Flight 93
A plane lifted off 25 minutes late in Newark, New Jersey at 8:42 AM due to heavy morning traffic. 44 people entered this plane, 7 members of the crew, and 37 passengers. 4 of them, however, were not boarding the plane to go to San Francisco, they knew that this plane was going to make history, history they or anyone else boarding would never see. It’s chilling to think that to the 7 crew-members and 33 passengers, this was just another delayed flight and they would see each other at this airport gate, and leave each other at another like any other flight. No one knew they were going to die united and heroes on this plane and be remembered for centuries. And no one knew that the 4 fellow passengers had plans to use their transport as a drivable bomb.
The saddest part is that all of them were just ordinary people getting on a plane. One of them, a 37-year-old man by the name of Christian Adams, was going to San Francisco to promote German Wines at a convention. Or another, a 33-year old woman named CeeCee Ross Lyles, was a busy mother of 2 sons and 2 step-sons; she was described as a strong, smart, and caring woman by her husband. 74-year-old John Talignani was a World War II veteran who was dedicated to his family and was traveling to San Francisco because his step-son had died in a car accident there. While there were no children on board, many of them were expecting them and were excited for a new life as a parent but that would never happen for all their lives were tragically cut short.
4 minutes after lift off, the first plane struck the North Tower on September 11th. At 9:03 AM, a second plane hit the South Tower quickly after. Then, at 9:37 AM a plane crashed into the Pentagon and 8 minutes later the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all planes to land at the nearest airport. But by that time, Flight 93 was not responding to any orders or transmissions. At around 9:28 AM the four hijackers had taken over the cockpit and turned the plane towards the capital of the country, Washington, DC.
All of the passengers were forced to the back of the plane and instructed to remain silent. Soon after, they quickly began to make calls to loved ones and say their final goodbyes. But they learned that their flight was part of a larger attack on the country and other planes just like theirs were crashing into other landmarks. This led to a vote among the passengers to fight back against the hijackers and regain control of the plane.
Just over 30 minutes later, the cockpit voice recorder picked up sounds of shouts, screams, breaking glassware, and other sounds of struggle. The 40 passengers had risen up and put their plan into motion. They stormed the cockpit with force but the hijackers fought back and rolled the plane left and right but eventually remained in control of it when they crashed. Instead of having the passengers seize back control of the plane, they chose to crash it into a nearby field killing everyone on board.
The forty died that day, each one of them heroes. They died united protecting people they would never meet and places they will never again go. Nobody knows where flight 93 was initially planned to destroy and we owe that to each and every member of the crew and passengers on that plane. A monument has since gone up in their honor and on September 11th at 10:03(the time the plane crashed) their names will be read with the ringing of the Bells of Remembrance. I feel like no one can fully comprehend the sacrifice these people gave and their heroism will forever be remembered.