.
Day 1. Oct 7.
Flight 93 Memorial. A photo blog.
Other than the background on the hijack; the pictures and captions tell the story.
...............................................................................................
To continue with the blog - far away from Atlantic shores, where we started in the morning - we are now in western Pennsylvania - and heading west down Route 30, - on way to our first destination, the United Airlines Flight 93 Memorial.
We have been on the road from early morning. And a few more miles to go. As you can see on the cars console it is 4:50 pm. This means the museum of the visitor center will be closed at about the time we reach the place. But the other parts of the center will be open. In long road trips such adjustments cannot be completely avoided.
This memorial tell the story of tragedy and bravery - but more so - of the dignity and honor of ordinary men and women, when threatened and humiliated to the extreme ends.
It also tells how proud nations remember their people.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four jet planes were hijacked in coordinated attempts. Three
hit intended targets. The fourth one came down in a very remote village near the small town of Shanksville.
The aircraft was a Boeing 757 that could carry 182 persons. There were 44 people on board.
Flight 93 was the regular daily morning flight, United operated from Newark Airport to San Fransisco, a cross country flight. Though the flight was to depart at 8:00 AM, due to heavy runway traffic, it remained on the ground for more than 40 minutes.
This delay was to change the history of a small village as well as that of a country. It also made cataclysmic changes to the world order. Wars were waged, dictators toppled and misery sowed. But has anything good happened out of it? Nobody knows.
Some say countries like India has some reprieve. When Air India, Kanishka was blown up or many were killed in Punjab and other places and we pointed out to some democracies, the support some groups had in their country, a few nations, especially some countries in Europe used to tell us it was a law and order problem rather than terrorism. Now that they have had a taste of the same medicine the outlook has changed significantly. But the tragedy is that it is the common people that suffer. Will a day ever arrive when human race will live in peace with itself ?
"Loko samastha sukhino bavanthu. " Oh ! Let the whole world remain ever happy.
Prayer of Lord Budha.
By 8 am all other air crafts involved, took off from different airports at the appointed time. Meaning flight 93 was not synchronized with the other 3. Because of the delay, the forty passengers and crew members aboard were able to discover what had happened to other flights in Manhattan and in Washington D.C., while they made phone calls to family and friends during hijack.
The attackers of UA 93 had stormed the cockpit and killed the pilots. One of them, who had undergone pilot training took control turned the flight in the direction of the capital city.
As the plane was only a quarter full, they forced all the passengers to the back of the aircraft, for better control. This decision ended as a mistake on the part of the hijackers.
Immediately on take over the pilots has switched off the auto-pilot system but the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder were recording all what was going on. Meanwhile the passengers at the back switched on their mobile phones called home and learned about the attack on twin towers and Pentagon.
As Flight 93 reversed over Ohio towards the east, they were told by the hijackers via the intercom in broken English: “Sit down, keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.”
But passengers had an idea what their attackers had in mind. They assessed the gravity of that problem and the intention of the terrorists.They put together a plan to fight the terrorists and defeat their goal. In a coordinated attack they moved swiftly to the front and pounced on the one who was guarding the locked cockpit door.
Tom Burnett was one of the four men who lead the effort to retake control of the plane. He had several conversations with his wife Deena. In the final call, Deena told him of the strike on the Pentagon.She had earlier informed him that the World Trade Center had been hit.
“It’s a suicide mission,” he told her. “We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together with several people,” he said. He told her they were waiting until the plane was over non-populated area, when they would attempt to take it back from the hijackers. Tom told Deena to pray, and said : “Don’t worry, Deena. I’ll be home for dinner. I may be late, but I’ll be home.”
With this new information from Deena - attacks on Pentagon, the passengers and crew became a team and decided to take action. Later, from the people of those phone conversations a lot of what went on board was revealed.
One passenger named Todd Beamer, along with others discussed many options and after a voting among them, decided to crash the cockpit door and take over the plane. Beamer could not call home due to somereason and so wanted to call with palne's passengers phone using credit-card. Due to the prevailing situation he was immediately connected to a high officer of the phone company named Lisa Jefferson. Beamer told her that the group was planning to jump on the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground, before it reached Washington.
He told Lisa, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." Just after this, Lisa heard the voices of Beamer clearly talking to his gang ,
"Are you ready? Ok. Let's roll."
