The Pilot: A Hero?

“I thought this would justify a new thread. I think the pilot of the plane near Pittsburgh acted as a hero.

He crashed the plane before it reached the intended target, apparently. I heard a report that a passenger with a cell phone notified authorities that they were hijacked. I'll bet that the pilot heard the news and knew they were all dead anyways and some how managed to crash the plane and thwart the hijackers. I can't imagine how or what he did to fight off the hijackers.

Anyways, I think he is a major hero in a tragic day.”

“Who knows where the intended target for that plane was? Ther's no telling how many lives he saved.”

“All sorts of theories and rumors floating around....people are saying that the hijackers themselves must have comandeered and were piloting the planes. Would a pilot with a gun to his head STILL fly into the WTC? Death is certain either way. Maybe this pilot was able to dump the plane's fuel and it couldn't reach it's intended target...?”

“It's also possible the hijackers caught the guy with the cell phone (that phone call is confirmed) and ditched the plane rather than get busted. Personally, I prefer Uphill Klimber's version.”

“I agree, a hero”

“I have been hearing rumours all day that the pittsburgh plane was shot down.”

“the 911 transcript indicates that a loud noise ocurred while the person was on the phone. The person reported smoke and then got disconnected...

from the pictures of the crash site, it looks like the plane disintegrated! Its just a huge crater of smoldering ash left.
=:0

They speculate that the plane was headed for Camp David - 85 miles SE of the crash site.”

“I am sure that there were many heroic acts that will never be known...

the 200 still-missing firefighters at the WTC, for example.

I would like to believe your theory, UK. I would like to believe there are still some heroes left. :)”

“me too”

“Which reminds me, who the hell posts as a troll right now?

do you not have an ounce of compassion?”

“All of the airplane crews are hero's as are all of the lost rescue people. In fact there are probably many other stories of heroism of which we'll never hear about because they too have perished.

Let's also not forget the living hero's who are right now still trying to save people's lives.

Let's hope Bush can be a hero now and do the right thing rather than his usual mo.”

“One security expert on TV said he couldn't see any way the planes could have flown the way they did without terroist pilots at the controls. Another report said that one commonality among all four planes were the identical flight decks. All of this supports the idea of a well planned hijacking which involved trained pilots.

Another comment I heard mentioned that choosing flights headed for California insured that they would be laden with fuel. They interviewed a structural engineering professor from my university on the radio via cellphone. He commented that all that fuel burning inside the buildings turned the steel to molten metal and resulted in the total collapse of the buildings.

IMHO. It was carefully planned by people with outstanding resources and intelligence. I could envision a number of terrorists booking a flight and boarding without weapons so they got by the detectors. Then, once on board, just take over the cockpit by force. Before anyone could organize a retaliation, they have accomplished their mission. I suspect that the security agencies will thoroughly analyze all the passenger lists on the downed planes and will very quickly be able to figure out who was probably responsible.

A relative sent me this link earlier. I haven't read everything, but am passing it along FYI. The link to "more on Terroism" was interesting as well.

My condolences to everyone who lost a relative or personal friend in the acts of terrorism today. I am sure many of us will know someone who was there.”

“I agree with AmyG...there surely were a lot of heroes we will never know about. R.I.P brave souls.”

“Everyone that died as a result of this, except the terrorists, are heros, and patriots. We must avenge them.”

“I don't want to believe UK's rumor one bit, and I'd feel like 2 cents spreading a story like that unless I was sure it was true. Imagine if it really were true - then what do we call the other pilots and how does that make their families feel? I want to believe the pilots were picked off right away, these terrorists were not screwin' around and knew they were gonna die - and quite possibly had no weapons to be detected at the airport. I've noticed that not much is being said about the Pennsylvania crash, also I heard from someone in the military that there was a second plane headed toward the pentagon that had F-16's (or whatever) tailing it. It's horrible to think that the military would shoot down a commercial flight, but I'm sure it happened.”

“Horrible, I commend it. That's what they're paid for, to protect us”

“Biz, are you IceTea's younger sister?

Necessary or not, taking life or loss of life is still horrible, and hardly compensable.”

“We were talking about how the buildings failed here at the office,we're structural engineers. It seems like one of two things is most likely. The first being that the steel beams at a floor heated up enough to turn loose and then each floor dominoed down on the next floor. Another possibility is that the columns transfered heat to the lower levels. As the steel lost strength and picked up weight at lower levels, it reached a point where it failed. When the buildings didn't come down when it first happened I thought they would be ok(meaning not falling). I didn't think about either scenario until after the fact. The sad thing is that very little could be done. Steel loses a tremendous amount of strength and stiffness over 2000 degrees”

“Military personnel have a clear and difficult goal, to protect us under direct orders. Yes, it's sad that people had to die, but they were doing their job.”

