Did I miss something, I thought the black boxes were destroyed?

No, they were "badly damaged" and were sent back to the manufacturer for possible retrieval of recordings, per the FBI.

The recorders on the planes that hit thw WTC have not been found and are presumed to be destroyed. Both the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) were recovered in the wreckage of the other two aircraft (Pentagon and Pennsylvania). Exactly how much data can be recovered from these recorders has yet to be determined.

May God bless the families of those who fought the murderers on that plane. And may our hearts be awakened anew--hungering for His Truth.

These heros belong in Arlington with the many other Medal of Honor recipients.

Really not a lot new in the article. We've known about the cockpit struggle, the loud noises made by the combatants, and the fact that not many words on the tape were intelligible for two weeks now. In fact, I don't see anything in it at all that we haven't already known for a while.

Michael

Recorder catches passengers' fight with hijackers

By Kevin Johnson and Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON —

Cockpit voice recordings from United Airlines Flight 93 indicate that the hijacked jet's passengers attacked their captors and fought their way into the cockpit before the jet went down, according to data obtained Wednesday.

The account is based on an ongoing analysis of the cockpit voice recorder. It provides confirmation of the passengers' heroic efforts as they fought against four terrorists who had commandeered the jet on an apparent suicide mission toward a target in Washington.

The digital recording, according to officials with knowledge of its contents, picks up sounds of people shouting and screaming in the cabin and cockpit shortly before the crash. But a high level of background noise has made it difficult for investigators to interpret exactly what was being said or done during the final minutes of the flight

. Also unclear from the recording is who was at the controls of the jet — the hijackers or the passengers — when it slammed into a field in Pennsylvania, killing all 44 aboard.

A preliminary review of the jet's flight data recorder indicated that it turned on its back and flew relatively straight into the ground, sources said. President Bush and other government officials say the passengers' actions may have saved an untold number of lives on Sept. 11, when three other teams of hijackers led attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Several passengers were aware that the hijackings earlier that day ended in suicide crashes. The attacks in New York and Washington left thousands dead or missing. Authorities have asked outside experts to analyze the recorder a second time in an attempt to glean more from its contents. The use of filters and other computer analysis of cockpit voice recorders is common after an accident.

The recorder is a modern digital model and produced a high-quality record of the last 30 minutes of the flight. Voice recorders store sounds from microphones that pilots wear on their headsets and from a microphone embedded in the cockpit wall to capture ambient sounds.

Normally, it is easy to determine who is speaking on a recording because the voice can be linked to a specific headset. But sounds on the Flight 93 recording come primarily from the cockpit wall microphone, making it more difficult to decipher.

Investigators also are examining a tape of short radio broadcasts from the jet, apparently at the time hijackers took control of the cockpit. Sources who have heard the tape say it recorded a gruesome, violent struggle.

Flight 93 was headed from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked. Because the jet crashed more than 30 minutes after the hijacking, the recording did not capture the takeover of the cockpit.

Those people on that flight were so brave and resourceful. I read that they were boiling water in the rear galley to throw on the hijackers in the cockpit. What brilliant thinking in their final moments. Words alone cannot ever express the gratitude for these beautiful human beings.

No doubt they saved either the White House or the Capitol building. This symbol of the struggle for freedom prevailed over the destruction of our national monuments. True heroes. Let's roll.

The hijacker "pilot" may have been trying to exert a sharp roll to dislodge the passengers who were attacking him. Obviously, this wasn't something that he trained for.

Looks like the militia won a strategic victory in an opening battle of this war. Our citizens, picked at random, with a few minutes to plan, ruined years of preparation by these scum.

Looks like the militia won a strategic victory in an opening battle of this war. Our citizens, picked at random, with a few minutes to plan, ruined years of preparation by these scum.

Excellent point. Although we're always hearing about how easy it was - and is - for terrorists to do their deadly work, it's obvious that because their plans usually depend on a number of actions to be successful, they may also be thwarted by - hopefully - vigilance and early detetction but if not, but simple clear-thinking and the will to stop them in whatever way possible, even at the cost of one's own life. This was obviously accomplished on Flight 93. God bless those passengers and let them be an example to all of us that evil can be thwarted if one is willing to act and pay the price.

Besides the heroic passengers, and the well-documented conversations with loved-ones, has it been discounted that an F-16 downed Flight 93? I've heard conflicting reports.

Has there been much discussion about the fact that all four of the doomed airliners were only 1/4 to 1/5 full on what certainly would be considered a fairly heavy travel day?

I thought "Operation Let's Roll" would have been a great substitute for the short-lived "Operation Infinite Justice"

Regarding the planes being so empty on what should be a normal travel day I had heard at one point that there was a whole series of bookings that were no shows, apparently orchestrated by the villains so they wouldn't have as many passengers to deal with. I never heard any more about that. It's sort of frustrating how these little "facts" come up and then disappear and you never know whether they were proven true, suspected true, or just plain wrong.

all four of the doomed airliners were only 1/4 to 1/5 full

I can't find the thread right now, but it was reported that the hijackers had booked many more seats than they occupied. In other words, part of their plan was to have few people on the planes with them.

The better to take you over with, my dear