After his death Beamer became an American hero and the last two words spoken by him " Let's roll." has now become a popular quote in the US.
The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of crashing, screaming, and the shattering of glass as the passengers rammed the food cart on the door. The cry of pain of the hijacker standing outside the cockpit, is recorded, meaning he was attacked.
The last recording of flight data was at 10:03 AM.
Irrespective of Shanksvile being a very remote area the first emergency team arrived at the crash site by 10:06.
.........................................................................
Click on the photos, to enlarge it.
These are 2 maps of the Memorial, so that the readers may have a better idea of the topography of the place. The first one gives the final flight path of the plane in relation to the field.
I downloaded the second one from Google Maps Satellite View and edited it with MS Paint to point out the 4 important locations at the place.
The memorial consists of 4 areas.
A) The visitor center on top of a hill, ( pink circle ). The first part of the flight path & the high walls are here. It also has an exhibition section, which we missed and parking space.
B) Memorial plaza, where the remains of the passengers are buried and the remembrances are held - (green circle)
C) the crash site- maintained as a grass field. ( yellow circle )
The marker stone - spot where the plane hit ground. (yellow arrow.)
D) there is a semi-circle road ( white arrow) for cars from point A to B, In this map this road begins at 11 o'clock and goes to 6 o'clock.
The memorial has a simple design. Two high parallel walls with a small gap. Through this gap a black marble path passes to a balcony. This walk way is the exact flight path of the plane, as it came down to crash.
From the top of the hill you have to take the road down to the bottom to reach Memorial Plaza (green ring) . It is at the edge of the crash site - the final
resting place of the passengers and crew who died that day. Here is the flag and the cemetery.
A short walk from here will take you to the Wall of Names and the brass gate.(yellow ring).
At each spot if you dial, the shown moble number, you can listen to the detailed recordings of the story of each location.
Under their Flag they rest. Cemetery of heroes.
Day 1. Oct 7.
Flight 93 Memorial. A photo blog.
Other than the background on the hijack; the pictures and captions tell the story.
...............................................................................................
To continue with the blog - far away from Atlantic shores, where we started in the morning - we are now in western Pennsylvania - and heading west down Route 30, - on way to our first destination, the United Airlines Flight 93 Memorial.
This is Route 30.
Approaching the the turn to the Memorial.We have been on the road from early morning. And a few more miles to go. As you can see on the cars console it is 4:50 pm. This means the museum of the visitor center will be closed at about the time we reach the place. But the other parts of the center will be open. In long road trips such adjustments cannot be completely avoided.
An
approach road to the left will take us to the place.
A little ahead, the brown board of the road sign to the memorial appears.
The solid double yellow narrows to create the turn lane.
These solid double line makes the roads very safe. As per rule, drivers cannot cross it and nobody enters it even in a very remote village road.
The turn-lane markings on the tar means, if you are turning, you have to enter it, so that car behind you can pass straight ahead, as you wait your turn. By providing dedicated turn-lanes at junctions like this the speed of traffic is maintained. Here the car in front, is not taking the left, so it runs at the speed allowed for the road. At a time 2 or 3 cars can wait in the turn-lane.
In American roads white on green is the colour for direction road-signs.
But tourist attractions like museums, memorials or national parks are white on brown.
A little ahead, the brown board of the road sign to the memorial appears.
The solid double yellow narrows to create the turn lane.
These solid double line makes the roads very safe. As per rule, drivers cannot cross it and nobody enters it even in a very remote village road.
The turn-lane markings on the tar means, if you are turning, you have to enter it, so that car behind you can pass straight ahead, as you wait your turn. By providing dedicated turn-lanes at junctions like this the speed of traffic is maintained. Here the car in front, is not taking the left, so it runs at the speed allowed for the road. At a time 2 or 3 cars can wait in the turn-lane.
In American roads white on green is the colour for direction road-signs.
But tourist attractions like museums, memorials or national parks are white on brown.
After taking the left, two and a half miles down the rural road, you arrive at the Memorial.
..........................................
This is a photo blog and so I have added many pictures, after the background story.This memorial tell the story of tragedy and bravery - but more so - of the dignity and honor of ordinary men and women, when threatened and humiliated to the extreme ends.
