We open with the key fact: passengers on United Flight 93 learned the hijackers planned to use the plane as a weapon and chose to fight back, crashing the aircraft near Shanksville, Pennsylvania to stop it from reaching another target. The flight had been delayed out of Newark, and by the time it was seized the attacks on New York and Washington were already underway. People on board made calls, learned what was happening on the ground, and realized this wasn’t a normal hijacking. With only minutes and incomplete information, passengers and crew decided to try to retake the plane. At 10:03 Eastern the plane crashed; all aboard were killed, but the aircraft never hit another target, and their actions changed the course of that day. I want us to remember both the horror of what happened and the courage of strangers who chose to act for one another.

Takeaways:

• I describe how passengers quickly learned about the other attacks and made urgent calls to loved ones.
• We had minutes and incomplete info, yet those aboard Flight 93 decided to fight back together and try to retake the plane.
• I say this episode reminds us that ordinary people can make extraordinary choices when faced with terrifying uncertainty.
• I reflect that, on September 11th, amidst horror and confusion, strangers sat together and decided to act, sacrificing themselves to stop a greater attack on more lives.
• We emphasize remembrance that honors courage and also warns us about the stakes of hate and violence in our world.
• I stress that their quick calls and choices changed history that morning, preventing further destruction that otherwise might have occurred.

Its haystack.

And 25 years ago today, four airplanes were hijacked.

But there's something that makes the story of the fourth airplane different.

The people aboard United Flight 93 eventually knew what was happening.

Flight 93 was supposed to leave Newark at 8am that morning, headed for San Francisco, but it was delayed.

It finally took off at 8:41, and five minutes later, the first airplane struck the World Trade Center.

By the time Flight 93 itself had been hijacked, the attack on America was underway.

And passengers began making calls from the airplane.

They talked to family members.

They talked to people on the ground.

They learned about New York.

They learned about the other hijacked airplanes.

And eventually they understood something horrifying.

This was not a traditional hijacking.

The airplane was going to be used as a weapon.

Can you imagine processing that information?

These were not soldiers.

They had not volunteered for a mission.

They were airline passengers.

They had gotten up that morning, packed their bags, gone to the airport, and expected that a few hours later they would be in California.

And suddenly they were faced with a decision nobody should ever have to make.

They could not know exactly what would happen if they fought back, but they knew what had already happened in New York and in Washington.

So passengers and crew members decided to try to retake the airplane.

All 40 passengers and crew members were killed, but the airplane never reached another target.

25 Years later, we know their story from beginning to end, but they did not.

They had minutes.

They had incomplete information.

They were frightened.

Some called the people they loved.

And then ordinary people made an extraordinary decision.

There's plenty about September 11th that can make you despair about what human beings are capable of doing to one another.

But I don't think remembrance can end there, because Flight 93 reminds us of what human beings are capable of doing for one another.

Faced with something almost unimaginable, people who had been strangers just a few hours earlier decided that whatever happened next, they were going to face it together.