Hijacker Weapons on Flight 93

Let's review what the passengers said about what the hijackers used to hijack the planes.

First off, every passenger says there were only three hijackers, though the 9/11 commisison report insists there were four hijackers. Of course, we've never been shown the official flight manifest. Many people think that one hijacker went into the cockpit very early during the flight, perhaps disguised as a pilot (or that he was in the jumpseat in the cockpit all along) but no passenger ever noted this. In fact, the passenger details of the hijacking are strikingly vague and even contradictory (this will be the subject of my next post).

As to the weapons:
Tom Burnett said they had a gun and knives and says vaguely there is a bomb on board. He says one passenger was knifed.


Mark Bingham only mentions that they say they have a bomb.

Jeremy Glick says "no guns, they have knives". He also says they have a box that they say is a bomb, it has something red around it. (Glick seems fixated on red stuff here-- he describes red headbands that no one else notices and a red band around a bomb. It's also nice of Glick to take the airport screeners off the hook!)

Linda Gronlund, who was sitting in the second row, right behind Ziad Jarrah and must have had a good view of the whole hijacking, only mentions that the hijackers have a bomb. (The supposed lead hijacker Jarrah was supposedly sitting in the first row of first class. I wonder how hard it is to get that seat on an average flight?)

Sandy Bradshaw, the flight attendant, says the flight was "hijacked by three guys with knives".

Marion Britton says the plane was hijacked and two people had their throats slit. She doesn't mention a bomb or weapons, but obviously implies knives. No other passenger says two people were killed on the flight.

Elizabeth Heymann, CeeCee Lyles and Ed Felt give no details about weapons.


Todd Beamer has a slightly different story-- that two people with knives went into the cokpit while a third hijacker had a bomb strapped around his waist with a red belt. (Possibly the bomb was initially in the box then the guy strapped it on?)

Okay, so the basic theme is three guys, knives, bomb. There are some conflicts, such as Tom Burnett saying they had a gun and the question of how many people were stabbed. Tom Burnett was in first class, seat 4B, so he would have had a good view of the hijack. But he also apparently used a cell phone to call, which makes his call being legitimate very unlikely. There is also a conflict about the nature of the bomb, but this is nothing extraordinary. Overall, there are no big problems about the hijacker's weapons.