National Park After Dark - 9/11 Heroes: Flight 93 National Memorial

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

Today we visit the Flight 93 National Memorial to remember 9/11 and how 40 heroic individuals saved the lives of thousands onboard United Flight 93. Please take care while listening.Learn more about the passengers of Flight 93 here For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Acorns: Use our link to download Acorns and start saving and investing for your future today.Zocdoc: Use our link to download the Zocdoc app for free.Embrace Pet Insurance: Use our link to sign up for pet insurance today!Miracle Made: Use our link and code NPAD to save over 40% and get 3 free towels.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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There are a few events in our lifetime that we can pinpoint our location down to the date and time that we were there, even decades later. When these events do occur, it is because it is a moment in our life that we will treasure forever, or it is an event that has shattered you to your core and left you forever changed. These events are usually solitary ones, or shared with someone close to you. The day the love of your life proposes to you, the day you give birth to your first child, or the day you say goodbye to someone you love for the last time. These events, while inherently very different, creates a ripple effect that will

change the course of your life. It is rare that these anniversaries are something you share with a mass amount of people, but for all the people old enough to remember the morning of 9-11, we share a common tragedy. A day we all witnessed in fear, desperation, grief, hope, and ultimately resilience. An anniversary we all can't help but remember, and we will never. never forget. We all changed that day, and for many of us, it changed the entire course of our lives. Where were you on September 11, 2001? Welcome to National Park After Dark. Oh boy, I'm already teary-eyed. I really am, and I got a lot going on right now, obviously, but yeah, that was, I knew it was, I

knew it was coming. I already knew. It's not a surprise for me. But yeah, here we are already. Yeah. And this episode is coming out. It's airing for the first time on September 11th, the anniversary of 22 years. It's been. Which is wild to think about. I mean, I don't exactly remember when I found out, but I remember that day coming home from school and watching TV, like being shoved up into my parents' room and like watching TV. They're like just watch TV. And I remember clicking through. And everything was the news.

And I didn't really understand why. And the only thing that wasn't a news channel was SpongeBob. So I watched SpongeBob. And my stepdad works with the FAA in Boston and air traffic control. And he was gone for days. I bet. And I had no idea what was happening until obviously I was informed. And yeah, it was awful.

Yeah. Well, our generation, we were kids while it all happened. And I remember where I was, I was in my fifth grade classroom in my reading class. And one of the teachers came in in the middle of the lecture and like hushed, like really like hush, hush about something and like took the teacher out. And from the expression on their face, you knew immediately something was wrong. Mm-hmm. And I remember the teacher came back in and said that something was going. on and that the teachers needed to like be in the other room for a few minutes and to stay quiet

and just do whatever. And then the teachers came back and they must have told us something to the degree of what had happened because I remember right down the hallway was the music room and right next to the music room was the bathroom. And I remember asking to get up and go to the bathroom and I looked through a small window into the music room and the teachers were all sitting down watching the video of the planes crash into the towers. And I remember being this little fifth grader. I mean, I was 10 years old and looking in and watching it happen and being like, oh my God, what is going on?

And then they let everyone out of school early. They called all of our parents. Our parents either picked us up or we took the school buses home. Everyone was like out of work. And like you said, every single TV screen was that except for like I remember it being a cartoon. I thought it was, for me, I thought it was Cartoon Network, but maybe I was watching SpongeBob too. Maybe, and we were watching

the same thing. That and like Legends of the Hidden Temple or something, you know, just like. Yeah, it was every single channel. Yeah, exactly. Oh, well, I knew this was coming because I knew we did a little switcheroo. We had like our episodes planned out and then Cassie's like, oh, I got to

switch some stuff around. And so I knew that you were going to cover a story related to 9-11 and obviously I would love quote unquote to hear it. Yeah. So actually one of our listeners emailed us and was like, hey, have you thought about doing this story before? And then I thought about it and I was like, you know, I haven't thought about doing it. But then I looked at the date that this episode was coming out. And they even wrote down book recommendations. So for today's episode, we are going to be diving into

this very difficult topic because it is the 22nd anniversary. And I know that this is especially difficult because a lot of us either witnessed it. We were personally affected. We lost someone that day. So this is a very hard topic. But today, we're going to be talking about the terrorist attacks that happened on September 11th, 2001. And we're going to be talking about the events that happened that day, the aftermath, and ultimately the National Park site that was created in honor of some of the heroes from that day. And you read a book? I read a book, of course. Um, so, this book is titled Among the Heroes, United Flight 93, and the Passengers and Crew who fought back by Jir Longman. And it's on the New York Times bestseller list. I have to give so much credit to this author.

They are a journalist who was on the ground covering these events that day that this happened. And later they wrote a book after talking to all the family members and people involved. So he has firsthand accounts of what happened. And I did use most, I did use most of the research for this episode from this book, but not all of it, because since this book was published, there's been more information that's been released and found out through investigations and things. So I used a lot of it, but I also used some other things. I watched some documentaries.

