> I certainly don't claim to know what went on on
> board those planes; no one knows or will
> know until and unless the black boxes and
> flight recorders are recovered. However, I
> highly doubt that the passengers on those
> flights knew what the hijackers were planning
> to do. They probably didn't have a clue that the
> planes they were on were going to be used as
> missiles. If they had, I just can't imagine a
> hijacker, or even two or three hijackers, being
> able to keep that many people at bay with just
> knives.

I'm sure that many of you will read stories in the newspapers about so many different things but since the planes were all flying to California, there were obviously connections with families out here. The plane that went down in Pennsylvania was going to San Francisco. On board were at least three passengers who used their cell phones to call home. One, a resident of the town right next to us, called his wife four times. The first time, he told her that they had been hijacked. He also mentioned that someone had been knifed but I'm not sure on which call he mentioned that. On the second call, his wife was able to tell him about the other plane crashes. He called back a third time to get more details and on the fourth call, he said that a group of them were planning to do something, then he hung up.

I have know idea what they went through but this could have been worse. Who knows where they were headed but once the hijacker's motives were revealed, they caught a glimmer of what our character is and what lies beneath us. There are many heroes to be found in this tragedy as well as many victims. Some are both. We are often seen as a fractured country in many ways but we are also a country that allows us to be disjointed while still maintaining the ability to come together in crisis and work as a family. Whatever the motives, no matter how successful the terrorist believe themselves to have been, I think we will show them that they have ultimately failed. And the people on board that plane are a fine example of why.

Ferrick