United Airlines Flight 93
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
| Sept. 11, 2001 attacks |
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| September 11, 2001 |
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| October |
| Aftermath |
| Victims |
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| Foreign casualties |
| Hijacked airliners |
| American Airlines Flight 11 |
| United Airlines Flight 175 |
| American Airlines Flight 77 |
| United Airlines Flight 93 |
| Sites of destruction |
| World Trade Center |
| The Pentagon |
| Shanksville |
| Effects |
| World political effects |
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| Airport security |
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| Audiovisual entertainment |
| Response |
| Government response |
| Rescue and recovery effort |
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| Perpetrators |
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| Miscellaneous |
| Communication |
| Tower collapse |
| Slogans and terms |
| Conspiracy theories |
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| U.S. Congressional Inquiry |
| 9/11 Commission |
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| The War on Terrorism Forum |
United Airlines Flight 93, a flight aboard a Boeing 757-222, was a flight that regularly flew from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport continuing on to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on a different aircraft. On September 11, 2001, the aircraft on the flight 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 reach its intended target, instead crashing in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. This was apparently because passengers, alerted through phone calls, attempted to subdue the hijackers. The hijackers are thought to have crashed the plane to keep the passengers from gaining control. It is believed that flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Sandra Bradshaw and passengers Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, Andrew Garcia, Jeremy Glick, and Richard Guadagno among others fought back against the hijackers.
Contents |
Background
The other three planes hijacked that day were on the following flights: American Airlines flight 11, United Airlines flight 175 and American Airlines flight 77. The hijackers on Flight 93 were Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami, and the suicide pilot Ziad Jarrah. They used knives and the threat of a bomb to take over the cockpit.
The plane was N591UA, a Boeing 757-222 on a morning route from Newark Liberty International Airport (then Newark International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, near New York City 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 including the captain Jason Dahl, and his first officer, LeRoy Homer. 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.
Unlike the other three flights, four, not five, hijackers were on board.
The flight
Most of the details of this account come from the 9/11 Commission Report.
The aircraft was scheduled to depart at 8:00, but did not lift off until 8:47 due to routine traffic. Had the flight departed on time, it would likely have been hijacked around the same time as the other flights, and there is little chance the passengers would have had time to organize a revolt.
At 9:24 a.m., Flight 93 received from flight dispatch the warning "Beware any cockpit intrusion -- two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center." At 9:26 a.m. the pilot asked for confirmation of the message. That was the last time flight dispatch heard from Flight 93. Two minutes later, the hijackers took over the plane.
At about 9:28 a.m., when both towers of the World Trade Center had already been hit, flight controllers in Cleveland overheard some commotion, and possibly screaming, from Flight 93's cockpit. Forty seconds later, more screams were heard. During this time the aircraft dropped 700 feet. The flight controllers tried to contact the pilot and received no reply. At 9:32, a man with an Arabic accent, probably Ziad Jarrah, transmitted to flight control the following: "Ladies and gentlemen, here [is] the captain, please sit down, keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So sit." (It is likely that Jarrah was attempting to broadcast this over the plane's intercom, but did not understand that the message was transmitted to flight control instead.) The flight then reversed direction and began flying eastward at a low altitude. At 9:39, air traffic controllers overheard Jarrah saying "Uh, this is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board, and [we] are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet." There were no further transmissions.
Authorities have since ruled that the deaths of the hijackers were suicides and that the deaths of the 40 others were homicides.
It is accepted that the destination was Washington, D.C. The United States Capitol and the White House have been cited as targets, with the Capitol being the more likely of the two. Had the plane struck either building, it might not have killed anyone other than those on board the plane. Both buildings had been evacuated by 9:45 a.m. However, it might have dealt a powerful psychological blow to America, having severely damaged another symbol of American power.
