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{{Short description|9/11 hijacked passenger flight}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name            = United Airlines Flight 93
| image           = UA93 path.svg{{!}}border
| caption         = UA 93's flight path from [[Newark, New Jersey]], to [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania]]
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| date            = [[September 11 attacks|{{start date|2001|9|11}}]]
| summary         = [[Aircraft hijacking|Hijacking]] as part of the [[9/11 attacks]]; crashed as a result of a passenger revolt
| site            = Field ([[Flight 93 National Memorial]]) just west of [[Indian Lake, Pennsylvania|Indian Lake]] in [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| coordinates     = {{Coord|40|03|02.8|N|78|54|17.3|W|source:thwiki_region:US-PA_type:landmark|display=inline}}
| plane1_image    = N591UA.jpg
| plane1_caption  = N591UA, the aircraft involved, seen three days before the hijacking
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 757-200|Boeing 757-222]]{{efn|The aircraft was a Boeing 757-200 model; Boeing [[List of Boeing customer codes|assigns a unique code]] for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as an [[infix]] to the model number at the time the aircraft is built, hence "757-222" designates a 757-200 built for United Airlines (customer code 22).}}
| operator        = [[United Airlines]]
| IATA            = UA93
| ICAO            = UAL93
| callsign        = UNITED 93
| tail_number     = N591UA
| origin          = [[Newark Liberty International Airport|Newark International Airport {{small|(now called Newark Liberty International Airport)}}]], Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
| destination     = [[San Francisco International Airport]], San Francisco, California, U.S.
| occupants       = 44 (including 4 hijackers)
| passengers      = 37 (including 4 hijackers)
| crew            = 7
| fatalities      = 44 (including 4 hijackers)
| survivors       = 0
}}
'''United Airlines Flight 93''' was a domestic scheduled [[passenger flight]] that was hijacked by four [[al-Qaeda]] terrorists on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, as part of the [[September 11 attacks]]. The hijackers planned to crash the plane into a federal government building in the national capital of [[Washington, D.C.]] The mission failed when the passengers fought back, forcing the terrorists to crash the plane in Shanksville in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania]], preventing them from reaching al-Qaeda's intended target, but killing everyone aboard the flight. The airliner involved, a [[Boeing 757-200]] with 44 passengers and crew, was flying [[United Airlines]]' daily scheduled morning flight from [[Newark International Airport]] in [[New Jersey]] to [[San Francisco International Airport]] in [[California]], making it the only plane hijacked that day not to be a [[Los Angeles]]–bound flight.

Forty-six minutes into the flight, the hijackers killed one passenger, stormed the cockpit, and struggled with the pilots as [[air traffic control|controllers]] on the ground listened in. [[Ziad Jarrah]], who had trained as a pilot, took control of the aircraft and diverted it back toward the East Coast, in the direction of D.C. 

[[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] and [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], considered principal instigators of the attacks, have claimed that the intended target was the [[U.S. Capitol Building]].<ref name="Fouda"/>

The plane was 42 minutes behind schedule when it left the runway at 08:42. The hijackers' decision to wait an additional 46 minutes to launch their assault meant that the people being held hostage on the flight very quickly learned that suicide attacks had already been made by hijacked airliners on the Twin Towers of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] complex in [[New York City]] as well as [[the Pentagon]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia]], near D.C. By 9:57&nbsp;a.m., only 29 minutes after the plane had been hijacked, the passengers had made the decision to fight back in an effort to gain control of the aircraft. In the ensuing struggle, the plane nosedived into a field near a reclaimed strip mine in [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek Township]], near [[Indian Lake, Pennsylvania|Indian Lake]] and [[Shanksville, Pennsylvania|Shanksville]], about {{convert|65|mi|km}} southeast of [[Pittsburgh]] and {{convert|130|mi|km}} northwest of the capital. One person witnessed the impact from the ground, and news agencies began reporting the event within an hour.

United Airlines Flight 93 was the fourth and final passenger jet to be commandeered by terrorists on September 11, and the only one that did not reach a target intended by al-Qaeda. The hijacking was supposed to be coordinated with that of [[American Airlines Flight 77]], which struck the Pentagon less than 26 minutes before the crash of Flight 93. A temporary memorial was built near the crash site soon after the attacks.<ref name=tempmem>{{Cite web |title=Flight 93 National Memorial – 2007 brochure |publisher=National Park Service |date=December 2007 |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/upload/parkbrochure.pdf |access-date=February 6, 2017 |quote=a temporary memorial was created on a hilltop overlooking the crash site. |archive-date=May 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514061054/https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/upload/parkbrochure.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Construction of a permanent [[Flight 93 National Memorial]] was dedicated on September 10, 2011,<ref name=opendates>{{Cite web |title=Flight 93 National Memorial – Sources and Detailed Information |publisher=National Park Service |date=n.d. |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/sources-and-detailed-information.htm |access-date=January 31, 2017 |quote=13. When will the Memorial be finished? |archive-date=March 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330175622/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/sources-and-detailed-information.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> and a concrete and glass visitor center (situated on a hill overlooking the site)<ref name="npsfaqs">{{Cite web |title=Flight 93 National Memorial – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) |publisher=National Park Service |date=May 2013 |pages=22–23 |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/historyculture/upload/FAQs_longform_formatted_5-2013.pdf |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=July 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715132520/https://www.nps.gov/flni/historyculture/upload/FAQs_longform_formatted_5-2013.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> was opened exactly four years later.<ref name=longroad>{{Cite news |title=A Long Road to a Place of Peace for Flight 93 Families |work=The New York Times |date=September 9, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/us/a-long-road-to-a-place-of-peace-for-flight-93-families.html |access-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-date=August 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804013412/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/us/a-long-road-to-a-place-of-peace-for-flight-93-families.html}}</ref>

==Hijackers==
{{Multiple image
| direction         = horizontal
| total_width       = 200
| image1            = Ziad Jarrah, 2001.jpg
| caption1          = Ziad Jarrah (pilot)
| image2            = Ahmed al-Haznawi 2.jpg
| caption2          = Ahmed al-Haznawi
| image3            = Ahmed al-Nami.jpg
| caption3          = Ahmed al-Nami
| image4            = SAlghamdi.JPG
| caption4          = Saeed al-Ghamdi
| header            = United Airlines Flight 93 hijackers
| perrow            = 2 / 2
| caption_align     = center
}}

The hijacking of Flight&nbsp;93 was led by [[Ziad Jarrah]], a member of [[al-Qaeda]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Helen |title=Hijack Plot Bared On Al Qaeda Video |url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-09-10/news/18215478_1_laden-al-jazeera-tv-mohammed-and-binalshibh |date=September 10, 2002 |work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |access-date=December 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025165113/http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-09-10/news/18215478_1_laden-al-jazeera-tv-mohammed-and-binalshibh |archive-date=October 25, 2012}}</ref> He was born in Lebanon to a wealthy and secular Muslim family.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jonathan |title=The 9/11 Hijackers |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801315_pf.html |date=May 1, 2005 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014000048/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801315_pf.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He intended to become a pilot and moved to Germany in 1996, enrolling at the [[University of Greifswald]] to study German.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Story of Ziad Jarrah |url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/thepilot/story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925084319/http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/thepilot/story.html |archive-date=September 25, 2008 |date=January 19, 2005 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=August 24, 2008}}</ref> A year later, he moved to Hamburg and began studying [[Aerospace engineering|aeronautical engineering]] at the [[Hamburg University of Applied Sciences]].<ref name="CNN4">{{cite news |title=Hamburg cell reveals details |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/18/inv.hamburg.suspects/index.html |date=September 18, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123143601/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/18/inv.hamburg.suspects/index.html |archive-date=January 23, 2009}}</ref> In Hamburg, Jarrah became a devout Muslim and associated with the radical [[Hamburg cell]].<ref name="CNN4" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Freedberg |first=Sydney P |title=He seemed like such a nice boy |url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/101401/Worldandnation/He_seemed_like_such_a.shtml |date=October 14, 2001 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415091939/http://www.sptimes.com/News/101401/Worldandnation/He_seemed_like_such_a.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 1999, Jarrah left Hamburg for [[Afghanistan]], where he spent three months.<ref name="Mastermind">{{cite book |title=Masterminds of Terror: The Truth Behind the Most Devastating Terrorist Attack |url=https://archive.org/details/mastermindsofter00fawd |url-access=registration |author1=Fouda, Yosri |first2=Nick |last2=Fielding |name-list-style=amp |year=2003 |publisher=Arcane Publishing |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mastermindsofter00fawd/page/128 128, 130] |isbn=978-1559707084}}</ref> While there, he met with al-Qaeda leader [[Osama bin Laden]] in January 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last=Popkin |first=Jim |title=Video showing Atta, bin Laden is unearthed |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15082633 |date=October 1, 2006 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005043335/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15082633/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Jarrah returned to Hamburg at the end of January and in February obtained a new passport containing no stamped records of his travels by reporting his passport as stolen.<ref name="Chap5">{{cite book |chapter=Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland |chapter-url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch5.htm |year=2004 |title=9/11 Commission Report |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=July 2, 2008 |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529080700/http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch5.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mastermind" />

In May, Jarrah received a visa from the [[Embassy of the United States in Berlin|U.S. Embassy in Berlin]],<ref>{{cite news |title=George Tenet's al-Qaida testimony |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/18/alqaida.terrorism1 |date=October 18, 2002 |work=The Guardian |location=UK |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826173103/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/18/alqaida.terrorism1 |url-status=live}}</ref> arriving in Florida in June 2000. There, he began taking flying lessons and training in hand-to-hand combat.<ref name="Chrono">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Ch2.pdf |title=Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel |chapter=Chronology |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |page=40 |access-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-date=May 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529193648/http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Ch2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Candiotti |first=Susann |title=FBI returns to suspected hijacker's gym |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/19/inv.fbi.gym/index.html |date=September 19, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=July 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123143413/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/19/inv.fbi.gym/index.html |archive-date=January 23, 2009}}</ref> Jarrah maintained contact with his girlfriend in Germany and with his family in Lebanon in the months preceding the attacks.<ref>{{cite web |last=Locy |first=Toni |title=Al-Qaeda's Moussaoui pleads guilty in plot to strike U.S. buildings with planes |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-22-guilty_x.htm |date=April 22, 2005 |work=USA Today |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929032301/https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-22-guilty_x.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> This close contact upset [[Mohamed Atta]], the tactical leader of the plot, and al-Qaeda planners may have considered another operative, [[Zacarias Moussaoui]], to replace him if he had backed out.<ref>{{cite news |last=Savage |first=Charlie |title=9/11 Panel Says Plot Eyed 10 Planes; No Iraq Tie Seen |work=The Boston Globe |date=June 17, 2004}}</ref>

Four "muscle" hijackers were trained to storm the cockpit and overpower the crew, and three accompanied Jarrah on Flight{{spaces}}93. The first, [[Ahmed al-Nami]], arrived in [[Miami]], Florida, on May 28, 2001, on a six-month tourist visa with [[United Airlines Flight&nbsp;175]] hijackers [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]] and [[Mohand al-Shehri]]. The second, [[Ahmed al-Haznawi]], arrived in Miami on June{{spaces}}8 with Flight{{spaces}}11 hijacker [[Wail al-Shehri]]. The third, [[Saeed al-Ghamdi]], arrived in [[Orlando, Florida]], on June 27 with Flight{{spaces}}175 hijacker [[Fayez Banihammad]].<ref name="Chrono" /> Ziad Jarrah's and Saeed al-Ghamdi's passports were recovered from the Flight 93 crash site.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 26, 2004 |title=Seventh Public Hearing – Monday, January 26, 2004 |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/archive/hearing7/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-01-26.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524233336/http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/archive/hearing7/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-01-26.htm |archive-date=May 24, 2006 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States}}</ref> Jarrah's family said he had been an "innocent passenger" on board the flight.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sadler |first=Brent |date=September 17, 2001 |title=Uncle calls hijack suspect 'innocent passenger' |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.family.suspect/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330094324/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.family.suspect/index.html |archive-date=March 30, 2009 |access-date=June 22, 2008 |work=CNN}}</ref>

