UA93 CVR: Pax Came So Close To Retaking Aircraft
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UA93 CVR: Pax Came So Close To Retaking Aircraft
From today's Scotsman
On the 11th September, there were many heroes. Greatest of them all were those passengers.
Passengers so close to saving Flight 93
Gethin Chamberlain
THOSE who watched the events of September 11 unfold on television knew that everyone on board Flight 93 from Newark was going to die. Those on board suspected that their flight was not destined to land safely at San Francisco airport. Until now it was doubtful that anyone realised the full horror of what happened in the moments before the United Airlines Boeing 757 plunged into a field in Pennsylvania.
Now, however, tapes from the doomed jet’s voice recorder throw a chilling new light on the passengers’ struggle to retake the hijacked plane and the terrorists’ determination to die. The black box tapes reveal how the passengers bombarded the hijackers with plates and metal trays as they tried to retake the cockpit.
They record the panicked shouts of the hijackers and the crying and praying of the passengers as the jet went down. And they document the final act as the terrorist pilot Ziad Jarrah screamed, and pointed the nose downwards.
Flight 93 was the fourth plane to be hijacked on September 11. By the time the terrorists seized control, the first two had already smashed into the World Trade Centre. Passengers on board knew this because they had mobile phones and they were able to call their families and friends in the moments before they died.
It was those phone calls that convinced the 33 passengers on board that they were destined to die unless they attempted to fight back. The tapes reveal just how close they came to retaking the plane before the terrorists realised the game was up, aborted their planned attack on a still unknown target and crashed near Shanksville killing all 44 people on board.
Flight 93, carrying 200,000lb of fuel, had taken off from Newark at 8:01 that Tuesday morning and turned west to begin the six-hour flight to San Francisco.
At the controls was Capt Jason Dahl, and Leroy Homer, 36, the First Officer. They had an hour and a half to live, less even than their passengers. The first indication they had that something was wrong was just over an hour into the flight when they received a radioed text message from air traffic control in Chicago warning crews to be aware of possible hijacking.
Behind them, in the main body of the plane, the hijackers were preparing to move. Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi, Saeed al-Ghamdi and Ahmed al-Nami, all in their 20s and the youngest of Osama bin Laden’s hijackers, put on their red bandannas and made their way to the front of the plane.
In the cockpit, Captain Dahl was asking air traffic control to clarify a message he had overheard: "Did you say that they weren't accepting any traffic into the New York area?" "They're not," the controller replied. "They're having a problem at the World Trade Centre."
Seconds later came the screams. Captain Dahl’s last recorded words were: "Get out of here!" Moments later he and Leroy Homer were dead, their throats slit by the hijackers.
In their moment of triumph, however, their attackers were about to make their first mistake. Jarrah, their pilot, flicked a switch he thought would enable him to talk to the passengers. Instead, his heavily-accented voice was picked up by those at air traffic control.
"Hi, this is the captain," he said. "We’d like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board. We are going to turn back to the airport. And they have our demands, so please be quiet."
By the time he realised his mistake it was too late. Now those on the ground knew what was happening, and with US fighters already airborne, there was little or no chance that Flight 93 would be allowed to crash into another landmark.
On board, the hijackers spoke to each other in Arabic about what had happened before fiddling with the microphone to prevent a repeat of the mistake.
While Jarrah took the controls and turned towards Washington, the 33 passengers and surviving crew were herded to the back of the plane.
There, several passengers began to make frantic phone calls to their families, phone operators and air traffic controllers. The news they received was grim. The twin towers were burning and the Pentagon had been hit. The passengers decided there was no point in waiting for their fate.
They included a trained pilot, an American footballer, rugby players and a body builder. They reasoned, they could retake the plane and land it safely. As they prepared to tackle the hijackers, passenger Todd Beamer told a phone operator he could see the pilots’ bodies outside the cockpit. "Are you guys ready?" he asked the others. "Let's roll."
As the men moved forward fellow passenger Elizabeth Wainio broke off her call to her stepmother saying: "I’ve got to go, they’re breaking into the cockpit. I love you. Goodbye."
At 9:57am, the cockpit voice recorder picked up sounds of a struggle with one passenger shouting: "Let’s get them."
