Final words from Flight 93
Family members share the painful calls from the passengers who fought back
Behind him was Lou Nacke, 42, manager of a toy-store distribution center. The shortest of the five at 5-foot-9, the 200-pound weightlifter had a Superman logo tattooed on his left arm. "He wasn't one to talk about how super he was, he just showed you," says Jeff Trichon, his brother-in-law. "He was a man of strength and steel."
For 45 minutes or so, the plane flew west across Pennsylvania toward Cleveland. At 9:35 a.m., the 757 abruptly made a U-turn and began heading toward Washington. Passengers grabbed for cellphones and in-seat phones. Between 9:31 a.m. to 9:53 a.m, 24 calls were made from the GTE Airfones.
Shortly before 9:45, Jeremy Glick called his wife of five years, Lyzbeth. In high school, she was prom queen to his king. He told her he loved her. Then he told her about "these bad terrorists." Another passenger, he said, had heard about other terrorist attacks during a call. Was it true? Lyzbeth told him about the World Trade Center. The hijackers had said they would get to their target or blow up the plane. Glick wanted advice: Should they rush the hijackers or not?
At 9:45, Todd Beamer told GTE supervisor Lisa Jefferson that 27 passengers had been herded to seats in the rear, while some remained in first class. Two hijackers were in the cockpit; a third was guarding passengers. The five flight attendants were scattered. One attendant told Beamer two people were on the floor in first class, possibly the pilot and copilot. She wasn't sure if they were dead.
In shock. Women fought back, too. At 9:45, flight attendant Sandy Bradshaw, 38, called her home in Greensboro, N.C. "She said her flight had been hijacked by guys with knives," says her husband, Phil, a pilot. "She said, `We are here in the back trying to get hot water to throw on them. Do you have any other ideas?' I said, `Go with that.' I was in shock. She sounded calm, but like her adrenaline was really going." She promised if she survived she would quit and stay home with 1-year-old Nathan, Alexandria, almost 3, and Shenan, 16.
At 9:45, Mark Bingham called his mother, Alice Hoglan. It struck her as odd that he said: "This is Mark Bingham." He told her: "In case I don't see you again, I love you all. It doesn't look good."
Tom Burnett called his wife, Deena, saying they were getting ready to do something. "I said, `Who?' and he said, `A group of us.' I pleaded with him to please sit down and not draw any attention to himself," she has told reporters. His last words to her: "No, if they were going to run this into the ground, we are going to do something."
Halfway through his 15-minute call to GTE supervisor Jefferson, Todd Beamer said the plane was flying erratically. He made Lisa Jefferson promise to call his family to tell them how much he loved them. He asked her to say the Lord's Prayer with him. He said several men were going to take on the hijackers. "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Jefferson asked. "Yes," he replied.
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