It also tells how proud nations remember their people.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four jet planes were hijacked in coordinated attempts. Three
hit intended targets. The fourth one came down in a very remote village near the small town of Shanksville.
The aircraft was a Boeing 757 that could carry 182 persons. There were 44 people on board.
Flight 93 was the regular daily morning flight, United operated from Newark Airport to San Fransisco, a cross country flight. Though the flight was to depart at 8:00 AM, due to heavy runway traffic, it remained on the ground for more than 40 minutes.
This delay was to change the history of a small village as well as that of a country. It also made cataclysmic changes to the world order. Wars were waged, dictators toppled and misery sowed. But has anything good happened out of it? Nobody knows.
Some say countries like India has some reprieve. When Air India, Kanishka was blown up or many were killed in Punjab and other places and we pointed out to some democracies, the support some groups had in their country, a few nations, especially some countries in Europe used to tell us it was a law and order problem rather than terrorism. Now that they have had a taste of the same medicine the outlook has changed significantly. But the tragedy is that it is the common people that suffer. Will a day ever arrive when human race will live in peace with itself ?
"Loko samastha sukhino bavanthu. " Oh ! Let the whole world remain ever happy.
Prayer of Lord Budha.
By 8 am all other air crafts involved, took off from different airports at the appointed time. Meaning flight 93 was not synchronized with the other 3. Because of the delay, the forty passengers and crew members aboard were able to discover what had happened to other flights in Manhattan and in Washington D.C., while they made phone calls to family and friends during hijack.
The attackers of UA 93 had stormed the cockpit and killed the pilots. One of them, who had undergone pilot training took control turned the flight in the direction of the capital city.
As the plane was only a quarter full, they forced all the passengers to the back of the aircraft, for better control. This decision ended as a mistake on the part of the hijackers.
Immediately on take over the pilots has switched off the auto-pilot system but the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder were recording all what was going on. Meanwhile the passengers at the back switched on their mobile phones called home and learned about the attack on twin towers and Pentagon.
The plane is turned to Washington few minutes after the take over at 9: 28.
In half an hour it hit ground (from a map exhibited at the memorial)
As Flight 93 reversed over Ohio towards the east, they were told by the hijackers via the intercom in broken English: “Sit down, keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.”
But passengers had an idea what their attackers had in mind. They assessed the gravity of that problem and the intention of the terrorists.They put together a plan to fight the terrorists and defeat their goal. In a coordinated attack they moved swiftly to the front and pounced on the one who was guarding the locked cockpit door.
Tom Burnett was one of the four men who lead the effort to retake control of the plane. He had several conversations with his wife Deena. In the final call, Deena told him of the strike on the Pentagon.She had earlier informed him that the World Trade Center had been hit.
“It’s a suicide mission,” he told her. “We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together with several people,” he said. He told her they were waiting until the plane was over non-populated area, when they would attempt to take it back from the hijackers. Tom told Deena to pray, and said : “Don’t worry, Deena. I’ll be home for dinner. I may be late, but I’ll be home.”
With this new information from Deena - attacks on Pentagon, the passengers and crew became a team and decided to take action. Later, from the people of those phone conversations a lot of what went on board was revealed.
One passenger named Todd Beamer, along with others discussed many options and after a voting among them, decided to crash the cockpit door and take over the plane. Beamer could not call home due to somereason and so wanted to call with palne's passengers phone using credit-card. Due to the prevailing situation he was immediately connected to a high officer of the phone company named Lisa Jefferson. Beamer told her that the group was planning to jump on the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground, before it reached Washington.
He told Lisa, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." Just after this, Lisa heard the voices of Beamer clearly talking to his gang ,
"Are you ready? Ok. Let's roll."
After his death Beamer became an American hero and the last two words spoken by him " Let's roll." has now become a popular quote in the US.
The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of crashing, screaming, and the shattering of glass as the passengers rammed the food cart on the door. The cry of pain of the hijacker standing outside the cockpit, is recorded, meaning he was attacked.
The last recording of flight data was at 10:03 AM.
Irrespective of Shanksvile being a very remote area the first emergency team arrived at the crash site by 10:06.
.........................................................................
Click on the photos, to enlarge it.