As the passengers charged, Jarrah and one of the other hijackers could be heard trying to let the other two men back in from just outside the cockpit where they had been standing. Back inside the cockpit there was confusion as the terrorists began squabbling. One urged that the passengers be kept out. Another suggested cutting off oxygen to the cabin.
"Take it easy," another said, trying to calm the situation, but the fourth suggested they use the fire axe kept in the cockpit to scare the passengers into submission. The sound of dishes and trays being thrown could be heard in the background as the terrorists yelled at each other and appeared to fight over the controls, with one saying: "Give it to me."
With the passengers apparently beginning to gain the upper hand, Jarrah tried to regain control of the situation by putting the plane into a dive to knock the passengers off their feet. The tactic failed and the hijackers appeared to have accepted that their plan was doomed to failure. Voices talked about "finishing off" the plane.
The last voice on the recorder is that of Jarrah. "Allahu akbar" he screamed. (God is great). It was 10:06am.
Gethin Chamberlain
THOSE who watched the events of September 11 unfold on television knew that everyone on board Flight 93 from Newark was going to die. Those on board suspected that their flight was not destined to land safely at San Francisco airport. Until now it was doubtful that anyone realised the full horror of what happened in the moments before the United Airlines Boeing 757 plunged into a field in Pennsylvania.
Now, however, tapes from the doomed jet’s voice recorder throw a chilling new light on the passengers’ struggle to retake the hijacked plane and the terrorists’ determination to die. The black box tapes reveal how the passengers bombarded the hijackers with plates and metal trays as they tried to retake the cockpit.
They record the panicked shouts of the hijackers and the crying and praying of the passengers as the jet went down. And they document the final act as the terrorist pilot Ziad Jarrah screamed, and pointed the nose downwards.
Flight 93 was the fourth plane to be hijacked on September 11. By the time the terrorists seized control, the first two had already smashed into the World Trade Centre. Passengers on board knew this because they had mobile phones and they were able to call their families and friends in the moments before they died.
It was those phone calls that convinced the 33 passengers on board that they were destined to die unless they attempted to fight back. The tapes reveal just how close they came to retaking the plane before the terrorists realised the game was up, aborted their planned attack on a still unknown target and crashed near Shanksville killing all 44 people on board.
Flight 93, carrying 200,000lb of fuel, had taken off from Newark at 8:01 that Tuesday morning and turned west to begin the six-hour flight to San Francisco.
At the controls was Capt Jason Dahl, and Leroy Homer, 36, the First Officer. They had an hour and a half to live, less even than their passengers. The first indication they had that something was wrong was just over an hour into the flight when they received a radioed text message from air traffic control in Chicago warning crews to be aware of possible hijacking.
Behind them, in the main body of the plane, the hijackers were preparing to move. Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi, Saeed al-Ghamdi and Ahmed al-Nami, all in their 20s and the youngest of Osama bin Laden’s hijackers, put on their red bandannas and made their way to the front of the plane.
In the cockpit, Captain Dahl was asking air traffic control to clarify a message he had overheard: "Did you say that they weren't accepting any traffic into the New York area?" "They're not," the controller replied. "They're having a problem at the World Trade Centre."
Seconds later came the screams. Captain Dahl’s last recorded words were: "Get out of here!" Moments later he and Leroy Homer were dead, their throats slit by the hijackers.
In their moment of triumph, however, their attackers were about to make their first mistake. Jarrah, their pilot, flicked a switch he thought would enable him to talk to the passengers. Instead, his heavily-accented voice was picked up by those at air traffic control.
"Hi, this is the captain," he said. "We’d like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board. We are going to turn back to the airport. And they have our demands, so please be quiet."
By the time he realised his mistake it was too late. Now those on the ground knew what was happening, and with US fighters already airborne, there was little or no chance that Flight 93 would be allowed to crash into another landmark.
On board, the hijackers spoke to each other in Arabic about what had happened before fiddling with the microphone to prevent a repeat of the mistake.
While Jarrah took the controls and turned towards Washington, the 33 passengers and surviving crew were herded to the back of the plane.
