September 11, 2001, began like an ordinary morning. People went to work, boarded airplanes, made phone calls, and made plans for the day ahead.
Among them were the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, a scheduled flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California.
None of the 40 people aboard the aircraft knew that their morning would become part of one of the most significant and heartbreaking moments in modern American history.
Flight 93 was one of four commercial aircraft hijacked during the September 11 attacks. While the other three hijacked aircraft reached their intended targets, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, before reaching its intended destination.
The actions of the passengers and crew prevented the aircraft from reaching the hijackers’ intended target, according to the National Park Service.
Today, Flight 93 is remembered not simply as an aircraft or a historical event, but through the individual lives of the 40 passengers and crew members who never returned home.
What Was Flight 93?
United Airlines Flight 93 was a Boeing 757 scheduled to fly from Newark International Airport in New Jersey to San Francisco International Airport in California on September 11, 2001.
The aircraft carried 37 passengers and seven crew members when it departed Newark. Four hijackers were among the passengers, meaning 40 people in total were aboard the aircraft.
The crew included Captain Jason Dahl, First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr., and five flight attendants.
The passengers represented different backgrounds and generations. They included business travelers, students, retirees and people traveling for personal reasons.
For most of them, it was simply supposed to be another flight.
That is one of the details that makes the story of Flight 93 so deeply human.
The Morning of September 11, 2001
Flight 93 was scheduled to leave Newark at around 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
The aircraft left the terminal at approximately 8:01 a.m. with 37 passengers and seven crew members aboard.
At that moment, the passengers had no way of knowing what was already unfolding elsewhere.
Earlier that morning, three other hijacked aircraft had begun their journeys.
- American Airlines Flight 11 was headed toward Los Angeles from Boston.
- United Airlines Flight 175 was also traveling from Boston to Los Angeles.
- American Airlines Flight 77 was traveling from Washington, D.C., toward Los Angeles.
- United Airlines Flight 93 was traveling from Newark to San Francisco.
The four flights became part of a coordinated terrorist attack that would kill nearly 3,000 people.
Flight 93 would become the only one of the four hijacked aircraft that did not reach its intended target.
When Was Flight 93 Hijacked?
The hijacking of Flight 93 took place after the aircraft had departed Newark.
According to the National Park Service’s historical timeline, the hijackers took control of the aircraft and changed its course.
Because of the events happening elsewhere that morning, some passengers and crew members began learning that something extraordinary was happening on the ground.
They made phone calls to family members, friends and emergency operators.
Those calls would later become some of the most important evidence in reconstructing what happened aboard the aircraft.
The Phone Calls That Changed the Story
One of the most remarkable parts of the Flight 93 story is the number of people aboard the aircraft who managed to communicate with people on the ground.
Passengers and crew members made calls using available phones and cellphones.
Through those conversations, some learned that other airplanes had been used in attacks.
This changed their understanding of what was happening.
At first, the people aboard Flight 93 may not have known the full purpose of the hijacking.
But as information reached them from people on the ground, they began to understand that the situation was far more serious than a conventional hijacking.
The calls also gave families their final conversations with loved ones.
Some were short.
Some were emotional.
Some contained information about what was happening inside the aircraft.
Together, they became an important part of the historical record.
The National Park Service maintains a detailed account of the crew and passengers and documents the phone calls associated with the flight.
The Passengers Realized They Had to Act
At some point, several passengers and crew members concluded that waiting was not an option.
They had learned enough about the other attacks to understand that the hijackers might intend to use Flight 93 as a weapon.
The passengers began discussing what they could do.
They did not have the equipment, training or resources normally associated with confronting an armed terrorist takeover of an aircraft.
They were ordinary people facing an extraordinary situation.
Yet they made a decision.
They would attempt to take control of the aircraft.
“Let’s Roll”
One of the most remembered moments connected to Flight 93 is the phrase:
“Let’s roll.”
The National Park Service timeline records that an Airfone operator heard Todd Beamer say the phrase during a conversation shortly before the passengers and crew began their counterattack.
The phrase has since become closely associated with the story of Flight 93.
But behind those two words was something much larger: a group of people trying to make a decision under circumstances that were almost impossible to comprehend.
They knew they were in danger.
They also knew that doing nothing could put many more people on the ground in danger.
The Counterattack Begins
At approximately 9:57 a.m., passengers and crew members began their attempt to regain control of Flight 93.
Flight attendant Sandy Bradshaw was among those who communicated with people on the ground.
The cockpit voice recorder later provided investigators with evidence about the struggle.
