NYDailyNews

Flt. 93's Final Chaos Black box reveals arguing, ferocious fight

By BILL HUTCHINSON Daily News Staff Writer

In the last chaotic seconds of United Airlines Flight 93, the cockpit voice recorder captured a death struggle between passengers and hijackers that included screams from both sides of the midair clash.

The chilling recording from Sept. 11 also caught the sounds of shattering dishes and terrorists arguing with each other as the passengers made their 110-foot charge from the rear of the 757 jet to the commandeered cockpit.

"Let's get them!" a passenger is heard screaming on the recording, obtained by Newsweek magazine for an article hitting newsstands today.

The Newark-to-San Francisco-bound Flight 93, one of four commercial jets hijacked on the same morning, nosedived into the rural Pennsylvania countryside, killing 41 passengers and crew members and the four hijackers.

Struggling for Control

In the final moments, the hijackers appear to be fighting among themselves for the controls before apparently deliberately flying the plane into the ground.

Before that, there was clearly a violent struggle going on between the hijackers and passengers, according to the tapes.

The voice of what is believed to be a male passenger is heard screaming, but it's unclear whether he is inside the cockpit or just outside the door.

One of the hijackers can be heard calling on the others to hold the cockpit door to keep the passengers out.

Another hijacker suggested cutting off oxygen to the passenger cabin, while another is heard saying, "Take it easy."

Another suggests using a fire ax — hanging in the cockpit — to scare the passengers into submission.

As the terrorists continue yelling at each other to hold the door, shattering galley dishes and trays being hurled can be heard in the background.

Several times, the hijackers appear to be fighting over the controls, with one demanding, "Give it to me."

The terrorists eventually sent the plane into a roller coaster-type freefall in an attempt to knock the passengers off their feet.

In the final seconds, one of the hijackers in the cockpit yells to another to let "the guys in."

He presumably was referring to two comrades, who were supposed to be guarding the passengers in the rear of the plane.

The hijackers can then be heard talking about finishing off the plane.

The recorder finally captures a hijacker crying out, "God is great!"

Change of Plans

The magazine said at that point it appears the hijackers realized the passengers were close to taking back the aircraft — and suggests the terrorists ditched their plans to take out a landmark and instead decided to just crash the plane.

Previous snippets from the plane's voice recorder have provided clues to the ambush of the cockpit crew.

But the Newsweek article reveals for the first time the sounds of the valiant battle waged by the passengers.

When the recorder picks up the first sounds of the passengers' struggle at 9:57 a.m., many on board knew from cell phone calls with loved ones that hijacked planes had crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The tapes first began to record the sounds of the hijacking after the plane was seized shortly after 9:30 a.m.

In one of them, someone is crying and moaning, pleading not to be hurt.

Investigators believe the hijackers may have seized a flight attendant and held a box cutter or knife to her throat to bring the captain out of the cockpit.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2001