Transcripts from doomed Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, were publicly released for the first time at a court hearing Wednesday.
CBC News · Posted: Apr 12, 2006 11:41 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 12, 2006A transcript from a flight recorder on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, was made public for the first time at a court hearing Wednesday.
The cockpit voice recording of the airplane's final 31 minutes was played for jurors, who must decide whether al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui should be executed for his role in planning the 9/11 attacks against the United States.
The voice recording itself has not been released for media use.
However, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema allowed the release of the transcript.
It describes the sounds of al-Qaeda members taking control of the plane, some of the 40 passengers and crew members begging for their lives, and the struggle between hijackers and other flyers before the jet crashed short of its target.
That struggle prevented the plane from being used as a human bomb.
'We have a bomb on board, so sit'
The transcript begins with a voice that shatters the calm of the flight that left Newark, N.J., for San Francisco, Calif.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain," one of the hijackers says over the plane's address system. "We have a bomb on board, so sit."
A four- or five-minute struggle ensues.
Then the hijackers tell passengers and crew to "sit" and "shut up" while the jet is diverted toward Washington, D.C.
"That's it, go back, everything is fine, I am finished," someone says in Arabic.
By now, some of the passengers and crew would have known about the three other hijackings that Tuesday morning. Al-Qaeda members had killed thousands by piloting the other jets into the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center.
"I don't want to die," someone repeats three times.
"Please don't hurt me," another person says.
Passengers heard breaking into cockpit
After a long pause, the recording device then picks up the sound of banging on the cockpit door.
"There is something, a fight?" one of the hijackers asks.
Another replies: "Yeah."
Some of the passengers have by now made cell phone calls to their loved ones, telling them they are going to try to take back control of the airplane rather than let innocent people on the ground be included in the carnage.
(A movie about the heroics on the doomed flight, directed by Paul Greengrass, is due to open in theatres across North America on April 28. A portion of the proceeds will go toward a Sept. 11 memorial in Washington. )
At least one person on board Flight 93 apparently thought at this point that the group could successfully overpower the hijackers and save their fellow passengers, the transcript suggests.
"Shall we finish it off?" a hijacker says in English.
"In the cockpit! If we don't, we die," someone shouts in English.
An individual says in Arabic: "Should we put it down?"
Sounds then indicate a struggle in the cockpit as the plane vibrates violently.
Someone yells in English: "Pull it up!"
"Shall we put it down?" one hijacker asks. Another replies: "Yes, put it down."
An Arabic speaker says: "Allah is the greatest."
In English comes the shout: "No!"
The recording ends with the repeat of the words "Allah is the greatest."