580 MPH

A fast exit to Heaven for some and to Hell for others (registration required):

Of the 33 passengers on the plane who were not hijackers, at least 10, and two crew members, spoke to people on the ground. At least five of the calls included discussion of the World Trade Center. At 9:57, about seven minutes before the end, one of the passengers ended her conversation saying: "Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."

The [9/11 Commission] report indicates that [hijacker] Mr. Jarrah, at the controls of United 93, did what many airline pilots have fantasized about since the hijackings: tried to maneuver the plane sharply, rolling and pitching, to keep control of the cockpit. It apparently did not work; the plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

The report does not clarify whether the hijackers' goal for Flight 93 was the White House or the Capitol, but indicates that the hijackers tuned a cockpit radio to the frequency of a navigation beacon at National Airport, just across the Potomac River from the capital, erasing any doubt about the region of their intended destination.

At three seconds after 10 a.m., Mr. Jarrah is heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying: "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?"

But another hijacker responds: "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off."

The voice recorder captured sounds of continued fighting, and Mr. Jarrah pitched the plane up and then down. A passenger is heard to say, "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die!"

Then a passenger yelled "Roll it!" Some aviation experts have speculated that this was a reference to a food cart, being used as a battering ram.

Mr. Jarrah "stopped the violent maneuvers" at 10:01:00, according to the report, and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!"

"He then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, `Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?' to which the other replied, `Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.' "

Eighty seconds later, a hijacker is heard to say, "Pull it down! Pull it down!"

"The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them," according to the report, which seems to indicate that the hijackers themselves crashed the plane. "With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C," according to the report.

72 virgins, right? Did the fine-print say what species of virgins they were? I hope that it is the hijackers that are the promised virgins--to virgin elephants: "never had none of that human stuff." That would be the least of their deserved punishments.

(Thanks to Michelle Malkin)

Comments

[David Foster]

I find it offensive that they refer to these creatures as "Mister"...

[baldilocks]

I don't. Referring to those you disagree with or even mortally loath by proper, even seemingly respectful titles is a far more effective tactic towards the most important thing--getting the point across--than using epithets or belittling nicknames.

[Kermit]

I continue to this day to immortalize the passengers of flight93 as heroes. All the dead from that fateful day died nobly if prematurely at the hands of those Misters.

[Mr Free Market]

Better to go down fighting than surrender to your fate at the hands of evil men - a leason for us all.

[David Blue]

So they won.

They were doomed, but to the extent that it was humanly possible, the hero passengers were victorious over the terrorists. They achieved everything that could be achieved. They were thinking clearly and attempting all the right things as long as they possibly could.

I never allowed myself to believe that till now. People said things like that, but it might have been a sop to raw feelings, because the reality was too harsh to bear. Against armed and lengthily prepared terrorists, unarmed, in dreadful tactical setup, what could they accomplish, how could they continue their attack?

If I had let myself believe they had won, but if as the terrible odds suggested they had been beaten and met their ends like slaughtered sheep, terrified and helpless, going nowhere as the terrorists just panicked or screwed up, I would have felt disappointed in their achievement. And nobody has any right to be disappointed in those passengers, what they tried in the situation they were in. So I never let myself believe they could actually have won.

But they did it. They won. God bless them. I'm crying.

[Rustmeister]

Glenn pointed to an article on this subject ( http://216.111.31.12/details.asp?PRID=32 ), and the part that got me was:

"That was 10:37 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11... just 109 minutes after Mohammed Atta rammed the first plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

Just 109 minutes after a new form of terrorism -- the most deadly yet invented -- came into use, it was rendered, if not obsolete, at least decidedly less effective.

Deconstructed, unengineered, thwarted, and put into the dust bin of history. By Americans. In 109 minutes.

And in retrospect, they did it in the most American of ways. They used a credit card to rent a fancy cell phone to get information just minutes old, courtesy of the ubiquitous 24-hour news phenomenon. Then they took a vote. When the vote called for sacrifice to protect country and others, there apparently wasn't a shortage of volunteers. Their action was swift. It was decisive. And it was effective."

I'm damn proud.

[TxRascal]

Ms. Juliette...

Virgin elephants would be a fitting reward of course...

Virgin pigs would be even better...

[Shawn Lee]

It's comforting to know that they knowingly went about and saved the lives of others.

It just does not get any more beautiful than that.

[baldilocks' mom]

"Amen," to that. I'm sheading tears too.

[Ben]

Pigs. Imagine sending one of these "devout Muslims" to eternity, with nothing but 72 virgin pigs.

And yes, the folks on flight 93 won. They were not drafted, nor volunteered to fight. But fight they did, and while they could not prevent their own death, they still prevented the deaths of others.

109 minutes. Between this war's version of Pearl Harbor, and the Dolittle raids. That is an improvement.

[willow]

David has a point; referring to someone as "Mister" implies a respect that these animals will never deserve. I do agree with you, however, Juliette, that not resorting to belittling names or epithets in formal reports is probably better (blog comments are another matter entirely). In this case, it would be better if they had just used their last names...

At any rate, I think Frank J. was on about it really being 72 raisins they got in heaven, not virgins...now that would be funny...

[Tyree]

I liked Robin Williams routine where it was revealed that the Koran was misread and the hijackers were met my 72 Virginians, led by George Washington who beat them to a pulp for eternity.