American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Washington's Dulles Airport at 8:20 a.m. with 64 people on board including 6 crew members and five hijackers. The plane reached  its normal altitude of 35,000 feet at 8:46 a.m. the same time that Flight 11 struck the North Tower. At 8:52 a.m. the pilot acknowledged a receiving a navigational message from air traffic control and settled in for the long trek to Los Angles. It was the last time anyone heard from them. The hijackers gained control of the plane by at least 8:54 a.m. when Flight 77 slightly altered its course, turning south.

At 8:56 a.m., Hanjour (one of the hijackers) turned off the transponder. Atta's plan had worked a third time. Only two people made calls to loved ones, Flight attendant Renee May and Passenger Barbara Olson. They reported that the assailants used knives and ordered the passengers to the rear of the plane, they also provided important details about the hijackers method of operation. They never mentioned an actual stabbing nor mace, nor the threat of a bomb. One said the "pilot" has made an annoucement that the plane was hijacked, meaning that Hanjour had not repeated the same mistake Atta made on Flight 11, when Atta tried to address the passengers and unwittingly reached air traffic control.

Ted Olson told Barbara the news of the two pervious hijackings and both quickly realized that her flight was likely heading for the same fate. At 9:29 a.m. the boeing 757 was about 38 miles west of the nation's capital, flying at seven thousand feet, closing in. The automatic pilot was turned off

At 9:34 a.m. Hanjor began a severe 330 degree turn that pointed the plane straight at the Pentagon. He pitched the nose down. He increased the power to its maximum speed.

It had been almost an hour since Flight 11 hit the North Tower and more than a half hour since Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower of The World Trade Center. But the country was shocked and defenseless. There would be no challenge to Hanjour's Approach. At 9:37 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77, traveling at an estimated 530 mph, entered the most secured air space in America and plowed into the headquarters of the most powerful military force the world has ever known. 

(footage can be found here- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0SL2PzzOiF8&pp=ygUSUGVudGFnb24gYmVpbmcgaGl0 )

Lauren Grandcolas was excited. The expectant mother had a ticket to fly home that morning on United flight 91, departing Newark Airport for San Francisco at 9:20 a.m. but her car service arrived early, so early, in fact, that there was time to catch a different flight. Unable to reach her husband Jack she left a message. "Hey, i just want to let you know im on the 8 O'clock instead of the 9:20." By fate and traffic... she got a seat on Flight 93.

Jeremy Glick was already a day late. The new father had expected to head to San Francisco for a business meeting on September 10, but a fire at the Newark Airport disrupted service and cancelled flights. Given the option to take a later flight that would have arrived in California at 2:00 a.m. Jeremy declined "screw it." he told his wife, Lyz who was visting her parents with their 3 month old daughter Emmy. "Im going to go home, get a good nights sleep, and ill just get up early tomarrow." A travel snag put him on Flight 93.

As it turned out, more than ten of the passengers who boarded Flight 93 that morning had been booked on other flights or made last minute calls to reserve their seats. Tom burnett, Donald Greene, and Jean Peterson all had tickets for late departures. Georgine Corrigan, an antiques dealers from Hawaii, was scheduled to make two stops just to get to San Francisco on her way home to Honolulu. When she arrived at check in, she realized she could transfer to a nonstop flight and reduce her travel time.

They were 40 people from all walks of life, strangers for the most part, traveling to different destination for different reasons, brought together by sheer happenstance on September 11, 2001.

The four al-Qaeda operatices arrived at the Newark Airport well ahead of their scheduled 8:00 a.m. departure. Haznawi and Ghamdi boarded together at 7:39 a.m. and Nami followed at 7:40 a.m. Jarrah waited a bit longer, perhaps to make one final phone call, entering the Jetway at 7:48 a.m. No doubt, tensions were high.

United Flight 93 pulled back from the gate at 8:01 a.m. Then it sat on the tarmac for almost three quarters of an hour, waiting for its turn to take off. Any observant passenger, and certainly all of the hijackers, would have noticed that the plane was virtually empty, only 33 passengers that could hold 182. It was the lightest load by far out of the four targeted flights. Flight 11 had 76 passengers, Flight 175 had 51 passenger, and Flight 77 had 53 passengers.

