On the fateful day of September 11, merely nine years ago, four American planes were hijacked by terrorists and plunged into symbols of American success and pride. Two were aimed at the World Trade Center towers; they hit their targets dead on. One came to a fiery rest in the west side of the Pentagon.  The final plane, suspected to hit Washington DC, crashed into an empty field near Shanksville, PA. Flight 93 was unlike the other hijacked planes because the 40 passengers and crew knew what was going on beneath them. They decided to do something about it. A recent documentary, produced by David Gerber, attempts to show the events on the plane leading up to the crash. According to the official A&E site for the TV movie, Flight 93 was set to take off from Newark International at 8:01 am and land in California. A few technical difficulties ended up delaying the flight 41 minutes. Obviously, the plane still never made it past Pennsylvania.

Four terrorists occupied the aircraft and once they took control, the crew and passengers were able to make calls to their families and friends. On solid ground, everyone knew that three planes had already crashed, so these calls became information highways for both the occupants of Flight 93 and the citizens of a country under attack. The people aboard the plane realized that they were to be pawns of the terrorists, and they were not going to stand for it. They decided to try and take back the plane. After they had made their last good-bye calls, these courageous ordinary Americans citizens defeated the terrorists, but at a tremendous cost; their lives. Flight 93 plunged into the ground before it could reach its target.

Compiled by: www.nps.gov and www.aetv.com/flight93

Soundbites from the Flight 93 Memorial on September 11, 2010

Video Highlights of GLSHS Guest Speakers in the CSC