John Werth, air traffic controller, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center: United 93 came onto my scope, and called, and I acknowledged him. It was nothing out of the ordinary. He checked in, “Good morning Cleveland,” the usual. The next transmission we got from United was unintelligible. It sounded like a life-and-death struggle. It was some screaming and some guttural sounds.
The first official report of trouble arrived from the plane at 9:36 a.m.—one minute before American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon—when a flight attendant phoned United’s San Francisco maintenance office to say they had been hijacked. In the following minutes, as word spread through air traffic control, passengers and crew members used the in-seat Airfones and their cell phones to call their airline authorities and loved ones—and learned, to their horror, about what had already occurred on the ground below.
John Werth, air traffic controller, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center: I looked at my partner, who sits to the right of me. He had this pretty wide-eyed look on him. I said, “Dave, did that garbled radio transmission sound the same to you as it did to me?” He stared at me and nodded his head. I said, “We better find out who it is,” because we had probably seven or eight aircraft on the frequency at the time. I suspected it was either United 93 or Delta 1989. Right after that happened, United 93 had gone down about 300 feet on his altitude readout.
Stacey Taylor Parham, air traffic control specialist, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center: That flight all of a sudden started descending, and then it climbed. It just left its flight path and left its altitude.
John Werth: I asked the flight in front of United 93, “Did you hear an aircraft transmission that sounded like screaming?” He said, “Yes, we heard that.” A small business jet also said he heard it.
Deena Burnett, San Ramon, California, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett: The phone rang and it was Tom’s mother. Her first question was, “Do you know where Tom is?” The phone rang in on call-waiting, and I said, “Oh, let me go—that may be him.” I saw on the caller ID that it was Tom’s cell phone. I was relieved, thinking that if he was on his cell phone, he was in the airport somewhere and was fine. I said, “Tom, are you okay?” He said, “No, I’m not. I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. It’s United Flight 93.” He told me what was going on. “They’ve already knifed a guy. I think one of them has a gun.” I started asking questions, and he said, “Deena, just listen.” He went over the information again and said, “Please call the authorities,” and hung up. I felt a jolt of terror run through my whole body. It was as if I’d been struck by lightning.
Alice Ann Hoagland, at home in Los Gatos, California, mother of United Flight 93 passenger Mark Bingham: The call came in at 6:37 in the morning, and a family friend answered it. We were all still in bed because we have young babies in the family and we were all trying to get some sleep. I heard our friend pad down the hall past my room to rouse my sister-in-law, Cathy, out of bed. I heard Cathy say on the phone, “Well, we love you too, Mark. Let me get your mom.” Cathy saw me, and she said, “Alice, talk to Mark. He’s been hijacked.” She also handed me a slip of paper that said “93 United.” She had written this down while he was talking to her. I’m a flight attendant for United Airlines.
I took the phone and he said, “Mom, this is Mark Bingham.” I knew he was a little flustered because he used his last name. He said, “I want to let you know that I love you.” I spoke to Mark for about a total of three minutes. He said, “There are three guys on board who have taken over the plane, and they say they have a bomb.”
Deena Burnett: As I was explaining Tom’s phone call to the FBI, the phone rang in again on call-waiting, and I said, “I have to go.” The FBI agent said, “Call me back.” I clicked over and the first thing Tom said was “They’re in the cockpit.” I told him about the World Trade Center. He hadn’t known about it yet. He relayed that information to the people sitting around him. He said, “Oh, my God, it’s a suicide mission.” He started asking questions: “Who’s involved? Was it a commercial airplane? What airline was it? Do you know how many airplanes are involved?” He was really pumping me for information about what was going on, anything that I knew.
Lyzbeth Glick, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Jeremy Glick: I must have gotten up just after the first plane hit, because the first thing I did was turn on the TV and saw the World Trade Center. I was about to get some breakfast in the kitchen when I heard the phone ring, and I heard my parents scream, “Oh my God, Jeremy!” I went into the room and all color had drained from their faces. I started to panic. I said, “Oh, my God, that wasn’t Jeremy’s flight, was it?” They said, “No. He’s okay, for now.” They added “for now” because Jeremy had told them that the plane had been hijacked. They handed the phone to me. He sensed panic in my voice, and we started saying “I love you.” We must have said it for 10 minutes straight until it calmed us down. Then he explained to me what had happened.
