12. Todd Beamer: Lisa Beamer, Let’s Roll! Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2006); “Passenger Todd Beamer,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Beamer, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
13. Jeremy Glick: “Passenger Jeremy Glick,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Glick, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew; McMillan, p. 77.
14. Louis “Joey” Nacke II: “Passenger Louis J. Nacke II,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Nacke, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
15. Toshiya Kuge: “Passenger Toshiya Kuge,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Flight 93 National Memorial biography of Kuge, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
16. William Cashman . . . Patrick “Joe” Driscoll: Flight 93 National Memorial biographies of Cashman and Driscoll, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew.
17. Hilda Marcin et al.: Flight 93 National Memorial biographies, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew; passenger biographies in special section of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001.
18. “Courageous Challenge”: FBI interview with Claudette Greene, September 15, 2001.
19. commandeered a paratransit bus: Longman, p. 62.
20. Jason Dahl: Flight 93 National Memorial biographies, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew; pilot biographies in special section of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001; Longman, p. 2.
21. LeRoy Homer Jr.: Flight 93 National Memorial biographies, http://www.honorflight93.org/remember/?fa=passengers-crew; pilot biographies in special section of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 28, 2001.
22. inside his wedding band: Melodie Homer, From Where I Stand: Flight #93 Pilot’s Widow Sets the Record Straight (Minneapolis, MN: Langdon Street Press, 2012). Kindle location 524.
23. without incident: Four Flights Monograph, p. 35.
24. five telephone calls: Timeline, Flight 93, September 11, 2001, National Park Service Flight 93 Memorial site, www.nps.gov/flni/learn/historyculture/upload/timeline_flight_93.pdf; FBI Chronology of Hijackers, Part 2 of 2, p. 293.
25. Aysel Sengün: FBI Translation of an interview conducted by German authorities, September 18, 2001; Dirk Laabs, “Testimony Offers Intimate Look at a Sept. 11 Hijacker’s Life,” Los Angeles Times, November 21, 2002.
26. “The Last Night”: Attorney General John Ashcroft revealed on September 28, 2001, that three copies of the instruction sheet had been found, including one at the Flight 93 crash site. Bob Woodward, “In Hijackers’ Bags, a Call to Planning, Prayer and Death,” Washington Post, September 28, 2001.
27. A Saudi: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 11. The man was identified as Mohamed al-Kahtani, although it was sometimes spelled Mohammed al-Qahtani. He was captured in 2002 and subsequently held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The senior Pentagon official in the Bush administration who oversaw prosecutions of detainees later told journalist Bob Woodward that she concluded he had been tortured during interrogations.
28. Mohamed Atta: Philip Shenon, “Panel Says a Deported Saudi Was Likely ‘20th Hijacker,’” New York Times, January 27, 2004. During a hearing, members of 9/11 Commission hailed the inspector, Jose E. Melendez-Perez, as a hero.
29. “hit man”: 9/11 and Terrorist Travel Monograph, 9/11 Commission, Staff Report, August 21, 2004, p. 30.
30. Waiting in vain: Philip Shenon, “Panel Says a Deported Saudi Was Likely ‘20th Hijacker,’” New York Times, January 27, 2004.
31. perhaps fifteen other planes: Longman, p. 44.
32. drank juice: Matt Hall, who drove Mark Bingham to the airport, said Mark called him at 7:40 a.m. to say he’d made the flight and was drinking orange juice. Jon Barrett, “Person of the Year: This is the Mark Bingham Life Story,” The Advocate, January 22, 2002.
33. “cleared for takeoff”: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Flight 93, February 19, 2002, p. 5.
34. another thirty minutes: Four Flights Monograph, p. 22.
35. 9:03 a.m.: Four Flights Monograph, p. 36.
36. a ground stop: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
37. more than ten minutes: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Flight 93, February 19, 2002, p. 4.
38. engaged the 757’s autopilot: FBI Summary of PENTTBOM Investigation, p. 70.
39. biggest worry: At 9:21 a.m., Flight 93’s pilots sent a routine ACARS message to dispatcher Ed Ballinger that said: “Good mornin’ . . . Nice clb [climb] outta EWR [Newark Airport] . . . at 350 [35,000 feet] occl [occasional] lt [light] chop. Wind 290/50 ain’t helping. J.” The “J” apparently meant it came from Jason Dahl, who knew Ballinger. Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
40. heard her alarm: Melodie Homer, From Where I Stand: Flight #93 Pilot’s Widow Sets the Record Straight (Minneapolis: Langdon Street Press, 2012), p. 20.
41. dress silently in the bathroom: Flight 93 Memorial Oral History Transcript, interview with Melodie Homer, February 2, 2008, conducted by Kathie Shaffer, p. 34.
42. “I promise you”: Homer, p. 21.
43. As sent: FBI interview with Tara Campbell, January 22, 2002; FBI interview with an unnamed Special Investigator and Firearms Instructor who familiarized FBI agents with ACARS, autopilot, and other cockpit technology, December 19, 2001, p. 4.
