The Flight That Fought Back

There was this documentary about 9/11 on Discovery Channel. It was about the hijacked flight that fought back. I was overwhelmed by the fact that the passengers didn't just sit down quietly and do nothing and let the plane crash into the White House, but were rather enthusiastic about the whole idea of fighting back against the three terrorists; against terrorism.

The passengers were told by their loved ones over the phone that the news on the ground was that they were gonna use the aircraft as a makeshift missile to crash through the White House at Capitol Hill like how their comrades did with the three other planes to both World Trade Centre Towers and The Pentagon. So, they knew they had to react fast and do something about it.

Using real audio recordings and flight data from the flight recorder and the various cellphone companies used by the passengers, they re-enacted the situation with excerpts from the interviews of their family members after the disaster, in between scenes.

They fought back with galley foodcarts, hot water, fire extinguishers and anything they could get hold of despite a warning by the terrorists that there was a bomb on board, and that they would detonate if anybody tries anything. The flight recorder recorded almost everything that the pilot's two-way radio can capture, including clips that proved the passengers really fought back and that the noise confirmed the cockpit door managed to be breached by the passengers seconds before the terrorists decided to crash the plane, midway.

I was also quite amazed at how strong and calm the family members were when they were asked to describe the situation when some of them were on the phone with their now perished heroes at the time. Despite their loss, they took pride of their actions. Of course, towards the end of the documentary, all of them shed tears as the fact is, they will never see their loved ones again. Even I did.

Even though so, passengers of Flight 93 will always be regarded as heroes and remembered amongst other unsung heroes and victims of the atrocity, as they were the first group of people to have fought back against terrorism, as it was happening. Because of them, their plane crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania, some 15 minutes flight time from the original target: The White House. Although we will never know the exact ongoings on the doomed flight, as there were no survivors (apart from the blackbox) to tell the tale, we for sure know that what ever they did, was somehow the right thing.

Who could ever imagine this happening. Let alone fighting back against the terrorists. What drove them to do that? I'm sure none of them thought that they were going to be rewarded and lived a little bit more comfier with the recognition they would get from saving the White House from an imminent attack. No, I don't think so. I think it's much smaller than that. It's their family that they were thinking about. The passengers who could make phone calls from their mobile phones and on board telephones called their husbands or wives, moms and dads... even their secretaries... to say how much they loved them and perhaps to bid farewell. And I'm pretty sure also that some of them even thought that they were gonna go home and have dinner with their family, still.

I take my hat off to these heroes for their courage and to their family members they left behind as well, for whatever reason they have made them become heroes. True heroes.

I've heard alot of other air tragedies like this, but this is probably the only few in which the family members do get to move on, solely because they know that their loved ones did not die in vain, but more like soldiers who died for their country.

Make Love, Not War...