Washington - Terrorist hijackers flew United Airlines Flight 93 into the ground in Pensylvania deliberately as they argued about how to stop a courageous group of passengers from bombarding them with crockery and regaining control of the cockpit.
During this desperate struggle outside the cockpit door, passengers could be heard crying and praying, as the last recorded moments of the Boeing 757 were revealed for the first time on Monday.
Through the anguished voices of all on board, there is chilling evidence of just how close these few valiant passengers came to averting disaster on the fourth hijacked plane on September 11.
The four hijackers, red bandanas tied around their heads, are heard screaming at each other. One shouts that they should use the axe kept in the cockpit to beat back the passengers, as the sound of plates and metal trays crash repeatedly against the door.
Another is almost in tears as he pleads for his fellow hijackers to "take it easy". He is drowned out by one of the gang screaming "give it to me" as he fights for the aircraft controls with his own comrades.
As a last line of defence, the man at the controls decides to try to knock the passengers off their feet by putting the plane into a steep dive.
As men charge up the aisle towards the cockpit, the hijackers hear the bedlam and suddenly realise two of their team are still outside. Those in the cockpit drag their comrades to safety inside as they push away the first of their assailants.
One of the passengers was a trained pilot whose job it would have been to steer Flight 93 to safety. Another was a former Scotland Yard detective and two other men who had played American football. They had all said their farewells to loved ones from telephones on the backs of the aircraft seats or on their cellphones.
The plane was now beginning to roll and from the jigsaw of voices pieced together from the black box recordings it sounds as if at least one of the passengers had by now forced his way into the cramped cockpit. He reaches for the controls, the effort clearly audible on these tapes.
This struggle for life had been going on for at least eight minutes when the hijack leader, believed to be Ziad Jarrah, realises they are outnumbered and in Arabic tells the other al-Qaeda recruits they must crash the plane, rather than face capture.
His is the last voice picked up the black box, as he cries out: "Allahu akbar" (God is great). The time on the print-out showed 10.06am.
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