Flight 93 finally took off at 8:42 a.m. The extent of the delay is crucial in the September 11 timeline. Had they departed Newark just a few minutes later, passengers and crew may have spotted a small image off in the distance streaking erratically south towards New York City skyline. Such a realization might have altered the way the days events would unfold.

Captain Dahl banked sharply to the left shortly after takeoff and pointed 93 west on its customary flight path to San Francisco. It was, at that time 8:44 a.m. Two minutes later, behind them and out of sight, Flight 11 tore through the sky and smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Flight 93 soared over Pennsylvania toward the Ohio boarder, reaching its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet at 9:02 a.m. just one minute before Flight 175 struck the second tower. Debbie Walsh and Wanda Green began their inflight service. Mark Bengham, Tom Burnett, Achmed Hazawi (one of the hijackers) and others were offered what they knew would be there last meal.

The flight was proceeding normally in the eye of the crew is reflected in  text message that Captain Dahl sent to United Flight dispatcher Ed Ballinger at 9;21 a.m.
GOOD MORNIN'... NICE CLIMB OUTTA EWR (newark) AFTER A NICE TOUR OF THE APT (apartment) COURTS Y (and) GRND CNTRL... AT 350 OCCL LT ( occasional light) cHOP. WIND 290/50 AIN'T HELPING .J.

It was a beautiful morning, the kind that pilots describe as "severe clear." the first indication to Dahl and First Officer Leroy Homer that something was amiss might have come at 9:22 a.m. when homer's wife. Melodie (having seen media reports from the World Trade Center) asked United to relay a text message to her husband to check on his safety. The text was sent. We dont know if he ever received it.

At 9:24 a.m. Ballinger's own alarming text message arrived in the Flight 93 cockpit:

"BEWARE ANY COCKPIT INTROUSION (sic) TWO AIRCRAFT IN NY, HIT THE TRADE CENTER BUILDS."  After the second plane hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. the veteran dispatcher had begun to send warnings to each of his sixteen cross country flights at 9:19 a.m. But he did it in chronologically, starting with the planes that had been in the air the longest. From his base in Chicago and on the most bewildering morning of his career, he had no idea which one would be hijacked. Dahl responded quizzically at 9:26 a.m.: "ED, CONFIRM LATEST MSSG PLZ—-JASON." with no context or outside information at all, Ballinger's note must have seem beyond the realm of possibility to Dahl.

By this time, as it was crossing Ohio airspace, Flight 93 had moved into the area regulated by Cleveland's air traffic control center. At 9:27:25 a.m. Cleveland controller John Werth made a routine transmission to the cockpit, and at 9:27:30 a.m.  the pilots responded. It would be the last regular communication from Dahl and Homer.

After 46 minutes of routine flight across Pennsylvania, the terrorists on Flight 93 overtook the cockpit. Evidence says that they attacked the pilots by at least 9:28:05 a.m. because the flight plummeted dramatically at that point. A drastic 680 feet in 30 seconds. At 9:28:16 a.m. Cleveland air traffic control heard the first chilling sounds of the battle in the cockpit.

"Mayday! ... hey, get out of here!" Thirty two seconds later came an even more desperate and garbled refrain. "Get out of here! ... get out of here! ... get out of here!"

John Werth remembered hearing screaming and "just some guttural, guttural sounds."  It is likely that either Dahl or Homer purposely keyed the microphone so sounds of the struggle would be heard by officials on the ground.

"The crew tried to give us some kind of warning," Werth said. The pilots were fighting back in any way they could. During the next 90 seconds, Wreath made seven attempts to contact Flight 93, to no avail. Soon he learned why, at 9:31:57 a.m. an unfamiliar person, speaking a thick accented english and breathing heavily after some struggle, made a transmission that was intended for the passengers but went to air traffic control. Mohamed Atta had made the same error on Flight 11. The speaker said, "Ladies and gentlemen: heres the captain. Please sit down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So, sit."

Ziad Jarrah was now in control of the plane.