The National Park Service notes that the cockpit voice recorder recovered from Flight 93 was the only voice recorder recovered from the four hijacked aircraft that yielded useful information about the events aboard the aircraft.
The passengers were fighting against the hijackers while the aircraft was still in flight.
The struggle did not last long.
But its consequences were enormous.
What Happened to Flight 93?
Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at approximately 10:03 a.m. Eastern Time.
Everyone aboard the aircraft died.
The National Park Service records the aircraft’s final moments as the passengers and crew continued their attempt to overcome the hijackers.
The crash site was in rural Somerset County.
The aircraft never reached Washington, D.C.
The National Park Service states that Flight 93 was approximately 20 minutes of flying time from Washington, D.C. when it crashed.
The exact intended target has been discussed extensively in historical investigations. The 9/11 Commission’s official report examined the planning and intended destinations of the four hijacked aircraft.
Why Is Flight 93 So Important?
The importance of Flight 93 goes beyond the aircraft itself.
The passengers and crew were able to change the outcome of the hijacking.
They could not save themselves.
But their actions prevented the plane from reaching the target selected by the hijackers.
That distinction is important.
The people aboard Flight 93 were not trained soldiers responding to a battlefield.
They were ordinary passengers and crew members confronted with an extraordinary threat.
Their decision to act has become one of the enduring stories of September 11.
The National Park Service describes their actions in terms of unity, courage and defiance.
The 40 People Aboard Flight 93
Behind the historical story are 40 individual lives.
The National Park Service records the passengers and crew members by name, including the seven crew members and 33 passengers who were not hijackers.
Among those remembered are:
- Captain Jason M. Dahl
- First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr.
- Todd M. Beamer
- Mark Bingham
- Thomas E. Burnett Jr.
- Jeremy Glick
- Lauren Grandcolas
- Deora Bodley
- Edward Felt
- Christine Snyder
- Honor Wainio
- Sandy Bradshaw
- CeeCee Lyles
- Wanda Green
- Lorraine Bay
- Deborah Welsh
- and many others.
Each person had a family, friends, responsibilities and plans for the future.
Some were traveling for work.
Some were returning home.
Some were going on vacation.
Some were traveling for personal reasons.
Their individual stories are an important reminder that history is not only about dates and events. It is also about people.
The official National Park Service list provides the complete names and roles of the 40 passengers and crew members.
The Families Left Behind
When Flight 93 crashed, families across the United States and elsewhere lost people they loved.
For those families, September 11 was not simply a date in history.
It became the day a husband did not come home.
The day a wife did not return.
The day a parent never walked through the front door again.
The day a child lost a mother or father.
This is why stories about Flight 93 should be told with care.
It is easy to focus only on the dramatic events aboard the aircraft.
But there were 40 individual lives at the center of the story.
Their families continued living with that loss long after the news cameras left Pennsylvania.
The Investigation at the Crash Site
The crash created a massive investigation.
The FBI and other agencies worked to understand what had happened aboard the aircraft and to collect evidence.
The National Park Service notes that the FBI conducted a methodical excavation of the impact site over 13 days during the 2001 investigation.
The cockpit voice recorder became particularly important because it preserved sounds from the aircraft’s final moments.
Investigators used evidence from the crash site and other sources to reconstruct the sequence of events.
The investigation became part of the much larger effort to understand the September 11 attacks.
The 9/11 Commission was later established to provide a comprehensive account of the attacks and the government’s response. Its final report remains one of the major official sources on the events.
The Flight 93 Memorial
Today, the crash site is part of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
The memorial exists to remember the 40 passengers and crew members and to preserve the story of what happened.
One of its most recognizable features is the Wall of Names.
Forty white marble panels bear the names of the passengers and crew members.
The wall follows the direction of the aircraft’s final flight path toward the crash site.
The design is intentionally simple.
There is no need for excessive decoration.
The names themselves are the memorial.
Forty people.
Forty lives.
Forty stories.
The Meaning Behind the Wall of Names
The Wall of Names is more than a list.
The National Park Service explains that the 40 marble panels represent the individual passengers and crew members while the arrangement also reflects their unity during the final moments of the flight.
Standing there, a visitor can read each name separately.
That matters because large historical events can sometimes make individual people disappear behind statistics.
The memorial brings the focus back to the people.
Not simply “Flight 93.”
Not simply “the 9/11 victims.”
But individual human beings whose names are permanently remembered.
Why Shanksville Matters
The community around Shanksville became connected forever with the story of Flight 93.
On that September morning, residents heard and felt the crash.
The area became the scene of an enormous emergency response and investigation.
