The Debate Over Flight 93
I’m not talking about the upcoming movie, and God knows I’m not talking about tinfoil conspiracy tales of the flight being shot down by a missile; instead, I’m referring the the debate over whether the heroes of Flight 93 actually penetrated the cockpit. The recording played in the Moussaoui trial today was not conclusive, but it gives some hints that they did. First, the text (original Arabic in parentheses):
09:57:55 — (Is there something?)
09:57:57 — (A fight?)
09:57:59 — (Yeah?)
09:58:33 — Unintelligible. (Let’s go guys. Allah is greatest. Allah is greatest. Oh guys. Allah is greatest.)
09:58:41 — Ugh.
09:58:43 — Ugh.
09:58:44 — (Oh Allah. Oh Allah. Oh the most gracious.)
09:58:47 — Ugh. Ugh.
09:58:52 — Stay back.
09:58:55 — In the cockpit.
09:58:57 — In the cockpit.
09:58:57 — (They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold).
09:59:04 — Hold the door.
09:59:09 — Stop him.
09:59:11 — Sit down.
09:59:13 — Sit down.
09:59:15 — Sit down.
09:59:16 — Unintelligible.
09:59:17 — (What?)
09:59:18 — (There are some guys. All those guys.)
09:59:20 — Lets get them.
09:59:25 — Sit down.
09:59:29 — (What?)
09:59:30 — (What.)
09:59:31 — (What?)
09:59:36 — Unintelligible.
09:59:37 — (What?)
09:59:39 — Unintelligible.
09:59:41 — Unintelligible.
09:59:42 — (Trust in Allah, and in him.)
09:59:45 — Sit down.
09:59:47 — Unintelligible.
09:59:53 — Ahh.
09:59:55 — Unintelligible.
09:59:58 — Ahh.
10:00:06 — (There is nothing.)
10:00:07 — (Is that it? Shall we finish it off?)
10:00:08 — (No. Not yet.)
10:00:09 — (When they all come, we finish it off.)
10:00:11 — (There is nothing.)
10:00:13 — Unintelligible.
10:00:14 — Ahh.
10:00:15 — I’m injured.
10:00:16 — Unintelligible.
10:00:21 — Ahh.
10:00:22 — (Oh Allah. Oh Allah. Oh gracious.)
10:00:25 — In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die.
10:00:29 — (Up, down. Up, down, in the) cockpit.
10:00:33 — (The) cockpit.
10:00:37 — (Up, down. Saeed, up, down.)
10:00:42 — Roll it.
10:00:55 — Unintelligible.
10:00:59 — (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:01:01 — Unintelligible.
10:01:08 — (Is that it? I mean, shall we pull it down?)
10:01:09 — (Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.)
10:01:10 — Unintelligible.
10:01:11 — (Saeed.)
10:01:12 — … engine …
10:01:13 — Unintelligible.
10:01:16 — (Cut off the oxygen.)
10:01:18 — (Cut off the oxygen. Cut off the oxygen. Cut off the oxygen.)
10:01:34 — Unintelligible.
10:01:37 — Unintelligible.
10:01:41 — (Up, down. Up, down.)
10:01:41 — (What?)
10:01:42 — (Up, down.)
10:01:42 — Ahh.
10:01:53 — Ahh.
10:01:54 — Unintelligible.
10:01:55 — Ahh.
10:01:59 — Shut them off.
10:02:03 — Shut them off.
10:02:14 — Go.
10:02:14 — Go.
10:02:15 — Move.
10:02:16 — Move.
10:02:17 — Turn it up.
10:02:18 — (Down, down.)
10:02:23 — (Pull it down. Pull it down.)
10:02:25 — Down. Push, push, push, push, push.
10:02:33 — (Hey. Hey. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:35 — (Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:37 — (Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:40 — Unintelligible.
10:03:02 — (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:03 — (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:04 — (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:06 — (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:06 — (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:07 — No.
10:03:09 — (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:09 — (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
Clearly, the group of passengers at least made it to the door, and injured or killed the hijacker guarding the door. On the basis of the text alone, it can’t be determined whether they reached the inside, but at least one interpretation of the cockpit recording, with the benefit of the background noises, makes it seem as if that did occur:
As the tape proceeded, it was clear that passengers were gaining the upper hand.
A voice of a hijacker, presumably inside the cockpit, says, “They want to get in.” The voice continues, “Hold from within.” At 10 a.m., there is a voice that says, “I am injured.”
Sounds of a struggle can be heard. At that point, the plane appears to go out of control. There are sounds of the hijackers trying to shake off the passengers. The plane pitches back and forth.
We will never forget their sacrifice…
Seems to me it’s only a debate when you’re considering how to end the movie. Either way, the effect was the hijackers were defeated in their aims because the passengers fought back. It’s sad because presumably the passengers weren’t deliberately sacrificing themselves and were hoping to take control of the plane and land it safely, but that doesn’t make their sacrifice any less noble. It’s still a story that gives me chills.
They died trying to stop the islamo-lunatics.
Makes each and every one of them a hero in my book.
May their souls rest in peace and may God comfort the families that lost loved ones on that fateful flight.
NEVER FORGET.
I know I won’t.
I was with Todd and Lisa Beamer in Rome from Wednesday, September 5, 2001 through Sunday, September 9, 2001. We rode on the same bus to Rome airport on Monday, September 10, 2001 – they to go home to NJ, my wife and I to rent a car an head to the Amalfi coast for a few days. I heard the news of 9/11 in Positano Italy, I heard the news of Todd from a coworker while on a pay phone later that day.
He used to say “Let’s Roll” as a call to action. I have no doubt that he did everything he could to save himself and the others on that plane, and to prevent the suicide pilots from completing their mission.
He, and they, are heros.
Wow – so close in time to the fateful day. As you say, they are truly heroes. As bad as that day was, it could have been worse still without their actions…
This report brought me to the point of tears again! They are our heros.
I tend to believe there really was a passenger insurrection on Flight 93. Which means things didn’t go according to plan. But hey, no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. So the Flight 93 passengers were heroes, although perhaps not quite in the way shown in the movie. The middle class of advanced capitalists countries have been so cowed by authority and the threat of litigation that taking the law into their own hands is almost unthinkable. So when the passengers started to resist, it was Plan B, pre-supposing there was a Plan B. Presumably the WTC and Pentagon attacks went as planned. Even the demolition of WTC7 building hardly raised an eyebrow. You have to wonder just what was Flight 93’s intended target.
Ummm, Andrew, in a word – no. Don’t get there…