There, several passengers began to make frantic phone calls to their families, phone operators and air traffic controllers. The news they received was grim. The twin towers were burning and the Pentagon had been hit. The passengers decided there was no point in waiting for their fate.
They included a trained pilot, an American footballer, rugby players and a body builder. They reasoned, they could retake the plane and land it safely. As they prepared to tackle the hijackers, passenger Todd Beamer told a phone operator he could see the pilots’ bodies outside the cockpit. "Are you guys ready?" he asked the others. "Let's roll."
As the men moved forward fellow passenger Elizabeth Wainio broke off her call to her stepmother saying: "I’ve got to go, they’re breaking into the cockpit. I love you. Goodbye."
At 9:57am, the cockpit voice recorder picked up sounds of a struggle with one passenger shouting: "Let’s get them."
As the passengers charged, Jarrah and one of the other hijackers could be heard trying to let the other two men back in from just outside the cockpit where they had been standing. Back inside the cockpit there was confusion as the terrorists began squabbling. One urged that the passengers be kept out. Another suggested cutting off oxygen to the cabin.
"Take it easy," another said, trying to calm the situation, but the fourth suggested they use the fire axe kept in the cockpit to scare the passengers into submission. The sound of dishes and trays being thrown could be heard in the background as the terrorists yelled at each other and appeared to fight over the controls, with one saying: "Give it to me."
With the passengers apparently beginning to gain the upper hand, Jarrah tried to regain control of the situation by putting the plane into a dive to knock the passengers off their feet. The tactic failed and the hijackers appeared to have accepted that their plan was doomed to failure. Voices talked about "finishing off" the plane.
The last voice on the recorder is that of Jarrah. "Allahu akbar" he screamed. (God is great). It was 10:06am.
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What is reported to have taken place on board the aircraft is truly heroic. In their desperate, no-escape circumstance it was only sensible to 'have a go'! I too wish the passengers and cabin crew had succeeded.
May God rest their souls in heaven and grant peace to their grieving families and loved ones.
But is it not probable that coincidently the aircraft was shot down to ensure it would not be crashed into another significant national target building with further huge loss of life?
The reported distance between the tail/empennage, and the main aircraft fuselage/wings impact locations points to a mid-air breakup. The expanding shaped charge shrapnel pattern from an exploding air to air missile(s) would be capable of cutting the aircraft about that point, resulting in the mid-air separation of the fuselage, hence the impact separation distance.
Knowing what had transpired in New York and Washington, plus knowing the on-board status and intentions of the hijackers, had I been the fighter pilot I would have also obeyed the terrible but necessary order.
Understandably the President has placed a news-ban on that event.
So, if my notion is correct I wish the fighter pilot in question Godspeed in accepting that he HAD to shoot the aircraft down, to minimize horrendous collateral damage; and may he be at peace within his conscience - having done his duty.
May God rest their souls in heaven and grant peace to their grieving families and loved ones.
But is it not probable that coincidently the aircraft was shot down to ensure it would not be crashed into another significant national target building with further huge loss of life?
The reported distance between the tail/empennage, and the main aircraft fuselage/wings impact locations points to a mid-air breakup. The expanding shaped charge shrapnel pattern from an exploding air to air missile(s) would be capable of cutting the aircraft about that point, resulting in the mid-air separation of the fuselage, hence the impact separation distance.
Knowing what had transpired in New York and Washington, plus knowing the on-board status and intentions of the hijackers, had I been the fighter pilot I would have also obeyed the terrible but necessary order.
Understandably the President has placed a news-ban on that event.
So, if my notion is correct I wish the fighter pilot in question Godspeed in accepting that he HAD to shoot the aircraft down, to minimize horrendous collateral damage; and may he be at peace within his conscience - having done his duty.
Hijacking UA93 by rushing the cockpit with musclemen is a scenario that I refrained from mentioning in public, but this report shows that the bad guys have already figured this one out.
A single door can be rushed when it's opened for a lav visit, meals or drinks. Most pax a/c have a front galley behind the cockpit. We need a secure door protecting the front galley from the cabin with an interlock that prevents both doors being open at the same time.
Any time the cockpit door is to be opened, the front galley must be cleared of pax and its door must be secured.