I read some articles. I have links to the documentaries that will post that people can watch and in all my other resources if people are interested. Before we get started, I do want to say that this episode is probably going to be pretty difficult for a lot of people to listen to. And I think I just want to say that I understand how deeply impactful this is and that you might not be in the space to listen to this right now. And I totally get that. This is a hard day. But I do think that this is a really important story to tell too. And I think a big reason for that is we're 22 years later. A lot of people,

and I feel like I'm aging myself when I say this, but a lot of people don't remember this day anymore. This is a day that's going back and getting lost to history and time. And it's because when you're talking to someone who's 20, 21, 22, they were not born or they were babies when this happened. And that doesn't mean they weren't affected. I mean, a lot of people lost parents at very young ages and things like that. But there is this generation that's growing up now that wasn't there that day watching this on the TV, wasn't seeing the smoke in the sky and didn't know. So I think that it's important to keep these stories alive and specifically this story, I think it's important to keep the memories of the people who were there that day alive. I agree. So for today, we will be visiting

the Flight 93 National Memorial and the National Park Site dedicated to remembering the brave heroes who diverted a hijacked plane from crashing into Washington, D.C. They all lost their lives that day, but not without a fight and not without undoubtedly saving thousands of other lives. So I want to start this story beginning in the early morning hours of September 11th, 2001. That morning, it was a beautiful crystal clear morning, not a cloud in the sky, and what in normal circumstances would be conditions deemed perfect for flying. Captain Jason Dahl arrived at New Jersey's Newark International Airport at approximately 7 a.m. that morning to check in for the 801 a.m. departure flight for United Flight 93 to San Francisco. He wasn't supposed to

to be on this flight and he wasn't supposed to be piloting this flight, but he had traded this one for another one later in the month because this one worked better for his schedule. He had plans to visit his mother in California and then return home to Colorado to be with his wife Sandy. It was their five-year anniversary and he had rearranged his schedule so he could take her to London to celebrate. Captain Jason Dahl had extensive experience graduating with a degree in aeronautics operations in 1980, he had trained and evaluated new pilots and had been flying for United for over 16 years. He always flew with a small box of rocks that his son Matthew had given him several years before, and it had served as a good luck term for him in the air.

That morning was like most others. He signed onto a computer to verify his schedule and checked to see if there had been any flight changes, and he noted that there had not. Then he received printouts that were faxed over from the headquarters in Chicago, detailing the general conditions of the aircraft. It contained intricate details of the plane down to if a reading light was out on the plane to an extensive history of the maintenance service. There was a review of expected weather conditions for the day, a flight plan, the passenger

load, and runway data with estimated waiting times. Departure time was at 801 that morning, but Jason knew that that time was likely to be delayed as Newark was notorious for congested runways, which they're still pretty notorious for that. Have you flown out of Newark before? Yes. It's like... Not often. Wait a second.

We're flying at a Newark soon. Oh yeah, we are for South Africa. Yeah. Yeah. I've had layovers there often, I think, just coming back to Boston. And it is... I've had layovers leaving Boston and coming back. And I'd say like six out of ten times my flights delayed out of Newark.

Yeah. No shade. Newark. But if you have a short layover, it's great. And from the airport, you can see a really... I've been there at sunrise and I think it was sunrise or sunset, one or the other, but there's a really beautiful view of the New York City skyline from Newark International Airport. But anyway, he signed the release for the plane and next to his name he wrote down C3,

which indicated that he had the highest qualifications that United offers for pilots and he was certified to perform landings in as little as 300 feet of visibility. After that, he met with Leroy Homer Jr. who was the first officer on Flight 9. And the first officer on the flight is the second commercial airline pilot in command, who is the person to help navigate and operate the flight alongside the captain. He would be sitting in the right seat and would be second in command, while Jason would be in the left seat as the pilot in command. They had never flown together before, but they were both very experienced and passionate about their jobs.

They pre-boarded the flight and Jason and Leroy did their pre-flight checklist, making sure the plane was sound to fly that day. And everything checked out. This jet started with United in 1996 and was a 757-200. This jet had the ability to fly up to 600 miles per hour and was known to pilots as being comfortable and reliable with a fuel capacity of 11,500 gallons, which meant it could fly just under 4,000 miles or 6,400 kilometers before it would need refuel. It had two engines and was built with 34 rows of seats. It seated 24 passengers in first class and 1st, and 1,000.