“I think the terroriest had their own piolits, no one would fly into the TT”

“A passenger on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon made a cell phone call to her husband before the crash and said the pilot had been moved out of the cockpit. The hijackers were armed with knives and boxcutters.”

“The terrorists certainly were flying the Trade Center and Pentagon planes.”

“Airport security smiles at me and hands me my Swiss Army knife after I pass through the metal detector every time I fly.”

“Twigeater, I would call the other pilots quickly overcome by brutal terrorists. ABSOLUTELY no disrespect to any victims.”

“They wont be smileing at you any more.”

“I don't want to step on anyone's toes...but what are the Anti-Gun people going to say now? Ban the knife? The baseball bat? Crowbar?”

“Knives are banned on planes effective immediately. I was stunned that they were even allowed.”

“Stanlee, I think you raise an interesting subject. In prison a basketball can be a weapon....
How far will the pendulum swing in the attempt to ban weapons? What freedoms will be suppressed? What would you expect at the airports in the future?”

“I've heard several people say that its pretty easy to steer these planes once they are in the air. Does anyone know how true that is?

I'm still reeling from this thing. Tragic, despicable, horrifying. Some of my students have family members working at the WTC... the anguish and worry they showed haunts me.”

“I have a few friends who are pilots, and my understanding is yes, a plane pretty much steers like any other plane ***BUT*** it seems that at least one of those planes had the transponder turned off, so they couldn't be tracked by ground control. Plus after you take over a plane, you have to know where you are. After you are close, of course, you can see the tower, but still you have to hit it on the bank, and you have three dimentions to worry about. This takes practice. It's not like hitting your garage door. Make no mistake, these were trained individuals taking the wheel.”

“I, too, was allowed to board a plane (on several occasions) w/ my swiss army knife in my carry-on. However, I had pepper spray taken away! Crazy, eh?”

“I just heard a report on the radio that they found a rental car in the Boston airport parking with flight training manuals for the specific model of plane hijacked written in Arabic.”

“Many knives are now made of ceramic materials and can be brought aboard undetected. These terrorists seemed to be highly trained commandoes that worked with murdeous efficiency. I am still numb at the horror of this tragedy and I pray for all people affected.”

“I saw a wife and mother interviewed this morning. Their husband/son called from the PA plane and said that he and two others had a plan against the hijackers.

I wonder if they're the ones who brought down the plane?”

“gojo, I saw a similar report -- that at least one passenger had been killed, that they knew they were all going to die, and so the three men had decided to do something to thwart the hijackers' plans. I wonder if any of the families getting calls told the passenger callers about what had already happened in NYC? That might have sparked a decision to act.”

“Tarabull, I just read on the net...(maybe ABC News) that some flight attendants and passengers in 1st class were sprayed with mace, and some of them were stabbed before the scums went into the cockpit. This was phoned to a control tower (?) by one of the stewardress.”

“Biz, this topic has been argued here before about whether military personal, police & firefighter are just doing their job getting paid for it or if they are heros.

I for one know that they are heros. There is no group that can be paid enough to give their lives. The money they are given is just to be able to support people who are willing to help.

I think they are all heros without helping others or going into combat. They serve as a presence for readiness to help, and I think that is just as good as helping.”

“it takes a certain type of person to choose a career like that.

"spam" is a hero, beyond his military service. my wife frequently comments on what good charachter he has.”

“i think he has good "character", too!”

“When I started this thread, I was speculating a little bit. But it seemed pretty reasonable to me. It now seems that it was not too far off the mark. Apparently this is how it went according to the news reports I've heard:

The terrorists took over the plane and a few had cell phones. One was talking to an operator and the operator related the plight of the first two planes. The person, with the phone on the plane, determined to stop them with the help of others on board. Their heroic actions, while they cost the lives of those on board, saved many, possibly thousands of lives. Fact of the matter is, that all on the plane were going to die anyways if the terrorists were not stopped.

I applaud their actions. They were heros, in every sense of the word. If any one knows the name of the man on the cell phone, please post his name here.

I will call them heros. They chose to rise above and beyond the norm. I intend absolutely no disrespect to the other victims of that flight. They acted with heroism and saved untold lives. I hope to , one day, visit that Pennsylvania corn field and visit a monument to the heroism of the unnamed heros and a monument commemorating the death of the victims of that flight.”