Al-Qaeda had intended for the attacks to be carried out by four teams of five men each, but only 19 terrorists were able to participate when the day came. The [[20th hijacker|missing 20th]] was allegedly [[Mohammed al-Qahtani]], who flew into Orlando from [[Dubai]] on August 3, 2001, intending to board Flight 93 as its fifth hijacker (and fourth muscle hijacker) on September 11.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf |title=9/11 Commission Report |access-date=April 28, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|28}} He was questioned by officials, who were dubious that he could support himself with only $2,800 cash to his name, and suspicious that he planned to become an [[illegal immigrant]] as he was using a one-way ticket. He was sent back to Dubai, and subsequently returned to Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite news |title='I'll be back,' foiled hijacker told agent |last=Meek |first=James Gordon |url=http://nydailynews.com/front/story/158769p-139223c.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040129023620/http://nydailynews.com/front/story/158769p-139223c.html |archive-date=January 29, 2004 |work=Daily News |date=January 29, 2004}}</ref>

==Flight==
The aircraft involved in the hijacking was a [[Boeing 757|Boeing 757-222]], [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|N|591UA| delivered to United Airlines in 1996.}}<ref name="ntsb-fps">{{cite web |url=https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=478665 |format=PDF |title=National Transportation Safety Board: Flight Path Study – United Airlines Flight 93 |date=February 19, 2002 |publisher=[[Homeland Security Digital Library]] |access-date=September 12, 2011 |archive-date=July 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706145829/https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=478665 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hijacking description |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-2 |publisher=[[Aviation Safety Network]] |access-date=April 24, 2011 |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103195816/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20010911-2 |url-status=live}}</ref> The airplane had a capacity of 182 passengers; the September 11 flight carried 37 passengers, including the four terrorists, and seven crew members, a load factor of 20 percent, considerably below the 52 percent average Tuesday load factor for Flight{{spaces}}93.<ref name="9/11Commission">{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/9-11/staff-report.pdf |title=Staff Report – "We Have Some Planes": The Four Flights – a Chronology |publisher=[[9/11 Commission|National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States]] |access-date=September 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812073107/http://www.archives.gov/research/9-11/staff-report.pdf |archive-date=August 12, 2011}}</ref> The seven crew members were [[Pilot in command|Captain]] Jason Dahl (43), [[First Officer (civil aviation)|First Officer]] [[LeRoy Homer Jr.]] (36), [[flight attendant]]s Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, and [[purser]] Deborah Welsh.<ref>{{cite news |title=People killed in plane attacks |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/victims-list.htm |date=September 25, 2001 |work=USA Today |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430193720/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/victims-list.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Boarding===
[[File:Flight 93 gate flag.jpg|thumb|A U.S. flag flies over Gate 17 of Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport, departure gate of United{{spaces}}93.]]
At 5:01&nbsp;a.m. on the morning of September 11, Jarrah placed a cell phone call from Newark to [[Marwan al-Shehhi]], the hijacker pilot of [[United Airlines Flight&nbsp;175]], in Boston, which authorities believe was to confirm that the plan for the attacks was proceeding.<ref name="Mitchell">{{cite book |last=McMillan |first=Tom |date=2014 |title=Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXiFBAAAQBAJ&dq=Ziad+Jarrah+Marwan+Al+Shehhi+5:01+am+cell+phone+call&pg=PA64 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-1442232853 |access-date=June 11, 2021 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911040828/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Flight_93/MXiFBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ziad+Jarrah+Marwan+Al+Shehhi+5%3A01+am+cell+phone+call&pg=PA64&printsec=frontcover%3Dfalse |url-status=live}}{{rp|64}}</ref> While al-Shehhi is known to have also communicated with [[American Airlines Flight 11]] hijacker [[Mohamed Atta]] on the morning of the attacks for the same reason he spoke to Jarrah,<ref name=":0" /> a similar correspondence did not take place between Jarrah and [[Hani Hanjour]], the hijacker pilot of [[American Airlines Flight 77]], with which the hijacking of Flight 93 was to be executed in tandem.<ref name=":0" /> The four hijackers checked in for the flight between 07:03 and 07:39 Eastern Time.<ref name="Chap1">{{cite book |chapter='We Have Some Planes' |chapter-url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch1.htm |year=2004 |title=9/11 Commission Report |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=May 30, 2008 |archive-date=May 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514052417/http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch1.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> At 07:03, al-Ghamdi checked in without any luggage while al-Nami checked in two bags.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> At 07:24, al-Haznawi checked in one bag and at 07:39, Jarrah checked in without any luggage. Al-Haznawi was the only hijacker selected for extra scrutiny by the [[Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System]] (CAPPS).<ref name="Chap1"/> His checked bag underwent extra screening for explosives, with no extra scrutiny required by CAPPS at the passenger-security checkpoint.<ref name="Staff2">{{cite web |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_3.pdf |title=The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks – Staff Statement No. 3 |work=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528201527/http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_3.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> None of the security checkpoint personnel reported anything unusual about the hijackers.<ref name="9/11Commission"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Inside the mind of a terrorist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/aug/22/september11.alqaida |date=August 22, 2004 |work=The Guardian |access-date=June 22, 2008 |location=London |first=Ronan |last=Bennett |archive-date=September 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913203325/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/aug/22/september11.alqaida |url-status=live}}</ref>

Al-Haznawi and al-Ghamdi boarded the aircraft at 07:39 and sat in first class seats 6B and 3D respectively. Al-Nami boarded one minute later and sat in first class seat 3C. Before boarding the plane, Jarrah made five telephone calls to Lebanon, one to France, and one to his girlfriend in Germany; he had sent a farewell letter the day before to say he loved her.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/september-11-2001-timeline.htm |title=September 11, 2001 Timeline |access-date=June 8, 2021 |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331161545/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/september-11-2001-timeline.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Vasagar |first1=Jeevan |title=9/11 hijacker made last 'I love you' call |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/20/september11.usa |access-date=6 March 2017 |date=20 November 2002 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202150529/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/20/september11.usa |url-status=live}}</ref> He boarded at 07:48 and sat in seat 1B.<ref name="9/11Commission"/><ref name="Chap1"/> Many of those aboard Flight 93 would have had a view of the Twin Towers of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] complex in New York City, located several miles away across the [[Hudson River]]. The aircraft was scheduled to depart at 08:00 and pushed back from gate A17 at 08:01.<ref name="Love">{{cite news |last=Pauley |first=Jane |title=No greater love |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14789502 |date=September 11, 2006 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=August 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804055544/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14789502 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It remained delayed on the ground until 08:42 because of heavy airport congestion.<ref name=Wald/>

===Hijack warnings issued===
The three other hijacked flights all departed within fifteen minutes of their scheduled times. By the time Flight{{spaces}}93 became airborne, Flight 11 was within four minutes of crashing into the North Tower and Flight 175 was being hijacked. The terrorists aboard Flight 77 had not yet made their move, but were nine minutes away from storming the cockpit.<ref name=Wald>{{cite news |last1=Wald |first1=Matthew L |first2=Kevin |last2=Sack |title=A Nation Challenged: The Tapes; 'We Have Some Planes,' Hijacker Said on Sept. 11 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE0D81F3FF935A25753C1A9679C8B63 |date=October 16, 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122204146/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/us/a-nation-challenged-the-tapes-we-have-some-planes-hijacker-said-on-sept-11.html |url-status=live}}</ref> By 09:02, less than a minute before Flight 175 hit the South Tower, Flight 93 reached its cruising altitude of {{convert|35000|ft|m}}.<ref name="ntsb-fps"/>

With the attacks unfolding, air traffic officials began issuing warnings through the [[Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System]] (ACARS). Ed Ballinger, the United [[flight dispatcher]], began sending text cockpit warnings to United Airlines flights at 09:19, sixteen minutes after Flight 175's impact. Ballinger was responsible for multiple flights, and he sent the message to Flight{{spaces}}93 at 09:23. Ballinger received a routine ACARS message from Flight{{spaces}}93 at 09:21.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> At 09:22, after learning of the events at the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]], LeRoy Homer's wife, Melody Homer, had an ACARS message sent to her husband in the cockpit asking if he was all right.<ref name="Notes">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Notes.htm |chapter=Notes |year=2004 |title=9/11 Commission Report |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=May 30, 2008 |archive-date=May 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530161252/http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Notes.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> At 09:24, Flight{{spaces}}93 received Ballinger's ACARS warning, "Beware any cockpit intrusion{{snd}}two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center".<ref name="CNN1">{{cite news |title=Flight 93 hijacker: 'Shall we finish it off?' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/22/911.flight.93/index.html |date=July 23, 2004 |work=CNN |access-date=June 23, 2008 |archive-date=October 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029170609/http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/22/911.flight.93/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> At 09:26, pilot Jason Dahl, apparently puzzled by the message, responded, "Ed, confirm latest mssg plz -- Jason".<ref name="CNN1"/> At 09:27:25, the flight crew responded to routine radio traffic from air traffic control. This was the last communication made by the flight crew before the plane was hijacked.<ref>{{cite web |title=Air Traffic Control Recording |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/ATC_Report_UA93.pdf |date=December 21, 2001 |publisher=[[National Transportation Safety Board]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023121506/https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/ATC_Report_UA93.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Hijacking==
{{listen | help = | filename = Mayday1.ogg | title = "Mayday – 09:28:17" | description = First mayday call at 09:28:17 made by LeRoy Homer. | format = Ogg | filename2 = Mayday2.ogg | title2 = "Mayday – 09:28:50" | description2 = Second mayday call at 09:28:50 made by LeRoy Homer. | format2 = Ogg | filename3 = Ua93.OGG | title3 = "Attempts to communicate with Flight 93 – after 09:28 am" | format3 = Ogg}}
The cockpit was breached at 09:28,<ref>{{cite news |last=Stout |first=David |title=Recording From Flight 93 Played at Trial |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/us/12cnd-moussaoui.html?hp&ex=1144900800&en=f6fc83f83a632d06&ei=5094&partner=homepage |date=April 12, 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904030034/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/us/12cnd-moussaoui.html?hp&ex=1144900800&en=f6fc83f83a632d06&ei=5094&partner=homepage |url-status=live}}</ref> by which point Flights 11 and 175 had long since crashed into the World Trade Center; the North Tower had been burning for nearly 42 minutes and the South Tower for 25 minutes. The only other plane still in the air, Flight 77, was within nine minutes of striking the Pentagon. The hijackers on those flights had waited no more than half an hour to commandeer the aircraft, most likely striking after the seat belt sign had been turned off and cabin service had begun.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> It is unknown why the hijackers on Flight{{spaces}}93 waited 46 minutes to storm the cockpit. The evidence is that they attacked the pilots by at least 09:28:05, because the flight dived<!-- 1360 fpm ≠ "plummet" --> dramatically at that point{{snd}} roughly 685 feet in thirty seconds.<ref name="9/11Commission"/>

