Phone Calls from Flight 93

When United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked, thirteen passengers and crew members responded by placing phone calls to the authorities, to United Airlines, and to their family members and friends. According to the FBI, thirty-seven phone calls were placed from on board Flight 93 between 9:28 when the plane was hijacked until the time of the crash at 10:03. Thirty-five of these calls were made on the Airfones located on the back of the seats in the last nine rows of the plane. Credit card records reveal the time of the call, Airfone caller’s name, the number or numbers dialed, the duration of the call, and the row from which the call was placed. These phone records were entered as evidence during the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in 2006. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the series of calls from the flight provided vital information both to the ground and to the passengers. Calls from on board the plane revealed that:

• the plane had been hijacked

• the hijackers wielded knives

• the hijackers had entered the cockpit

• the hijackers had a bomb

• the hijackers wore red bandanas

• the passengers were forced to the back of the aircraft

• a passenger had been stabbed (reported by at least two callers) and the victim had died (reported by one)

• two individuals were lying on the floor of the aircraft injured or dead, possibly the captain and first officer

• a flight attendant had been killed

Through these phone calls, the passengers and crew learned that:

• The World Trade Center Towers were struck by two commercial airliners

• The Pentagon was struck by a commercial airliner

A chronological listing of the phone calls made between 9:28 and 10:03 appears below, including transcripts of three of the calls which were recorded. All times are in Eastern Daylight Time. Unless noted, the calls were made on Airfones. Information sources are cited in this manner:

• Notes from interviews conducted by FBI agents with those who received calls

• Evidence presented at the Moussaoui trial

• Notes from the published report of the 9/11 Commission, Third Monograph or Memoranda for the Record prepared by the 9/11 Commission Staff

All information based on the best available data and evidence. Direct transcripts are noted. Quoted content is cited. Most of the quoted material comes from FBI reports and notes, but is not a direct transcript of a recording unless specifically noted as such.

Click on the dropdown boxes for more information regarding each phone call