Flight 93
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history took place when four commercial airliners were hijacked by members of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. Three out of four planes hit their targets: The World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Out of the 4, United States Airline Flight 93, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
At 8:42, just minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, a regularly scheduled early-morning nonstop flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California departed. The takeoff had been delayed for 45 minutes and carried 33 passengers and 7 crew members. The plane also carried our hijackers who had successfully boarded the plane with knives and box cutters. The plane’s late departure had disrupted the terrorists’ plans, and unlike the other 3 planes, they did not launch their attack until around 40 minutes into the flight.
At the same time, Ed Ballinger, a flight dispatcher, was trying to warn flights of possible cockpit intrusions. At 9:19 Ballinger informed pilots of the attacks on the World Trade Center; Flight 93 received his transmission at 9:23. Captain Jason Dahl responded at 9:26 to request clarification. At roughly 9:28 the terrorists successfully infiltrated the plane’s cockpit, and air traffic controllers heard what they believed to be two mayday calls amid sounds of a struggle. At 9:32 a hijacker, later identified as Ziad Jarrah, was heard over the flight data recorder, directing the passengers to sit down and stating that there was a bomb aboard the plane. The flight data recorder also shows that Jarrah reset the autopilot, turning the plane around to head back east.
In the back of the plane, passengers made calls to family and friends, and they learned about the three terrorist attacks that had already taken place. They realized that their own plane was likely involved in the attack, and the passengers voted to fight back. At 9:57, the passengers began their own attack on the cockpit. Worried that the passengers would break through, the hijackers made the decision to crash the plane before reaching their intended target(believed to be the White House), plowing into a field in Pennsylvania at 580 miles per hour. The ensuing explosion killed all 44 people on the plane.
In 2002, Congress established the Flight 93 National Memorial to create a permanent tribute to the plane’s passengers and crew. The memorial will eventually include a visitor center, memorial tree groves, a mile-wide Field of Honor and the crash site itself, known as “Sacred Ground” to honor the heroes of Flight 93.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/flight-93
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93
It's at least assuring these people did what they could to take back control of their situation. Its only unfortunate that they could not succeed in such a risky act. Real heroes.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting that the people on the plane were able to make calls to figure out what was going on, and from there were able to communicate with a bunch of people they didn't know to come up with a plan to ensure the terrorists were unsuccessful. However, I wonder what would have happened had they not found out about the other attacks, or if the terrorists had chosen to strike sooner.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is very interesting that during the people on the plane were able to take control of the plane, and save the white house. I also thought that it was interesting that Ed Ballinger was an instrumental part in the flight being redirected.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/flight-93
It's crazy to see how people react in a crisis like this. While some of those people never would have considered doing something so obviously risky, the gravity of the situation they were in prompted them to take the necessary action to save others, by bringing the plane down early. It's also unnerving to wonder what would have happened if this plane had actually hit its target.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is inspirational to see how these people acted knowing the risks that they were taking. Another hero of this story was Todd Beamer who was on the plane and was calling his family when he learned about the other attacks. He then dialed the FBI and right as the passengers prepared themselves to attack the cockpit, Todd was heard saying "let's roll." It is also sad thinking about how these passengers were unable to prevent their own deaths but that they were each heroes because of their actions.
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