On the phone with a dispatcher, Beamer was heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23, later saying to the group: “You ready. But Beamer and a group of other passengers made plans to storm the cockpit and take back the plane’s controls-ultimately flying it into the ground to subvert the hijackers’ plans. Forty-some minutes into the flight, al-Qaeda hijackers took control of the plane. Just one year prior, Beamer was on United Airlines Flight 93 bound for San Francisco. Beamer Student Center for the 1991 Wheaton College alumnus who lost his life during the 9/11 attacks. The hijackers then crashed the plane into a Pennsylvania field.In 2002, Wheaton College started a fundraising campaign for a new student center. Burnett was recorded on the cockpit voice recorder yelling, “Roll it!” Potentially in reference to using the food and beverage cart. As the group stormed the cockpit, they thwarted the terrorists and their plan to crash the plane into the Capitol Building or the White House. They were leading additional passengers to put this plan into action. Tom Burnett, along with three additional passengers, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer and Jeremy Glick, created a plan to take back control of the aircraft. Tom: Don’t worry, we’re going to do something…”

Tom: Deena! If they’re going to crash this plane into the ground, we’re going to have do something! We’re going to take back the airplane.ĭeena: No! Sit down, be still, be quiet, and don’t draw attention to yourself! (The exact words taught to me by Delta Airlines Flight Attendant Training). Tom: We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. They’re asking to talk to you.ĭeena: I called your parents. They’re sitting at the table having breakfast. Fourth cell phone call to Tom to Deenaĭeena: They’re fine. Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane into the ground. I think they’re just telling us that for crowd control.ĭeena: A plane can survive a bomb if it’s in the right place.ĭeena: Yes, they didn’t know anything about your plane. Tom: What is the probability of their having a bomb on board? I don’t think they have one. I haven’t heard them say which airline, but all of them have originated on the east coast. They believe all of them are commercial planes. What else can you tell me?ĭeena: They think five airplanes have been hijacked. Tom: (tells people sitting around him “They just hit the Pentagon.”) (I thought at this point he had just survived the Pentagon plane crash). Third cell phone call from Tom to Deenaĭeena: Tom, you’re O.K. I don’t see anything, we’re over a rural area. No, wait, we’re turning back the other way. We’re going back to the World Trade Center. Tom: O.K….O.K….Do you know who is involved? No one knows.ĭeena: They’re not sure, at least three. The news reporters are speculating cargo planes, private planes and commercial.

Do you know which airline is involved?ĭeena: No, they don’t know if they’re commercial airlines or not. It’s a suicide mission…(he then tells people sitting around him) Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane. They’ve already hit both towers of the World Trade Center. They are taking them and hitting designated targets. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t get a pulse.ĭeena: Tom, they are hijacking planes all up and down the east coast. He hung up.Ħ:34 The phone rang in on call waiting, Tom’s second cell phone call. The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one of them has a gun, they are telling us there is a bomb on board, please call the authorities. It’s United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked.ĭeena: Where are you? Are you in the air? I hope you won’t either.”Ħ:27 a.m.( pacific time) First cell phone call from Tom to Deena They were spoken 18 years ago, under conditions I hope to never experience. “Those exact words are at the top of this page, and the bottom. And his last words to his wife, Deena, are among the most inspiring I’ve ever heard,” Rowe wrote.

“Tom’s last act on earth was one of the most courageous things imaginable. The post is eloquent in its recognition of how one man’s actions can have a profound impact on a nation. In a Facebook post, Mike Rowe paid tribute to Tom Burnett, an American hero killed in the 9/11 attacks during United Flight 93.

Todd beamer 911 phone call