===Cockpit transmissions and recordings===
At 09:28:17, ATC employees at Cleveland and the pilots of aircraft in Flight 93's vicinity picked up on "unintelligible sounds of possible screaming or a struggle".<ref name="Chap1"/> A [[Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center|Cleveland air traffic controller]] replied, "Somebody call Cleveland?" but received no response.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> Thirty-five seconds later, the aircraft made another transmission. In both calls, a man was shouting, "[[Mayday (distress signal)|Mayday]]! Mayday! Get out of here! We're all gonna die here!"<ref name="Chap1" /> When Melody Homer and Sandy Dahl, both pilots' widows, listened to the tape, Melody identified First Officer LeRoy Homer as the man who was shouting.<ref name=TheStar>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/08/29/im_thinking_about_it_all_the_time_says_canadian_wife_of_flight_93_pilot.html |title='I'm thinking about it all the time,' says Canadian wife of Flight 93 pilot |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=August 29, 2011 |language=en |access-date=2019-09-07 |archive-date=October 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012234941/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/08/29/im_thinking_about_it_all_the_time_says_canadian_wife_of_flight_93_pilot.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Skift>{{Cite web |url=https://skift.com/2013/02/24/united-flight-93-co-pilots-wife-challenges-the-view-of-what-happened-on-911/ |title=United Flight 93 co-pilot's wife says crew wasn't passive |date=2013-02-24 |website=Skift |language=en-US |access-date=2019-09-07 |archive-date=September 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921221141/https://skift.com/2013/02/24/united-flight-93-co-pilots-wife-challenges-the-view-of-what-happened-on-911/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=PhillyTribune>{{Cite web |url=https://www.phillytrib.com/news/wife-remembers-pilot-who-died-in-flight/article_61ce2c6a-7761-5f00-a938-7872a144761e.html |title=Wife remembers pilot, who died in Flight 93 |last=Mitchell |first=John N. |website=The Philadelphia Tribune |date=September 11, 2011 |language=en |access-date=2019-09-07 |archive-date=November 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107032241/https://www.phillytrib.com/news/wife-remembers-pilot-who-died-in-flight/article_61ce2c6a-7761-5f00-a938-7872a144761e.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell" />{{rp|153}}

The aircraft dropped {{convert|685|ft|m}} in thirty seconds before the hijackers stabilized it. On the morning of September 11, Flight{{spaces}}93 was the only hijacked aircraft to broadcast a distress call. It is likely that because the pilots had been made aware of the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and to be on alert for cockpit intrusion, when they came under attack, they keyed the microphone so the struggle might be overheard by controllers on the ground. Cleveland Center air traffic controller John Werth believed it was not just a call for help but a warning.<ref name="Mitchell" />{{rp|81–82}}

The exact time at which Flight{{spaces}}93 came under the hijackers' control cannot be determined. Officials believe that at around 09:28, the hijackers killed Mark Rothenberg,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/arts/united-93-and-the-politics-of-heroism.html |title='United 93' and the politics of heroism |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 26, 2006 |last1=Longman |first1=Jere}}</ref> assaulted the cockpit, and moved the remaining passengers and crew to the rear of the plane to minimize any chance that either the crew or the passengers would interfere with the attack.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> With many passengers saying in phone calls that they saw only three hijackers, the 9/11 Commission believed Jarrah remained seated until after the cockpit was seized and passengers were moved to the back of the aircraft and then took over the flight controls out of sight of the passengers.<ref name="Chap1"/> Then Ziad and Saeed took control of the plane.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flight_93_Cockpit_Transcript.djvu&page=7| title = Relevant page of Wikisource transcript where ''Saeed'' is said twice| date = 11 September 2001}}</ref>

{{listen | help = no | filename = Ziad1.ogg | title = Jarrah – 09:31:57 | description = First announcement made by Ziad Jarrah. | format = Ogg | filename2 = Ziad2.ogg | title2 = Jarrah – 09:39:11 | description2 = Second announcement made by Ziad Jarrah. | format2 = Ogg}}
The [[cockpit voice recorder]] began recording the final thirty minutes of Flight{{spaces}}93 at 09:31:57.<ref name="Trans93">{{cite web |url=http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/12/flight93.transcript.pdf |title=United Airlines Flight No.93 Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript |access-date=July 4, 2009 |date=April 12, 2006 |publisher=[[CNN]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208160527/http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/12/flight93.transcript.pdf |archive-date=December 8, 2013}}</ref> At this moment, it recorded Jarrah announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen: here the captain.{{sic}} Please sit down, keep remaining seating.{{sic}} We have a bomb on board. So sit."<ref>{{cite news |last=Hirschkorn |first=Phil |title=On tape, passengers heard trying to retake cockpit |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/12/moussaoui.trial/ |date=April 12, 2006 |work=CNN |access-date=June 23, 2008 |archive-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501233708/http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/12/moussaoui.trial/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The commission believed Jarrah tried to make an announcement to the passengers, but pressed the wrong button, sending the message to Cleveland controllers; Mohamed Atta had made the same error on Flight 11.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntsb.gov/about/Documents/Flight_Path_Study_AA11.pdf |title=Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 11 |publisher=www.ntsb.gov |access-date=June 17, 2020 |archive-date=November 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105103018/http://www.ntsb.gov/about/Documents/Flight_Path_Study_AA11.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The controller understood the transmission, but responded, "Calling Cleveland center, you're unreadable. Say again, slowly."<ref name="NPR1">{{cite news |title=Timeline for United Airlines Flight 93 |newspaper=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1962910 |date=June 17, 2004 |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=November 20, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041120084438/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1962910 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The flight recordings indicate that a wounded man, believed to be Dahl, was moaning in the cockpit.<ref name="Top">{{cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/United-pilot-s-widow-defends-crew-s-role-in-9-11-2520381.php |title=United pilot's widow defends crew's role in 9/11 / Former flight attendant has been waiting 4 1/2 years to tell of Flight 93's final minutes |publisher=Sfgate.com |date=2006-04-13 |access-date=2021-06-11 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215513/https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/United-pilot-s-widow-defends-crew-s-role-in-9-11-2520381.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The man pleaded, "No more," or "No," repeatedly, as the hijackers shouted for him to sit down and to stop touching something.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/2006/04/12/flight-93-recording-played-at-moussaoui-trial/62691895-26b8-4d5f-91ca-4a8e5aff21b4/ |title='Flight 93 Recording Played at Moussaoui Trial' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |last1=Dwyer |first1=Timothy |last2=Markon |first2=Jerry |last3=Branigin |first3=William |date=April 12, 2006 |access-date=June 22, 2021 |archive-date=June 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622165824/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/2006/04/12/flight-93-recording-played-at-moussaoui-trial/62691895-26b8-4d5f-91ca-4a8e5aff21b4/}}</ref> Sandy believes that Dahl took actions to interfere with the hijackers, including possibly disengaging the autopilot, and rerouting the plane's radio frequency so that Jarrah's attempts to communicate with the passengers were instead transmitted to air traffic controllers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.summitdaily.com/news/wife-of-911-pilot-says-he-was-alive-when-plane-crashed/ |title=Wife of 9/11 pilot says he was alive when plane crashed |work=Summit Daily News |date=April 13, 2006 |access-date=2021-06-11 |archive-date=June 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603090053/https://www.summitdaily.com/news/wife-of-911-pilot-says-he-was-alive-when-plane-crashed/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Flight 93 Pilot's Wife Recalls Terror of Recording |url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1838257 |date=April 13, 2006 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 19, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419002008/http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1838257 |url-status=live}}</ref> A woman, thought to be first-class flight attendant Debbie Welsh, is heard being held captive in the background and is heard struggling with the hijackers and pleading, "Please, please, don't hurt me."<ref name="NYT1">{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Neil A |title=Final Struggles on 9/11 Plane Fill Courtroom |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/us/13moussaoui.html |date=2006-04-13 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2008-08-24 |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517162803/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/us/13moussaoui.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jarrah instructed the autopilot to turn the plane and head east at 09:35:09.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Nation Challenged: The Tapes; ''Voices From the Sky'' |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3DF163EF935A25753C1A9679C8B63 |date=October 16, 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309184206/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/us/a-nation-challenged-the-tapes-voices-from-the-sky.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The aircraft ascended to {{convert|40700|ft|m}} and air traffic controllers immediately moved several aircraft out of Flight{{spaces}}93's flightpath.<ref name="NPR1"/> The woman in the cockpit is heard to say, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die" before being killed or otherwise silenced, followed by one of the hijackers saying in Arabic, "Everything is fine. I finished."<ref name="NYT1"/>

At 09:39, two minutes after Flight 77 impacted the Pentagon, air traffic controllers overheard Jarrah say, "Ah, here's the captain:{{sic}} I would like you all to remain seated. We have a bomb aboard, and we are going back to the airport, and we have our demands. So please remain quiet."<ref name="Trans93"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Transcript: Paula Zahn Now |date=April 12, 2006 |work=CNN |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/pzn/date/2006-04-12/segment/01 |access-date=April 5, 2010 |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021015137/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/12/pzn.01.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Air traffic controllers did not hear from the flight again. According to the commission, the hijackers could have learned of the successful attacks on the World Trade Center from messages being sent by United Airlines to the cockpits of its transcontinental flights, including Flight 93, warning of cockpit intrusion and telling of the New York attacks.<ref name="Chap1"/>

In the cockpit, the wounded man continued to moan and seemingly repeatedly disengaged the autopilot,<ref name="Gonzalez">{{cite news |last=Gonzales |first=Manny |url=http://www.denverpost.com/2006/04/12/flight-93-tape-horror-heroics/ |title=Flight 93 tape: Horror, heroics |newspaper=The Denver Post |date=May 8, 2016 |access-date=February 10, 2017 |archive-date=February 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220212617/https://www.denverpost.com/2006/04/12/flight-93-tape-horror-heroics/ |url-status=live}}</ref> as at 09:40, there were horn sounds that indicated the hijackers were having trouble with the autopilot and were fiddling with a green knob. "This green knob?" one of the hijackers asks the other in Arabic. Another hijacker responded, "Yes, that's the one."<ref name="Gonzalez"/> At 09:41:56, the wounded man, in a moaning tone, said, "Oh, man!".<ref name="Mitchell" />{{rp|96}} As the man continued moaning, the hijackers were heard to say "Inform them, and tell him to talk to the pilot; bring the pilot back". As the moaning man was thought to be Dahl, the hijackers might have possibly been referring to Homer, suggesting he was also still alive.<ref name=TheStar/><ref name=Skift/><ref name=PhillyTribune/><ref name="Mitchell" />{{rp|96}} A United employee in [[San Francisco]] sent an ACARS message to the flight at 09:46, "Heard report of incident. Plz confirm all is normal."<ref name="9/11Commission"/>

===Passenger and crew phone calls===
Passengers and crew began making phone calls to officials and family members starting at 09:30 using [[GTE]] [[Air-ground radiotelephone service|airphones]] and mobile phones. Altogether, the passengers and crew made 35 airphone calls and two cell phone calls from the flight.<ref>{{cite report |title=Transcript of Jury Trial Before the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema – United States District Judge Volume XVII-A |page=3477 |publisher=United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia |date=April 11, 2006 |url=http://www.911myths.com/images/f/f8/Moussaoui_Trial_Transcript_April_11_2006.pdf |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114150613/http://911myths.com/images/f/f8/Moussaoui_Trial_Transcript_April_11_2006.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Ten passengers and two crew members were able to connect, providing information to family, friends, and others on the ground.<ref name="Chap1"/>

