This drawing, to the best of my abilities, is intended to depict the passengers of United 93 ripping the cockpit door open and their final destination in a Pennsylvania field.
On September 11th, 2001, 37 people boarded flight United 93 to San Francisco.
None of these passengers had anything in common beyond their flight destination. They were parents, sons, and daughters. There was a Senior Vice President of a company and a retired Special Education teacher. They were Americans just going through their day.
But this was not a typical day.
Hidden among them were four hijackers, wolves hidden in sheep’s clothing. Not far into the flight these terrorists leaped from their seats and seized control of the plane and herded the terrified passengers to the rear. Slowly, the passengers began to reach out to their families and started to make contact with the outside world. They soon discovered that their situation was not unique. Terrorists had also taken over three other flights.
One by one the other three planes slammed into their targets. Two ripped through the World Trade Centers in New York. One plowed into the Pentagon, the central hub of most powerful military force in the world. Through the phone calls they made, the passengers realized that their new pilots had no intentions of a soft landing.
America lost firefighters, police, and medical responders on 9/11. Like the men and women of our armed forces, these people signed up knowing that they were putting their lives on the line. Our armed forces train to kill or be killed. Firefighters practice storming towering infernos. Police learn to deal with violent threats on a daily basis. Medical responders are taught to deal with carnage and chaos. The passengers of United 93 had none of this training.
Death had come for them, and they were entirely unprepared to face him.
But these passengers would not wait for their fates.
They revolted.
The 33 passengers rose up and flung themselves forward. The hijackers realized what was happening and rolled the plane left and right in attempts to stop the passengers. The hijackers only succeeded in delaying the inevitable. The cockpit recorder picked up sounds of crashing and screaming. A passenger was heard yelling “In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die!” It is believed the passengers used the food cart as a battering ram to breach the cockpit door. The voices of the passengers grew louder and clearer, indicating that they had managed to force the door ajar.
With the passengers prying the door open and mere feet from tearing control of the plane back from the terrorists, the hijackers knew they would not make it to their final destination. The hijackers rolled the plane over and brought it down in a Pennsylvania field.
We will never know the true intended target, nor how many lives the passengers of United 93 saved. But we know their actions saved the lives of countless fellow Americans.
Death may have come for the passengers of United 93, but death didn't expect a fight.