The air was different that morning. Clear. Crisp. Most of us remember exactly where we stood when the world shifted on September 11, 2001. But for the families of those on United Airlines Flight 93, the trauma wasn't just something seen on a television screen from a distance. It arrived through a ringing telephone.
It’s heavy stuff.
Thirty-seven phone calls were made from that Boeing 757. Some people think it was just a few quick "I love yous," but the reality is way more complex and, honestly, more tactical than the movies usually portray. We aren't talking about a single narrative here. We’re talking about thirty-seven distinct human moments captured in the amber of a digital recording or a frantic memory.
Between 9:28 AM and 10:03 AM, the passengers and crew didn't just become victims; they became the first intelligence analysts of the War on Terror. They used the GTE Airfones—those bulky gray handsets built into the back of the seats—and their own clunky cell phones to piece together a nightmare. They realized their flight wasn't a standard hijacking. It wasn't about a ransom or a trip to Cuba.
The Logistics of the Calls From Flight 93
Let's get the technical part out of the way because people always ask: how did they even get a signal?
In 2001, cell service at 35,000 feet was garbage. Total luck of the draw. However, Flight 93 had descended significantly by the time most calls were placed. When the plane is lower, cell towers on the ground can occasionally "hand off" a signal to a fast-moving device. But the bulk of the communication—the stuff that actually lasted—came through the Airfone system. This is a crucial distinction. These weren't fleeting "dropped calls" in the way we think of them today. They were stable lines of communication that allowed for back-and-forth dialogue.
Tom Burnett made four calls to his wife, Deena. He was frantic but focused. He told her they knew about the World Trade Center. Think about that for a second. While the plane was being steered toward Washington D.C., the passengers were getting live updates from their spouses on the ground.
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They knew.
They knew the planes were being used as weapons. This "information loop" is basically what changed the course of history that day. Without those calls from Flight 93, the passengers might have sat in their seats, waiting for a negotiation that was never going to happen. Instead, they organized.
Not Just Goodbyes: The Intelligence Gathered
If you look at the transcripts—and the FBI spent years obsessing over them—you see a group of people performing a sort of ad-hoc forensic investigation in real-time.
Todd Beamer is the name everyone knows because of "Let’s roll." But his call to GTE supervisor Lisa Jefferson lasted thirteen minutes. Thirteen minutes of calm, terrifying data collection. He didn't call his wife because he didn't want to frighten her. He stayed on the line with an operator, describing the hijackers, the "bomb" strapped to their waists (which we later found out was fake), and the fact that the pilots were seemingly incapacitated.
Then there’s Jeremy Glick. He was a judo champion. He spoke to his wife, Lyz, for a long time. They even joked a little—a weird, human defense mechanism. He asked if it was true that planes had hit the Twin Towers. When she said yes, the tone shifted. The passengers took a vote. A literal vote on whether to fight back.
It’s almost impossible to wrap your head around that kind of democracy in the face of certain death.
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- Sandra Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called United’s maintenance facility.
- She was boiling water.
- Why? To throw on the hijackers.
- She told her husband, "Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."
The calls weren't just about saying goodbye. They were about the logistics of a counter-attack.
The Controversy and the "Cell Phone" Myth
There’s always a subset of people who claim the calls from Flight 93 were faked or that cell phones couldn't work at that altitude. It’s a common trope in conspiracy circles. But it ignores the reality of 2001 technology.
As mentioned, the Airfones were hardwired into the plane's own communication bus. They weren't using "bars" from a tower in the same way your iPhone does. They were satellite and radio-based systems designed for aviation. As for the cell calls, out of the thirty-seven calls, only two were confirmed to be from handheld mobile phones, and those happened when the plane was at a much lower altitude, specifically during the final struggle.
The FBI’s 2006 testimony during the Zacarias Moussaoui trial laid this out in excruciating detail. They tracked every single electronic handshake. To suggest the calls didn't happen isn't just a theory; it's a denial of a massive, verifiable digital trail.
The Final Minutes in Shanksville
The last call came from Edward Felt. He was in the bathroom. He called 911.
The dispatcher, Glenn Cramer, heard a man who was remarkably composed given the circumstances. Felt stayed on the line until the very end. The "black box" or Flight Data Recorder later showed that the struggle for the yoke was violent. The hijackers were rolling the plane, trying to throw the passengers off balance.
"Is there anybody else out there?"
That’s a line from one of the calls. It captures the isolation of that moment. They were in a metal tube over rural Pennsylvania, totally alone, yet connected to the entire world via these thin telephonic threads.
When the plane hit the ground in Shanksville at 10:03 AM, those threads snapped.
What We Can Learn from the Transcripts
The raw transcripts of these calls are archived at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. They are heartbreaking. But they are also a masterclass in crisis management.
We see a clear progression.
- Shock: "We've been hijacked."
- Information Gathering: "Did a plane hit the World Trade Center?"
- Verification: "The news says it's a terrorist attack."
- Action: "We're going to do something."
Most people, when faced with a terminal situation, freeze. The passengers of Flight 93 did the opposite. They used their last minutes to ensure that the U.S. Capitol or the White House—the likely targets—weren't hit. They succeeded.
Moving Toward Actionable Remembrance
Understanding the calls from Flight 93 isn't just about history. It’s about understanding human resilience under pressure. If you want to honor this history or learn more, don't just watch a dramatized movie.
Go to the source.
Read the 9/11 Commission Report, specifically Chapter 1. It’s available for free online. It breaks down the timeline of the calls minute-by-minute. You can also visit the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. It’s a somber, quiet place. Unlike the chaos of Lower Manhattan, Shanksville is a field. You can hear the wind. It makes the memory of those voices on the phone feel much closer.
How to engage with this history today:
Listen to the declassified 911 tapes if you have the stomach for it. It changes your perspective on what "heroism" looks like. It’s not flashy. It’s a guy in a business suit or a flight attendant with a pot of boiling water, talking to a stranger on the ground, trying to make a plan.
Support the families’ foundations. Many of the families of the victims of Flight 93 started scholarships or charities in their loved ones' names. The Beamer family, the Burnett family—they turned that final, tragic phone call into a legacy of service.
Final thought: Next time your phone rings and it’s someone you love, maybe don't let it go to voicemail. You never really know which call is going to be the one that defines everything.
Recommended Next Steps
- Access the 9/11 Commission Report: Read the "We Have Some Planes" chapter for the most accurate timeline of the flight deck struggle.
- Visit the National Memorial: If you are in Pennsylvania, the Tower of Voices at the Shanksville site is a 93-foot tall musical instrument with 40 chimes representing the 40 passengers and crew.
- Fact-Check the Technology: Research GTE Airfone technology to understand why those calls were possible while modern 5G often struggles at cruising altitude.