[[Tom Burnett (Flight 93 passenger)|Tom Burnett]] made several phone calls to his wife, Deena, beginning at 09:30:32 from rows 24 and 25, though he was assigned a seat in row 4.<ref name="Sum93">{{cite web |title=Phone Calls from Flight 93 |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/phone-calls-from-flight-93.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808203217/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/phone-calls-from-flight-93.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2024 |access-date=August 8, 2024 |website=National Park Service |publisher=}}</ref><ref name="Stip">{{cite report |title=Stipulation Regarding Flights Hijacked on September 11, 2001 |url=http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/ST00001A.pdf |publisher=United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia |date=March 1, 2006 |page=9 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=February 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207163520/http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/ST00001A.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Burnett explained that the plane had been hijacked by men claiming to have a bomb. He also said a passenger had been stabbed with a knife and that he believed the bomb threat was a ruse to control the passengers.<ref name="Stip"/> Burnett said the stabbed passenger was dead, having failed to exhibit signs of a pulse.<ref name=Dedman/> The true nature of the mission came to light only six minutes after the hijacking commenced, when Burnett's wife informed him of the attacks on the World Trade Center. From there, Burnett was quickly able to piece together the hijackers' true intentions, replying that he had overheard the hijackers talking about "crashing this plane..." before arriving at the shocked conclusion: "Oh, my God. It's a suicide mission." He began asking her for information about the attacks, interrupting her from time to time to tell other passengers nearby what she was saying. He then hung up.<ref name="Burnett">{{cite news |last=Sward |first=Susan |title=The voice of the survivors |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/21/MN190309.DTL |date=April 21, 2002 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=May 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523022532/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2002%2F04%2F21%2FMN190309.DTL |url-status=live}}</ref> In his next call, Deena informed Burnett of the attack on the Pentagon. Burnett relayed this to the other passengers, and told Deena he and a group of other passengers were putting together a plan to take control of the plane.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/transcript.html |title=Transcript of Tom's Last Calls to Deena |publisher=Tom Burnett Family Foundation |access-date=June 13, 2021 |archive-date=July 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723125116/http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/transcript.html |url-status=usurped}}</ref> He ended his last call by saying, "Don't worry, we're going to do something."<ref name="Burnett" /><ref name=":1" /> An unknown flight attendant attempted to contact the United Airlines maintenance facility at 09:32:29. The call lasted 95 seconds, but was not received as it may have been in queue.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called the maintenance facility at 09:35:40 from row 33.<ref name="Sum93"/> She reported the flight had been hijacked by men with knives who were in the cabin and flight deck and had stabbed another flight attendant, possibly Debbie Welsh.<ref name="Stip"/>

It is believed that the murdered passenger mentioned by Burnett was Mark Rothenberg.<ref name=Dedman>{{cite web |author=Dedman, Bill |title=Heroes of Flight 93 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=July 29, 2002 |access-date=June 13, 2021 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3080117 |archive-date=June 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613164247/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3080117 |url-status=live}}</ref> Rothenberg was the only first class passenger who did not make a phone call after the hijacking. He was seated in 5B, and al-Haznawi sat directly behind him in 6B. On Flight 11, Satam al-Suqami, in seat 10B, attacked passenger [[Daniel Lewin]], who was seated directly in front of him in 9B. One assumption is that al-Haznawi attacked Rothenberg, unprovoked, to frighten other passengers and crew into compliance. Alternatively, Rothenberg may have attempted to stop the hijacking and confront the hijackers.<ref name="Mitchell" />{{rp|153–154}}

[[Mark Bingham]] called his mother at 09:37:03 from row 25. He reported that the plane had been hijacked by three men who claimed to have a bomb.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/family.reacts/index.html |title=Relatives wait for news as rescuers dig |date=September 13, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522050524/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/12/family.reacts/index.html |archive-date=May 22, 2008}}</ref> [[Jeremy Glick]] called his wife at 09:37:41 from row 27 and told her the flight was hijacked by three dark-skinned men who looked "Iranian", wearing [[:File:Flight93 bandana.jpg|red bandanas]] and wielding knives.<ref name="Chap1"/><ref name="Stip"/> Glick remained connected until the end of the flight.<ref name="Sum93"/> He reported that the passengers voted whether to "rush" the hijackers.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> The United air traffic control coordinator for West Coast flights, Alessandro "Sandy" Rogers, alerted the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] (FAA) Herndon Command Center in [[Herndon, Virginia|Herndon]], Virginia, that Flight{{spaces}}93 was not responding and was off course. A minute later, the [[Transponder (aviation)|transponder]] was turned off, but the Cleveland controller continued to monitor the flight on primary radar.<ref name="NPR1"/> The Herndon Center relayed information on Flight{{spaces}}93 to FAA headquarters. Joseph DeLuca called his father at 09:43:03 from row 26 to inform him the flight had been hijacked.

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote="Jack, pick up sweetie, can you hear me? Okay. I just want to tell you, there's a little problem with the plane. I'm fine. I'm totally fine. I just want to tell you how much I love you."|source=—Message left by pregnant passenger [[Lauren Grandcolas]] at 09:39:21.<ref>{{cite news |title=Transcripts – Mornings with Paula Zahn – Remembering The Victims: Lauren Grandcolas |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ltm/date/2001-12-28/segment/16 |date=December 28, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 23, 2008 |archive-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080525202225/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/28/ltm.16.html |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
Passenger [[Lauren Grandcolas]] called her husband twice, once before takeoff and once during the hijacking at 09:39:21. He missed both her calls. Grandcolas made 7 more calls in the next 4 minutes,<ref name="Mitchell"/>{{rp|90}} then lent her phone to Marion Britton.<ref name="Mitchell"/>{{rp|240}}

[[Todd Beamer]] attempted to call his wife from row 32 at 09:43:48, but was routed to GTE phone operator Lisa D. Jefferson.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> Beamer told the operator the flight had been hijacked and that two people who he thought were the pilots were on the floor, dead or injured. He said one of the hijackers had a red belt with what looked to be a bomb strapped to his waist.<ref name="Beamer">{{cite news |last1=Lane |first1=Charles |last2=Phillips |first2=Don |last3=Snyder |first3=David |title=A Sky Filled With Chaos, Uncertainty and True Heroism |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/17/a-sky-filled-with-chaos-uncertainty-and-true-heroism/7ccdab74-aee8-47a1-9e4e-9e7d90f519b5/ |date=September 17, 2001 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=December 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209105904/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/17/a-sky-filled-with-chaos-uncertainty-and-true-heroism/7ccdab74-aee8-47a1-9e4e-9e7d90f519b5/ |url-status=live}}</ref> When the hijackers veered the plane sharply south, Beamer briefly panicked, exclaiming, "We're going down! We're going down!"<ref name=AmNatBiography>Evensen, Bruce J. (2000). [http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01916-print.html "Beamer, Todd Morgan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515171738/http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01916-print.html |date=May 15, 2014 }}. ''[[American National Biography]]''. Retrieved May 14, 2014.</ref><ref name=PostGazette9.16.01>{{cite news |last=McKinnon |first=Jim |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010916phonecallnat3p3.asp |title=The phone line from Flight 93 was still open when a GTE operator heard Todd Beamer say: 'Are you guys ready? Okay. Let's roll ...' |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 16, 2001 |access-date=July 18, 2016 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225171951/http://old.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010916phonecallnat3p3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Guardian>{{cite news |last=Vulliamy |first=Ed |date=December 1, 2001 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/02/september11.terrorism1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119194533/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/02/september11.terrorism1 |archive-date=November 19, 2016 |title='Let's roll{{spaces}}...' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Linda Gronlund called her sister, Elsa Strong, at 09:46:05 and left her a message saying there were "men with a bomb".<ref name="SanFran1">{{cite news |last=Serrano |first=Richard A |title=9/11 phone drama replayed at Moussaoui sentencing trial |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/12/MNG95I7P2G1.DTL&feed=rss.news |date=April 12, 2006 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411224458/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F04%2F12%2FMNG95I7P2G1.DTL&feed=rss.news |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{listen | pos = | help = no | filename = Lyles.ogg | title = CeeCee Lyles | description = Phone call made by CeeCee Lyles | format = Ogg}}
Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles called her husband at 09:47:57 and left him a message saying the plane had been hijacked.<ref name="Sum93"/> Marion Britton called her friend, Fred Fiumano, at 09:49:12. Fiumano recalled, "she said, 'We're gonna. They're gonna kill us, you know, We're gonna die.' And I told her, 'Don't worry, they hijacked the plane, they're gonna take you for a ride, you go to their country, and you come back. You stay there for vacation.' You don't know what to say{{snd}}what are you gonna say? I kept on saying the same things, 'Be calm.' And she was crying and{{spaces}}... screaming and yelling."<ref name="Love"/>

Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called her husband at 09:50:04 and told him she was heating water to throw at the hijackers.<ref name="Sum93"/> Honor Elizabeth Wainio called her stepmother at 09:53:43 and concluded, four and a half minutes later, by saying, "I have to go. They're breaking into the cockpit. I love you."<ref name="Age1">{{cite web |title='Let's roll': A catchphrase that became a battlecry |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/09/1031115990625.html |work=The Age |location=Australia |date=September 9, 2002 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 2, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002070121/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/09/1031115990625.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jarrah dialed in the [[VHF omnidirectional range]] (VOR) frequency for the VOR navigational aid at [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Reagan National Airport]] at 09:55:11 to direct the plane toward Washington, D.C.<ref name="Notes"/>

Bradshaw, on the phone with her husband, said "Everyone is running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alderson |first1=Andrew |first2=Susan |last2=Bisset |title=The extraordinary last calls of Flight UA93 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1360088/The-extraordinary-last-calls-of-Flight-UA93.html |date=October 20, 2001 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=November 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107002859/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1360088/The-extraordinary-last-calls-of-Flight-UA93.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Beamer told GTE phone operator Lisa Jefferson that he and a few passengers were getting together and were planning to "jump" the hijacker with the bomb.<ref name=PostGazette9.16.01/> Beamer recited the [[Lord's Prayer]] and the [[23rd Psalm]] with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." After this, Jefferson heard muffled voices and Beamer answering, "Are you ready? Okay. [[Let's roll]]." These were Beamer's last words to Jefferson.<ref name=AmNatBiography/><ref name=PostGazette9.16.01/><ref name=Guardian/>

During the hijacking, Flight 93 passed within {{convert|1000|ft}} (instead of the normal {{convert|2000|ft}}) of a NASA [[KC-135]] returning from a microgravity flight over Lake Ontario. NASA pilot Dominic Del Rosso recalled how odd the silence on the radio was that morning.<ref name="JSCR 911">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Melissa |title=Crossing paths with danger |newspaper=Johnson Space Center Roundup |date=September 2001}}</ref>

==Passenger revolt==
{{Quote box|align=right|width=20em|quote="Are you guys ready? Okay. [[Let's roll]]!"|source=—[[Todd Beamer]]'s last words heard by operator Lisa Jefferson.<ref name="HG">{{cite news |last=Perl |first=Peter |title=Hallowed Ground |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2002/05/12/hallowed-ground/0c7b4753-ecca-48bd-8267-f11d2fc43a4f/ |date=May 12, 2002 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917134209/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2002/05/12/hallowed-ground/0c7b4753-ecca-48bd-8267-f11d2fc43a4f/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
The passenger revolt on Flight{{spaces}}93 began at 09:57, after the passengers voted on whether to act.<ref name="Chap1"/> The plane left its Washington, D.C. course after the passengers revolted and the hijackers began maneuvering the plane violently in response.<ref name="Chap1"/>

The hijackers in the cockpit became aware of the revolt at 09:57:55, Jarrah exclaiming, "Is there something? A fight?"<ref name="Trans93"/>

