Flight 93 (film)

Plot

First officer LeRoy Homer Jr. gets ready for work on the morning of September 11, 2001, saying goodbye to his wife and daughter. At Newark Liberty International Airport, passengers including Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick, Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Lauren Grandcolas, Donald Greene, Nicole Miller, and Elizabeth Wainio board United Airlines Flight 93. Four al-Qaeda hijackers—Ziad Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi, and Ahmed al-Nami—also get on.

The flight departs for San Francisco. Forty-six minutes later, the hijackers strike. Passenger Mark Rothenberg is stabbed to death after trying to negotiate, and a fake bomb is shown, sparking panic. The hijackers stab flight attendant Deborah Walsh, knock her out, and force their way into the cockpit, attacking the pilots.

During the struggle, Homer sends a mayday call before he and Captain Jason Dahl are subdued. News arrives that Flight 77 has hit the Pentagon. Passengers, learning from family via airphones about the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, decide to fight back, encouraged by Don Greene’s flying knowledge.

Historical inaccuracy

The film features numerous historical discrepancies. The callsigns 'Siegfried' and 'Dixie' are fictional, representing F-16 fighter pilots Heather Penney and Marc Sasseville, who were ordered to intercept Flight 93. Exterior shots show the plane with a white livery and blue underbelly, not the actual Battleship Grey. The cabin has 20 business-class seats instead of the real 24, and hijacker Ahmed al-Haznawi sits in 5C rather than the actual 6B.