I knew the Pentagon 'cartoon crash' would come up.

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Aftermath[edit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93

DNA recovery at the crash site

Flight 93 fragmented violently upon impact. Most of the aircraft wreckage was found near the impact crater.[101] Investigators found some very light debris including paper and nylon scattered up to eight miles (13 km) from the impact point in New Baltimore.[102] Other tiny aircraft fragments were found 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away at Indian Lake.[103] All human remains were found within a 70-acre (28 ha) area surrounding the impact point.[103] Somerset County Coroner Wally Miller was involved in the investigation and identification of the remains.

In examining the wreckage, the only human body part he could see was part of a backbone.[104] Miller later found and identified 1,500 pieces of human remains totaling about 600 pounds (272 kg), or eight percent of the total.[105] The rest of the remains were consumed by the impact.[106] Investigators identified four victims by September 22 and eleven by September 24.[107][108] They identified another by September 29.[109] Thirty-four passengers were identified by October 27.[110] All the people on board the flight were identified by December 21.

Human remains were so fragmented that investigators could not determine whether any victims were dead before the plane crashed. Death certificates for the 40 victims listed the cause of death as homicide and listed the cause of death for the four hijackers as suicide.[111]

The remains and personal effects of the victims were returned to the families.[112] The remains of the hijackers, identified by the process of elimination, were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as evidence.[113]


One of the engines unearthed

Investigators also found a knife concealed in a cigarette lighter.[114] They located the flight data recorder on September 13 and the cockpit voice recorder the following day.[115][116]

The voice recorder was found buried 25 feet (8 m) below the crater. The FBI initially refused to release the voice recording, rejecting requests by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and family members of those on board.[117]

The FBI subsequently allowed the relatives of the Flight 93 victims to listen to the recording in a closed session on April 18, 2002.[118] Jurors for the Zacarias Moussaoui trial heard the tape as part of the proceedings and the transcript was publicly released on April 12, 2006.[119]

Since it never reached a target, the exact place intended to be hit by Flight 93 has never been decisively confirmed.[120] Before the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and Mohammed Atef developed a list of potential targets.[14] Bin Laden wanted to destroy the White House and the Pentagon. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed wanted to strike the World Trade Center and all three wanted to hit the Capitol.

No one else was involved in the initial selection of targets.[14] Bin Laden told 9/11 planner Ramzi bin al-Shibh to advise Mohamed Atta that he preferred the White House over the Capitol as a target.[121] Atta cautioned bin al-Shibh that this would be difficult, but agreed to include the White House as a possible target and suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternative in case the White House proved too difficult.

Eventually, Atta told bin al-Shibh that Jarrah planned to hit the Capitol.[121] Atta briefly mentioned the possibility of striking a nuclear facility, but balked after the other attack pilots voiced their opposition.[121] Based on an exchange between Atta and bin al-Shibh two days before the attacks, the White House would be the primary target for the fourth plane and the Capitol the secondary target.[36]

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