September 16, 2001

9:02 PM

A Sky Filled With Chaos, Uncertainty and True HeroismThere's lots of fresh detail in this Washington Post story on flight 93, the only plane not to hit a target. "It was the hijackers' bad luck that they chose a plane with a number of large men on board. Beamer stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 200 pounds. Jeremy Glick, 31, another passenger involved in the apparent revolt, was a college rugby player and judo champion. Mark Bingham, 31, of San Francisco was a 6-foot-4 rugby player."
posted by NortonDC (5 comments total)

The people who attacked the hijackers on that plane were incredibly courageous. I was really moved by the interview with the woman whose son fought back on the plane, and how she was able to smile in her grief. You could tell she was proud of her son. The fact that their heroism provided some solace to their families is one of the things that makes this a little bit easier to deal with.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:23 PM on September 16, 2001

So it's been completely ruled out that this plane wasn't blown out of the sky by the Air Force? I'm not doubting that the men onboard were able to overtake the hijackers, but I really do wonder about what actually caused the plane to crash. But what do I know?
posted by dopamine at 9:26 PM on September 16, 2001

I think these are the possibilities: The passengers attacked the hijackers, and the plane crashed as a result of the struggle; a hijacker crashed the plane intentionally when the passengers attacked; the hijackers actually had a bomb (as the passengers said they claimed to) and set it off; or the Air Force shot it down.

It's also possible that the passengers overcame the hijackers and got control of the plane, but this article reveals that one of the passengers was a trained pilot, and I assume the first thing he'd do is radio for help. Of course, he could have been killed in the struggle, the passengers could have overwhelmed the hijackers, and then no one was left who knew how to land the plane. But then you'd think they'd use the radio. We're probably never going to know.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:58 PM on September 16, 2001

"Lou Nacke, 42, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound executive who wore a 'Superman' tattoo on his left shoulder..."

...indeed.
posted by Fofer at 10:06 PM on September 16, 2001

Maybe I'm just naive, but until anyone can prove otherwise, I want to believe that those guys took down that plane before the hijackers had a chance to.
posted by Cyrano at 10:15 PM on September 16, 2001