Our first victory in the war on terror: United Flight 93.
Have we given them their medals yet?
From the 911 Commission Report:
Posted by DeLong at August 1, 2004 05:50 PM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this post...Several FAA air traffic control officials told us it was the air carriers' responsibility to notify their planes of security problems. One senior FAA air traffic control manager said that it was simply not the FAA's place to order the airlines what to tell their pilots. We believe such statements do not reflect an adequate appreciation of the FAA's responsibility for the safety and security of civil aviation.... [A]t 9:19... a United flight dispatcher, Ed Ballinger, took the initiative to begin transmitting warnings to his 16 transcontinental flights: "Beware any cockpit intrusion--two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center." One of the flights that received the warning was United 93... his warning message was not transmitted to Flight 93 until 9:23....
At 9:24, Ballinger's warning to United 93 was received in the cockpit. Within two minutes, at 9:26, the pilot, Jason Dahl, responded with a note of puzzlement: "Ed, confirm latest mssg plz--Jason."
The hijackers attacked at 9:28.... United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet... the FAA's air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions... the captain or first officer could be heard declaring "Mayday" amid the sounds of a physical struggle... second radio transmission, 35 seconds later... the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting: "Hey get out of here--get out of here--get out of here."
On the morning of 9/11, there were only 37 passengers on United 93....
At 9:32 a hijacker, probably Jarrah, made or attempted to make the following announcement..."Ladies and Gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So, sit."... The cockpit voice recorder data indicate that a woman, most likely a flight attendant, was being held captive in the cockpit. She struggled with one of the hijackers who killed or otherwise silenced her.
Shortly thereafter, the passengers and flight crew began a series of calls from GTE airphones and cellular phones. These calls... enabled passengers to gain critical information.... At least two callers from the flight reported that the hijackers knew that passengers were making calls but did not seem to care.... At least ten passengers and two crew members shared vital information.... They said the hijackers wielded knives and claimed to have a bomb.... Callers reported that a passenger had been stabbed and that two people were lying on the floor of the cabin, injured or dead.... One caller reported that a flight attendant had been killed....
At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows: "everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye"
The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of the passenger assault muffled by the intervening cockpit door.... [T]he assault was sustained. In response, Jarrah immediately began to roll the airplane... to knock the passengers off balance. At 9:58:57, Jarrah told another hijacker to block the door... the assault continued. At 9:59:52, Jarrah... pitched the nose of the airplane... to disrupt the assault. The recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts, and breaking glasses and plates. At 10:00:03, Jarrah stabilized the airplane.
Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, "is that it? Shall we finish it off?" A hijacker responded, "No. Not yet...." The sounds of fighting continued.... At 10:00:26, a passenger in the background said, "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die!" Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, "Roll it!" Jarrah stopped the violent maneuvers at about 10:01:00 and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!" he then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" to which the other replied, "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down."
The passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:23, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them. The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting, "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest." With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour....
Jarrah's objective was to crash his airliner into... the Capitol or the White House. He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93.
You could give them my Silver Star.
Posted by: Pat Tillman on August 1, 2004 07:26 PMIt's a hell of a gutsy thing to decide to do from a standing start in 20 minutes...
Posted by: Brad DeLong on August 1, 2004 10:19 PMMedals? Shit - we need to do more than that.
I might just owe my life to those people. Think what Bushco would have pulled-off had the Capitol Building been hit - seriously. We would have been a police state - I really think that - and me and cops don't get along - not sure how long I would last under Bushco's tyranny. Reichstag Fire II - this time in the US of A. Scary, scary stuff. Unbelievable. Maybe those passengers saved our country - saved our democracy - what's left of it. Maybe 'the great experiment' will go on just a little bit longer...
Posted by: Peter on August 1, 2004 11:05 PMIf y'all haven't gotten a copy of this thing yet, get it. I'm in Chapter 4 or thereabouts (well beyond what the Prof quotes) and it's amazingly well-written and chock-full of information we've never been told before.
The report leads off with the events of that day.
Posted by: Linkmeister on August 2, 2004 12:25 AMWhere are the plans for a monument in that cornfield?
Posted by: Chuck Nolan on August 2, 2004 04:25 AMElsewhere, the report suggests that the military might not have been able to take out the plane prior to hitting a target because of bad communications.
The United 93 passengers knew they must fight to regain control of the plane or die anyway. They died trying. They took the best option available.
When whole plane loads of passengers are killed crashing into skyscrapers, losing a few heroes in a passenger revolt becomes a smaller price to pay. The true legacy of the United 93 passengers is the message they sent to future hijackers, "Other passengers will stop you or die trying." Passengers on another plane stopped the shoe bomber. Locking the cockpit door and passenger action make more hijackings much more difficult and more likely to fail. This is a huge deterrent to would be hijackers. For that, we are grateful to the United 93 passengers.
Posted by: bakho on August 2, 2004 07:31 AMSaturday morning I went to my local bookstore to get a copy of the 9/11 Commission Report. I was told that I was the fifteenth to ask for it that morning, that they had sold out days before and that the report was on backorder at the publisher. The store owner said they had no idea there would be such interest in Birmingham, Alabama.
Posted by: 2fair on August 2, 2004 07:58 AMIt's a good thing those passengers had better instincts than their commander in chief.
It took them 20 minutes to decide to storm the hijackers. It took him 20 minutes to decide to leave the school.
Posted by: Kuas on August 2, 2004 09:34 AM911 report. Download pdf and print it.
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/911rpt/
Posted by: bakho on August 2, 2004 10:12 AMYou Koran-thumping motherfuckers. They got you, you bastards.
I'm tearing up reading this.
Posted by: kingmob on August 2, 2004 10:20 AMHistory suggest that when ordinary people have no other alternative, they do what has to be done.