The last thing we need is hijackers, ostensibly in a lav lineup, who rush a single cockpit door when open and barricade themselves behind a strengthened door.
The resisters of UA93 at the very least deserve a monument and posthumous honors as the first people to take on the terrorists with little more than their bare hands. While it would have taken a miracle to save their own lives, they saved hundreds more by their bravery.
A single door can be rushed when it's opened for a lav visit, meals or drinks. Most pax a/c have a front galley behind the cockpit. We need a secure door protecting the front galley from the cabin with an interlock that prevents both doors being open at the same time.
Any time the cockpit door is to be opened, the front galley must be cleared of pax and its door must be secured.
The last thing we need is hijackers, ostensibly in a lav lineup, who rush a single cockpit door when open and barricade themselves behind a strengthened door.
The resisters of UA93 at the very least deserve a monument and posthumous honors as the first people to take on the terrorists with little more than their bare hands. While it would have taken a miracle to save their own lives, they saved hundreds more by their bravery.
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Chimbu
I share your sentiments but I think the CMH is only awarded in the military. However I think there is a civilian equivalent which is the very least those people deserve. The phrase "lets roll" is one I have used casually for many years, not anymore.
I am non aviation, did I interpret someone's analysis to mean that the this flight was infact shot down? Please advise
I share your sentiments but I think the CMH is only awarded in the military. However I think there is a civilian equivalent which is the very least those people deserve. The phrase "lets roll" is one I have used casually for many years, not anymore.
I am non aviation, did I interpret someone's analysis to mean that the this flight was infact shot down? Please advise
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A longer account in the current issue of Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.com/news/662607.asp
I read it last night. Couldn't sleep afterwards. Brave people. If the worst happened, I hope that I would do the same as those passengers.
I read it last night. Couldn't sleep afterwards. Brave people. If the worst happened, I hope that I would do the same as those passengers.
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Just read the Newsweek article, it's all I can do to keep from crying. I hope to God I would have one tenth of their courage. May God have mercy on their souls and seat them all at his right hand, amen.
Ratherbeflying.
Rush the door? I've found three Boeing flightdeck door keys. The base engineer has another two in his toolbox. He HAD more but cannot remember where they went. I have the key blank number to get them cut (no questions asked) at any local locksmith/ironmongers store.
Locking the door only serves to increase the occurence of tea-spilling in transit to the flight deck. It don't stop a55h0le5 from getting in.
Scares me that security hasn't made this more obvious to the crew.
Rush the door? I've found three Boeing flightdeck door keys. The base engineer has another two in his toolbox. He HAD more but cannot remember where they went. I have the key blank number to get them cut (no questions asked) at any local locksmith/ironmongers store.
Locking the door only serves to increase the occurence of tea-spilling in transit to the flight deck. It don't stop a55h0le5 from getting in.
Scares me that security hasn't made this more obvious to the crew.
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Dear T-Richard-
no, it wasn't shot down. The hijacker pushed the nose over far enough that the aircraft exceeded its max speed and "fluttered." The tail and/or wings rip off, essentially like a road sign in a hurricane.
As in the case of TWA 800, any explosion would have left telltale shrpanel pockmarks all over the wreckage - and no way would that have been supressed for this long.
Also, the USAF would have first tried to contact the pilots on VHF radio frequencies monitored by many other pilots and ATC controllers - also impossible to suppress for this long.
Jets are slick, heavy pieces of metal with massive amounts of thrust coming out of their engines. Point them at terra firma for more than a few seconds and they start shedding parts.
God bless those pax and crew. May we all show the furious strength that they did.....
no, it wasn't shot down. The hijacker pushed the nose over far enough that the aircraft exceeded its max speed and "fluttered." The tail and/or wings rip off, essentially like a road sign in a hurricane.
As in the case of TWA 800, any explosion would have left telltale shrpanel pockmarks all over the wreckage - and no way would that have been supressed for this long.
Also, the USAF would have first tried to contact the pilots on VHF radio frequencies monitored by many other pilots and ATC controllers - also impossible to suppress for this long.