158 passengers and coach. But the capacity to fit this amount of people into an aircraft this size was a stretch. There were three seats on either side of the aisle and coach and one narrow aisle in between them. And I think it's important just to describe the plane so everyone gets a visual of where these people were. This plane was also equipped with GTE Airphones, which were an in-flight pay phone that has since been discontinued from aircrafts. But airphones allowed passengers to make phone calls to peevees. on the ground in flight and these phones were often expensive calls typically cost about 399 per call but they were also 499 per minute on this 757 airphones were located in each center seat of every row and they were also located on one armrest of every seat

inside of first class the bathrooms were located inside the rear of the plane before the flight, Jason also met with the flight attendant in charge Deborah Welsh there would be five flight attendants in total on this flight, but for security reasons, Deborah would be the only one in charge and was supposed to be the only one with access to the cockpit. She was not scheduled for this trip, but she had also made a last minute switch to her flight with another flight attendant. With Jason, they discussed a secret knock that she would do in order to be allowed in, and this was standard practice. And although the cockpit door would remain locked throughout the flight, it was designed to be able to be knocked down in the event of an emergency. The door could withstand no more than 150 pounds of pressure, and it was designed in this way in case of an emergency

where either the pilot needed to break out of the cockpit or passengers needed to break in to escape through a window. They also had another system in play pre-9-11 that there was a key for the cockpit door that was located in a small cabinet, almost right next to the cockpit. So if anyone knew that that was there, they could easily just open that door and unlock the cockpit.

cockpit door. Before the day of 9-11, crews were trained to be compliant in the event of a hijacking. They were taught to cooperate the best that they could, to protect themselves, stay calm, and be non-threatening. The flight attendance job would be to deter aggression, control other passengers, use friendly and non-threatening conversation, and even to provide food and non-alcoholic beverages if they were allowed to. The crew on the plane was supposed to allow the flight to be rerouted to wherever the hijackers wanted to go. And this was under the impression that if someone was to hijack a plane, it was because they wanted to take it to another country or they wanted to go somewhere.

But this training and rules implemented on the crew were fatally inadequate. And when they were created, people had not anticipated that planes would be used as weapons for suicide terrorist attacks. Newark International Airport was busy that Tuesday morning. But things were running smoothly. And United Flight 93 was scheduled. to be an almost empty flight. All in all, there would be 44 people aboard, including the flight personnel. Four of those people would be hijackers. Before the passengers boarded, C.C. Liles, a flight

attendant, called her husband, which she had already done several times that morning, which was pretty usual when she traveled. She called to tell him that United 93 was a light load, and she said, quote, I've got an easy day. Boarding the flight went off without a hitch. Lorraine Bay and Wanda Green stood inside the doorway at row 8 and greeted the passengers with a smile and directions to their seat as they boarded. Lorraine was 58 and had seniority over many of the other flight attendants for the years that she had put in. At this stage in her life, she was working because she loved flying, not because she needed to be there. She almost didn't get on the flight that morning. She woke up with a stomachache and a sore back and debated calling out, but after discussing

the idea with her husband, she ultimately decided to go in. She kissed him and said, see you tomorrow before leaving that morning. Wanda had been working for United since 1973 and had plans to retire in two years. She had just celebrated her 49th birthday in August. When she retired, she wanted to switch to a career in real estate full time. She didn't want to be on that flight at all that day. A week prior, she had been on a plane that experienced engine trouble and they had to make an emergency landing. The whole experience had shaken her up and she was feeling anxious about flying on September 11th. She felt that that flight might have been a warning for her and that her time for flying was over. She thought you could only take so much safety precaution when flying. But still,

she got out that morning and went to be a flight attendant on United Flight 93. While first class could hold up to 24 people that day, more than half of the seats were empty with only 10 passengers seated in first class. Four of those seats included the hijackers. Zayad Jara sat in 1B, the first row aisle closest to the cockpit. Ahmed al-Haznawi, Saeed al-Gamadi, and Ahmed al-Nami sat in 3C, 3D, and 6B. For some reason, their tickets had raised no flags with security. They each had one-way tickets and were Middle Eastern men with ties to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group Al-Qaeda, which had been operating since the 1980s.

The government had been warned that Al-Qaeda had soldiers in the United States under the guise of students in flight schools, but the warning had been swept under the rug. Zayed had attended flight school within the United States, and while later, his family would adamantly deny that he would never be part of a terrorist organization and even suggested that his identification was stolen. Investigators proved otherwise. He spent time in Afghanistan and one of Osama bin Laden's camps, learning the book of al-Qaeda and their plans to attack the United States. He then moved to Florida, where he had to attended flight school, and while he was there, he took vigorous classes on self-defense,

specifically how to defend himself in small areas. He was unassuming from the eye with thick glasses and nice clothing, but he had been training for years for September 11th, and he had trained and been friends with the hijackers on the other planes. As expected, the flight was delayed by almost an hour. This was normal and mostly due to congestion on the runway. The plane didn't depart until 8.42 a.m. and everything went smoothly. notes to the flight crew and passengers on board just four minutes after they took off at 8.46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11, which had been hijacked from Boston Logan International Airport, crashed into the South Tower at the World Trade Center at 500 miles per hour.

If they had only been a minute or two later, they would have seen it happen from the air. Or if they had waited a couple minutes longer, all flights would have been stopped from flying. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime.

United Flight 93 continued westward and climbed in Alt. They reached their cruising altitude of 35,000 feet after just 20 minutes. All was going smoothly in the air on United Flight 93, but on the ground, there was a frenzy. Every news station was covering the collision of the flight into the tower. Smoke was filling the air, and people were speculating on what had happened. Had the plane lost control and hit the towers, was it intentional? The crash had killed every person in the plane instantly and trapped everyone in the building who were above the 91st floor.

