Flight 93

WALL OF NAMES
Names of the Passengers and crew
members of United Airlines Flight 93
are engraved in the white marble
wall (above).
NPS / WAGNER

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CREW MEMBERS

CAPTAIN, JASON M. DAHL • FIRST OFFICER, LEROY HOMER •
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: LORRAINE G. BAY • SANDY WAUGH BRADSHAW •
WANDA ANITA GREEN • CEECEE ROSS LYLES • DEBORAH JACOBS WELSH •

PASSENGERS

CHRISTIAN ADAMS • TODD M. BEAMER • ALAN ANTHONY BEAVEN •
MARK BINGHAM • DEORA FRANCES BODLEY • MARION R. BRITTON •
THOMAS E. BURNETT, JR. • WILLIAM JOSEPH CASHMAN •
GEORGINE ROSE CORRIGAN • PATRICIA CUSHING • JOSEPH DELUCA •
PATRICK JOSEPH DRISCOLL • EDWARD PORTER FELT • JANE C. FOLGER •
COLLEEN L. FRASER • ANDREW (SONNY) GARCIA •
JEREMY LOGAN GLICK • KRISTIN OSTERHOLM WHITE GOULD •
LARUEN CATUZZI GRANDCOLAS AND UNBORN CHILD •
DONALD FREEMAN GREENE • LINDA GRONLUND • RICHARD J. GUADAGNO •
TOSHIYA KUGE • HILDA MARCIN • WALESKA MARTINEZ •
NICOLE CAROL MILLER • LOUIS J. NACKE ll • DONALD ARTHUR PETERSON •
JEAN HOADLEY PETERSON • MARK DAVID ROTHENBERG •
CHRISTINE ANN SNYDER • JOHN TALIGNANI • HONOR ELIZABETH WAINIO •

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September 11, 2001

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September 11, 2001, morning: Four commercial airliners are hijacked by
al Qaeda terrorists in a planned attack aganist the United States. Two are
flown into the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York City. A third is
flown into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plan, United Airlines Flight
93, a Boeing 757 bound for San Francisco, California, from Newark, New
Jersey, is delayed 25 minutes before takeoff.

After 46 minutes flying, when over eastern Ohio, hijackers in first class
attack at 9:28 am, incapacitating the captain and first officer. Hijackers turn
Flight 93 southeast, headed for Washington, DC, most likely the US
Capital (below).

Just before 10 am the plane is seen flying low and erratically over southwest-
ern Pennsylvania. At 10:03 it crashes, upside-down, at 563 miles per hour
into this Somerset County field. There are no survivors. All 33 passengers,
seven crew members, and four hijackers are killed.

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CHARTING THE ACTION OF THE
PASSENGERS AND CREW
This flight map depicts the delayed
takeoff and then the hijacking of
Flight 93 by terrorists. Six minutes
of struggle kept the airliner from
reaching its symbolic target in the
Nation's Capital.

 

© LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, CAROL HIGHSMITH COLLECTION

 

VALENCIA MCCLATCHEY

America Attacked

The smoke plume from the crash
explosion was photographed by a
nearby resident (right). September
11, 2001, marked the first time that
terrorists used commerical airliners
as weapons to destroy symbolic
targets, commit mass murder, and
spread fear. Al Qaeda had targeted
the World Trade Center, commerce;
Pentagon, military; and US Capitol,
government.

Hay bales covered with tributes
from the families of the passengers
and crew formed an early, informal
memorial (below) even as the FBI
recovery work and search for evidence
continued at the crash site.

 

JAMES BEE

 

What happened on board Flight 93—why it crashed here and why it did not strike its target—
revealed itself as a story of heroic action. When the terrorist-hijackers took over the plane, passengers and crew began phoning family, friends, and authorities to report the hijacking. Their calls—13 people placed 37 calls—told them of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Their plane, they now realized, was part of a planned attack. Passenger and crew then made a collective decision, by vote, to rush the terrorists and try to retake the plane.

 

The first volunteer fire fighters on
the scene and local residents stand
by the smoldering crater 15 min-
utes after the crash. At the
direction of the coroner, the crater
was backfilled. A piece of fuselage
(right) was one of the largest
objects recovered. The cockpit
voice recorder (below) gave
details of the diverted flight.

 

FBI

The cockpit voice recorder became
important evidence for the FBI in
this, one of its largest-ever investi-
gations. This was the only voice
recorder recovered from the four
hijacked aircraft to yield information.
This "black box" gave critical
information about the struggle for
control. Other evidence found here
would enable the FBI to trace how
the terrorist attacks were financed.

 

Recovered from the crash site, the cockpit voice recorder captured the shouts, thumps, crashes, and breaking of glass and plates. The 9/11 Comission reported that the hijackers, although remaining in control of the plane, must have judged that the passengers and crew were mere seconds from over-coming them. To continued sounds of the counterattack, Flight 93 crashed into this field.

The crash site is 18 minutes flying time from Washington, DC. The action of unarmed passengers and crew thwarted and defeated the terrorists' plan.

Flight 93 National Memorial is the nation's memorial to the passengers and crew of Flight 93. The Tower of Voices stands in musical tribute at the gateway to the memorial. The Visitor Center Complex, on the hill above the crash site, introduces their story. The Memorial Plaza borders the crash site, which consists of the impact site (marked by a boulder) and debris field. The fields and woods beyond are the final resting place for the passengers and crew' their remains are still present.

 

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GPO:2021—416-165/82722 Last Updated 2021