Collection 5: "On Doomed Flight, Passengers Vowed to Perish Fighting" by Jodi Wilgoren and Edward Wong

From 35,000 feet, they relayed harrowing details about the hijacking in progress to the police.

From 35,000 feet, they relayed harrowing details about the hijacking in progress to the police.

And they vowed to try to thwart the enemy, to prevent others from dying even if they could not save themselves.

The accounts revealed a spirit of defiance amid the desperation.

Relatives and friends and a congressman who represents the area around the crash site in Pennsylvania hailed the fallen passengers as patriots.

In an e-mail message forwarded far and wide, Mr. Crowley urged: “May we remember Jeremy and the other brave souls as heroes, soldiers and Americans
on United Flight 93 who so gallantly gave their lives to save many others.”

CNN reported last night that it had obtained a partial transcript of cockpit chatter, and that a source who had listened to the air-traffic control tape said a man with an Arabic accent had said in broken English: “This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seat. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport.”

Another passenger on the sparsely populated plane barricaded himself in the bathroom and dialed 911.

“He was not giving up. His adrenaline was going. And you could just tell that he had every intention of solving the problem and coming on home.”

“I would conclude there was a struggle, and a heroic individual decided they were going to die anyway and, ‘Let’s bring the plane down here,’” said Representative John P. Murtha, a Democrat who represents the area and serves on the Defense Appropriations Committee.