Lisa Jefferson, Verizon Airfone supervisor: I was stopped by a representative who told me that she had a gentleman on her phone, and his plane was being hijacked. I immediately went over.
Deena Burnett: A news reporter came on saying that the Pentagon had been hit, and I started wailing. I mean, really wailing, making a noise that I did not know I could make, thinking it was Tom’s plane that had hit the Pentagon.
Alice Ann Hoagland: Tom Burnett was in 4B, Mark was in 4D. It was Tom who told Deena, “Well, some of us are going to do something.” Tom and Mark were seated right behind two of the hijackers, two of the murderers, who happened to be seated in 3C and 3D. The other two terrorists were seated in 6B and 1B, so that means that Tom and Mark were between everybody.
Lyzbeth Glick: Then Jeremy started asking me what was happening in New York and did they crash planes into the World Trade Center? I guess he had heard it from one of the other passengers. I hesitated for a minute, then I said, “Honey, you need to be strong, but yes, they are crashing planes into the World Trade Center.”
Deena Burnett: The phone rang again and it was Tom and he said, “Deena.” I said, “Tom, you’re okay,” thinking that he had survived the plane crash at the Pentagon. He said no. I said, “They just hit the Pentagon.” I could hear people talking and spreading the news in the background and I could hear their concern and I could hear people gasping as if they were surprised and shocked. Tom came back on the phone and said, “I’m putting a plan together. We’re going to take back the airplane.” I asked, “Who’s helping you?” He said, “Different people, several people. There’s a group of us. Don’t worry. We’re going to do something.” Then he said, “I’m going to call you back,” and he hung up.
Lauren Grandcolas, United Flight 93 passenger, in a voicemail message to her husband: Honey, are you there? Jack, pick up sweetie. Okay, well I just wanted to tell you I love you. We’re having a little problem on the plane. I’m fine. I just want you to know that I love you more than anything. Please tell my family I love them, too.
Linda Gronlund, United Flight 93 passenger, in a voicemail message to her sister: Elsa, it’s Lin. Um, I only have a minute. I’m on United 93. It’s been hijacked by terrorists who say they have a bomb. Apparently, they, uh, flown a couple of planes into the World Trade Center already and it looks like they’re going to take this one down as well. [Sobbing] Mostly, I just wanted to say I love you and I’m going to miss you. I don’t know if I’m going to get the chance to tell you that again.
CeeCee Lyles, United Flight 93 flight attendant, in a voicemail message to her husband, Lorne: Hi baby. Baby—you have to listen to me carefully. I’m on a plane that’s been hijacked. I’m on a plane, I’m calling from the plane. I want to tell you that I love you. I love you. Please tell my children that I love them very much—and I’m so sorry babe. I don’t know what to say—there’s three guys. They’ve hijacked the plane. I’m trying to be calm. We’ve turned around and I’ve heard that there’s planes that have flown into the World Trade Cente
r. I hope to be able to see your face again, baby. I love you, bye.
* * *
Lisa Jefferson, Verizon Airfone supervisor: I took over the call from Flight 93. I said, “My name is Mrs. Jefferson. I understand your plane is being hijacked, so could you please explain to me in detail exactly what’s happening?” I asked him if anyone was hurt. The flight attendant next to him said yes—there were two people laying in first class on the floor, the pilot and the copilot, and their throats had been slashed. He asked me if I knew what they wanted—money, ransom, or what? I told him I didn’t have a clue.
Lyzbeth Glick, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Jeremy Glick: Jeremy said he didn’t think he was going to make it out. He told me he loved me and our daughter, Emerson, very much, and he needed us to be happy. He sounded very sad. He kept saying, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
Lisa Jefferson: I asked the caller his name, and he told me, “Todd Beamer, from Cranbury, New Jersey.”