Then, just 17 minutes after the first plane crashed into the Twin Tower, on live television, the world watched as American Airlines Flight 175, another plane for Boston crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In that moment, the country began to realize that this was no accident, and we were under attack. United Flight 93 was still unaware of what was happening in New York City as it approached the skies over Cleveland in their journey towards San Francisco. Now that it was clear this was an attack, United Flight operations began alerting all of their flights of a potential danger. However, because it would have taken a long time to call each individual flight, they opted to send this alert via the aircraft communications and reporting

system. It was usually used for transmitting flight plans and weather updates and would arrive either via the onboard printer or appear as a green text on a black screen visible to pilots. The messages read, beware cockpit intrusion, and confirm operations are normal. However, they mentioned nothing of the attacks. United Flight 93 issued a typed one-word response from a keypad that read, confirmed. As Flight 93 approached Cleveland, one of the pilots came over the radio to the Cleveland Center with a chipper, Good Morning, and reported they were experiencing slight turbulence. Cleveland Center responded, notifying them that there was another flight in the air to the right of the plane.

A moment later, a loud interruption erupted over the radio. A scream of May Day, May Day was heard and then violent sounds and high-pitched sounds and rustling. And then silence. An air traffic control officer called back confused and asking for a response from the airplane. There was a long minute of silence before either Captain Jason Dahl or First Officer Leroyd Hoerun Jr. was able to press a button on the audio panel. More screaming was heard. An American voice was heard yelling, get out of here.

They heard this person say it over and over again, with more scuffles and yelling in the background. The air traffic controller called back over the radio asking for Flight 93 to identify themselves, but it was silent. No response came back. The person then reached out to other United flights in the airspace to confirm if they had heard the disturbance as well, and they all had. It was 9.32 a.m. when the next transmission came over the radio. One of the hijackers believed he was speaking to the passengers, but instead he was broadcasting over the air traffic control frequency. The hijacker, believed to be Zayad Jara, was heard saying, Ladies and gentlemen, it's the captain.

Please sit down, keep remaining sitting, we have a bomb on board. After that, the transponder was shut off so the flight center could no longer determine flight 93's altitude, and 20 calls later, they received no response. Just five minutes later at 9.37, Flight 77, an airplane flying from Washington-Dulles International Airport on its way to Los Angeles crashed into the Pentagon. At 9.45 a.m., the United States shut down their entire airspace and ordered all aircrafts to land immediately at the closest airports to them. The next things that we know about what happened aboard Flight 93 came from phone calls, from passengers to their loved ones, informing them what was happening. Much later, audio recordings from the cockpit revealed what happened as well. What we do know is that after the hijackers took over, they forced most of the passengers to the

very back of the plane. 36 phone calls were made during flight 93, and they were all made from rows 23 or further back. The hijackers had taken over with box cutters they had brought with them, and one of them had a contraption around his waist that he told the passengers was the bomb. At 9.27 a.m. that morning, Eastern Time. Dina Burnett received a phone call from her husband Tom who was on the flight. He told her that their plane had been hijacked. He stated, quote, they already knifed a guy and told her that one of the hijackers had a gun.

He also relayed to her that they stated there was a bomb on board and he asked her to call authorities. The entire phone call lasted 10 seconds. He spoke quietly and quickly. He had been assigned seat 4B in first class in a row between the hijackers. He had made the call from his cell phone. Dina immediately called authorities and after some confusion about what plane he was on because people were like, what do you mean the plane that just crashed into the trade center? Yeah.

Now, at this point there had been three, you know, the Pentagon and the two towers. I can't even imagine the mass confusion at this point because it's happening like bam, bam, bam, like rapid fire. And it's like what plane, so many. There's a lot going on. What's in the air? So the person essentially on the other end was like, what are you talking about? before she was connected to the FBI.

And while she was on the phone with the FBI, her husband called her back, and this time he was calling from an air phone. He told her that the person stabbed was dead, and he tried to help them. He said the hijackers had taken over the cockpit. Dina and this phone call was able to tell him about the attack on the World Trade Center

and told him that these hijackers could be planning to use their plane for the same purpose. This was most likely the first time anyone on United Flight 93 had heard of the attacks happening at all. And in that moment, Tom realized that this was a suicide mission. He relayed the information his wife gave him to the person sitting next to him. Tom had lots of questions for Dina about the attacks before he told her the plane was switching directions somewhere above a rural area with nothing but fields.

Tom told his wife he had to go before hanging up and then calling her again a few minutes later. In this call, Dina told him a third plane had hit the Pentagon. He asked more questions. She also told him that the FBI did not seem to know that his flight had been hijacked. To Dina, it sounded like he was walking around the plane, perhaps trying to get a closer look at what the hijackers were doing. He continued to relay the information Dina gave him to other passengers before stating, we have to do something. He told her a group of them were making a plan and he would call her back. The hijackers that day most likely chose United Flight 93 because it had less passengers on the plane and it would be easier to take over.