Edward Felt dialed [[9-1-1]] from his cell phone from the rear lavatory of the aircraft seeking information at 09:58.<ref name="Sum93"/> His call was answered by dispatcher John Shaw, and Felt was able to tell him about the hijacking before the call was disconnected.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hoffman |first=Ernie |title=Dispatcher honored for Flight 93 efforts |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011207dispatcher1207p3.asp |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=December 7, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=June 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613151625/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011207dispatcher1207p3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> Multiple news reports (originally based on a 9-1-1 supervisor's account after having overheard the call) asserted that Edward Felt reported hearing an explosion and seeing smoke from an undetermined location on the plane.<ref>{{cite news |last=Spangler |first=Todd |title=Passenger makes frantic call before jetliner crashes in Pa. |url=http://www.bergen.com/news/2pacrash200109123.htm |work=Bergen County Record |date=September 12, 2001 |access-date=March 23, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011108030728/http://www.bergen.com/news/2pacrash200109123.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Levin |first=Steve |title=It hurt to listen |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20020421flight930421p1.asp |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 21, 2002 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=February 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224024211/http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20020421flight930421p1.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> These reports were not corroborated by Shaw or Felt's wife, Sandra, who listened to the recording afterwards.<ref>{{cite book |last=Longman |first=Jere |title=Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back |edition=1 |year=2002 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=978-0060099084 |page=[https://archive.org/details/amongheroesunite00long/page/264 264] |chapter=23 |quote=A male passenger, Edward Felt, did call from the lavatory of the plane, but never mentioned an explosion or puff of smoke, said John Shaw, the dispatcher who took the call. 'Didn't happen,' he said. Felt's widow, Sandra, who heard the tape of the call, corroborated Shaw's story. |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/amongheroesunite00long/page/264}}</ref>

CeeCee Lyles called her husband once more from a cell phone and told him the passengers were forcing their way into the cockpit.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> Jarrah began to roll the airplane left and right to knock the passengers off balance. He told another hijacker in the cockpit at 09:58:57, "They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold."<ref name="Trans93"/> Jarrah changed tactics at 09:59:52 and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault.<ref name="Chap1"/>

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of crashing, screaming, and the shattering of glass and plates.<ref>{{cite news |title=Transcripts – CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports: Senate Debates Attack on Iraq; Did Russian Mob Attempt to Fix Olympics? |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0207/31/wbr.00.html |date=July 31, 2002 |work=CNN |access-date=June 28, 2008 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629125251/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0207/31/wbr.00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Three times in a period of five seconds there were shouts of pain or distress from a hijacker outside the cockpit, suggesting a hijacker who was standing guard outside the cockpit was being attacked by the passengers.<ref name="Mitchell"/>{{rp|103}} Jarrah stabilized the plane at 10:00:03.<ref name="Chap1"/><ref>''Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11'', pp&nbsp;103</ref> Five seconds later, he asked, "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?" Another hijacker responded, "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off."<ref name="Trans93"/> Jarrah once again pitched the airplane up and down.

A passenger in the background cried, "In the cockpit! If we don't, we'll die!" at 10:00:25. Sixteen seconds later, another passenger yelled, "Roll it!", possibly referring to using the [[Airline service trolley|food cart]].<ref name="Chap1"/> The voice recorder captured the sound of the passengers using the food cart as a battering ram against the cockpit door.<ref name="Mitchell"/>{{rp|104}}

Jarrah ceased the violent maneuvers at 10:01:00 and recited the [[takbir]] twice. He then asked another hijacker, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" The other hijacker responded, "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down."<ref name="Chap1"/> The passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:17, a male passenger said, "Turn it up!" A second later, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" At 10:02:33, Jarrah made a desperate plea in Arabic, repeatedly screaming "Give it to me!", possibly referring to the plane's [[Yoke (aircraft)|yoke]].<ref name="Mitchell"/>{{rp|104–105}} At 10:03:02, amidst screams and shouts, a hijacker, possibly al-Ghamdi, began shouting the ''takbir'', his cries drowned out by a passenger shouting "No!"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Investigation of United Flight 93 |url=https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/investigation-of-flight-93.mp4/view |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}</ref>

The plane then crashed into an empty field in [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek, Pennsylvania]], about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C.<ref name="Chap1"/> The last entry on the voice recorder was made at 10:03:09.<ref name="Trans93"/> The last piece of flight data was recorded at 10:03:10.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/UAL93FDR.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023124510/http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/UAL93FDR.pdf |archive-date=October 23, 2011 |title=United Airlines Flight 93 – Flight Data Recorder |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=June 29, 2008}}</ref>

There is disagreement among some family members of the passengers and the investigative officials as to whether the passengers managed to breach the cockpit or even break the cockpit door. The ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'' concluded that "the hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them".<ref name="Chap1"/> Many of the passengers' family members, having heard the audio recordings, believe the passengers breached the cockpit<ref name="FoxNews">{{cite news |date=August 8, 2003 |title=Families of Passengers Question Theory That Hijackers Crashed Flight 93 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/families-of-passengers-question-theory-that-hijackers-crashed-flight-93 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704150821/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94213,00.html |archive-date=July 4, 2013 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |publisher=[[Fox News]] |df=mdy-all |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> and killed at least one of the hijackers guarding the cockpit door; some interpreted the audio as suggesting that the passengers and hijackers struggled for control of the yoke.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/flight-93-hijacker-we-have-a-bomb-on-board |title=Flight 93 Hijacker: 'We Have a Bomb on Board' |last1=Emanuel |first1=Mike |first2=Liza |last2=Porteus |author3=The Associated Press |date=April 13, 2006 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=September 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015025756/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191420,00.html |archive-date=October 15, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=126702&page=1 |title=Wives of Passengers on Flight 93 |date=September 18, 2001 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=September 10, 2011 |archive-date=January 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120203719/http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=126702&page=1 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]], in the [[Presidential Emergency Operations Center]] deep under the [[White House]], authorized Flight 93 to be shot down, but upon learning of the crash, is reported to have said, "I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane."<ref name=cnn2>{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/11/ar911.king.cheney/ |title=Cheney recalls taking charge from bunker |date=September 11, 2002 |work=CNN |access-date=September 11, 2016 |archive-date=November 19, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021119041903/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/11/ar911.king.cheney/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Crash==
[[File:Flight93Crash.jpg|thumb|right|Flight 93 crash site]]
At 10:03:11, near Indian Lake and [[Shanksville, Pennsylvania]], the plane crashed into a field near a reclaimed [[coal]] [[surface mining|strip mine]] known as the Diamond T. Mine owned by PBS Coals in [[Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Stonycreek Township]] in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Somerset County]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Slevin |first=Peter |title=Outside the Cockpit Door, a Fight to Save the Plane |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10206-2004Jul23.html |date=July 24, 2004 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810115948/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10206-2004Jul23.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The 757 had between {{convert|5,500|to|7,000|usgal|L impgal}} of fuel remaining, which exploded and released a fireball that scorched a nearby hemlock grove.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/flight93story.htm |title=Flight 93 Story – Flight 93 National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)}}</ref> Far-flung debris that made up a third of the aircraft, including the cockpit, continued into the woods, demolishing trees on {{convert|163|acre}} owned by the Lambert family,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lambert |first1=Tim |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/08/31/1033059826/9-11-flight-93-crashed-on-my-land-i-went-back-to-the-sacred-ground-20-years-l |title=Part of Flight 93 Crashed on My Land. I Went Back to the Sacred Ground 20 Years Later : The NPR Politics Podcast |website=NPR.org |date=September 3, 2021 }}</ref> and damaging the nearby residence of Barry Hoover.<ref name=Courage>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXiFBAAAQBAJ&dq=barry+hoover+flight+93&pg=PA112 |isbn=978-1493014217 |title=Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11 |date=September 11, 2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield}}</ref> The rest of the aircraft buried itself in dirt that had been transported to the abandoned strip mine for reclamation efforts in the 1990s.<ref name=Courage /> The fuselage and wings shattered as they burrowed into the earth.<ref name=Courage/> One of the engines ended up in a catchment pond {{convert|2000|ft|yd m}} away from the main impact site.

The [[National Transportation Safety Board]] reported that the flight impacted at {{convert|563|mph|kn m/s km/h|abbr=on}} at a forty-degree nose-down inverted [[Aircraft attitude|attitude]].<ref name="ntsb-fps"/> The impact left a crater {{convert|8|to|10|ft|m|spell=in}} deep and {{convert|30|to|50|ft|m|spell=in}} wide.<ref>{{cite web |title=None of us will ever forget |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/attack/38647_main12.shtml |date=September 12, 2001 |work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011073837/http://www.seattlepi.com/attack/38647_main12.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> The coroner ruled that everyone on board who was still alive at the time of the crash died instantly of blunt-force trauma.<ref>{{cite news |last=Roache |first=Lisa |title='Among the Heroes' is moving |url=https://www.deseret.com/2002/10/27/19685371/among-the-heroes-is-moving |access-date=July 25, 2021 |archive-date=June 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603082805/https://www.deseret.com/2002/10/27/19685371/among-the-heroes-is-moving |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Sara |first=Rimer |title=A Nation Challenged: The Pennsylvania Crash; 44 Victims Are Remembered, and Lauded |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE5D6143BF93BA2575AC0A9679C8B63 |date=September 18, 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008}}</ref> Many media reports and eyewitness accounts said the time of the crash was 10:06 or 10:10;<ref>{{cite news |last=Silver |first=Jonathan D |title=What was the danger to city? Doomed United Flight 93 passed just south of Pittsburgh |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010913flightpathreg2p2.asp |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 13, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=January 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103085305/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010913flightpathreg2p2.asp |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Bell Tolls In Shanksville |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-bell-tolls-in-shanksville/ |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=September 11, 2002 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 12, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021012074635/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520846.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/ |title=September 11: Chronology of terror |date=September 12, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=November 1, 2014 |archive-date=October 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008205042/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/ |url-status=live}}</ref> an initial analysis of seismographic data in the area concluded that the crash occurred at 10:06,<ref>{{cite web |title=Seismic Observations during September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attack |url=http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/publications/download/911pentagon.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030320090510/http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/publications/download/911pentagon.pdf |archive-date=March 20, 2003 |last=Kim |first=Won-Young |author2=Baum, Gerald R. |year=2002 |publisher=Maryland Geological Survey, Maryland Department of Natural Resources |quote=... we positively identified seismic signals associated with United Airlines Flight{{spaces}}93 that crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The time of the plane crash was 10:06:05±5 (EDT).}}</ref> but the 9/11 Commission report states that this analysis was not definitive and was retracted.<ref name="Notes" /> Other media outlets and the 9/11 Commission reported the time of impact as 10:03,<ref>{{cite news |last=Longman |first=Jere |title=Flight 93; Refusing To Give In Without A Fight |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/nationchallenged/11FLIG.html?ex=1184385600&en=a7fad17a5909a9aa&ei=5070 |date=September 11, 2002 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423192701/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/nationchallenged/11FLIG.html?ex=1184385600&en=a7fad17a5909a9aa&ei=5070 <!-- bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=April 23, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lowry |first=Patricia |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05193/536347.stm |title=Memorial in the making: Five Flight 93 designs evolve in subtle ways |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=July 12, 2005 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018215728/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05193/536347.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> based on when the flight recorders stopped, analysis of radar data, infrared satellite data, and air traffic control transmissions.<ref name="Chap1"/>
[[File:UA93 fuselage debris.jpg|thumb|left|A piece of the fuselage]]