Jets are slick, heavy pieces of metal with massive amounts of thrust coming out of their engines. Point them at terra firma for more than a few seconds and they start shedding parts.
God bless those pax and crew. May we all show the furious strength that they did.....
Blue Up,
Perhaps I'm rash, but I do believe that the new doors will come with secure key control -- or what's the point?
The local gym down the street uses palm readers to keep out the riff-raff. Someday coming to a cockpit door near you...
Perhaps I'm rash, but I do believe that the new doors will come with secure key control -- or what's the point?
The local gym down the street uses palm readers to keep out the riff-raff. Someday coming to a cockpit door near you...
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Thanks for the clarification Huck, in boating circles we call that hull speed. Either put too big an engine on the boat or try to run a sail boat before the wind with too much sail up and the hull will start to vibrate, theoretically it will vibrate apart. I've only heard a sailing hull humm once, in a nightime squall at the mouth of the Bay od Fundy. Really wild.
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It's referred to as dynamic divergence, if I can reach back those many years to my L.A. Trade School roots (that's Lower Alabama). So nasty that, when flight testing a new design, aircraft have come apart before the chase pilot can key his mike to report oscillation.
Those passengers who fought back were desperate but very courageous, and had brass &alls, both men and women. I wonder how God judges those cowardly terrorist-punks who murdered so many innocent civilians.
Huck-I've flown into and stayed in the other LA, and nobody could pay me enough money to live in the other LA, as in CA (not even one million $ +). You are in the much better LA. My folks lived on the bay several years at Point Clear and Daphne.
Huck-I've flown into and stayed in the other LA, and nobody could pay me enough money to live in the other LA, as in CA (not even one million $ +). You are in the much better LA. My folks lived on the bay several years at Point Clear and Daphne.
Ratherbe..
I saw the new bulletproof doors on the Virgin fleet. Nice new kevlar skins but looked like the same 60-80lbs pressure yeild plastic frangible door lock "snib" sticking out of the door.
BANG! Bullet fails to pass through the door but snaps the girlie-ass door lock off.
Take a look at the 767 door latch system next time you climb in. On "one" airframe I have seen I thought I might even have been able to get past the lock without a key. As for the inwards pressure, I doubt that the aluminum angle fillet (designed to stop the door slamming and passing all the way forwards into the flightdeck?) could offer much resistance against a hard shove.
Lucky these afghans are skinny little Fu.....
I saw the new bulletproof doors on the Virgin fleet. Nice new kevlar skins but looked like the same 60-80lbs pressure yeild plastic frangible door lock "snib" sticking out of the door.
BANG! Bullet fails to pass through the door but snaps the girlie-ass door lock off.
Take a look at the 767 door latch system next time you climb in. On "one" airframe I have seen I thought I might even have been able to get past the lock without a key. As for the inwards pressure, I doubt that the aluminum angle fillet (designed to stop the door slamming and passing all the way forwards into the flightdeck?) could offer much resistance against a hard shove.
Lucky these afghans are skinny little Fu.....
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Blue up : no afghan did hijack any plane recently...
for your info even most the taliban are not ...and none of the Sept 11 guys were afghans...
But that is besides the point.
BayaeraLondoner : many thanks for the link on the Newsweek article. Good piece of journalism too.
for your info even most the taliban are not ...and none of the Sept 11 guys were afghans...
But that is besides the point.
BayaeraLondoner : many thanks for the link on the Newsweek article. Good piece of journalism too.
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There was an article in the Telegraph in the aftermath of 11/09, which covered much of this ground (although no access to CVR at that stage).
It remarked that for the most part, the airline industry tries to induce passivity and acceptance in passengers, and Americans are largely unable to accept responsibility for their own lives (hence the litigious nature of US society). It suggested that the refusal of the passengers on this flight to simply accept their lot, but to try to fight back, was a sign of a more heroic component that many people had thought lost for good in the American psyche.
It remarked that for the most part, the airline industry tries to induce passivity and acceptance in passengers, and Americans are largely unable to accept responsibility for their own lives (hence the litigious nature of US society). It suggested that the refusal of the passengers on this flight to simply accept their lot, but to try to fight back, was a sign of a more heroic component that many people had thought lost for good in the American psyche.
