United 93 (film) - Plot

Plot

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, hijackers Ahmed al-Nami and Ahmed al-Haznawi are praying in their hotel room, United 93's skyjacking ringleader Ziad Jarrah reading the Quran, and Saeed al-Ghamdi shaving. The four then leave for Newark International Airport. At the airport, the crew and passengers board United Airlines Flight 93. Shortly after boarding, and the safety briefing, Flight 93 is delayed for 41 minutes because of the high volume of traffic. The three other soon to be hijacked flights, American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 77 take off at other airports.

Air traffic controllers monitoring all current flights determine that American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 from Boston's Logan International Airport has taken a turn toward New York City. Shortly after, Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, although the air traffic controllers do not immediately realize what has happened. About 20 minutes earlier, a tape recording was made of Mohamed Atta's line "We have some planes, just stay quiet and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport."

Meanwhile, United Airlines Flight 175, another Boeing 767, also from Boston, is also hijacked, and begins to descend and turn toward New York City as well. Air traffic controllers then realize they are dealing with multiple hijackings. American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 is also hijacked. The air traffic controllers and Air Force watch as Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on live television, reported by CNN.

United Airlines Flight 93 reaches its cruising altitude about the same time that Flight 175 crashes. The pilots of Flight 93 receive a message, Beware cockpit intrusion. Two a/c hit WTC. The terrorists on Flight 93 argue about when to begin their operation. At 9:28 AM, after Ahmed al-Haznawi assembles a fake bomb, the other three hijackers wrestle their way into the cockpit, holding off the flight attendants, herding the passengers to the back of the plane, and then killing the pilots Jason Dahl, and LeRoy Homer, Jr.. The hijacker Ziad Jarrah tries to tell the passengers to Keep remaining sitting, we have a bomb on board. So sit. He accidentally transmits this and another message to Cleveland Air Traffic Control, which he realises later, turning off Flight 93's transponder.

Flight 93 turns towards D.C. while Ben Sliney ultimately decides to shut down all airspace in the United States and ground every flight. By this time, Flight 77 has crashed into the Pentagon.

The passengers on Flight 93 begin making phone calls to family through the on-board GTE Airfone system. After hearing that planes have crashed into the WTC and the Pentagon, they realize that if they do nothing they will also die, and eventually elect to storm the cockpit and retake the plane using whatever makeshift weapons they can. They wait for the right moment, as the hijackers eventually realise the passengers are thinking of taking back the plane. One of the hijackers asks Jarrah how much time they may have left, and he says 20 minutes. The hijacker responds with We don't have twenty minutes! This turns out to be all but false, as the passengers begin the revolt.

After Haznawi is beaten down and killed, Ahmed al-Nami warns Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al-Ghamdi in the cockpit of the passenger's revolt, and attempts to hold off the advancing passengers with a food cart, pepper spray, and a fire extinguisher; he too is soon overwhelmed and is killed by having his neck snapped.

Ziad Jarrah shakes the plane violently but the passengers manage to enter the cockpit; however, as they attempt to gain control, the plane plummets into an upside down nosedive. Passengers are heard screaming, wind is heard, and hands are seen grappling for the yoke. The film ends as the plane nears the ground, and the screen blacks out as the plane hits the ground.