home > flight 93 > shot down > flight sounds
Sounds from inside Flight 93
Summary
Sounds from the cockpit voice recorder as well as a cell phone call indicate that the plane may have been "holed," such as by a missile.
At 9:58, a woman on the plane was talking on the phone to her husband about how some of the passengers were about to storm the cockpit. Her husband herd her exclaim "They're doing it! They're doing it!" followed by screaming in the background and then a "whooshing sound, a sound like wind," followed by more screaming before contact was lost.
Another passenger on the phone reported hearing "some sort of explosion" followed by "white smoke coming from the plane."
According to at least one newspaper account, "Sources claim the last thing heard on the cockpit voice recorder is the sound of wind -- suggesting the plane had been holed."
At 9:58, a woman on the plane was talking on the phone to her husband about how some of the passengers were about to storm the cockpit. Her husband herd her exclaim "They're doing it! They're doing it!" followed by screaming in the background and then a "whooshing sound, a sound like wind," followed by more screaming before contact was lost.
Another passenger on the phone reported hearing "some sort of explosion" followed by "white smoke coming from the plane."
According to at least one newspaper account, "Sources claim the last thing heard on the cockpit voice recorder is the sound of wind -- suggesting the plane had been holed."
Source: Griffin, p. 50
Analysis
I don't know. Something over a cell phone that sounds like "whooshing"? Just about everything on my cell phone sounds a bit like whooshing. And I don't know who these "sources" are who claim to have heard wind on the cockpit voice recorder. I do tend to believe the plane was shot down, but there's just not enough here to go on for this particular piece of evidence to be terribly convincing.
Bottom line, me, I give it:
Discussion
You must log in if you wish to add a comment. Register here if you need login information.
Currently showing comments 1 through 2 of 2 total comments.
1. cybrarian 21 Dec 2007 12:32:36 PM
I don't think you'd hear the whoosh of an air-to-air missile. More likely, the whoosh would be the depressurisation of the cabin. Is it possible that an as-yet unidentified "hijacker" was still in the passenger crowd, maybe threw open a door or blew a small explosive charge? Or maybe the reason you're not allowed to use cell phones on commercial flights is because they make the plane explode.
2. john 21 Dec 2007 05:11:04 PM
Yeah, I think the whooshing was supposed to be the air rushing out of the cabin.
If it's possible to throw open doors on these planes, I'm going to be watching my fellow passengers much more carefully from now.
And yes, I think you can get plane-exploding cellphones on thinkgeek.com, and strangely, they're allowed on as carry-on. Really bad policy.