Over time, the landscape was transformed into a place of remembrance.
Today, the memorial’s grounds provide a quiet environment for reflection.
The National Park Service describes the site as a place where a once-common field became a lasting place of honor.
That contrast is powerful.
Before September 11, it was simply farmland.
Today, people travel there to remember 40 people and learn about the decisions they made during the final minutes of Flight 93.
Flight 93 and the Legacy of September 11
The story of Flight 93 is now part of the larger history of September 11, 2001.
The attacks changed aviation security, emergency response, international politics and the lives of countless families.
But Flight 93 carries a particular message within that history.
The passengers were not able to change the fact that they had been attacked.
They could, however, influence what happened next.
Their response became an example of people coming together under extreme circumstances.
That is why the story continues to be taught, remembered and discussed more than two decades later.
What Can We Learn From Flight 93?
There are many ways to interpret historical events, but the story of Flight 93 offers several human lessons.
Courage does not always look dramatic
Courage can be a decision made by someone who is frightened and uncertain.
The passengers did not know exactly what would happen when they acted.
They acted despite that uncertainty.
Ordinary people can make extraordinary decisions
The people aboard Flight 93 were not gathered together because they were a special group.
They were simply passengers and crew members sharing a flight.
Yet they became part of a moment that changed history.
Individual lives matter
The memorial’s 40 names remind us that historical events are made up of individual human beings.
Behind every name was a life, a family and a future that was lost.
Remembering should include compassion
The story of Flight 93 is painful.
Remembering it does not require sensationalizing the violence.
Sometimes the most respectful way to tell the story is simply to remember the people, understand what happened and acknowledge the courage shown during an unimaginable situation.
Flight 93 in 2026
Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, Flight 93 remains an important part of American history.
The 25th remembrance of September 11 is being observed at the Flight 93 National Memorial in 2026, with National Park Service programs honoring the passengers and crew. The official 2026 observance includes a reading of their names and other remembrance activities.
The passage of time has changed many things.
The people who were children in 2001 are now adults.
A generation has grown up without personal memories of that morning.
For younger people, September 11 can feel like something from a history textbook rather than something their parents and grandparents experienced.
That makes preserving accurate historical accounts even more important.
Remembering the 40
The story of Flight 93 should ultimately return to the people.
Forty passengers and crew members boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco.
They expected to reach California.
They never did.
Their lives ended in a Pennsylvania field, but their names did not disappear.
They remain on the Wall of Names.
They remain in the historical record.
They remain in the memories of their families.
And they remain part of the story of September 11, 2001.
The Flight 93 National Memorial continues to preserve that story for future generations.
Final Thoughts
Flight 93 is one of the most difficult stories to tell about September 11, 2001 because it combines tragedy, fear, loss and extraordinary courage.
The passengers and crew could not know how their actions would be remembered.
They were simply trying to respond to an unimaginable situation.
Their decision to fight back changed what happened that morning.
Today, the Flight 93 National Memorial offers a quiet place to remember them.
Perhaps the most meaningful way to honor their memory is not simply to remember how they died, but to remember who they were.
They were parents.
Children.
Friends.
Colleagues.
Students.
Travelers.
Pilots.
Flight attendants.
People going home.
People going to work.
People with plans for the future.
They were 40 individual human beings.
And their story deserves to be remembered with dignity.
Frequently Asked Questions About Flight 93
What was Flight 93?
United Airlines Flight 93 was a Boeing 757 traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, on September 11, 2001. It was hijacked as part of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
How many people were on Flight 93?
There were 40 people aboard Flight 93, including 37 passengers and seven crew members, with four of the passengers being hijackers.
What happened to Flight 93?
The aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at approximately 10:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001. Everyone aboard died.
Why did Flight 93 crash?
The passengers and crew attempted to regain control of the aircraft after learning more about the hijackings and attacks taking place elsewhere. The struggle continued until the aircraft crashed.
Did the passengers of Flight 93 fight back?
Yes. According to the National Park Service timeline, passengers and crew began their counterattack at approximately 9:57 a.m.
What was the intended target of Flight 93?
The 9/11 Commission investigated the intended targets of the hijacked aircraft. Flight 93 was headed toward the Washington, D.C., area when the passengers’ counterattack occurred.
Where is Flight 93 remembered today?
The Flight 93 National Memorial is located near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the site of the crash. It includes the Wall of Names and other memorial features.
Who was Todd Beamer?
Todd Beamer was a passenger aboard Flight 93. He communicated with an Airfone operator during the hijacking, and the phrase “Let’s roll” became associated with his final conversation and the passengers’ counterattack.