Volta
Conflict10:03 a.m., 11 September 2001

United Airlines Flight 93

Also called: UA93, Flight 93

On 11 September 2001 passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers of an airliner that left Newark at 8:42 a.m.; it came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03.

Flight 93 National Memorial — beyond the Wall of Names, a boulder in the field marks where the plane came down
Flight 93 National Memorial — beyond the Wall of Names, a boulder in the field marks where the plane came down

Scott Detwiler · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

The San Francisco-bound Boeing 757 left more than forty minutes late because of runway traffic. It was hijacked near Cleveland, Ohio, at 9:28 a.m. and turned toward Washington; its target is thought to have been the Capitol or the White House.

Talking with their families on the cabin phones, the passengers and crew learned that other planes had struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They voted to fight back and at 9:57 rushed the cockpit. At 10:03 the plane crashed into a field north of Shanksville — less than twenty minutes’ flying time from Washington. All 40 passengers and crew were killed.

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The map in 2001

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States and rulers at the time
United States · targeted — President George W. Bush
Places
Newark International Airport, Flight 93 National Memorial

People

  • Todd Beamer1968 – 2001

    participant · Passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 who told a telephone operator what was happening aboard the hijacked plane, then said “Let’s roll” and joined others in rushing the cockpit

Before and after

Earlier
2001 United Airlines Flight 175

Themes that include this event

  • The September 11 Attacks1988 – 2014

    Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the four airliners hijacked on the morning of 11 September 2001 and the fall of the twin towers, the closing of the American sky, twenty years of war in Afghanistan and the death of bin Laden, and the memorial pools in the towers’ footprints