9/11 ~ Flight 93, The Ones Who Fought Back

At 10:03 am on September 11, 2001, 4 cowardly terrorists using their twisted version of the Muslim religion as justification for mass murder, lost control of the hijacked United Flight 93 they intended to slam into what we presume was the White House or the Capitol building. What these idiots did not count on was that the passengers would fight back.

United Flight 93 crashed into an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. No other innocent lives were taken that day.

This is when I personally felt a “fuckin-a right!” moment. Our people fought back and although they lost their lives, they prevented what was arguably the dumbest of these terrorists groups from taking anyone else with them.

There were 36 passengers and crew on that flight.

No one survived the impact into that field.

What truly happened on that plane, no one will ever know. But, we do know from the phone calls that the passengers were able to make that they were formulating a plan to take back the cockpit. They knew that the pilot and co-pilot were dead, along with a flight attendant and passenger. They found out about the other attacks and seemed to decide that they were not going to let that happen again.

From Wikipedia:

The Hijacking

The cockpit voice recorder began recording the final 30 minutes of Flight 93 at 09:31:57.[34] At this moment, it recorded Jarrah announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen: here the captain, please sit down and keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.”[35] The controller understood the transmission, but chose to respond, “Calling Cleveland center, you’re unreadable. Say again, slowly.”[36] A flight attendant being held captive is heard pleading, “Please, please, don’t hurt me.”[37] Jarrah instructed the autopilot to turn the plane and head east at 09:35:09.[38] The aircraft ascended to 40,700 feet (12,400 m) and air traffic controllers immediately moved several aircraft out of Flight 93’s flightpath.[36] The flight attendant in the cockpit is heard to say, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die” followed by one of the hijackers saying in Arabic, “Everything is fine. I finished.”[37]

At 9:39 air traffic controllers overheard Jarrah say, “Hi, this is the captain. I would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [inaudible]. Please remain quiet.”[36][39] Air traffic controllers did not hear from the flight again. Passengers and crew began making phone calls to officials and family members starting at 09:30 using GTE airphones and mobile phones. Altogether, the passengers and crew made 35 airphone calls and two cell phone calls from the flight.[40] Ten passengers and two crew members were able to successfully connect, providing information to family, friends, and others on the ground.[23] Tom Burnett made several phone calls to his wife beginning at 09:30:32 from rows 24 and 25, though he was assigned a seat in row four.[33][41] Burnett explained that the plane had been hijacked by men claiming to have a bomb. He also said that a passenger had been stabbed with a knife and that he believed the bomb threat was a ruse to control the passengers.[41] During one of Tom Burnett’s calls, his wife informed him of the attacks on the World Trade Center and he replied that the hijackers were “talking about crashing this plane … Oh my God. It’s a suicide mission.”[42] He ended his last call by saying, “Don’t worry, we’re going to do something.”[42] An unknown flight attendant attempted to contact the United Airlines maintenance facility at 09:32:29. The call lasted 95 seconds, but was not received as it may have been in queue.[21] Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called the maintenance facility at 09:35:40 from row 33.[33] She reported the flight had been hijacked by men with knives who were in the cabin and flight deck and had stabbed another flight attendant.[41]
“Jack, pick up sweetie, can you hear me? Okay. I just want to tell you, there’s a little problem with the plane. I’m fine. I’m totally fine. I just want to tell you how much I love you.”
Message left by pregnant passenger Lauren Grandcolas at 09:39:21.[43]

Mark Bingham called his mother at 09:37:03 from row 25. He reported that the plane had been hijacked by three men who claimed to have a bomb.[44] Jeremy Glick called his wife at 09:37:41 from row 27 and told her the flight was hijacked by three dark-skinned men that looked “Iranian”, wearing red bandanas and wielding knives.[23][41] Glick remained connected until the end of the flight.[33] He reported that the passengers voted whether to “rush” the hijackers.[21] The United air traffic control coordinator for West Coast flights, Alessandro “Sandy” Rogers, alerted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Herndon Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, that Flight 93 was not responding and was off course. A minute later, the transponder was turned off, but the Cleveland controller continued to monitor the flight on primary radar.[36] The Herndon Center relayed information on Flight 93 to FAA headquarters. Joseph DeLuca called his father at 09:43:03 from row 26 to inform him the flight had been hijacked.[21] Todd Beamer attempted to call his wife from row 32 at 09:43:48, but was routed to GTE phone operator Lisa D. Jefferson.[41] Beamer told the operator that the flight was hijacked and the pilots were on the floor dead or dying. He said one of the hijackers had a red belt with what looked to be a bomb strapped to his waist.[45] A United employee in San Francisco, California, sent an ACARS message to the flight at 09:46, “Heard report of incident. Plz confirm all is normal.”[21] Linda Gronlund called her sister, Elsa Strong, at 09:46:05 and left her a message saying there were “men with a bomb”.[46]

Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles called her husband at 09:47:57 and left him a message saying the plane had been hijacked.[33] Marion Britton called her friend, Fred Fiumano, at 09:49:12. Fiumano recalled, “she said, ‘We’re gonna. They’re gonna kill us, you know, We’re gonna die.’ And I told her, ‘Don’t worry, they hijacked the plane, they’re gonna take you for a ride, you go to their country, and you come back. You stay there for vacation.’ You don’t know what to say—what are you gonna say? I kept on saying the same things, ‘Be calm.’ And she was crying and—you know—more or less crying and screaming and yelling.”[26] Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called her husband at 09:50:04 and told him she was preparing scalding water to throw at the hijackers.[33] Passenger Lauren Grandcolas called her husband twice, once before takeoff and once during the hijacking. He missed both of her calls. She then passed her phone to Honor Elizabeth Wainio.[26] Wainio called her stepmother at 09:53:43 and concluded, four and a half minutes later, by saying, “I have to go. They’re breaking into the cockpit. I love you.”[47] Jarrah dialed in the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) frequency for the VOR navigational aid at Reagan National Airport at 9:55:11 to direct the plane toward Washington, D.C.[29] Bradshaw, on the phone with her husband, said “Everyone is running up to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.”[48]

During the hijacking, flight 93 passed within 1,000 feet (300 m) (instead of the normal 2,000 feet (610 m)) of a NASA KC-135 returning from a microgravity flight over Lake Ontario. NASA pilot Dominic Del Rosso recalled how odd the silence on the radio was that morning.[49] At some point after the hijacking, two F-16 fighter jets from the 121st Fighter Squadron of the D.C. Air National Guard were scrambled and ordered to intercept Flight 93, and the pilots intended to ram it since they did not have time to arm the jets.[50] However, they never reached Flight 93 and didn’t learn of its crash until hours afterwards.[51]

Fighting Back

“Are you guys ready? Okay. Let’s roll!”

~ Todd Beamer’s last words heard by operator Lisa Jefferson at 09:55 am

The passenger revolt on Flight 93 began at 09:57 after the passengers took a vote amongst themselves about whether to act.[23] By this time, Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon and Flights 11 and 175 had struck the World Trade Center towers.[23] The hijackers in the cockpit became aware of the revolt at 09:57:55, exclaiming, “Is there something? A fight?”[34] Edward Felt dialed 9-1-1 from his cell phone from the lavatory of the aircraft seeking information.[33] His call was answered by dispatcher John Shaw, and Felt was able to tell him about the hijacking before the call was disconnected.[53] There were reports of Felt’s hearing an explosion and seeing smoke coming into the lavatory from under the door.[54] These reports were reported to be false in other sources.[55] Lyles called her husband once more from a cell phone and told him the passengers were forcing their way into the cockpit.[21] Jarrah began to roll the airplane left and right to knock the passengers off balance. He told another hijacker in the cockpit at 9:58:57, “They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold.”[34] Jarrah changed tactics at 9:59:52 and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault.[23]

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of crashing, screaming, and the shattering of glass.[56] Jarrah stabilized the plane at 10:00:03.[23] Five seconds later, he asked, “Is that it? Shall we finish it off?” Another hijacker responded, “No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.”[34] Jarrah once again pitched the airplane up and down. A passenger in the background cried, “In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die” at 10:00:25. Sixteen seconds later, another passenger yelled, “Roll it!”[23] Jarrah ceased the violent maneuvers at 10:01:00 and recited the takbir several times. He then asked another hijacker, “Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?” The other hijacker responded, “Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.”[23] Nevertheless, the passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:23, a hijacker said, “Pull it down! Pull it down!” The airplane descended with the yoke turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting the takbir. Amidst the continued sounds of the passenger counterattack, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes’ flying time from Washington, D.C.[23] The last entry on the voice recorder was made at 10:03:09.[34] The last piece of flight data was recorded at 10:03:10.[57] The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that “the hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them”.[23] However, many of the passengers’ family members, having heard the audio recordings, believe that the passengers breached the cockpit[58] and killed at least one or all of the hijackers.

That horrible day, at least these brave people were able to keep any other innocent lives from being taken. The people of United 93 are my heroes and sadly, are often forgotten about. They were just as brave as the firefighters, police and civilians who saved others’ lives only to sacrifice their own at Ground Zero.

Controversy

There is a permanent memorial being built and what I have found out is disturbing. The memorial for the brave men and women of Flight 93 seems to be an Islamic mosque in disguise. It will have a crescent — the very symbol of Islam — that points to within five degrees south of Mecca and a “tower of voices” with 44 blocks (there should only be 40; the 4 terrorists should not get any memorial in this country) that acts as a sundial directing Muslim afternoon prayers. I think this is abhorrent and even Tom Burnett’s father has been fighting against this atrocity. It’s as if the National Park Service is conceding defeat to the terrorists. Read the articles from the link I provided and decide for yourselves.

Tags: 9/11, featured, United 93

Category: My Opinions