FLIGHT 93

Data box found from plane downed in Pa.

By Anne Michaud, Globe Correspondent, 9/14/2001

ITTSBURGH - Federal investigators yesterday found the flight data recorder of the hijacked plane that crashed near Pittsburgh, a discovery that could yield important clues in understanding the plane's final moments.

The other so-called black box, the cockpit voice recorder, still hasn't been found. But the recovery of the data recorder, which contains information on the mechanical workings of the jet, shows that the investigation of the Pennsylvania crash has advanced far beyond the inquiries for the three other planes that were hijacked Tuesday.

Of the four crashes, this was the only one that occurred outside a populous area. The other flights' black boxes may be buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

As the authorities piece together the story of United Airlines Flight 93, which reportedly tore into a southwestern Pennsylvania field at a 45-degree angle, it appears increasingly likely that several heroic passengers thwarted the attackers' aim.

Officials speculate that the hijackers may have intended to fly to the presidential retreat of Camp David in western Maryland, the White House, or the Capitol, just 20 to 35 minutes away. The flight, which originated in Newark, was scheduled to fly to San Francisco, but turned eastward at Cleveland.

Until the discovery of the flight-data recorder, which will be taken to Washington, D.C., for analysis, the best evidence of the final moments had come from cellphone calls and a recording of comments from the cockpit.

There have been rumors that the plane was shot down by the military, which the Pentagon has vehemently denied. But the FBI is investigating eyewitness reports that an F-16 fighter jet was flying near Flight 93, Newsday reported.

A congressional aide who attended a briefing in Washington yesterday by Federal Aviation Administration head Jane Garvey confirmed that the Defense Department was watching the flight, but did not say whether a fighter jet was involved.

Aviation specialists say a struggle in the cockpit is highly probable, given the plane's erratic activity, loss of altitude, and angle at which it hit the ground. Witnesses said the Boeing 757 was banking from side to side, and one man reported seeing it fly upside down.

''It dug a deep crater, so it had to be coming in at a steep angle. I think at that point, somebody was struggling with the hijackers, and nobody really had control of that plane,'' said Barnes McCormick, a pilot and an aeronautical engineering professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University.

He doubted the notion that the hijackers were simply bad pilots. ''I'm not sure there's all that much expertise involved once you're up in the air,'' McCormick said. ''It's not difficult to handle the controls and keep the plane'' on a flight path.''

According to a partial transcript of cockpit conversation obtained by CNN Wednesday, air traffic controllers heard someone shout, ''Get out of here!'' through an open microphone. The microphone went off, then came back on. Scuffling was heard, then another shout, ''Get out of here!''

The microphone went off, then on again, CNN reported, and a voice then spoke in broken, accented English, ''There is a bomb on board. This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seat. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport.''

Aviation specialists believe the three hijackers probably killed the two United Airlines pilots before taking command of the plane.

Lyzbeth Glick, 31, of Hewitt, N.J., received a cellphone call from her husband Jeremy, a passenger. She told the New York Times, ''The three men were in the cockpit, but he didn't see the pilots, and they made no contact with the passengers, so my feeling is they must have killed them.''

This story ran on page A37 of the Boston Globe on 9/14/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.