44. reached Flight 93: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
45. arrive . . . two ways: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 3; FBI interview with an unnamed Special Investigator and Firearms Instructor who familiarized FBI agents with ACARS, autopilot, and other cockpit technology, December 19, 2001, p. 4. It was widely reported that when an ACARS message reached the cockpit, a chime sounded. However, that more likely referred to a different communication method, called a “SELCAL,” in which a bell rings in the cockpit to alert pilots of an incoming radio call on that system. The interview subject told the FBI that method was not believed to be used on Flights 175 or 93 on 9/11. See 9/11 Commission staff interview with Dave Knerr, United Airlines technical expert on cockpit communications, et al., May 27, 2004, p. 1. However, Ed Ballinger told 9/11 Commission staff members he sent his ACARS messages two ways, digitally with a bell, and as a printout.
46. Personal messages: FBI interview with an unnamed Special Investigator and Firearms Instructor who familiarized FBI agents with ACARS, autopilot, and other cockpit technology, December 19, 2001, p. 4.
47. a second time: FBI interview with Tara Campbell, January 22, 2002.
48. started working . . . in 1958: 9/11 Commission staff interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 1.
49. Ballinger’s job: 9/11 Commission staff interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 2.
50. Rule of Five: Flight 93 Oral History Transcript, interview with Edward and Sally Ballinger, April 23, 2007, conducted by Kathie Shaffer, p. 3.
51. perfect weather: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 3.
52. “How is the ride”: FBI document labeled “ACARS Messages from Dispatch; Messages from Aircraft to Ed Ballinger and Chad McCurdy; and Messages to Flight 93.”
53. sent that message: Four Flights Monograph, p. 23.
54. “Beware any cockpit introusion [sic]”: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 5; FBI document labeled “ACARS Messages from Dispatch; Messages from Aircraft to Ed Ballinger and Chad McCurdy; and Messages to Flight 93.”
55. Flight 175: FBI document labeled “ACARS Messages from Dispatch; Messages from Aircraft to Ed Ballinger and Chad McCurdy; and Messages to Flight 93.”
56. the first direct warnings: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
57. sent them: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 6.
58. fire ax: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24
, 2004, p. 9.
59. “Good morning”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
60. “hijackings in progress”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
61. didn’t notice the message: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 6.
62. “beware”: Ballinger sent the message at 9:23 a.m., and it arrived one minute later. Four Flights Monograph, p. 38.
63. “accident at New York”: 9/11 Commission interview with Ed Ballinger, April 24, 2004, p. 6.
64. “Morning Cleveland”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 37.
65. “cofirm latest mssg”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 38; FBI-released printout of ACARS messages from Flight 93, p. 103.
66. routine radio call: NTSB Flight Path Study, United Flight 93, February 19, 2002, p. 6; Four Flights Monograph, p. 38.
Chapter 8: “America Is Under Attack”
1. phone call at 9:21 a.m.: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 12.
2. “Another hijack!”: Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006.
3. “chase this guy down”: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 13.
4. Around 8:51 a.m.: This time is based primarily on circumstantial evidence, particularly the loss of radio and transponder and the unauthorized turn. See Four Flights Monograph, p. 29.
5. getting ready for work: FBI interview with Ronald and Nancy May, September 11, 2001.
6. sounded happy: FBI interview with Ronald and Nancy May, June 5, 2002, p. 2.
7. told her mother: FBI interview with Ronald and Nancy May, September 11, 2001; Four Flights Monograph, p. 31.
8. “I love you, Mom”: Henry Breanlas, “Las Vegas Still Feels 9/11 Aftershocks,” (Las Vegas) Review Journal, September 11, 2011.
9. Patty Carson: 9/11 Commission staff interview, November 19, 2003.
10. “hijacked and held hostage”: 9/11 Commission staff interview with Patty Carson, November 19, 2003.
11. Rosemary Dillard stumbled backward: Tom Murphy, Reclaiming the Sky: 9/11 and the Untold Story of the Men and Women Who Kept America Flying (New York: AMACOM Books, 2007), pp. 57–58. Also Rosemary Dillard, “Local 9/11 Widow Reflects 10 Years Later,” Bloomfield Patch, September 8, 2011.
12. Lori Keyton: FBI interview with Lori Lynn Keyton, September 11, 2001.
13. “Barbara is on the line”: FBI interview with Helen Voss, September 11, 2001. The statement is not in quotation marks in the FBI notes, but it is presented there as dialogue, which is why it is quoted here.
14. viewing a replay: FBI interview with Ted Olson, September 11, 2001.
15. first thought: Ted Olson interview at Hudson Union Society, posted August 8, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ppFvUc10nc.
16. “my plane’s been hijacked”: Ted Olson interview with Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity, and Brit Hume, Hannity and Colmes, Fox News, September 14, 2001.
17. “the pilot”: FBI interview with Ted Olson, September 11, 2001; Four Flights Monograph, p. 32.
18. “tell the pilot”: Toby Harden, “She Asked Me How to Stop the Plane,” The Telegraph, March 5, 2002.
19. reassured the other: Ibid.
20. 9:09 a.m.: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 10.
21. 9:20 a.m.: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, pp. 10–11.
