Latest revision as of 13:22, 14 May 2009
Todd Beamer was a passenger on Flight 93. He reported the hijacking on an airfone. This Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article reported Beamer's story.
Todd Beamer was near the rear of the plane, trying to use his company's Airfone account. For some reason, he couldn't get authorization for the call. Finally, he was routed to a Verizon customer service center in Oakbrook, Ill.
He told the operator his airliner had been hijacked. He was patched through immediately to Lisa Jefferson, a Verizon supervisor.
It was 9:45 a.m.
Somewhere outside Cleveland, United Flight 93 had made a sharp turn and began flying east, toward Washington, D.C.
Beamer told Jefferson he was sitting next to a flight attendant. He could see three hijackers, armed with knives. One insisted he had a bomb. Twenty-seven of the passengers had been herded to the rear of the plane, where the hijacker with the bomb was guarding them, he said. Two hijackers were in the cockpit. A fourth was in first class.
He asked Jefferson to promise to call his wife, and their two sons, David, 4, and Drew, 2.
"Oh! We're going down!" Beamer shouted. There was a pause. Then, calmly: "No, we're OK. I think we're turning around."
...
Still on his own phone call, Todd Beamer was pouring out his heart to his family through Lisa Jefferson, the Verizon supervisor he'd reached on his Airfone.
They prayed the 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
He leadeth me beside the still waters ...
...
When he had finished talking with Lisa Jefferson, finished relaying his love for his family, finished praying the Psalm that asked for green pastures and still waters, Todd Beamer put down the phone, still connected with the outside world.
"Are you guys ready? Let's roll," he said.
http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93mainstoryp7.asp
Phone records
This summary records details of all Flight 93 calls.