Passenger and crew phone calls
Much of what happened on the plane has been reconstructed from the many phone calls made by passengers and crew, mainly through mobile phones. Ten passengers and two crew members made calls after the hijacking began. 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 killed at that point. A flight attendant was held in the cockpit and may have been stabbed and killed - she was most likely the purser, Debra Welsh. It has been speculated by some that she attempted to perform CPR on either Mark Rothenberg or one of the pilots and refused to stop when the hijackers ordered her to.
The passengers and crew became aware through the phone calls of what had happened to Flights 11, 175 and 77.
The cockpit storm
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: "Don't worry. We're going to do something."
Another first class passenger, Mark Bingham, called 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 from friends and family.
One more first class passenger, Edward Felt, called 911 seeking information on the hijacking. His brief call was also cut off.
A coach 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 (up the aisle to the cockpit)".
Todd Beamer, another coach 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 killed, and, later, that the pilot and first officer were mortally 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.
Other persons who made phone calls to relatives include passenger Honor Elizabeth 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. What happened afterward is uncertain but the black box recordings revealed that, contrary to popular belief, the passengers were never able to enter the cockpit. These events were reenacted in the documentary, The Flight that Fought Back on the Discovery Channel.
"Black Box" recorders
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered on the afternoon of September 13, buried 25 feet deep at the impact site, and have yielded additional information about the final half hour of the flight. In April 2002, in an unprecedented action, the cockpit voice recorder was played by the FBI to relatives of the victims of the hijackings. Further details were released by the 9/11 Commission in July 2004.
Its full contents have not been made public. However, media reports of the tape indicate that the charge by the passengers and crew did take place. A woman can be heard pleading for her life at the start of the tape. This is thought to have been a flight attendant.
The tape was reported to have contained voices saying "Allahu Akbar," English shouts that included "Let's get them!" and "In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die" then screaming and other sounds followed by silence. Sounds of crockery smashing have led to the belief that a service cart was used as a battering-ram to force the cockpit door open.
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, in Arabic, whether to use a fire axe in the cockpit on those outside or to cut off the oxygen to quell the charge. Jarrah said "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?" Another hijacker replied "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off." Jarrah later said "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" to which another hijacker replied "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down." then later "Pull it down! Pull it down!"
The 9/11 Commission found from the recordings that, contrary to what many have believed, the passengers did not succeed in entering the cockpit before the plane crashed. The 9/11 Commission ruled that the actions of the passengers prevented the destruction of the Capitol building or the White House by causing the hijackers to abort the attack on their intended target.
While sifting through the wreckage, investigators reported finding a serrated belt-clip knife[1], as well a a cigarette lighter with a concealed blade[2].
Aftermath
All those on board Flight 93 were nominated for a Congressional Gold Medal for valor on September 19, 2001. These awards have not been granted, but the passengers of Flight 93 have been the subject of numerous other honors, including a Government memorial passed on September 10, 2002. The permanent memorial is expected to be completed around 2010-2011. On September 24, 2001, President George W. Bush held a special meeting for the families of Flight 93's victims at the White House. (Ironically, it was at the time — September 11, 2001 — a violation of FAA regulations for airline personnel or passengers to resist a hijacking by force.)
The flight route designation for future flights on the same route was renumbered from Flight 93 to Flight 81 in October 2001 out of respect for those who died. Among the first passengers to fly this route was Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer. Since then, United Airlines has renumbered all of their flights. The current flight designator for the same route, departing at approximately the same time, is Flight 853, from Newark to San Francisco, with a continuation to Tokyo, Japan, after an aircraft change.
Todd Beamer's "let's roll" has become a national catchphrase, with President Bush himself using it in several speeches.
Both Shanksville and Somerset County became much more well-known as the result of the crash. Somerset County now has a special council, run by the Somerset County Flight 93 Coordinator, which handles Flight 93 matters such as visitors' gifts and memorial services.
The crash was commemorated in ceremonies, public and private, on September 11, 2002 and 2003, at the field where the plane crashed.
After the crash, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey changed the name of Newark's airport from Newark International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport.