John Werth, air traffic controller, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center: Then the plane started a rapid descent south of Akron.
Lisa Jefferson: The plane took a dive and he said, “Oh, my God! We’re going down! We’re going down!”
Mahlon Fuller, Pittsburgh watch supervisor, FAA: A fellow who was working approach control, Paul Delfine, said, “Mal, I need you real bad.” I could tell by the tone of his voice there was something very wrong. I ran over to the radar scope and he pointed: “This airplane’s been hijacked over Cleveland. We don’t know where he’s going.” The airplane was going very fast and it was headed directly for the center of the Pittsburgh airport. Without thinking about it, I said, “Evacuate the facility.”
Chuck Savall, pilot, Midwest Express Flight 73: We knew how bad things were. I made an announcement to the passengers to let them know that we would try to get them on the ground safe. On the way to Cleveland, we were heading right for Flight 93. Our courses were pretty much head-on. They made us do an emergency descent and land in Pittsburgh.
Col. Matthew Klimow, executive assistant to the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, Pentagon: We knew Flight 93 was heading to Washington, but no one knew where it was.
Lt. Col. Kevin Nasypany, mission crew commander, NEADS, Rome, New York: We had heard that there was a possible other hijack out in Pennsylvania. I had one of the control teams take the Langley aircraft—the F-16s—and start moving them northwest of D.C. We had thrown basically a 30-mile circle around D.C. and made it a restricted area—no fly.
John Werth, air traffic controller, Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center: Because of the miscommunications somewhere along the line, I think we may have been the only ones who actually knew where he was.
Ben Sliney, national operations manager, FAA Command Center, Herndon, Virginia: We had a report from a small, private aircraft pilot who saw a United jet waggling his wings. That threw a lot of ambiguity into this situation, because that is a universal signal the pilot has lost radio and is unable to communicate. Even at that late junction, minutes before the aircraft hit the ground in Pennsylvania, we were still wondering whether it was truly hijacked.
Deena Burnett, at home in California, wife of United Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett: He called back about five minutes till seven. He asked, “Is there anything new?” I said no. He was very quiet this time, very calm. He had been very calm and collected through the other conversations, but he was very solemn in this conversation. He asked, “Where are the kids?” I said, “They’re fine. They’re sitting at the table. They’re asking to talk to you.” He said, “Tell them I’ll talk to them later.”
“Time was standing still”
* * *
The World Trade Center Evacuation
As the fateful 9:00 a.m. hour ticked by, the New York Fire Department launched the biggest response in its history, drawing resources from across its five boroughs. Thousands of other first responders and government officials arrived on the scene as well, from local, state, and federal agencies.
Thomas Von Essen, commissioner, FDNY: Inside the [North Tower ground-floor] lobby, I think we knew less of what was going on than people outside or in the street, or the people watching TV.
Chief Joseph Pfeifer, Battalion 1, FDNY: We tried every possible means of communication that day. But even cell phones weren’t working. Each of the systems we tried failed. I felt very frustrated. It was almost like the closer you were, the less you knew. The helicopters were up, but we had no means to communicate with them. We tried a number of times. We were the least informed.
Steven Bienkowski, Aviation Unit, NYPD: People saw the helicopter, and I’m sure many of them were thinking that we were going to be able to save them. In fact, we weren’t able to do anything. We were as close as you could possibly be, and still we were helpless, totally helpless.
Chief Joseph Pfeifer, inside the ground-floor lobby of the World Trade Center: Groups of firefighters were coming in. We would brief them, tell them the plan, and send them up. One of the engine companies that came in was Engine 33, which was my brother Kevin’s. I told him we thought the lowest level of fire was at floor 78. I told him we didn’t have any elevators available. Then we spent a couple seconds looking at each other, with a real feeling of concern for each other. Then he knew what he had to do. I watched him walk away, and that was the last time I saw him.
