include passenger Honor
Wainio and flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Sandra Bradshaw. They all
mentioned charges to the cockpit by way of final words. Reference was also
made by the flight attendants to using boiling water on the hijackers.

Several persons such as Glick, Beamer and Lyles put their phones down but
did not hang up as they went away. This enabled those on the other end to
listen to what happened next, but little could be heard or understood other
than screams.

Black box recording

The black box recorder was recovered on the afternoon of September 13, and
has yielded additional information about the final half hour of the flight.
In April 2002, in an unprecedented action, the cockpit sound recording was
played by the FBI to relatives of the victims of the hijackers.

Its full contents have not been made public for legal reasons. However,
media reports of the tape indicate that the charge by the passengers and
crew did take place. The tape was reported to have contained voices saying
"Allah Akbar" (Arabic for "God is great"), English shouts that included
"Let's get them!" and "Cockpit!" then screaming and other sounds followed by
silence. Sounds of crockery smashing have led to the belief that a
food-trolley was used as a battering-ram to force the cockpit door open.

A woman can be heard pleading for her life at the start of the tape. The
hijackers themselves appear to have all retreated into the cockpit prior to
the charge, and they can be heard praying, reassuring themselves, and
discussing on separate occasions whether to use a fireaxe in the cockpit on
those outside or to cut off the oxygen to quell the charge.

United States investigators later released findings on August 8, 2003 from
the recorder, which indicated that Jarrah was told by a fellow hijacker to
crash the plane because of the passenger uprising in the cabin.

Unresolved matters

Both the recording and the phone calls have left several questions
unanswered. For instance, the intended destination of the hijackers has
never been determined. It is accepted that it was meant to be in or around
Washington, DC. Many accounts state that it was the White House or the
Capitol, but this has never been confirmed. According to captured terrorist
Abu Zubaydah, the intended target was the White House. However, other
al-Qaeda sources have named the Capitol. Had the plane struck either
building, it would have killed no one else other than those on board the
plane. Both buildings had been evacuated by 9:45 AM.

Another unresolved matter, related somewhat to the first, is about the
timing of the terrorists. The plane left Newark about 40 minutes late,
because of congested runways. Whether the hijackers took this delay into
account or not remains unclear. If they were operating 40 minutes behind
schedule, then it was intended by those responsible that the plane arrive in
Washington from the north as early as 9:40 AM, on or about the same time as
Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon.

A third uncertain area is the precise time of impact. US authorities insist
that it was 10:03 AM , and the black box recording supports this. At least
one phone call, that of of Jeremy Glick, also ended at 10:03 AM. Yet

seismological stations reportedly recorded a tremor consistent with a plane
crash at 10:06 AM (more precisely, 10:06:05). Nothing was recorded at 10:03 AM.

Aftermath

All those on board Flight 93 were nominated for a Congressional Gold Medal
for valor on September 19, 2001. This has not been granted, but they have
been the subject of numerous other honors, including a Government memorial
passed on September 10 2002. On September 24, 2001, a special meeting for
the families of Flight 93's victims was held by President Bush at the White House.

The flight route designation was renumbered from Flight 93 to Flight 81 in
October 2001 out of respect for those who died. Amongst the first passengers
to fly this route was Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer.

Todd Beamer's "let's roll" phrase has become a national catchcry, with
President Bush himself using it in several speeches.

Shanksville became much more well-known as the result of the crash. It now
has a special council, run by the Somerset County Flight 93 Coordinator,
that handles Flight 93 matters such as visitors gifts and memorial services.

The crash was commemorated in two ceremonies, one public and one private, on
September 11 2002 at the field where the plane crashed.