They had been exploring and flying routes to choose from before this flight, and they had been planning this for years. While the other three planes had five hijackers, United Flight 93 had four. While these hijackers most likely thought less passengers meant more compliance from them, for this aircraft they would be wrong. They weren't counting on that the 37 passengers that day would be made up of extremely strong, willful, and intelligent people. On this plane, there were retired military personnel, pilots, air traffic. controllers, competitive athletes, nurses, law enforcement officers, and parents who would do anything to return home to their families. One passenger on board was Richard J. Gwadagno, a federally trained law enforcement officer who had worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for over 17 years.

He was working at Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California. He had been in New Jersey celebrating his grandmother's 100th birthday. At 9.53 a.m. Eastern Time, Linda Grenland called her sister from an airphone and left her a message. At first she sounded angry, then she sounded like she had given up. In the message, she detailed where her will was and told her how much she loved her. She asked her to tell her parents how much she loved them as well. She ended her voicemail by saying, I'm really going to miss you before she said goodbye. Mary and Britton, the daughter of a policeman, and had grown up in New York City, called a longtime friend from the plane and she was crying. She told him that the hijackers had slit two people's throats and told him that the plane was going down.

He tried to comfort her and tell her that the plane was not going to crash, but she didn't believe him. He heard screaming before the call was disconnected. Tom called Dina again at 9.54 a.m. Eastern Time. This time he was speaking normally and sounded calm. He asked about their three daughters and told Dina he loved her. He asked her to pray and told her not to worry. He told her they were waiting to attack until they were flying. over a rural area to prevent the hijackers from being able to crash into another building.

Before he hung up, he said, we're going to do something. I just have to ask really quick because I just need clarification because before we got on the call, we were kind of talking a little bit about the different flights and what we remember and what we don't and all of that. And I vividly remember the gentleman that his last words were let's roll. Is this him? No, so that's Todd Beamer, who I also. also have his phone call on here as well. But are they on the same flight? They're on the same flight. Okay. I'm just trying to get everything straight in my mind, but okay. Yeah, Todd Beamer, he was, he has gone down famously in 9-11 history as saying let's roll before they went out and did things. And it has since become a

saying that's happened in the military to honor him and when people have gone out for missions and things like that. But I definitely talk about him in a minute. Oh, okay, cool. I just wanted to make sure, I was, I had everything straight. Because there were calls from, there were calls from other flights too. Right, which is bizarre to me, to think about not like, I think about that actually, I mean, I wouldn't say every time I fly because we fly a lot. But more often than not, I think of like if something was to happen or go wrong, like, how would I get in touch with anybody?

Because obviously, like, my phone doesn't work. But there's Wi-Fi now. There's Wi-Fi now, but like, to think about, like, okay, think about it. If you don't want to pay for your in-flight Wi-Fi, you're not connected. Things are happening so fast. There's no onboard phones anymore. And it would just be, you know what I mean? Like, it's just I think about those things sometimes.

And when I do reflect back on 9-11 and hear the recordings of these calls or the voicemails, you know, because they've surfaced or at least some of them have. And to hear that they got into or attempted to get in touch with someone, I think about that a lot. like what would I do in a situation like that? And how would I do that? But you said these airplanes or aircraft were fashioned, at least with some, maybe not in every seat. They had air phones, but also some of these people did call from their cell phones.

And I think some of that was because a lot of these hijacked planes were flying at way lower altitudes than they were supposed to. So I think that that's why a lot of these cell phones were working is because they weren't flying at 35,000 feet anymore. I mean, some of these were very low to the ground when these phone calls were made. Right. Okay. Just after 9.50 a.m., Honor Elizabeth Wainio called her stepmom from the plane and told her she was calling to say her goodbyes. They sat on the phone together for 11 minutes while her stepmother comforted her, telling her she had her arms wrapped around her, and how much she loved her. Elizabeth said she could feel her there with her and told her that

she knew her grandmothers who were both deceased would be waiting for her when she died. That just, like, broke my heart when I read that also. I just, I mean, I'm going to tell you right now, I might have to take a second. This is a hard episode. Yeah, it is difficult. And it's odd the way that, like, this, or I wouldn't say it's odd. I'm sure there's a very known, like, well-known technical term for this, but it's, I don't know, it's like I was not personally affected by 9-11, like none of my family members or close friends.

No one I knew intimately died that day. But it's like this like national collective grief that we have over an event like this that is just. And obviously like when you're going through active grief of your own, anything like this is like especially. And I hate using the word triggering, but it is. Because you're so, like, anything can crack your tiny veneer of having it together. And I feel like this is doing that. And it's just hard. Especially having the documentation of people realizing what's about to happen to them

and trying to communicate their last words and wishes and farewells to their loved ones. It's just awful. It's awful. Yeah. It's so awful. And it's, I think what's important about these stories and to hear these and to remember them is because these people were real and they were real people that were affected. And I think as time goes by, it's not that we forget that, but people get desensitized to it. But I think at the same time, 9-11 is one of those things where we can never be desensitized to it because we weren't there. Maybe we didn't know a specific person, but I've known people who have gone into the military because, of this incident. You know, I've known people who were first responders that day. And it just like, for years and years, this story will always affect, will always affect us, you know.

