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By Root 1578 0

employee that day of a flight attendant’s report that Flight 11 passenger Daniel Lewin had been shot. Riffe said she was later told she had been wrongly informed. A partly redacted FBI summary states that passenger Peter Hanson, who phoned his father from Flight 175, said he had seen a flight attendant shot. Available reports of what Hanson said include no such reference. The presence of guns aboard any of the hijacked flights would of course indicate a grave security lapse. The 9/11 Commission concluded that the reports of guns were mistaken, that the weight of the evidence indicated that knives were the only weapons the hijackers brought on board (Burnett told: MFR 04020024, 4/26/04, Longman, 108; very familiar: The Times [London], 8/11/02, bio at www.tomburnettfoundation.org; Glick: Reader’s Digest [U.K.], 9/06, MFR 04020025, 4/22/04, “FBI Documents—Inc. Joanne Makely Call Transcript,” B13, T7, CF; Riffe: MFR 03007067, 9/11/03, “Flight 11 Gun Story,” B16, T7, CF; Hanson: Chicago to Director, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CG, INTELWIRE; Commission: CR 13, 452n25, 457n82).

6 Glick: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06, FBI 302 of Lyzbeth Glick, 9/12/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 146;

7 told him/“My God”/“A group”: FBI 302 of int. Deena Burnett, 9/11/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 110–;

8 “I’m going”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

9 equipped: Longman, 19, 108–, 114, 27–,137–, 132–;

10 Beamer: ibid., 17–, 200, 202;

11 Jefferson account: Jefferson & Middlebrooks, 29–;

12 “Shit!”: “Recording of Conversation,” 9/15/01, “Flight 93 Calls,” B12, T7, CF;

13 “Oh, my God”: Jefferson & Middlebrooks, 44–;

14 Flight Data Recorder: “Study of Autopilot, Navigational Equipment, and Fuel Consumption Activity Based on UA Flight 93 and AA Flight 77 Digital Flight Recorder Data,” 2/13/02, www.ntsb.gov;

15 23rd Psalm: Longman, 200;

16 “We just lost”: Joseph Gregor, “Air Traffic Control Recording,” NTSB, 12/21/01, int. John Werth.

17 executive jet: transcript of audiotape, FAA Cleveland Air Traffic Control Center—Lorain position, 9/11/01, int. John Werth, CR, 30. There had not yet been time to comply with the nationwide grounding order. The FAA transcript indicates that the plane that sighted Flight 93 was Executive Jet 956. The authors’ reading of relevant sources, including a transcript of the Cleveland Air Traffic Control recording, suggests the Jet 956 sighting occurred soon after 9:41. The 9/11 Commission Report, meanwhile, refers to a sighting of Flight 93 by an aircraft at about 9:53. The sources cited in the Report do not make entirely clear whether this reference is to a sighting by Executive 956 or by another airplane (CR, 29–, 461n167, Full Transcription, “Air Traffic Control System Command Center, National Traffic Management Officer, East Position, 9/11/01,” B1, NY Office files, CF, int. John Werth).

18 navigational aid: CR, 457n85.

19 Britton: Interviewed by the FBI after the attacks, Britton’s friend Frank Fiumano said he “assumed she had borrowed a cell phone from another passenger” to make her call because Britton’s own cell phone was not working. Records released in 2009 make clear, however, that Britton used a seatback phone (Britton’s friend: FBI 302 of [name redacted], 9/20/01, & Pittsburgh to Pittsburgh, 9/22/01, INTELWIRE, Longman, 162; 2009 records: United Airlines Flight 93, Telephone Calls, “Flight 11 Calls—Response to DOJ Documents Requests,” B13, T7, CF);

20 plane turning: “Flight Path Study—United Flight 93,” 2/19/02, NTSB;

21 “I know”: Reader’s Digest (U.K.), 9/06;

22 “to jump”: Jefferson & Middlebrook, 52–;

23 “the impression”: MFR 04020031, 5/11/04;

24 Greene: Chicago to Counterterrorism Baltimore et al., 10/4/01, “Flights 175 and 93 Load Patterns,” B20, T7, CF, Longman, 182–. Another passenger on Flight 93, Andrew Garcia, had served in the California Air National Guard and trained as an air traffic controller. Even with his limited knowledge of aviation, he might have been of some help in the cockpit. As to the possibility that Greene could conceivably have landed the plane, the authors consulted Gerry Humphries, a