Flight 93 – 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Attack

At 10:03 AM on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 “crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, near the town of Shanksville.” All 44 people on board died: 7 crew members, 33 passengers — and the four cowards who sought to crash the plane into the US Capitol.

From Cowardice to Courage

American Flight 93 was the fourth hijacked plane to claim lives that day. It was the plot of Egyptian militant Islamist and al-Qaeda operative Mohammed Atta. The momentary triumph of evil earned notoriety as the “deadliest terrorist attack in US history.” A more permanent victory came from the courageous choices of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 as they fought to win back control of the cockpit.

At the Flight 93 Memorial dedication ceremony — September 10, 2011 — President George W. Bush said,

Generations [of] people will study . . . the story of Flight 93. They will learn that individual choices make a difference, that love and sacrifice can triumph over evil and hate. . . . What happened above this Pennsylvania field ranks among the most courageous acts in American history.

“We saw that Americans were vulnerable, but not fragile – that they possess a core of strength that survives the worst that life can bring.”

Though the cost of resistance by Flight 93’s passengers and crew cost them their lives, President Bush reminded us at the 20th anniversary of 9/11 that we are left with valuable lessons:

We saw that Americans were vulnerable, but not fragile – that they possess a core of strength that survives the worst that life can bring. We learned that bravery is more common than we imagined, emerging with sudden splendor in the face of death.  

Tom Ridge, who was Pennsylvania’s governor at the time of the attack, summed it up: The forty heroes on Flight 93 “did not expect to serve the cause of freedom on that Tuesday morning, but serve it they did. Faced with the most frightening circumstances . . . they met the challenge like citizen soldiers, like Americans.”

Ordinary Heroes

It’s true. On the morning of September 11, 2001, the crew of United Flight 93 entered the aircraft with the ordinary intent on doing their jobs like they had done every other day. Likewise, the passengers settled into their seats as ordinary passengers. But when called into action by the malice of others, these ordinary citizens embraced their collective fate by doing “whatever they humanly could — boil water, phone the authorities . . . rush the cockpit to foil the attack.” Twenty-five years ago, “terrorists chose a random group of Americans, on a routine flight, to be collateral damage in a spectacular act of terror. . . . These Americans were brave, strong, and united in ways that shocked the terrorists — but should not surprise any of us. This is the nation we know.”

Sacred Obligation

How ironic that in the year when America celebrates her 250th birthday, we also mark the 25th anniversary of the “deadliest terrorist attack in US history.” As we celebrate, we remember America before TSA security and no-fly lists. We remember when family and friends greeted one another at their gate as they disembarked from their flights and stepped directly into the airport. We remember an era when entering a professional sporting event or concert did not require passing through metal detectors.

Twenty-five years later, an entire generation of Americans doesn’t remember what life was like before the horror of commercial airlines being converted into fuel-filled missiles. They were either too young or not yet born to remember the day the rest of us can’t forget. If you are old enough to remember when 19 al-Qaeda operatives[GK1] declared war on America, you know the stories of people who did the next right thing when their futures were hijacked.

God forbid that any of us would ever find ourselves on a hijacked flight. Our opportunity to do the next right thing will come with different coordinates, different circumstances, different seat assignments. Be certain, challenging moments will come when our circumstances call us to make sacrifices.

Those of us who cannot forget the day when ordinary Americans were extraordinary have a sacred obligation to the rising generation. They know more about the consequences that came from the hatred of hijackers than the courageous actions of American heroes “who won the first war against terrorism.”

Never Forget

The Flight 93 Memorial invites sojourners to come face-to-face with important lessons—that evil exists and extracts a high price; that the solution to the darkness of vice is to shine the light of virtue; that in the battle for the hearts and minds of the rising generation, our greatest weapon is giving them a glimpse of what 40 courageous Americans in the skies above Pennsylvania 25 years ago.

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1 “9/11 Flight Numbers: Which Flights Were Hijacked?” Legal Clarity, posted April 1, 2026, https://legalclarity.org/9-11-flight-numbers-details-of-the-four-hijacked-aircraft/.

2 “9/11 Flight Numbers: Which Flights Were Hijacked?”

3 “9/11 Flight Numbers: Which Flights Were Hijacked?”

4 George W. Bush, “United Flight 93 National Memorial Dedication Address,” delivered 10 September 2011, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbushflight93memorial.htm.

5 George W. Bush, “Remarks by President George W. Bush at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania,” George W. Bush Presidential Center, delivered September 11,2021, https://www.bushcenter.org/newsroom/remarks-by-president-george-w-bush-at-the-flight-93-national-memorial-in-shanksville-pennsylvania.

6 “‘America is Grateful’ to Flight 93 Heroes--A ‘Wave of Courage’ During Doomed Assault on Hijackers,” CNN, posted September 11, 2002, https://us.cnn.com/2002/US/09/11/ar911.memorial.pennsylvania/.

7 “‘America is Grateful’ to Flight 93 Heroes--A ‘Wave of Courage’ During Doomed Assault on Hijackers.”

8 George W. Bush, “Remarks by President George W. Bush at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.”

9 9/11 Flight Numbers: Which Flights Were Hijacked?”

10 “9/11 Flight Numbers: Which Flights Were Hijacked?”

11 “‘America is Grateful’ to Flight 93 Heroes--A ‘Wave of Courage’ During Doomed Assault on Hijackers.”