According to officials, the wreckage in Pennsylvania has already revealed to investigators the names of the hijackers of that plane. Apparently, at least one of the hijackers has been linked to Osama bin Laden. There is speculation that the passengers and/or crew were responsible for somehow crashing the plane.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

Answers

That was a feeling I had as well, that somehow the flight crew managed to ditch the plane instead of allowing it to be taken and used.

Dad mentioned that it was likely that the captain heard about the other planes over the radio, and so may have made the decision that no doubt saved other innocent lives.

If this is the case, and hopefully the black box will prove this, then the crew of that plane deserve our thanks for giving their lives in the fight to protect our country. [along with the passengers, although they may not have known what was happening as we were.]

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

The plane that went down in PA may yield the best clues. They may find the "weapons" used, and the black boxes should be relatively OK. I note that the military today made the statement that there was absolutely no shoot down or other interference by them with that plane. I think some passengers may have jumped the terrorists and that could have led to loss of control and crash. The voice recorder will be very important to determine what did happen in the cockpit.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

Passengers' Actions May Have Helped Curb Tragedy

By Charles Lane Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 12, 2001; 3:42 PM

As United Airlines Flight 93 entered its last desperate moments aloft, there was terror and violence on board – but also heroism.

Minutes before the giant airliner smashed into a field southeast of Pittsburgh, passenger Jeremy Glick used a cell phone to call his wife at home in New Jersey and told her that he and several other people on board had come up with a plan to resist the terrorists who had hijacked the plane, according to Glick's brother-in-law, Douglas B. Hurwitt.

"They were going to stop whoever it was from doing whatever it was they'd planned," Hurwitt said. "He knew that stopping them was going to end all of their lives. But that was my brother-in-law. He was a take-charge guy."

Anticipating his own death, Glick, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Sept. 3, told his wife, Lyzbeth, that he hoped she would have a good life and would take care of their 3-month old baby girl, Hurwitt said.

Glick explained to his wife that the plane had been taken over by three Middle Eastern men wearing red headbands. The terrorists, wielding knives and brandishing a red box they claimed contained a bomb, ordered the passengers, pilots and flight attendants toward the rear of the plane, then took over the cockpit.

The story of Glick's words adds to the account of passenger resistance already given by another passenger's mother on NBC's "Today" show this morning. Alice Hoglan of California says her son, Mark Bingham, also spoke of a plan to tackle the hijackers in a last-minute cell phone call to her.

Flight 93 was the only one of four hijacked planes that did not smash into a major target on the ground, and some officials are already saying that the actions of people on board may have prevented an even greater tragedy.

Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, the ranking Democrat on the Congressional Defense Appropriations Committee, said at the crash site that he believes a struggle took place in the plane's cockpit and that the plane was headed for a significant target in Washington, D.C.

"There had to have been a struggle and someone heroically kept the plane from heading to Washington," he said.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

I hope that *is* what happened, and if it turns out that way I will tip my hat to those who stopped it short of the final destination. I would like to think I would act the same way if I was caught in a situation that spelled death either way. Choosing the way then becomes my own choice. But sitting there and letting them have their way right to the bitter end is not the courageous thing to do. As I say, I would *like* to think I would be up to stopping them like this.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001