William Jimeno, officer, PAPD: Sergeant [John] McLoughlin ran up to us and said, “I need volunteers to go in with us, and I need people who know how to use Scott Air-Packs,” the breathing apparatuses that the firefighters use. Port Authority police officers are cross-trained not only for law enforcement but firefighting. I don’t know which of us said it first—either Dominick Pezzulo, Antonio Rodrigues, or me—but one of us said, “We just graduated. We know how to use it.” Sergeant McLoughlin said, “That’s good, that’s four of us, we’re going to go.” We started running toward the building. I remember thinking to myself, Wow, this is bad.
James Luongo, inspector, NYPD: As I hit Vesey between Church and Broadway, the first thing that struck me was the amount of women’s shoes. I couldn’t understand it. Then I realized women had run out of their shoes—the high heels and what have you. There were women’s shoes all over.
Sgt. Anthony Lisi, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 6, NYPD: Sergeant [Tom] Sullivan stopped us and said, “We have hundreds of firemen and cops in the building already, doing rescue work. I want you to stop, take off that gear, and put on your heavy vest and helmet, and grab weapons, because we’re getting word that they’re shooting civilians as they’re running out of the building.” We were, over our radio, getting reports of shots fired at the Trade Center. It winds up it was police officers who were shooting out the windows so more people could run out faster. There were shots fired—but by good guys, not bad guys.
Sharon Miller, officer, PAPD: Before we got out of the car—me, Richie Rodriguez, Jimmy Nelson, and Jimmy Parham—we all held hands and we said, “We’re going in together, we’re gonna come out together.”
Lt. Mickey Kross, Engine 16, FDNY: I huddled the guys together because I knew this was going to be a tough day. I got into a little huddle, like football players do. I says, “Come here.” I says, “Just treat this like a fire. We’ll stick together. Watch each other’s back.”
Capt. Jay Jonas, Ladder 6, FDNY: I walked over to my crew, and I says, “Okay, guys. Here’s the deal. It’s a raw deal, but this is what we have to do.” I said, “We have to go upstairs in this building for search and rescue.” Then I said—and I forgot I made this one statement, but all my guys swear that I said it—they said I said, “They’re trying to kill us, boys. So let’s go.” And they did, to their credit. I don’t think anybody would have looked down on them if they ran up West Street. As we were about to hit the stairway, Sal D’Agostino said to me, “Hey, Cap, I wonder where the air force is?” I says, “Yeah, I wonder how many thousands of fires I’ve been to in my career and I’ve never hit a stai
rway wondering where the air force was.” We were hoping they had our backs.
William Jimeno, officer, PAPD: In the midst of all this chaos, all this disaster, inside that World Trade Center, there were people helping each other. I remember seeing a black gentleman with a white gentleman, carrying this blond woman who had a severe cut on her leg. I remember thinking to myself, Will, if these normal civilians can be this brave, we as rescue workers, we need to be three steps above them, because they’re counting on us.
James Luongo, inspector, NYPD: There were a bunch of people who came out of the building on Vesey Street. They were a little disoriented about which way to go. I started yelling to them to come to me. They were looking around. Finally, a woman heard my voice. She touched the people next to her, she pointed to where me and Dennis and Sergeant Boodle were—and with that, debris came down and killed all of them. With all the things I saw that day, that, to me, was the worst because those people were so close, but yet they didn’t make it.
William Jimeno: As we walked into the Port Authority police desk [at the base of the Towers], I remember being stunned by a piece of the fuselage that our detectives had brought in. Your mind is trying to register—even though you know that a plane had hit—why is there a piece of the plane here?
James Luongo: Quite a few people came to the site looking to go in because their loved ones were there. I remember one woman standing on the corner by Vesey and West, and I told her that she had to leave. She said, “I’m not leaving.” We were back-and-forth like this for a second or two. I said, “I hope he’s worth your life because you’re not going to be able to get to him.” She said, “He is worth my life.” She looked to walk past me. I stopped her, and she pushed me. I grabbed her and picked her up to walk with her. She was hitting me as I was walking away. “Let me in! Let me go! I gotta go there!”
The Only Plane in the Sky Page 12