Hijacker Crashed Flight 93 on 9/11

AP via Yahoo! ^ | 8/7/03 | TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer

[eno_]

The objective of the first WTC attack was to topple one tower into the other. So it is possible the 9/11 hijackers meant to make the towers topple over, too.

[Dead Dog]

The last audible words recorded from the cockpit was an "inexplicably calm voice in English instructing, 'Pull it up.'".

That pretty much confirms "lets roll"

[gridlock]

So it is possible the 9/11 hijackers meant to make the towers topple over, too.

Towers just don't fall like trees. These towers were designed to support loads from above, and that's all. How in the world would they have enough lateral strength to support the loading necessary to impart rotational momentum on that big a mass?

Once those towers started falling they were going to take the shortest path toward the center of the earth, straight down. This was a very sophisticated attack, and the attackers would have to know this. It's not rocket science!

[DBrow]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/787018.asp?pne=msn

MSNBC article that says the government theory was that passengers took the cockpit and were trying to fly the plane.


“In the final moments of this struggle, according to the families who heard the tape, voices that seemed muffled and distant all of a sudden became clearer,” says Longman. “They took that as some corroboration that the passengers actually are in — perhaps crew — actually did reach the cockpit.”
Does he mean, reach it? Breach it?
“Get inside,” says Longman.
They got in?
“Yes,” says Longman. “That’s the government theory, that they actually got inside. Near the end you hear — in English — words, ‘roll it up,’ and ‘lift it up,’ or ‘turn it up,’ or ‘pull it up.’ The families have taken that as a sign that they were — the passengers and perhaps crew — were trying to take control of the plane.”

[Dead Dog]

This raises an interesting question, how many non pilot freepers would know which direction to pull the yoke to recover from a dive? How roll control works? Rudder Peddles? Trust levers?

[DBrow]

Most eyewitness reports state that the plane crashed upside down. This could be the result of having no clue how to fly, or the result of a hijacker pilot inverting the plane to hinder interference from the passengers. If you are not strapped in and the plane goes upside down...

[Dead Dog]

It was also close to vertical wasn't it?

[Taliesan]

This is all a distinction without a difference. So the passengers rushed the cockpit, as we always knew, but the terrorists flew it into the ground before they could get in the cockpit.

I can't for the life of me figure out why it is any less heroic. The point is that the passengers gave their lives to thwart the mission. Whether or not they actually breached the cockpit door before they died is a technicality of interest only to those DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR SYMBOLIC TOOLS TO DESTROY ANY AND ALL HEROES.

[jjm2111]

"Hoglan said the hijackers inside the cockpit are heard yelling "No!" at the sound of breaking glass — presumably from the food cart — and that the final spoken words on the recorder seemed to be an inexplicably calm voice in English instructing, "Pull it up."

That's from the current Yahoo at the moment:

My guess is the passengers did break into the cockpit and one dude was one cool character.

[Our man in washington]

I wrote:

"The planes that the the World Trade Center could have cause more mayhem if they had hit lower, but we can't know the pilot's intention."

Gridlock replied:

"This has got to be the stupidest thing I have seen all year. Against some pretty stiff competition, BTW. How in the world do you cause more mayhem than the complete destruction of two 110 story skyscrapers by hitting them lower? They don't topple like trees, you know...

If the towers had been hit lower, I guess they might have collapsed somewhat faster. But they still would have fallen straight down."

I reply again:

Aw, come on. The guys at DU write stupider stuff than mine 100 times each day. But anyway, if the planes hit lower, a lot more people would have died. I should have said "casualties" rather than mayhem. True, the mayhem factor would be about the same.

[gridlock]

Aw, come on. The guys at DU write stupider stuff than mine 100 times each day.

True. That's why I generally avoid the guys at DU!

However, I think we can agree that the hijackers succeeded in their attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Peace, Dude!

[WarrenC]

How? [does sentence 2 contradict sentence 1]

The first sentence says the hijacker crashed the plane because of a passenger uprising. The second sentence suggests that this discounts the popular perception of passengers struggling to seize the controls. This, to me, is a distinction without a difference. Whether or not the passenger uprising had reached the cockpit is irrelevant to the fact that the plane crashed directly as a result of their actions. Clearly, if the passengers had remained passive, the plane would have been flown into the White House. I think this article's account is an attempt to undermine the inspiration the entire country took from the passengers' heroism. And all based on the irrelevant factoid that their uprising apparently hadn't reached the cockpit yet when the hijackers realized they'd lost control of the plane. Big friggin deal.

[cinFLA]

I think this article's account is an attempt to undermine the inspiration the entire country took from the passengers' heroism. And all based on the irrelevant factoid that their uprising apparently hadn't reached the cockpit yet when the hijackers realized they'd lost control of the plane. Big friggin deal.

If it is the truth, would you rather it be kept secret?

[DBrow]

"I can't for the life of me figure out why it is any less heroic. "

Look at this another way- why is the media and who knows who else, spending so much effort to make the point that these heroes are not heroes? Why bring it up? Why now?

I agree with your comment about heroes- there is definitely an organized effort to eliminate heroes, Western cultural heroes. Anyone who is seen as good or righteous is to be denigrated. Martha Stewart was hated by some long before her current problems.

But if someone is deeply flawed, they seem to become heroes- BJC, NBA, NFL, gangsta rappers and so forth.

[dead]

How in the world do you cause more mayhem than the complete destruction of two 110 story skyscrapers by hitting them lower?

In one of the buildings, nobody above the point of impact managed to escape. Those were the people jumping.

Obviously, if the point of impact were lower, more people would have died.

[DBrow]

http://html.thepittsburghchannel.com/pit/news/stories/news-96633920010919-140933.html

News report featuring a small plane pilot three miles from Flt 93 just before the crash.

[gridlock]

And this is relevant to this story.... how?!?

[dead]

I was wondering the same thing when you made the dopey statement.

[gridlock]

Hey, if making dopey statements was against the law, we'd all be thrown in jail for a thousand years.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

The hijacker's mission was to fly the plane into some building. They couldn't have cared less what the passangers were doing as long as they, the hijackers, had control of the plane. They would have continued on their mission.

I respectfully disagree. I think it's much more plausible that the terrorists, being inherent cowards, were in turn completely terrified that they were losing control of the situation. They would rather face a disgusted allah in their afterlife and explain to it why they failed rather than have to deal with a mob of vengeful passengers. Remember allah’s finest had just slashed the throat of a stewardess or two. Once the passengers turned against them and knew they had NOTHING TO LOSE, the terrorists would have even eaten pork out of a jew’s bottom rather then face their wrath.