The first sight of the Memorial as you come up to the flat top of the hill -where it is erected.
These are 2 maps of the Memorial, so that the readers may have a better idea of the topography of the place. The first one gives the final flight path of the plane in relation to the field.
The arrow is the flight path.
It crashed at 7'O clock - white patch.
From 3'O clock, going west is US 30 Highway and then the road to the memorial.
I downloaded the second one from Google Maps Satellite View and edited it with MS Paint to point out the 4 important locations at the place.
The memorial consists of 4 areas.
A) The visitor center on top of a hill, ( pink circle ). The first part of the flight path & the high walls are here. It also has an exhibition section, which we missed and parking space.
B) Memorial plaza, where the remains of the passengers are buried and the remembrances are held - (green circle)
C) the crash site- maintained as a grass field. ( yellow circle )
The marker stone - spot where the plane hit ground. (yellow arrow.)
D) there is a semi-circle road ( white arrow) for cars from point A to B, In this map this road begins at 11 o'clock and goes to 6 o'clock.
The memorial has a simple design. Two high parallel walls with a small gap. Through this gap a black marble path passes to a balcony. This walk way is the exact flight path of the plane, as it came down to crash.
The final flight path is marked on ground with this polished black granite stones.
At he end, there is a balcony from where you can see the field where the plane hit ground.
The flight path goes through the gap in the walls.
On the path are a few markers. This one - for the time when the first plane
hit the Twin tower in New York.
As I am writing this caption, I regret that this photo was cropped by me for better viewing - otherwise another temporary marker placed by the setting sun through the gaps of the side wall, would have accentuated the one for the twin tower.
hit the Twin tower in New York.
As I am writing this caption, I regret that this photo was cropped by me for better viewing - otherwise another temporary marker placed by the setting sun through the gaps of the side wall, would have accentuated the one for the twin tower.
The flight path to the over-look balcony at the end goes between the twin walls.
From the balcony you get a wide view of the crash field.
On this balcony at the top of the hill there is a glass wall with this inscription
As you look down, ( under the letter 'A' of the second sentence ) you can see the last few meters of the flight path, that again goes between parallel walls to a gate to the crash site and beyond that over the grass to the stone that marks the spot.
A short walk from here will take you to the Wall of Names and the brass gate.(yellow ring).
At each spot if you dial, the shown moble number, you can listen to the detailed recordings of the story of each location.
Memorial Plaza at the bottom of the hill.
It looks towards the crash site. Remembrance services are held here.
It looks towards the crash site. Remembrance services are held here.
The visitor center and the balcony on the top of the hill, as seen from the Plaza at the bottom.
You have to walk a few meters from the memorial plaza
to reach the 'The wall of Names' erected next to the second stretch of flight path at the foot of the hill.
It is made of white granite stone. There are 40 stones for 33 passengers and 7crew.
Here, the first one is Todd Beamer' name, who lead the passengers to take the cockpit with the call "Are you ready, Let's Roll".
u
The last section of the black-granite flight path.
On its side is the polished white
granite "Wall of Names".
The brass gate
to the crash site is closed, So you cannot walk to the stone block.
Only Family members are allowed to visit it. Others have to see the rock from a distance.
A 17 tonne stone block is placed to mark the impact point.
The surrounding area is planted with wild flowers and weeds.
The visit to the memorial is touching.
We took a picture on the grass.
........................................
We get back to the car and drive off.
Has to drive 135 miles more to reach our hotel.
This is Pennsylvania. Will
have to cross into Ohio
to reach the town of Wheeling,
where we will
stay for the night.
End of Day 1.
At the hotels parking lot, the odometer reads 485 miles / 775 km
in 9:30 hours.
A: will be for daily trip and B: the cumulative.
It was about 9 pm as we reached the Comfort Inns & Suites in Wheeling. In long road trips it is best to rest well at night. So choosing a good hotel is worth the investments. So also in a new city the best way to find a good place for food is to ask a local.
Ruttenbucks Bar & Grill was recommended to us by the hotel receptionist. He said it was his favorite. And quite close too - just about 300 meters. We walked to it. That also means no taxi back.
Rutttenbucks has the looks and feel of a hunter's ranch:
not to speak of good food and drinks.
And also a small birthday cake.
END of DAY 1.
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