Flight 93 Families to Hear Tape of Jet’s Last Moments

Hoping to recognize the voices of their loved ones who died Sept. 11 on United Flight 93, family members have convinced the government to let them hear the cockpit tape of the hijacked plane’s last moments, when passengers struggled to seize control of the aircraft.

“Anyone who has heard one of these tragic recordings doesn’t want to hear another one--they are unimaginably tragic,” said aviation consultant Peter Goelz, who listened to several cockpit tapes in his former capacity as managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The FBI has agreed to play the half-hour recording in a private session tentatively scheduled for April 18, ending months of reluctance to accommodate the families’ requests. Cockpit tapes are closely held and usually are played only for investigators, although it is common for authorities to later release an edited transcript.

Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers apparently tried to take back control of the Boeing 757 to thwart a second attack on Washington. “There are sounds of a struggle,” an FBI official said. “It’s fairly graphic.”

A widow whose late husband is believed to have been a leader of the revolt began the campaign for a listening session for the families. Deena Burnett’s husband, Bay Area businessman Tom Burnett, was among 40 passengers and crew who were killed on the Newark, N.J.-to-San Francisco flight. Four hijackers also died.

After the terrorists took control, quite likely killing the pilots, the Burnetts spoke four times by telephone. Deena Burnett said she told her husband about the attacks on New York and Washington, and that strengthened his determination to act, regardless of the cost.

“When we hung up from that last conversation, I felt that Tom had complete confidence that he was capable of handling the situation and that I was going to see him later that day,” Burnett said. “I want to hear from the cockpit voice recorder what happened after he hung up the phone.”

She began asking to hear the tapes even before they were recovered from the crash site crater. But the FBI resisted.

“While we empathize with the grieving families, we do not believe that the horror captured on the cockpit voice recording will console them in any way,” Assistant Director John E. Collingwood wrote Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Alamo), who had taken up Burnett’s cause.

“The voices are, for the most part, indistinguishable,” Collingwood warned.

But the prospect of hearing the voices of loved ones now remembered as national heroes exerts a powerful pull on some of the family members. The families’ case became stronger after detailed descriptions from the tapes were published by Newsweek magazine in December.

“I know it’s going to be confused and muffled, and frantic and frustrating, but perhaps there will be just a smattering of recognizable voices,” said Alice Hoglan of Los Gatos, Calif., whose son Mark Bingham is also believed to have taken part in the passenger rebellion. “It’s the only hard evidence we have aside from the eyewitness accounts of the crash. I know it’s going to be excruciating, but I can’t help but think it might be somewhat healing.”

Aviation experts are not sure. “Some of the families think this will give them closure,” said an industry official who asked not to be identified. “But people could get nightmares from listening to this and have to live with that for some time.”

The FBI will provide counselors to help family members during and after the listening session, Burnett said. The government has offered to cover expenses for two people from each family to travel to a facility in Princeton, N.J., where the session will be held. No recording devices will be permitted. The tape will be played twice, and in between, officials will answer questions from family members.

Even in her own family, Burnett said there are some who probably will not want to hear what is on the tape. “They want to remember how Tom lived as opposed to having imprinted on their minds--with sounds--how he died,” she said. “Some people are most comforted by their imaginations, but my imagination wreaked terror on me. It’s better for me to hear the sounds than lie awake at night imagining what happened.”

Steadfast in her determination, Burnett hopes the knowledge she gains from the tape will become part of her husband’s legacy to their three young daughters.

“From the very beginning, I’ve tried to hear his voice,” she said. “I have complete confidence he was in the cockpit when that plane crashed. But regardless of what we hear or do not hear, there were 40 heroes on Flight 93 and they all should be remembered and known.”