The only known witness to the actual crash, and the last one to see United 93 airborne, was Stoney Creek resident Nevin Lambert, who reported that he saw the plane upside down as it crashed to the ground in a 45 degree-angled nosedive.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/09/06/eyewitness-reflects-on-flight-93-crash/ |title=Eyewitness Reflects On Flight 93 Crash |publisher=[[KDKA-TV]] |date=September 6, 2011 |access-date=June 7, 2021 |archive-date=September 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913062846/https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/09/06/eyewitness-reflects-on-flight-93-crash/}}</ref> Kelly Leverknight, a local resident, was watching news of the attacks when she heard the plane. "I heard the plane going over and I went out the front door and I saw the plane going down. It was headed toward the school, which panicked me, because all three of my kids were there. Then you heard the explosion and felt the blast and saw the fire and smoke."<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibbs |first=Nancy |title=The Day of the Attack |url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,174655-4,00.html |date=September 12, 2001 |work=[[Time Magazine]] |access-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911040835/https://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=53177223193&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df2ae72c79538cd4%26domain%3Dcontent.time.com%26is_canvas%3Dfalse%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcontent.time.com%252Ff38c49e6452195%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=110&href=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.time.com%2Ftime%2Fnation%2Farticle%2F0%2C8599%2C174655%2C00.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&send=false&show_faces=false&width=90 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Zapinski |first=Ken |title=A blur in the sky, then a firestorm |url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/091201/Worldandnation/A_blur_in_the_sky__th.shtml |date=September 12, 2001 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=August 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818023822/http://www.sptimes.com/News/091201/Worldandnation/A_blur_in_the_sky__th.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Another witness, Eric Peterson, looked up when he heard the plane, "It was low enough, I thought you could probably count the rivets. You could see more of the roof of the plane than you could the belly. It was on its side. There was a great explosion and you could see the flames. It was a massive, massive explosion. Flames and then smoke and then a massive, massive [[mushroom cloud]]."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sweeney |first1=James F |first2=Diane |last2=Solov |first3=Rich |last3=Exner |title=Pennsylvania crash carries horror into small towns |url=http://www.cleveland.com/terrorism/index.ssf?/terrorism/more/100028703529429109.html |work=[[The Plain Dealer]] |date=September 12, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118135044/http://www.cleveland.com/terrorism/index.ssf?%2Fterrorism%2Fmore%2F100028703529429109.html |archive-date=November 18, 2006 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Val McClatchey had been watching footage of the attacks when she heard the plane. She saw it briefly, then heard the impact. The crash knocked out the electricity and phones. McClatchey grabbed her camera and took the only known picture of the smoke cloud from the explosion.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hamill |first=Sean D |title=Picture Made on 9/11 Takes a Toll on Photographer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/us/10cnd-shanksville.html?ref=us |date=September 10, 2007 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006094613/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/us/10cnd-shanksville.html?ref=us |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Frederick |first=Robb |title=The day that changed America |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_90823.html |work=[[Trib Total Media|Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]] |date=September 11, 2002 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911011058/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_90823.html |archive-date=September 11, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In September 2011, shortly before the 10th anniversary of the attacks, a video of the rising smoke cloud filmed by Dave Berkebile (who had died the previous February) from his yard on Bluebird Lane, {{convert|5.8|mi|km}} away from the crash site, was published on [[YouTube]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Johns |first=Arlene |title=Flight 93 Crash Site Video Surfaces |url=http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x1095936052/Flight-93-crash-site-video-surfaces |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20120917140803/http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x1095936052/Flight-93-crash-site-video-surfaces |archive-date=September 17, 2012 |date=September 3, 2011 |access-date=September 6, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Memmott |first=Mark |title=Newly Revealed Video Shows Smoke Rising From Flight 93 |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/09/06/140226017/newly-revealed-video-shows-smoke-rising-from-flight-93 |date=September 6, 2011 |access-date=September 6, 2011 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911040829/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/09/06/140226017/newly-revealed-video-shows-smoke-rising-from-flight-93 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:UA93 livery debris.jpg|thumb|right|Debris of Flight{{spaces}}93 found at crash site. The United Airlines "Battleship Gray" livery used on the aircraft is visible.]]

The first responders arrived at the crash site after 10:06.<ref name="HG"/> Cleveland Center controllers, unaware the flight had crashed, notified the [[Northeast Air Defense Sector]] (NEADS) at 10:07 that Flight{{spaces}}93 had a bomb on board and passed the last known position. This call was the first time the military was notified about the flight. Ballinger sent one final ACARS message to Flight{{spaces}}93 at 10:10, "Don't divert to DC. Not an option." He repeated the message one minute later. The Herndon Command Center alerted FAA headquarters that Flight{{spaces}}93 had crashed at 10:13.<ref name="9/11Commission"/> NEADS called the [[Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center]] for an update on Flight{{spaces}}93 and received notification that the flight had crashed.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Zero Hour |series=Inside 9/11 |series-link=Inside 9/11 |airdate=2005-09-23 |credits=Producers: Colette Beaudry and Michael Cascio |network=[[National Geographic Channel]]}}</ref>

At 10:37, [[CNN]] correspondent [[Aaron Brown (journalist)|Aaron Brown]], covering the [[collapse of the World Trade Center]], announced, "We are getting reports and we are getting lots of reports and we want to be careful to tell you when we have confirmed them and not, but we have a report that a 747 is down in Pennsylvania, and that remains unconfirmed at this point."<ref>{{cite news |title=Transcripts – America Under Attack |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.04.html |date=September 11, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 29, 2008 |archive-date=September 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928013914/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.04.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He followed that up at 10:49 by reporting "We have a report now that a large plane crashed this morning, north of the Somerset County Airport, which is in western Pennsylvania, not too terribly far from Pittsburgh, about {{convert|80|mi|km}} or so, a Boeing 767 jet. Don't know whose airline it was, whose airplane it was, and we don't have any details beyond that which I have just given you."<!-- transcript cites 10:45, actual air time was 10:49; see https://archive.org/details/cnn200109111011-1053 --> In the confusion, he also erroneously reported a second hijacked plane heading for the Pentagon after the crash of the first.<ref name="CNN2">{{cite news |title=Transcripts – America Under Attack |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.08.html |date=September 11, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 29, 2008 |archive-date=September 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928013932/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.08.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
{{Further|Reactions to the September 11 attacks}}
[[File:DNA collection PA crash site.jpg|thumb|DNA recovery at the crash site]]
[[File:Flight93Engine.jpg|thumb|One of United Airlines Flight 93's engines unearthed after the crash]]
[[File:United Airlines Flight 93 flight data recorder.jpg|thumb|The cockpit voice recorder found at the scene in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania]], where Flight 93 crashed]]
[[File:RedbandanaHijackersFlight93.jpg|thumb|The bandana of one of the hijackers]]
Flight 93 fragmented violently upon impact. Most of the aircraft wreckage was found near the impact crater.<ref>{{cite news |title=Transcripts – America Under Attack: FBI and State Police Cordon Off Debris Area Six to Eight Miles from Crater Where Plane Went Down |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/13/bn.01.html |date=September 13, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=July 22, 2008 |archive-date=April 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413151054/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/13/bn.01.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Investigators found very light debris including paper and nylon scattered up to eight miles (13{{spaces}}km) from the impact point in [[New Baltimore, Pennsylvania|New Baltimore]].<ref name="CNN3">{{cite news |title='Black box' from Pennsylvania crash found |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/13/penn.attack/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705044922/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/13/penn.attack/ |archive-date=July 5, 2008 |date=September 13, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 29, 2008}}</ref> Other tiny aircraft fragments were found {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} away at [[Indian Lake, Pennsylvania|Indian Lake]].<ref name="PopMec">{{cite news |url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613202735/http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=8 |archive-date=June 13, 2008 |title=Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report |work=[[Popular Mechanics]] |date=March 2005 |access-date=June 29, 2008}}</ref> All human remains were found within a 70-acre (28 ha) area surrounding the impact point.<ref name="PopMec" />

Somerset County [[coroner]] Wally Miller was involved in the investigation and identification of the remains. In examining the wreckage, the only human body part he could see was part of a backbone.<ref>{{cite web |title=On Hallowed Ground |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/09/1031115990570.html |work=The Age |date=September 9, 2002 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=October 15, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021015234641/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/09/1031115990570.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Miller later found and identified 1,500 pieces of human remains totaling about {{convert|600|lb|0}}, or eight percent of the total.<ref>{{cite news |last=Perl |first=Peter |title=Hallowed Ground; Nobody asked for this, but as September 11 recedes, a small Pennsylvania town finds itself guardian of an American legend; |date=May 12, 2002 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> The rest of the remains were consumed by the impact.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pressley |first=Sue A |title=Site of Crash Is 'Hallowed Ground'; In a Pa. Field, Thousands Pay Homage to Where America First Fought Back; |date=September 11, 2002 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Investigators identified four victims by September 22 and eleven by September 24.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibb |first=Tom |title=Four Flight 93 victims identified |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010922coronernat3p3.asp |date=September 22, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409142003/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010922coronernat3p3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lyman |first=Brian |title=Coroner identifies seven more victims of Flight 93 crash |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010924scenenat5p5.asp |date=September 24, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=February 11, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211060300/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010924scenenat5p5.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> They identified another by September 29.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Searchers to return to Flight 93 crash site |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010929somerset0929p3.asp |date=September 29, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929232217/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010929somerset0929p3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> Thirty-four passengers were identified by October 27.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopey |first=Don |title=Another 14 victims of Flight 93 identified |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011027flight931027p5.asp |date=October 27, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=August 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802114745/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011027flight931027p5.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