Mm-hmm. Elizabeth was calm to her stepmother, and it seemed to her stepmom that she was already preparing to leave her body. And then Elizabeth said, they're getting ready to break into the cockpit. I have to go. I love you. Goodbye. It was just past 10 a.m. At 945, Todd Beamer didn't call his family. Instead, he dialed zero on the air phone and was connected to a GTE Verizon operator. He wanted to call someone to let them know the plane was hijacked, but he didn't want to worry his family. His wife was pregnant with her third child, and he didn't want to worry her if he didn't have to. The woman on the other end of the line that he was connected to was named Lisa, the same name, the same name of his wife.

In a calm and quiet voice, he detailed what happened on the plane. He reported three people hijacked the plane, two had knives, and went into the cockpit and locked the door behind them. The third person stood in first class with a red belt around his waist and with what appeared to be a bomb attached to it. He reported there were no children on the plane. He told her how many passengers were on board and where they were. He also reported that there were two men laying on the floor that he couldn't tell if they were alive or not, but he believed them to be the captain and the co-pilot. Todd told her they had plans to jump the hijackers with the bomb and try to gain control of the plane back. In the midst of their

conversation, a commotion started. Lisa heard men and women screaming, and she heard the words, God help us, help us Jesus. She then heard Todd speaking to someone else on the plane. She heard him say, you ready? Okay, let's roll. And the call was disconnected. What happens to next comes from audio recordings listened to after the crash from the cockpit. Some of the audio to this day remains confidential. A commotion was heard outside the door and passengers were heard chanting in the cockpit, in the cockpit as they rammed into the door. One hijacker was heard saying they want to fight and block the door. Tom was heard yelling. If we don't get in there, we will die. Next, the passengers grabbed the food cart and began ramming it against the door. After a couple

tries, they knocked it down. In that same moment, the hijackers were heard speaking, and they decided it was time to crash the plane. It was 10.01 a. Next, a struggle ensued over the controls of the plane. United Flight 93 at this point had been flying near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and two men Rodney Peterson and Brandon Leventry had spotted it in the sky, flying considerably lower than usual. Not only was it flying at a very low altitude, it was also making dramatic maneuvers. The wings of the plane dip low to the right, and then again, low to the left, before it took off heading southbound. Later, investigators would theorize that the terrorists were trying to shake the plane violently in order to throw the passengers off their balance and get them out of the cockpit.

A few moments later, another person witnessed the plane flying over their house, and at this point, it was only a couple hundred feet above the ground, and it was moving quickly. Rick King, the assistant fire chief in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was on the phone with his sister when she told him that she heard a jet flying above. But with the incidents in New York City and D.C. That had just happened, she was too afraid to look outside. At first, he thought she was joking, but when he stepped out onto his front porch,

he could hear the screaming of the plane's engine. His first thought was that it sounded like it was about to crash. Lee Perba, who was working at a scrap metal site using a blow torch, didn't see or hear the plane until it was directly above him. The plane was moving at nearly 600 miles. per hour, so what he saw next happened so quickly it was almost impossible for his mind to process. He watched as the jet rolled upside down. With the belly of the plane up in the air, it violently rocked back and forth before the plane made a sharp tilt towards the ground and dived into it.

The plane was swallowed by a mushroom cloud of smoke and there was an incredibly loud explosion that could be heard for miles. The crash knocked out the windows of homes and buildings miles away and power went out in buildings as far as two miles away. Rick King, the fire chief, heard the crash and immediately called the 911 dispatcher. He asked how many fire departments would be dispatched, and they responded with three. He told them that wasn't enough and to send five additional fire departments and ask for all available ambulances, paramedics, and medical helicopters. Lee ran towards the crash site, but what he saw or what he didn't see was more devastating than he could have ever imagined.

The plane had been carrying mail, and now hundreds of letters were scattered around the area. He saw a wheel of the plane on fire, the trees behind the crash site were burned, and there was a massive hole in the ground that was smoking, but there wasn't much fire. In fact, there wasn't much of anything. There was no plane.

The entire plane had hit the ground hard at 575 miles per hour, and it exploded on impact, leaving a massive 40-foot deep hole in the ground with smoking debris, but no plane and no sign of any people. When first responders and troopers arrived to the scene, they were confused and horrified. They had expected to find a plane and possibly even people wandering around disoriented in need of medical attention, but there was nothing but a smoldering crater in the ground. State troopers originally didn't find a piece of the plane that was bigger than a phone book. Later, an 8 by 7 foot section of the fuselage containing several windows was found.

There were no survivors. It wasn't long until the media showed up and coverage of the crash was being aired on every channel. Family members who were hoping and praying for a call back from their loved ones saying they had fought off the hijackers and that they were okay, looked onto the TV screens and saw the crash site with giant letters across the screen reading United Flight 93 crash. This was how many of the families. found out their loved ones had not survived. When United Flight 93 crashed, it was only 18 minutes from the hijackers' final destination, which investigators later discovered was the Capitol building in D.C.