Flight 93, a TV movie based on the events on Flight 93, was broadcast on January 30, 2006, on A&E. United 93, a theatrical film based on the same events, is scheduled for release on April 28, 2006.
Flight 93 Memorial Controversy
A national design competition was held to create a public memorial in the field where Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. The winning design for Flight 93 National Memorial is called the Crescent of Embrace. The site plan features a large crescent pathway with red and sugar maples planted along the outer arc. [3] This has created some controversy because the terrorists who hijacked the airplane were Muslim fundamentalists. [4] The crescent is a generally recognized symbol of Islam and the Red Crescent is used as the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross. The crescent is represented on the flags of a number of countries with Muslim majorities. The architect asserts that there is no intent on referencing Muslim symbols (a sentiment has been shared by several families of the victims) yet is willing to discuss design modifications.
Trivia
- Main article: 9/11_conspiracy_theories#United_Flight_93
- A WCPO news report posted on the Web at 11:43:57 AM, September 11, claimed the plane had landed at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 10:45 AM [5]. However, the flight mentioned in the report is now believed to be Delta Air Lines Flight 1989.
- There is a three-minute discrepancy in the cockpit voice-recording immediately prior to the flight's crash. [6] Official Accounts report that the flight crashed at 10:03am. Seismologists record an impact at 10:06:05am.[7] (PDF)
- Official accounts of in-flight calls made by the passengers to their loved ones describing the hijacking are of undetermined veracity. The possibility to make a successful cellphone call from a moving airplane at cruising altitude without additional transmitting equipment is debated [8].
- One of the Flight 93 hijackers called himself Saeed al-Ghamdi; this appears to have been a false name. The true Mr Al-Ghamdi is in fact still alive, and is one of four Saudi men who claim their identities were stolen by September 11 hijackers. The exact relationship between them and their hijacking namesakes is unclear. [9].
- Pieces of the plane are said to be spread over 80 square miles, which would be rather unlikely if the plane was indeed deliberately crashed. This would indicate a midair complete or partial breakup, which could come about as a consequence of maneuvring outside safe limits or a missile hit.
- There were no large plane pieces found at the crash site. Accounts said the whole plane was 'incinerated' on impact. It is sometimes claimed that all plane crashes will result in major visible debris, but this is very dependent on the condition of the ground. As the crash site was a reclaimed mining area with soft soil and possibly underground cavities, a scenario where most debris would be under a layer of soil, while not very likely, is possible.
See also
- Flight 93 National Memorial
- United Airlines flight 93 for the Wikipedia tribute pages for this flight (and flight manifest)
- USS Somerset
- See Casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks: plane passengers for the flight manifest.
- 9/11 conspiracy theories
External links
There are many websites on the Internet that deal with Flight 93 and its passengers and crew. A small sample of these is below.
Websites
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- Flight 93 Memorial Project (official website)
- A site raising questions about alleged discrepancies in the official reports into the crash
- Bruderhof PeaceBarn: A Flight 93 memorial and more
- Flight 93 Theatrical Movie Official Site
- National Park Foundation Flight 93 Memorial Site
News articles
- MSNBC article 25-September-2001
- This Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story is one of the better known accounts of Flight 93, and has also covered the development of a memorial on the Flight 93 crash site.
- A transcript of a noteworthy Newsweek article by Karen Breslau. This article has been criticized for being too subjective, but it gave several accurate glimpses into what the black box recordings said about five months before they were played to the families of Flight 93's victims.
- Reuters Article on UA Flight 93 following the 9/11 Commission report, including a partial transcript of the cockpit voice recordings at the time of the crash
Research
- This report (pdf file) discusses the question of when Flight 93 struck the field and the seismological readings that argue 10:06 rather than 10:03.
- UA Flight 93: Minute by Minute
- Air Traffic Control Recording of 9/11 Flight 93
- Heroes Of Airliner 93
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 21, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