All the people on board the flight were identified by December 21. Human remains were so fragmented that investigators could not determine whether any victims were dead before the plane crashed. [[Death certificate]]s for the 40 victims listed the [[List of causes of death by rate|cause of death]] as homicide and listed the cause of death for the four hijackers as suicide.<ref name="Pitt1">{{cite news |last=Gibb |first=Tom |title=Flight 93 remains yield no evidence |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011220shanksville1220p2.asp |date=December 20, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090915184819/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011220shanksville1220p2.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> The remains and personal effects of the victims were returned to the families.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Flight 93 Remains Returned |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flight-93-remains-returned/ |date=February 26, 2002 |work=CBS News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=February 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219090135/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/02/26/national/main502204.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> The remains of Ziad Jarrah were identified and turned over to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) as evidence after DNA samples submitted by his girlfriend were matched to remains recovered in Shanksville.<ref name="911myths_com">{{cite web|url=http://911myths.com/images/e/ef/Team5_Box62_AliasesAndIDs-FBIIDsHijackers-2.pdf|title=How The FBI Identified The 19 Hijackers's Identities|publisher=911 Myths|access-date=2009-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918084810/http://911myths.com/images/e/ef/Team5_Box62_AliasesAndIDs-FBIIDsHijackers-2.pdf|archive-date=2011-09-18|url-status=live}}</ref> The remains of the other three hijackers were identified by the process of elimination and turned over to the FBI as evidence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Burger |first=Timothy J |title=Hijackers' remains FBI gets fragments of Pentagon, Pa. 9/11 thugs |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/hijackers-remains-fbi-fragments-pentagon-pa-9-11-thugs-article-1.507154 |date=August 17, 2002 |work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303231712/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/hijackers-remains-fbi-fragments-pentagon-pa-9-11-thugs-article-1.507154 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:United Airlines Flight 93 flight data recorder 2.jpg|thumb|The flight data recorder found at the scene in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania]], where Flight 93 crashed]]
Investigators also found a knife concealed in a cigarette lighter.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Revised 9/11 Report Reveals New Details |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/revised-9-11-report-reveals-new-details |date=September 14, 2005 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807145641/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169337,00.html |archive-date=August 7, 2008 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> They located the [[flight data recorder]] on September 13 and the [[cockpit voice recorder]] the following day.<ref>{{cite news |last=Silver |first=Jonathan D |title=Will black box reveal Flight 93's last moments? |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010914blackbox0914p3.asp |date=September 14, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907105013/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010914blackbox0914P3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Matthew P |title=Flight 93 voice recorder found in Somerset County crash site |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010915blackbox0915p3.asp |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 15, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=July 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720021458/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010915blackbox0915p3.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> The voice recorder was found buried {{convert|25|ft|0}} below the crater. The FBI initially refused to release the voice recording, rejecting requests by [[Member of Congress|Congresswoman]] [[Ellen Tauscher]] and family members of those on board.<ref>{{cite news |last=Candiotti |first=Susan |title=FBI won't release Flight 93 tape |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/12/21/inv.flight.93.tape/index.html |work=CNN |date=December 21, 2001 |access-date=July 1, 2008 |archive-date=September 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911044015/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/12/21/inv.flight.93.tape/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> While access to voice recordings is usually restricted to government crash investigators and plane crash litigants, the FBI made an exception by allowing the relatives of Flight{{spaces}}93 victims to listen to the recording in a closed session on April 18, 2002.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hirschkorn |first1=Phil |first2=David |last2=Mattingly |title=Families say Flight 93 tapes prove heroism |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/04/19/rec.flight.93.families/index.html?related |work=CNN |date=April 19, 2002 |access-date=July 1, 2008 |archive-date=October 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027215409/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/04/19/rec.flight.93.families/index.html?related |url-status=live}}</ref> Jurors for the [[Zacarias Moussaoui]] trial heard the tape as part of the proceedings and the transcript was publicly released on April 12, 2006.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Moussaoui timeline |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-03-moussaoui-timeline_x.htm |date=May 3, 2006 |work=USA Today |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911012956/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-03-moussaoui-timeline_x.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2025|06}}, the audio recording has still not been released to the public, due to an "active and ongoing investigation."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flight 93 Cockpit Voice Recorder - Flight 93 National Memorial |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/flight-93-cockpit-voice-recorder.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=2023-10-31 |access-date=2025-06-10 |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Flight 93 site 091110.jpg|thumb|First Ladies [[Michelle Obama]] and [[Laura Bush]] survey the crash site on September 11, 2010, the ninth anniversary of the hijacking]]The passengers (excluding the hijackers) and crew on board Flight{{spaces}}93 were nominated for the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] on September 19, 2001.<ref>{{cite news |title=Senate considers medals for Flight 93 victims |url=http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/19/vic.medals/ |date=September 19, 2001 |work=CNN |access-date=June 26, 2008 |archive-date=June 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607144358/http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/19/vic.medals/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Congressman [[Bill Shuster]] introduced a bill to this effect in 2006,<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Bill Would Award Medals to Those Killed on Flight 93 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/bill-would-award-medals-to-those-killed-on-flight-93 |date=April 18, 2006 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424120908/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192201,00.html |archive-date=April 24, 2008 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> and they were granted on September 11, 2014.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dorell |first=Oren |title=Medals mulled for 9/11's Flight 93 victims |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-08-Flight93_N.htm |work=USA Today |date=April 9, 2008 |access-date=July 3, 2008 |archive-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020221931/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-08-Flight93_N.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> The obverse of the Medal is inscribed with "A common field one day, a field of honor forever" and "Act of Congress 2011". The reverse of the Medal features 40 stars (in honor of each of the passengers and crew), a sentinel eagle clasping laurel branches, the western front of the U.S. Capitol, and the inscription "We honor the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who perished in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001. Their courageous action will be remembered forever."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/congressional-gold-medal.htm |title=Flight 93 National Memorial Pennsylvania: Congressional Gold Medal |access-date=September 11, 2020 |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201210402/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/congressional-gold-medal.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beamer's final words, "[[let's roll]]", became a national catchphrase.<ref name="Age1"/> The [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] changed the name of Newark's airport from Newark International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport and a flag now flies over Terminal A's Gate A17.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Airport Renamed To Honor 9/11 Heroes |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/airport-renamed-to-honor-9-11-heroes/ |date=August 30, 2002 |work=CBS News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=September 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926165551/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/30/terror/main520326.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> {{Anchor|Aftermathpopculture}}Flight{{spaces}}93 has been the subject of [[September 11, 2001 attacks in popular culture|various films and documentaries]] including ''[[The Flight That Fought Back]]'', ''[[Flight 93 (TV film)|Flight 93]]'', and the feature film ''[[United 93 (film)|United 93]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title='Grey's,' '24' among top Emmy nominees |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/06/emmy.nominations/ |date=July 6, 2006 |work=CNN |access-date=July 10, 2008 |archive-date=April 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424143031/http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/06/emmy.nominations/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Timmons |first=Heather |title=Four Years On, a Cabin's-Eye View of 9/11 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/movies/01timm.html?ex=1293771600&en=f5a28a31bbbc6611&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |date=January 1, 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408042723/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/movies/01timm.html?ex=1293771600&en=f5a28a31bbbc6611&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |url-status=live}}</ref> A 60-minute documentary titled ''I Missed Flight 93'' aired on the [[History Channel]] around early 2006, featuring interviews with Flight 93 regular Frank Robertazzi; painter [[Daniel Belardinelli]] whose uncle, William Cashman, died on the flight; and [[flight surgeon]] Heather Ogle who was booked in seat 1A next to Jarrah.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=111999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207035814/http://www.aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=111999 |title=I Missed Flight 93 |publisher=[[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]] |year=2006 |archive-date=February 7, 2006 |access-date=November 19, 2013}}</ref>

United Airlines retired the [[flight number]]s 93 and [[United Airlines Flight 175|175]] after the attacks. It was reported in May 2011 that the company was reactivating them as a codeshare operated by [[Continental Airlines]], sparking an outcry from some in the media and the [[labor union]] representing United pilots.<ref name="TIME-Romero-2011">{{cite magazine |date=May 18, 2011 |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/18/flight-number-flub-unitedcontinental-accidentally-reinstates-flights-93-and-175/ |title=Flight Number Flub: United/Continental Accidentally Reinstates Flights 93 and 175 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=February 14, 2015 |last=Romero |first=Frances |archive-date=December 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219220638/http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/18/flight-number-flub-unitedcontinental-accidentally-reinstates-flights-93-and-175/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WSJ-McCartney-2011">{{cite news |date=May 18, 2011 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2011/05/18/bad-mistake-united-revives-sept-11-flight-numbers/?mod=google_news_blog |title=Bad Mistake: United Revives Sept. 11 Flight Numbers |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=February 14, 2015 |last=McCartney |first=Scott |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112031934/http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2011/05/18/bad-mistake-united-revives-sept-11-flight-numbers/?mod=google_news_blog |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="USA-Today-Mutzabaugh-2011">{{cite news |title=Unions slam United for mistakenly reinstating 9/11 flight numbers |first=Ben |last=Mutzabaugh |url=http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/unions-slam-united-for-accidentally-reinstating-911-flight-numbers/170842/1 |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |date=May 18, 2011 |access-date=February 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104202329/http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/unions-slam-united-for-accidentally-reinstating-911-flight-numbers/170842/1 |archive-date=January 4, 2014}}</ref> United said the numbers had been "inadvertently reinstated" and would not be reactivated.<ref name="TIME-Romero-2011"/>

===Target===

The intended target of Flight{{spaces}}93 was the [[United States Capitol]].<ref>Sims, Marcie.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=L1NLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 Hill Pages: Young Witnesses to 200 Years of History]'', p. 133 ([[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]], 2018).</ref><ref>Glass, Andrew.  [https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/us-capitol-likely-terrorist-target-sept-11-2001-227844 “U.S. Capitol likely terrorist target: Sept. 11, 2001”], ''[[Politico]]'' (11 Sep 2016).</ref> The two setbacks the hijackers faced, totalling 88 minutes combined, meant casualties on the ground would have been minimal even if the plane did reach D.C. The attack on the Pentagon at 09:37 caused the immediate evacuation of all federal government buildings in the area,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-timeline |title=9/11 Timeline |date=June 21, 2011 |access-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> with the Capitol and the White House being evacuated 28 minutes before Flight 93's earliest projected arrival time of 10:13.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|62}}

Before the attacks, [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], [[Osama bin Laden]], and [[Mohammed Atef]] developed a list of potential targets.<ref name="Chap5"/> Bin Laden wanted to destroy the White House and the Pentagon. Sheikh Mohammed wanted to strike the World Trade Center and all three wanted to hit the Capitol. Atta cautioned bin al-Shibh that the White House proved to be too difficult to reach. Eventually, Atta told bin al-Shibh that Jarrah planned to hit the Capitol.<ref name="Chap7">{{cite book |chapter=The Attack Looms |chapter-url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch7.htm |year=2004 |title=9/11 Commission Report |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=July 2, 2008 |archive-date=December 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228074840/https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch7.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Atta briefly mentioned the possibility of striking a nuclear facility, but relented after the other attack pilots voiced their opposition.<ref name="Chap7"/> Based on an exchange between Atta and bin al-Shibh two days before the attacks, the White House would be the primary target for the fourth plane and the Capitol the secondary target.<ref name="Notes"/> If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane.<ref name="Chap7"/>

Immediately after the attacks, there was speculation that [[Camp David]] was the intended target.<ref>{{cite web |title=Feds Would Have Shot Down Pa. Jet |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-would-have-shot-down-pa-jet/ |work=CBS News |date=September 16, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 4, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020404052745/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/12/archive/main311011.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on testimony from captured al-Qaeda member [[Abu Zubaydah]], U.S. officials believed the White House was the intended target.<ref>{{cite news |title=White House target of Flight 93, officials say |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/flight.93/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521222438/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/flight.93/index.html |archive-date=May 21, 2008 |date=May 23, 2002 |work=CNN |access-date=July 2, 2008}}</ref> A [[post–9/11|post-9/11]] interview with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and bin al-Shibh by [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] reporter [[Yosri Fouda]] said Flight{{spaces}}93 was heading for the Capitol.<ref name="Fouda">{{cite news |last=Rubin |first=Daniel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-capitol-was-flig/181102191/ |title=Capitol was Flight 93 target, Arab TV reports |date=September 9, 2002 |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |location=[[Berlin]], Germany |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Free access}}</ref> The ''9/11 Commission Report'' cited the actions of the crew and passengers in preventing the destruction of either the White House or the Capitol.<ref name="Chap1"/> According to further testimony by Sheikh Mohammed, bin Laden preferred the Capitol over the White House as a target.<ref name="Notes"/> [[Salim Hamdan]], bin Laden's driver, told interrogators that he knew that the flight was heading for the Capitol.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McIntyre |first1=Jamie |first2=Laurie |last2=Ure |title=Prosecution: Bin Laden's driver knew hijackers aiming for Capitol |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/22/gitmo.trial/ |date=July 22, 2008 |work=CNN |access-date=July 22, 2008 |archive-date=April 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424143107/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/22/gitmo.trial/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Fighter jet response===
Two [[F-16]] fighter pilots from the [[121st Fighter Squadron]] of the [[Air National Guard|D.C. Air National Guard]], [[Marc H. Sasseville|Marc Sasseville]] and [[Heather Penney|Heather "Lucky" Penney]], were [[Scrambling (military)|scrambled]] and ordered to intercept Flight 93. The pilots intended to ram it since they did not have time to arm the jets; this was in the days before armed jets stood ready to take off at a moment's notice to protect the capital's airspace.<ref name="intercept">{{cite web |last=NBC News |author-link=NBC News |date=September 9, 2011 |title=Kamikaze: F-16 pilots planned to ram Flight 93 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44459345 |access-date=February 13, 2015 |publisher=NBC News |archive-date=April 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408100454/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44459345/ns/us_news-9_11_ten_years_later/#.VN2Y1PmUe7Y |url-status=live}}</ref> They never reached Flight 93 and did not learn of its crash until hours afterwards.<ref name="Hendrix-2011">{{cite news |last=Hendrix |first=Steve |date=September 9, 2011 |title=F-16 pilot was ready to give her life on Sept. 11 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-give-her-life-on-sept-11/2011/09/06/gIQAMpcODK_story_1.html |access-date=February 13, 2015 |archive-date=February 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213064108/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-give-her-life-on-sept-11/2011/09/06/gIQAMpcODK_story_1.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