That day, there were over 5,000 people working inside. And without a doubt, if the hijackers had made it there, there would have been thousands of more deaths. Of the four hijacked planes that day, Flight 93 was the only one that didn't make it to the terrorist destination. and it was the only plane that fought back. Because Flight 93 was delayed by over 40 minutes that morning, it allowed the passengers to get information that none of the other planes had the chance to. And that was that they found out what the hijacker's mission was before they were able to carry it out because of the phone calls they were able to make out to their families.

Military operations were not given permission to intervene with planes until 39 minutes after Flight 93 crashed, which would have been 11 minutes too late for when they were scheduled to crash into the Capitol. It is without a doubt that thousands of lives were saved that day because of the passengers on Flight 93. After the crash, Wallace Miller, a coroner, was brought in to search the debris for remains of the passengers and crew members. He went above and beyond for each family. He attended ceremonies and memorial services. He worked and helped families through their grief and advocated for them. He answered any questions that they had.

He worked carefully through the scene and scoured a 50-acre search area for any remains. The collective weight of 44 people on board was 7,500 pounds, but he was only able to find 600 pounds of remains. 60% of those remains were unidentifiable. Some of the passengers and crew were able to be identified by fingerprints or dental records. They were able to find DNA profiles on each of the four hijacks. A temporary memorial was created at the crash site that was close to the public and was strictly for victims' family members. The crash site was surrounded by a 40-foot chain link fence. Shortly after the one-year anniversary of the crash, President George W. Bush signed legislation to create a national

memorial at the crash site to commemorate the 40 passengers and crew members aboard the flight. The bill specifically included the four hijackers from being memorialized, along with the National Park service, a nonprofit organization called the Families of Flight 93, designed and raised funds for the memorial. The Flight 93 National Memorial is located at the crash site in the rural area of Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania. The memorial leaves a view of the crash site and a wall of granite slabs that have been put up, and with each slab, is a name of a person on the flight. There are information signs and photographs of each person. In 2017, a 93-foot-tall tower named the Tower of Voices was built in the passengers and crew's honor.

The tower contains 40 wind chimes, one for each person who died. The project for this tower was finished in 2020. In 2018, a private ceremony was held at the memorial site when all the recovered wreckage was brought back to the crash site. The remains of the 757 was buried at the crash site with the first responders to the crash, as well as the families of the passengers and crew in attendance. And for this episode, I wanted to just end it.

I mean, there's a lot more information that goes into the aftermath and what happened, but I just wanted to end this episode by saying the names of everyone who was on board the United Flight 93 that day. Christian Adams, Lorraine Bay, Todd Beamer, Alan Bevan, Mark Bingham, Diora Boldly, Sarah Bradshaw, Marianne Britton, Thomas Burnett, William Joseph Cashman Georgine Rose Corrigan Patricia Cushing Jason M. Dahl Joseph DeLuca

Patrick Joseph Driscoll Edward Porter Felt Jane C. Fulger Colleen L. Frazier Andrew Garcia Jeremy Logan Glick Kristen Osterholm White Gould

Lauren Grancolus Donald Green Wanda Green Linda Grownland Richard J. Guadogno, Leroy Homer, Toshia Cuge, C.C. Ross Liles, Hilda Marston, Walesca Martinez, Nicole Carol Miller, Lewis Nackie the Second, Donald Arthur Peterson, Gene Haudley Peterson, Mark David Rothenberg, Christine Anne Schneider, John Telegani, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, and Deborah Jacobs Welsh. even know what to say. I really don't. It's just an awful day in history that still feels really fresh. And reading the names is like, I mean, I just like look down and kind of had a moment of silent, you know. Yeah. Silence for them and their families and all that. Yeah. In my notes, I have a picture of them next to all of their names too.

And it's just, it's, it's heartbreaking. And this is just, I mean, this is just one story of that day. There are the whole Twin Towers story, the story at the Pentagon. And I encourage people if you want to know more about that day to, we have to remember it. We can't forget what happened that day. This book that I read among the heroes United Flight 93 and the passengers and crew who fought back, the author does such a beautiful job. telling the stories of each passenger and crew member on that flight. Like there were not just people who were on that flight that day. They had lives. They had families back at home. And he does a really beautiful job of detailing each person.

And they also do a really beautiful job of telling the story from every perspective that he could find. And I can't, I can't recommend this book enough. It was, it's a great book. And there's lots of documentaries. And I just encourage people. Well, I remember, I remember you saying that. that like as you were actively reading, I know you kind of like whipped through it because you're like, this is just so much.

But it took me a day and a half to read the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. But you were saying that you appreciated how the author detailed. So it wasn't just like, because I think a lot of times, especially with covering stories like this, like there is so much information that you tell the day, the story of the day. But the author goes into detail. You were saying like what they got their families for.

