I was wrong.
Universal Pictures held a preview screening of United 93 last night in Hollywood. I went with a friend, expecting something exploitative, schlocky, and agenda-laden. The film was none of those things. I can't imagine how this story could be told any better in film.
I don't know how you'd review something like this, other than to ask: Was it respectful? Was it faithful to fact? Was it real? Yes to all three. I walked out of the theater thinking that this is what the film captured best: All the systems we trust to protect us failed on September 11. But the best of human nature is to do good, regardless of cost. That is what happened on this flight, and in many other places, on that day.
Link (thanks, PC)
Reader comment: Paul says,
While it is inferred that one or many passengers attempted to get into the cockpit at some point, there is no evidence that the events on the plane (or off for that matter) actually occurred. Unfortunately, this may be how most of the country will remember it…
Reader comment: Anonymous says,
"While the United 93's flight recorder did not determine the cockpit was breached, there is evidence that a charge was attempted, as Wiki notes:"
-Other persons who made phone calls to relatives include passenger Honor Elizabeth Wainio and flight attendants CeeCee Lyles and Sandra Bradshaw. They all mentioned charges to the cockpit by way of final words. Reference was also made by the flight attendants to using boiling water on the hijackers. What happened afterward is uncertain but the black box recordings revealed that, contrary to popular belief, the passengers were never able to enter the cockpit.
– In April 2002, in an unprecedented action, the cockpit voice recorder was played by the FBI to relatives of the victims of the hijackings. Further details were released by the 9/11 Commission in July 2004.
Its full contents have not been made public. However, media reports of the tape indicate that the charge by the passengers and crew did take place.
(these transcipts were made public at the moussaoui trial)
– The 9/11 Commission found from the recordings that, contrary to what many have believed, the passengers did not succeed in entering the cockpit before the plane crashed. The 9/11 Commission ruled that the actions of the crew and passengers prevented the destruction of the Capitol building or the White House by causing the hijackers to abort the attack on their intended target.
Reader comment: Avi Solomon says,
United Airlines Flight 93 Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript has been released here(though not the voice recording): PDF link.
The hijackers seem to have held a flight attendant hostage in the cockpit. It seems clear that the passengers were on the verge of pushing into the cockpit when the terrorists decided to end it by flipping the the plane into a downward dive. The plane was then about 20 minutes flying time from Washington D.C.
Incidentally a 5th terrorist intended to be on United 93 (to make a team of 5 as on the other hijacked flights) may have been prevented from entering the US by an alert customs inspector: Link