A fighter pilot based at [[Andrews Air Force Base]], Billy Hutchison, claimed that while in the air he spotted Flight 93 on his scope and planned to first fire his training rounds into the engine and cockpit, and then ram the airplane with his own jet.<ref name="Farmer p. 232">{{cite book |last=Farmer |first=John |title=The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |isbn=978-1101152331 |page=232}} – Total pages: 432</ref><ref name="FARMER-AZZARELLO-KARA-2008">{{cite news |date=September 13, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14farmer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |title=Real Heroes, Fake Stories |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=February 13, 2015 |last1=Farmer |first1=John |last2=Azzarello |first2=John |last3=Kara |first3=Miles |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904030034/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14farmer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |url-status=live}}</ref> His account was published in Lynn Spencer's book ''Touching History''. John Farmer, Senior Counsel to the 9/11 commission, pointed out that this would have been impossible, as Hutchison's squadron was not in the air until 10:38, thirty-five minutes after Flight 93 had crashed.<ref name="Farmer p. 232" /> When the 9/11 Commission asked Hutchison why he gave this false claim, he refused to answer and left the room.<ref name="Farmer p. 232" />

The [[North American Aerospace Defense Command]] (NORAD) stated to the 9/11 Commission that fighters would have intercepted Flight{{spaces}}93 before it reached its target in [[Washington, D.C.]], but the commission disagreed, saying that "NORAD did not even know the plane was hijacked until after it had crashed" and concluding that had it not crashed it probably would have arrived in Washington by 10:23.<ref name="Chap1" /><ref>"Although US military forces had been alerted about the hijackings, and two Air Force F-16 jet fighters were airborne in the area, no official authorization to shoot down Flight 93 was given until the aircraft had crashed. (The question as to whether the 757 would have reached its target had those aboard not taken action on their own remained disturbingly unanswered in the report issued by a federal commission established to investigate the terrorist attack.)" p. 328 – {{cite book |last=Gero |first=David Gero |title=Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1950 |year=2006 |publisher=[[The History Press|Sutton]] |isbn=978-0750931465}} – Total pages: 368</ref> The ''9/11 Commission Report'' stated that [[Northeast Air Defense Sector|NEADS]] fighters pursued [[Delta Air Lines Flight 1989]], a flight thought to be hijacked.<ref name="Chap1"/> The commission found that NORAD and the FAA gave inaccurate testimony.<ref name="CNN-Starr-Benson-2006">{{cite news |title=9/11 panel distrusted Pentagon testimony |first1=Barbara |last1=Starr |first2=Pam |last2=Benson |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/02/9-11panel.pentagon/index.html |publisher=[[CNN|CNN News]] |date=August 2, 2006 |access-date=February 14, 2015 |archive-date=January 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107014755/http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/02/9-11panel.pentagon/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Memorials===
{{Main|Flight 93 National Memorial}}
[[File:A tour of the Flight 93 National Memorial - 20.jpg|thumb|The [[Flight 93 National Memorial]]]]
[[File:4.28.12Flight93PanelS-67ByLuigiNovi1.jpg|thumb|The [[National September&nbsp;11 Memorial]]'s South Pool<ref>[http://names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_US&page=person&id=213 Deborah Jacobs Welsh] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727095710/http://names.911memorial.org/ |date=July 27, 2013 }}. Memorial Guide: National 9/11 Memorial. Retrieved September 11, 2016.</ref>]]
A temporary memorial formed from spontaneous tributes left by visitors in the days after the attacks at the crash site.<ref name="PittTrib1">{{cite news |last=Pickels |first=Mary |title=Flight 93 memorial work set after 4th |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_575608.html |date=July 2, 2008 |work=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |access-date=July 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708190917/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_575608.html |archive-date=July 8, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Foundations across the country began to raise money to fund a memorial to the victims within a month of the crash.<ref>{{cite web |title=Miami foundation backs memorial to Flight 93 victims |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011011memorial1011p5.asp |date=October 11, 2001 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=December 11, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011211103740/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011011memorial1011p5.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

Two years after the attacks, federal officials formed the Flight{{spaces}}93 National Memorial Advisory Commission responsible for making design recommendations for a permanent memorial.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Secretary Norton Installs New Federal Advisory Commission for Flight 93 National Memorial |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |date=September 11, 2003 |url=http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=416 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116021948/http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=416 |archive-date=January 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref> A national [[Architectural design competition|design competition]] was held to create a public memorial in the Pennsylvania field where Flight{{spaces}}93 crashed. The winning design, "Crescent of Embrace", was selected out of a pool of 1,011 submissions on September 7, 2005.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Flight 93 memorial design selected |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9235450 |date=September 7, 2005 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309113836/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9235450/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The site plan features a large crescent pathway with [[red maple]]s and [[sugar maple]]s planted along the outer arc.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ward |first=Paula |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05251/567702.stm |title=Flight 93 marker design picked |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 8, 2005 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=December 10, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210050507/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05251/567702.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

This design ran into opposition over funding, size, and appearance. [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Congressman [[Charles Taylor (North Carolina politician)|Charles H. Taylor]] blocked $10{{spaces}}million in federal funds toward the project as he saw it as "unrealistic".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tapper |first1=Jake |first2=Michael |last2=Callahan |title=Memorial for Flight 93 Faces Opposition |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1891274 |date=April 26, 2006 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309184219/https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1891274 |url-status=live}}</ref> Republican Congressional leaders later persuaded him to acquiesce to political pressure and began approving federal funds.<ref>{{cite news |last=Frankel |first=Glenn |title=The Architecture of Loss |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090700111.html |date=September 10, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110144717/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090700111.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The proposed design has also attracted critics who see Islamic symbolism in the crescent design.<ref name="NYT2">{{cite news |last=Hamill |first=Sean D |title=Critics See Symbols of Islam in Flight 93 Memorial Design |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/us/05memorial.html |date=May 5, 2008 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 10, 2008 |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513193737/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/us/05memorial.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

On August 31, 2009, an agreement was announced between the landowners and the [[National Park Service]] to allow the purchase of land for $9.5{{spaces}}million. The memorial area with a white marble Wall of Names was dedicated on September 10, 2011, the day before the 10th anniversary of the crash.<ref name=opendates/> A concrete and glass visitor center was opened on September 10, 2015 on a hill overlooking the memorial, with both the visitor center and the Wall of Names being aligned with the flight path and the final piece, the "Tower of Voices", was dedicated during a ceremony on September 9, 2018.<ref name=longroad/><ref name=npsfaqs/><ref name=npsdedtower>{{Cite news |title=September 9 Tower of Voices Dedication |publisher=National Park Service |date=September 9, 2018 |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/tower-of-voices-dedication.htm |access-date=September 17, 2018 |archive-date=September 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917143128/https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/tower-of-voices-dedication.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

CeeCee Lyles was one of the flight attendants on board. In 2003, a statue of Lyles was unveiled in her hometown of [[Fort Pierce, Florida]], which has since gained national recognition as one of the many monuments to the attacks.<ref>Shainman, Jon (September 11, 2013). [http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/cee-cee-lyles-911-flight-attendant-remembered-at-ft-pierce-ceremony "Cee Cee Lyles: 9/11 flight attendant remembered at Ft. Pierce ceremony"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016050132/http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/cee-cee-lyles-911-flight-attendant-remembered-at-ft-pierce-ceremony |date=October 16, 2015 }}. [[WPTV-TV]] [[West Palm Beach, Florida]].</ref> On August 9, 2007, a portion of [[U.S. Route 219 in Pennsylvania|U.S.{{spaces}}219]] in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania|Somerset County]], near the Flight 93 National Memorial, was co-signed as the Flight 93 Memorial Highway.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wthr.com/story/6646237/to-honor-911-heroes-governor-rendell-signs-bill-designating-somerset-county-road-flight-93-memorial-highway |title=To Honor 9/11 Heroes, Governor Rendell Signs Bill Designating Somerset County Road, 'Flight 93 Memorial Highway' |date=June 12, 2007 |work=WTHR |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714221640/http://www.wthr.com/story/6646237/to-honor-911-heroes-governor-rendell-signs-bill-designating-somerset-county-road-flight-93-memorial-highway |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> At the [[National September 11 Memorial]], the names of the victims of Flight{{spaces}}93 are inscribed on Panels S-67 and S-68 at the South Pool.<ref>[http://names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_US&page=about&id=7 About: The Memorial Names Layout] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727095710/http://names.911memorial.org/ |date=July 27, 2013 }}. Memorial Guide: [[National 9/11 Memorial]]. Retrieved December 11, 2011.</ref>

On the sixteenth anniversary of the crash, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Mike Pence]] spoke at the memorial: "Without regard to personal safety, they [the victims] rushed forward to save [our] lives{{spaces}}... I will always believe that I and many others in our nation's capital were able to go home that day and hug our families because of the courage and sacrifice of the heroes of Flight{{spaces}}93."<ref>{{cite news |title=Pence: Flight 93 passengers might have saved my life on 9/11 |url=https://www.mail.com/news/us/5505714-pence-flight-93-passengers-saved-life-911.html#.7518-stage-hero1-10 |date=September 11, 2017 |work=mail.com |access-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309184156/https://www.mail.com/consentpage#.7518-stage-hero1-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On June 21, 2018, the remaining wreckage of Flight 93, which had been stored in shipping containers in a warehouse since the crash, was buried at the crash site in a private ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, the wreckage was hand-searched for personal effects and human remains that might have been missed in years prior.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/5ce627c6c5d4412f8c81ff40954bec6a |title=Remaining wreckage of Flight 93 is buried at memorial |website=[[Associated Press]] |date=July 9, 2018}}</ref>

==Victims==
The passengers (excluding the hijackers) and crew were from:<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |title=Crew and Passengers of Flight 93 – Flight 93 National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/passengers-and-crew-of-flight-93.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2021-09-11 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en |archive-date=October 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027164356/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/passengers-and-crew-of-flight-93.htm}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United States}}||30||7||37
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Germany}}||1||0||1<!--German passenger: http://web.archive.org/web/20150414205847/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/christian-adams.htm -->
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Japan}}||1||0||1<!--Japanese passenger: https://web.archive.org/web/20210912002724/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/toshiya-kuge.htm -->
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|New Zealand}}||1||0||1<!--NZ passenger: https://web.archive.org/web/20200814002804/https://www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/alan-anthony-beaven.htm "practiced law in his native New Zealand" -->
|- valign=top
! Total
! 33
! 7
! 40
|}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Buell, Tonya |title=The Crash of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group |date=2003}} [for children]
* {{cite book |author=Homer, Melodie |title=From Where I Stand: Flight #93 Pilot's Widow Sets the Record Straight |publisher=Langdon Street Press |date=2012}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jefferson |first1=Lisa D. |last2=Middlebrooks |first2=Felicia |author-link2=Felicia Middlebrooks |title=Called: Hello, This Is Mrs. Jefferson. I Understand Your Plane Is Being Hijacked. 9:45 a.m., Flight 93, September 11, 2001 |publisher=Northfield Publishers |date=2006}}
* {{cite book |author=Kashurba, Glenn J. |title=Courage After the Crash: Flight 93 Aftermath: An Oral and Pictorial Chronicle |publisher=Saj Publishing |date=2002}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|United Airlines Flight 93}}
{{Wikisource|Flight 93 Cockpit Transcript}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/12/flight93.transcript.pdf United Airlines Flight #93 Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript] from CNN. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20131208160527/http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/12/flight93.transcript.pdf Archive] from CNN; [https://web.archive.org/web/20131208160527/http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/12/flight93.transcript.pdf Archive] at webcitation.org)
* [http://www.honorflight93.org/ Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign] (official website)
* {{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/flni |title=Flight 93 National Memorial |website=National Park Service}}
* {{Skeptoid | id=4022 | number= 22| title=Skepticism and Flight 93| date= January 19, 2007| access-date=}}

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[[Category:United Airlines Flight 93| ]]
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[[Category:United Airlines accidents and incidents|93]]
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