Christmas and just so many personal details about each individual. Yeah. In conjunction with obviously telling the story of the events as they unfolded that day or that morning, but also just so much background on who everyone was individually to, you know, to to give us more personal information. It makes it more personal and it hits harder when you're learning about what someone gifted their daughter for Christmas versus just their name on a roster. And I think that's really what sets this book apart from a lot of the other like things that you can read about 9-11.

And of course, maybe there are tons of stuff out there now, especially by now that do do the same things. But I have never personally read anything that goes, that has that approach, I should say. So, and of course, like I said, there's probably stuff out there. But it's just nice that you chose out of all the books and information to get notes and research on. that you decided to go with this one and shout out to do you know who the listener was i know they emailed us so thank you for the suggestion yeah thank you for the suggestion because i feel like i wouldn't have covered this without the suggestion just because i didn't even realize honestly that we had an episode coming out on 9-11 and now i feel like especially because i've been watching documentaries

i've been reading the books i've seen interviews with family members i feel like i'm kind of going into september 11th with just a remembrance of it that that I don't normally go into it. You know, every September 11th, I think we all have a moment where we remember the day. But I learned a lot from this book that I always knew the story of United Flight 11. I've been to the memorial. But I didn't know these specific stories of the individual people. I didn't know the details of the flight either.

Yeah. So. And it's also interesting just like how you said, you know, you're going into this anniversary a little differently. just aside, just kind of observation that I kind of realized last year or maybe the year before, that every year I feel like I see less and less people posting about 9-11. I agree. And I don't know if that's like intentional, non-intentional, or like you were saying earlier,

like it's just, it's not like it becomes less important. It's just we get desensitized. We start other things come to the forefront and not saying that like it's an American duty to post on your Instagram about the anniversary of 9-11. It's just an observation I've had. And I am guilty of that as well. You know, like there's been years that especially last year, like, I don't even, you know, I totally, like, had, did not have 9-11 on my mind.

But there's been times that, like, the anniversary of have coming on. And I'm like, oh, shit, it's like September 13th. Like, I didn't even realize. You know what I mean? Just because it's not as up front. And hopefully with this episode, you've, kind of scooted it back into the forefront of people's minds, even just for, it's not meant to be, you know, obviously a downer or like shaming in any way that people.

It's just time is passing. Yeah. It's simply like time is passing and I think it's important to like go back and remember. And like it's not even just with this episode, but I mean, there are hundreds of books, documentaries, like just take the day to watch an interview from someone who was affected that day. If you were affected that day, like, I'm sure that this is something where you were already thinking about it. And there's people who are still day to day who are living without the person they lost from that day. And there are people who are affected all the time. I mean, we say this happened in 2001,

and it was 22 years ago. But the amount of people who have been affected for years since is so astronomically higher than what we even know because we say there were just under 3,000 people who died during the World Trade Center and the whole 9-11, but first responders got cancer and got diseases from being at the Twin Towers that day. People suffered post-traumatic stress. Some people didn't make it out alive from it. You know, people have been living their lives without parents, especially we talk about some of these people on the flight were expecting a child. Some of these people never met their parents and they have lived their whole lives without ever meeting them. So there, even though this was 22 years ago, the effects of it are felt every day in the lives

of a lot of Americans. So I think it's just important to recognize these stories and to like do these people who lost their lives that day some justice and some honored just by remembering them and talking about them. Yeah. And the last, last thing, I mean, because we could drag this out forever and go in circles by saying variations of the same thing. But there is, like, you just said something about, like, taking time to remember someone affected by that day or listen to them or whatever.

Mm-hmm. There is a podcast called Dead Talks. And the host, his name is David Farukio, and his father was killed on 9-11. He was in Tower 1. And his whole podcast, I'll just read his synopsis. It says, Dead Talks Podcasts podcast shatters the don't talk about death taboo by normalizing grief, loss, and death perspective by conversation. And he talks very openly about the loss of his father on 9-11 and how it has kind of

catapulted him into this space of talking about grief and death. And he has a really interesting podcast with a lot of interesting guests. And I would definitely recommend it. if that's something that you're looking to listen to today or at some point when you're ready for it. And that's it. I love that recommendation. And I think this goes without saying, but our hearts go out to everyone who is affected, lost someone that day.

And we're thinking about you all and we're actively, like today we're going to take our own time to remember 9-11 and wherever you are. Like, we're thinking about you too. Well said. Well, I guess we'll. See everyone next week. Yeah, we'll have something a little more upbeat next week. Actually, wait.

Well, yes, next week is very upbeat. Just, okay, let's just bring the vibe up for a second. Yeah, we can't end this on like a somber note. I mean, I guess we could, but. Yeah, we could, but let's try not to just very, very briefly. So we do have an episode coming out on Thursday. We have a really cool interview with a couple of people that you are probably very well familiar with, not to spoil anything. But look out for that. And then next week, we do have some

guests coming on that our fan favorites. It's definitely more of the... Definitely fan favorites. We're going to talk some animals and some national parks. So we'll see everyone next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at NPADPodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our Outsiders-only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show.

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