Posted by: bncthor on August 2, 2004 01:45 PMIf I can be permitted levity in honoring these brave souls...
I commented for some time afterwards that Flight 93 made me feel sorry for the poor law-abiding hijacker who just wants to go home to Cuba. Because no one will ever successfully hijack an airplane in flight again -- the hijacker will be thrown off the plane from 30,000 feet by the enraged passengers.
Posted by: eyelessgame on August 2, 2004 02:45 PMThe passenger revolt was one of very few notes of hope that awful day.
How about a monument bang in front of the White House? Where the denizens will see it every time they go in or out?
Posted by: Rachel on August 2, 2004 02:46 PMDo we really know for sure the military didn't shoot it down?
Posted by: liberal on August 2, 2004 03:37 PMCivilian Medals of honor for all on the plane, I think.
Knowing they were doomed, and yet willing to take the fight to the enemy.
Posted by: Punk Mailer on August 2, 2004 03:49 PM"Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!"
one of the hijackers began shouting, "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest."
This reported speech is very strange. The terrorists didn't say "God Is The Greatest" and they didn't say "Allah Hu Akbar"
Is there any reason to believe that they said what the Commission says they said?
Posted by: Ellen1910 on August 2, 2004 05:52 PMThis reported speech is very strange. The terrorists didn't say "God Is The Greatest" and they didn't say "Allah Hu Akbar"
Possible Explanation 1: They said "Allah hu akbar" and the commission kindly translated for us non-Arab speakers.
Possible Explanation 2: They said "Allah is the greatest" so the passengers would understand what was being said.
Posted by: Hamilton Lovecraft on August 2, 2004 06:18 PMHamilton,
I don't understand either of your proposed explanations:
1. "Allah" is not a translation of "Allah"
2. Muslims believe that Christians and Jews worship Allah, yes? Why would the terrorists think it necessary to tell the passengers something the passengers already knew? Sounds more like an ejaculation directed toward the object of veneration.
Posted by: Ellen1910 on August 2, 2004 07:43 PMRe "Allah" quote: The report is a narrative, not a transcript.
As for shooting it down, the communication between AF and FAA was so bad the report concludes that the AF and NORAD were unlikely to have been able to intercept U93 let alone shoot it down in PA.
In no previous hijacking was the US military EVER requested to intercept or shoot down a hijacked airliner. The closest was the golfer's plane that crashed at sea on autopilot that was chased by a patrol plane. We were just totally unprepared for the contingency of crashing planes into buildings.
Posted by: bakho on August 2, 2004 09:00 PMI know who'll be the first to vote against medals of Honor: Ron Paul. Why? Because he's a libertarian, and those suckers cost $30,000 a piece. One does have to wonder where that 30 grand is going...
Posted by: Alan K. Henderson on August 3, 2004 12:08 AMI was on the steps of the Capitol just after 9am on September 11th. And I wasn't evacuated from the Capitol complex until well after 10am. So I may owe my very life to the citizens on Flight 93.
I want to second the proposals that they deserve a glorious monument in PA and DC. They do deserve the Congressional Medal of Honor. And they did help prevent the transformation of America into a police state by denying the Bushies a crater in Washington to motivate Congress. And the heroes of Flight 93 protected us from more hijackings by establishing the precedent that citizens will protect ourselves.
After the courage and example of Flight 93, all the security measures and air marshalls in the world look like "security theatre". As an anti-hijacking measure, it's all for show. We could have started flying again on September 12th with absolutely no security checkpoints and no airline security of any kind and there would have been no hijackings ever again because of Flight 93's example. The heroes proved no hijacking will ever work again.
Posted by: Heartland Guy on August 3, 2004 09:17 AMYes, we know for sure that the military did not shoot down Flight 93. The only three jet fighters on alert on the entire Eastern Seaboard had been redirected towards New York City, and were somewhere over the ocean near Baltimore at the time Flight 93 crashed -- much too far away to have shot down Flight 93. It's in the report, the whole aweful mess of miscommunication and snafus that had the only jet fighters available going in entirely the wrong direction.
"The passenger revolt was one of very few notes of hope that awful day"
Which is why I have some lingering doubt about the story. It's very compelling, and convenient for use as little W's battle cry afterward. "Let's Roll!"
Why haven't the black-box tapes been released, even to a select group of journalists or politicians? National security concerns? If the tapes showed the passengers bravery, wouldn't the Bush administration be jumping at the chance to give them to the media? Why would they pass up such an opportunity?
Remember the EgyptAir flight, where the pilot intentionally ditched the plane, all the while struggling with co-pilots? They released that recording. I have heard countless cockpit recordings of doomed aircraft, so I doubt the sensibilities of the victims' families are the constraint.
Has anybody ever actually heard the famous "Let's Roll" quote? Are we sure it happened at all?
If the military did shoot it down, the passenger revolt makes a much more palatable story. It would be tough explaining that we shot down a commercial aircraft, even if it was the right thing to do.
And for the truly tin-foil crowd, does the military have those electromagnetic pulse weapons that stop car engines and make planes unflyable? I read about them over ten years ago - an NPR story recently mentioned that police are already experimenting with them for use in car chases.
Anyway, I'm not saying the passengers weren't heroic, if they did what is said. It's a tragic story, either way. I doubt much of what the government and the media say these days, however.
Posted by: hippocopter on August 3, 2004 03:30 PMI'm with hippocopter: how do we know that the data about possible intercepts is accurate? And why haven't they release the black box tapes?
Not that I'm convinced the military did shoot it down, or that it's particularly important; rather, just that the data for the argument that it went down due to passenger action is a little thin.
Posted by: liberal on August 4, 2004 10:32 AM