Flight 93 tape ends doubts for families
Recording confirms for loved ones the hero status of the passengers who fought 9/11 terrorists
By Stevenson Swanson
Tribune national correspondent
Published April 19, 2002
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Hearing a violent struggle that was recorded in the cockpit of United Airlines Flight 93 as the plane plummeted toward the ground on Sept. 11 confirmed for family members Thursday that their relatives died trying to wrest control of the plane from its hijackers.
In an unprecedented departure from standard procedure in air crash investigations, the 30-minute recording was played at the behest of grief-stricken family members, about 70 of whom listened to the tape at a hotel here.
"I heard what I wanted to hear today," said Deena Burnett, widow of Thomas Burnett Jr., who is believed to have been one of the leaders of a passenger revolt that ended in the crash near Shanksville, Pa. "There's never been a doubt in my mind that everyone on board was a hero and acted heroically. This tape confirms that."
The last minutes of the tape are muffled by the sound of rushing wind as the plane plunged from the sky, family members said, but the recording was clear enough that American and Arabic-speaking voices could be discerned.....
Pretty hard to plan/fake that set of events above.
