Comments on: FLIGHT 93 PASSENGERS MAY HAVE MADE IT INTO THE COCKPIT BEFORE CRASH

By: The Anti-Jihad Pundit » Moussaoui and 9/11 terrorist attacks: a summary

The Anti-Jihad Pundit » Moussaoui and 9/11 terrorist attacks: a summary — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 19:06:56 +0000

[...] From a post of Andy Cochran we can download the recordings. You can read a part of them at LGF and inÂ RightWing NutHouse, where it looks like some passengers made their way into the cockpit and actually injured a terrorist. [...]

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 03:47:15 +0000

Flight 93 Tape Airs At Moussaoui Trial

Jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial listened to a recording of terrified cries in the cockpit as

By: Always On Watch

Always On Watch — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:11:38 +0000

I’ve been to each of the 9/11 sites. But I have to tell you that I never felt prouder to be an American than when I was at Shanksville. I tear up every time I think of those valorous passengers aboard Flight 93, and I’m no crybaby.

We owe a great debt to those passengers on Flight 93.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:31:57 +0000

It seems pretty obvious that at least two, and probably three, hijackers were injured or killed in the assault. There were probably two hijackers in the cockpit and two just outside. With boxcutters the hijackers in the cabin wouldn’t have been able to hold the passengers off for long. In all probability, the hijackers outside the cockpit were overcome and either subdued or killed. Jarrah continued to fly the plane while the third hijacker attempted to keep the cockpit door closed. When it became obvious the assault could not be stopped and the cockpit would be breached, Jarrah began rolling the plane over onto it’s back and pulled it into an unrecoverable dive. At this point, the plane was doomed no matter what happened. If the passengers had breached the cockpit earlier, then Jarrah would only have crashed the plane earlier. I don’t see any way the passengers could have been successful given the circumstances. They would have to overpower Jarrah before he was able to roll the plane on it’s back. Given the three defending hijackers and the tight quarters near the cockpit, I don’t see how it could have been possible to get to Jarrah fast enough to stop the rollover.

As an interesting side note, there was some debate in the aviation community in the 90’s about putting restrictions on what a pilot could do with a plane like that. Basically, as an effort to reduce pilot error, “governors” were put in place on some aircraft so that a plane would not respond to a command that would put the plane in uncontrolled flight. At the time, pilots fought against it, saying that in an emergency situation, a pilot may be forced to take the plane past control limits in order to save it.

I haven’t heard anything about it since, but I wonder how things might be different if the plane itself had not allowed Jarrah to perform the roll in the first place. Although I think Airplane security is a lot better now, and I think the liklihood of a 9/11 style takeover is very remote, this kind of technology might be another line in the defense of aircraft hijacking.