'The Real Story of Flight 93'

'The Real Story of Flight 93'

Flight 93 Cockpit Voice Recorder Details Violent Struggle Between Passengers and Hijackers Before Crash in Pennsylvania

One Passenger Cries, 'Let's Get Them!' As They Storm the Cockpit

Hijackers Shout 'God Is Great!' and Appear to Deliberately Fly Plane Into the Ground; In Final Moments Hijackers Fight Among Themselves for the Controls

Newsweek
November 25, 2001
http://www.msnbc.com/news/662607.asp

NEW YORK Beginning at 9:57 a.m. on September 11, the cockpit voice recorder of United Airlines Flight 93 began to pick up the sounds of a death struggle between passengers and the aircraft's hijackers. There is the crash of galley dishes and trays being hurled, a man's voice screaming loudly. The hijackers can be heard calling on each other to hold the cockpit door. One of the passengers cries out, "Let's get them!" More crashing and screaming. In a desperate measure to control the rebellion, a hijacker suggests cutting off the oxygen. Another one tells his confederates to "take it easy." The end is near. The hijackers can be heard talking about finishing off the plane, which has begun to dive. The hijackers cry out, "God is great!" The cockpit voice recorder picks up shouting by one of the male passengers. It is unclear whether the passengers have breached the cockpit or are just outside the door. The hijackers apparently begin to fight among themselves for the controls, demanding, "Give it to me."

In the December 3 issue (on newsstands Monday, November 26), informed sources described in detail to Newsweek information that has never been revealed before: the words and sounds picked up by the cockpit voice recorder on Flight 93 before the plane crashed in Pennsylvania. For the past two months, Newsweek interviewed the families and friends of the passengers of Flight 93 to learn their story. It's not known who led the charge on the hijackers, or how many passengers followed. Many of the details are missing and many questions remain. But the tapes help resolve a central mystery: they strongly suggest that the four hijackers flew the plane into the ground under ferocious assault from the passengers. The tapes give the most complete portrait yet of the last minutes of Flight 93. The lasting impression is one of courage, the kind of extraordinary bravery ordinary Americans can show, write San Francisco Bureau Chief Karen Breslau, Contributing Editor Eleanor Clift and Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas.

The tape of the cockpit voice recorder of Flight 93 begins shortly after 9:30 a.m. The sounds it picked up were grim. Someone is crying and moaning, pleading not to be hurt, not to be killed. Investigators are not sure what happened, but the hijackers may have seized a flight attendant and held a knife or box cutter to her throat to bring the captain out of the cockpit. Or they may have just barged into the cockpit -- the door is locked, but designed to withstand no more than 150 pounds of pressure.

Some investigators speculate that the hijackers may have slashed the throats of the pilots as the two men were still strapped in their seats. The cockpit voice recorder picked up the sound of someone choking.

At about 9:25 a.m., in the sparsely filled main cabin, passengers had been served breakfast. The pilots had checked in with Cleveland air traffic control, uttering a jaunty "good morning." Suddenly, the air traffic controllers could hear the sound of screaming and scuffling over the open mike. "Did somebody call Cleveland?" the controller asked. No answer. Just the muffled sounds of struggle. Then silence. When a hijacker took over the controls, he knocked the plane off autopilot. Signals from the transponder show the aircraft jumping up and down. Then there are the voices of the hijackers, sources tell Newsweek, speaking in Arabic, reassuring each other: "Everything is fine."

At Cleveland Center, the air traffic controllers furiously tried to get information from Flight 93. Other planes in the area began listening in to the traffic. A thickly accented man came on the air: "Hi, this is the captain. 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."

Investigators think the voice belonged to Ziad Samir Jarrah, the lead man, and that he had flipped the wrong switch, thinking he was addressing the passengers over the P.A. system when he was calling Cleveland control instead. On the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), sources tell Newsweek, Arab voices can be heard realizing their mistake. They know they are overheard by the air traffic control and other planes in the area. The CVR picks up numerous clicks and snaps as the hijackers fiddled with switches and knobs, trying to make sure they are no longer on the open airwaves.

Back in rows 30 to 34, where most of the passengers had been confined, a rebellion was brewing. They began whispering among themselves and talking about "rushing the hijackers." Several flight attendants were filling coffee pots with boiling water to throw at the hijackers. No one seems to have paid too much heed to their guard, whom investigators believe was a 20-year old Saudi identified as Ahmed Alhaznawi, who had a red box strapped around his waist which he said was a bomb.

In the cabin, the hijackers must have realized that the passengers were stirring against them. They apparently decided to abandon the main cabin and hole up in the cockpit. On the CVR, one of the hijackers can be heard telling another to let "the guys in now," presumably meaning the other two hijackers. There is also a cryptic reference in Arabic to bringing back "the pilot," but investigators aren't sure what they meant. Did they need one of the United pilots, lying bleeding on the floor of First Class to fly the plane? One of the hijackers begins praying. Another suggests using an ax -- there is one hanging in the back of the cockpit, to break out in case of fire -- to scare the passengers into submission.

In the back of the plane, knots of passengers were moving about, talking to each other, debating how to strike. There was some discussion about what they could use for weapons. Some passengers called friends and loved ones to say their last good-byes. The hijackers, meanwhile, apparently decided to try to subdue the restless passengers by knocking them off their feet. Taking the plane off autopilot, the hijackers sent the plan lurching and bobbing.

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