In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the history of 9/11 is measured in six minutes. Those that occurred between 9:57 and 10:03 in the morning of September 11, 2001from when the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 began confronting their hijackers until the plane crashed into the ground.
25 years later, Shanksville returns this Friday to the names of those 40 passengers and crew. The National Flight 93 Memorial commemorates the anniversary with the reading of each of them and the ringing of the bells in front of the Wall of Names. The only one of the four hijacked planes that did not reach its objective ended up there.
Flight 93 was simply to be a trip from Newark to San Francisco. It took off at 8:42, 42 minutes late due to airport traffic. There were 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers on board.
When the plane took off, American Airlines Flight 11 was four minutes away from crashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03, Flight 175 hit the South Tower. Within flight 93 the routine continued for almost another half hour.
The Newark delay placed Flight 93 behind the other three planes in the attack sequence. That difference allowed news from New York and Washington to reach those on board.
At 9:28, while flying over Ohio, the hijacking began.
Cleveland controllers heard screams and sounds of a struggle in the cockpit over the radio. The plane descended sharply 685 feet. The hijackers took control and Ziad Jarrah, who was piloting the plane, turned southeast. Washington was ahead.
The passengers began calling for land. 13 people made 37 calls between the kidnapping and the impact. Through those conversations they learned something that the passengers of the first planes had not been able to know: the kidnappings were part of an attack.
The Twin Towers had been hit. At 9:37, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Those trapped on Flight 93 realized that their plane probably wasn’t going to land either.
The calls then turned into goodbyes. Todd Beamer remained connected to an operator. Stewardess CeeCee Lyles called her husband. Sandy Bradshaw spoke to hers before announcing that she had to hang up because they were going to rush to first class.
At 9.55, someone was heard asking if they were ready. Then came the words that would forever be associated with flying: “Let’s roll.”
At 9:57 the assault began.
Jarrah swung the plane violently from left to right. Then it raised and lowered its nose. In the recording of the cabin, blows, objects breaking, screams and voices that insisted on entering were recorded.
At 10:01, the kidnappers realized that they could lose control. The plane began a rapid descent. Passengers and crew were still trying to enter the cabin.
At 10:03 and 11 seconds, Flight 93 crashed, inverted, into a Somerset County field at about 906 kilometers per hour. There were no survivors. The impact was so violent that residents of Shanksville, about five kilometers away, felt buildings shake and saw a column of black smoke rise.
The exact destination of the plane can never be known with absolute certainty. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the hijackers were headed toward Washington and considered the Capitol the most likely target. At 9:55 they had entered the code for Reagan National Airport into the navigation computer.
They had about a 20-minute flight to Washington. They never arrived.
The site of the impact is today part of the memorial. A white marble wall contains the 40 names. Higher up stands the Tower of Voices, with 40 wind chimes, one for each passenger and crew member.
This Friday, those names are spoken again where the flight ended.
25 years later, the story of Flight 93 preserves something exceptional within the tragedy of 9/11. His passengers did not know if they would be able to save themselves. The calls show that they understood, however, what could happen if they did nothing.
Between 9:57 and 10:03 they tried to change the destination of the plane.
They couldn’t save their lives. But the flight that the hijackers were heading towards Washington ended up in a field in Pennsylvania, more than 200 kilometers from the capital. Their 40 names are still there, compared to the last place where Flight 93 arrived.