22. As late as 9:20 a.m.: Four Flights Monograph, p. 25.
23. false sense of security: This issue is explored at some length in the Four Flights Monograph, pp. 53–59.
24. presidential commission: 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 82–83. Also see Final Report of the White House Commission on Safety and Security (Gore Commission), February 12, 1997.
25. twelve names: Farmer, p. 101.
26. didn’t even know that . . . list existed: Farmer, p. 101.
27. had written a memo: The so-called “Phoenix EC” memo is discussed in the Four Flights Monograph, p. 64; also see 9/11 Commission staff interview with Kenneth Williams, October 22, 2003; 9/11 Commission Report, p. 272.
28. “an Islamic extremist”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 273.
29. didn’t mention the agent’s belief: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 274.
30. “suicide in a spectacular explosion”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 59, based on FAA, 2001 CD-ROM Terrorism Threat Presentation to Aviation Security Personnel at Airports and Air Carriers, slide 24.
31. never saw it: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 11.
32. undetected for thirty-six minutes: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 11.
33. disappearance of Flight 77: Four Flights Monograph, Footnote 277, p. 95, based on Benedict Sliney interview, May 21, 2004. Sliney described seeing Flight 175 hit the South Tower in an interview with the BBC that aired September 12, 2011.
34. haunted by the question: Alan Levin, Marilyn Adams, and Blake Morrison, “Clear the Skies,” USA Today, August 12, 2002, p. A1.
35. “nationwide ground stop”: Four Flights Monograph, p. 33.
36. first day in his new job: David Germain, “FAA Official Plays Self in ‘United 93,’” The Associated Press, April 24, 2006.
37. dropped from an altitude of 25,000 feet: National Transportation Safety Board, Flight Path Study—American Airlines Flight 77, p. 4; Four Flights Monograph, p. 33.
38. “We have two reports”: Rutgers Law Review audio transcript: www.rutgerslawreview.com/2011/full-audio-transcript/.
39. military jet: ABC News 20/20, “Get These Planes on the Ground,” October 24, 2001.
40. her fiancé: Miles Kara, “9-11: The Andrews Fighters; an expeditionary force, not an air defense force,” at http://www.oredigger61.org/?p=154.
41. “Oh my God”: ABC News 20/20, “Get These Planes on the Ground,” October 24, 2001.
42. “unidentified, very fast-moving aircraft”: Ibid.
43. Russian planes or cruise missiles: 9/11 Commission interview with Major Dean Eckmann, December 1, 2003.
See also Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006, and Priscilla D. Jones, The First 109 Minutes: 9/11 and the U.S. Air Force, Monograph published by the Air Force History and Museums Program, Washington, D.C., 2011, pp. 37–41.
44. “gonna shoot him down”: Michael Bronner, “9/11 Live: The Norad Tapes,” Vanity Fair, August 2006.
45. heightened terrorism risk: Accounts of the first hours of Bush’s day come from numerous sources, including the 9/11 Commission Report; the 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17; and an excellent oral history, Garrett M. Graff, “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky,” Politico, September 9, 2016. Also William Langley, “Revealed: What Really Went on During Bush’s ‘Missing Hours,’” The Telegraph, December 16, 2001; Dan Balz and Bob Woodward, “America’s Chaotic Road to War,” Washington Post, January 27, 2002; Bill Sammon, “Suddenly, a Time to Lead,” Washington Times, October 7, 2002; Summers and Swan, pp. 32–40; Farmer, p. 155.
46. “Bin Laden Determined”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 261.
47. wasn’t a word about terrorism: Garrett M. Graff, “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky,” Politico, September 9, 2016, quoting Mike Morell: “There was nothing in the briefing about terrorism.”
48. “so off course”: Bill Sammon, “Suddenly, a Time to Lead,” Washington Times, October 7, 2002.
49. “America is under attack.”: Card has described this moment in numerous interviews, and it is memorialized in the 9/11 Commission Report, p. 38. Other reports have suggested he told the president the more prosaic, “Captain Loewer says it’s terrorism,” referring to Navy Captain Deborah Loewer, director of the White House Situation Room.
50. purposely stepped back: MSNBC interview with Andy Card, September 10, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fs2duxjpE4.
51. project calm: 9/11 Commission Staff Statement No. 17, p. 22.
52. “Ladies and gentlemen”: Bush’s full remarks can be found at numerous sources, including: “Remarks in Sarasota, Florida, on the Terrorist Attack on New York City’s World Trade Center,”
September 11, 2001. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=58055.
53. Lieutenant Colonel Steven O’Brien: 9/11 Commission staff interview with Lt. Colonel Steven O’Brien, May 6, 2004; Bob Von Sternberg, “How We’ve Changed, 9-11-01 to 9-11-02,” (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, September 11, 2002; 1st Lt. Sheree Savage, “Witnessing, Now Remembering, the 9/11 Attacks,” Northstar Guardian, September 11, 2006.
54. “let them land safely”: Bill Catlin, “Museum Features Air Guard’s History and Role in the War on Terror,” Minnesota Public Radio, May 31, 2004.
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