Rhetoric of Space and Place
“A Common Field One Day. A Field of Honor Forever”
The Events that Lead to the Crash
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial
airliners in an attack against the United States, flying two aircrafts into the World Trade Center‘s
Twin Towers in New York City and a third aircraft into the Pentagon. A fourth aircraft, United
Airlines Flight 93, crashed into an open field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all
passengers, crew members, and terrorists on board. The four attacks killed thousands of people,
marking the events as the deadliest attack on American soil by a foreign attacker. This was the first
time hijackers used commercial airliners as weapons to destroy symbolic targets, commit mass
murder, and spread terror.
On that somber day in September, three of the four hijacked flights departed on schedule.
However, Flight 93 was delayed due to typical heavy morning traffic. Just a few minutes after
Flight 93 departed, the first hijacked aircraft struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A
second hijacked plane hit the South Tower a few minutes later. Not long after, the third hijacked
airliner crashed into the Pentagon. All remaining aircrafts that were in flight within the United
States were ordered to land at the nearest airport by the Federal Aviation Administration. This was
the first time such an order had been given in United States history, however the call was too late
for Flight 93. The planes pilots were no longer in control and the terrorists had a new destination in
mind.
The routine flight across Pennsylvania quickly transformed into another terrorist attack.
The terrorists on Flight 93 took over the cockpit, diverting the plane on a course headed toward the
nation‘s capital, aiming for the Pentagon. The passengers and crew were forced to the back of the
plane and forced to be quiet. However, using the phones on board, individuals began making calls
to report the hijacking and contact their loved ones. From these calls, the passengers on board soon
learned the shocking news about the other hijacked planes and quickly realized that Flight 93 was
part of a much larger attack on America. When they realized this was a large scale attack, the
passengers held a vote and came up with a collective decision to fight back. The cockpit recorder
captured sounds of struggle, the sound of breaking glassware and shouting in both English and
Arabic were heard. In an attempt to stop the retaliation, the terrorist piloting the plane began to roll
the aircraft from side to side, and began throwing the nose of the plane up and down, sending the
passengers and crew flying all over the place. In its final moments before the crash, the plane
turned upside down as it passed over rural Western Pennsylvania.
Flight 93 came crashing down into an empty field at speed that left all on board dead. Upon
impact, the thousands of gallons of jet fuel on board the aircraft exploded, creating a ball of fire
that could be seen from miles away. After the black box on board the plane was recovered from the
crash site, it later revealed that the terrorists had reprogrammed the aircraft’s autopilot system. The
new destination was Washington, D.C., with the plane crashing only twenty minutes flying-time
from their ultimate destination. Because of the swift and courageous actions of the passengers and
crew, Flight 93 was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach its intended target
of Washington D.C., ultimately saving thousands of lives in the process.
The Flight 93 Memorial
Just this past month, I made the trip to to the Memorial grounds right outside the small
town of Stoystown, PA. Even before getting to the memorial, the importance of the area starts to
become glaringly apparent. On the highway sits a large billboard which a large picture of Jesus
with his outstretched arms, and an airplane flying above him. The three dimensional nature of the
sign even makes it even appear as though the airplane is heading towards you. On the sign it reads,
” Flight 93 Born Hero’s Gave their Lives to Save Lives. Life is a Precious Gift.” Right then, I
realized that we were starting to get close to the site of the crash, and it further reiterated the
importance of this location to not just the surrounding community, but also the entire country.
After getting off the highway to start heading towards the memorial site, you begin driving
on the appropriately named, Approach Roach. Based on the name alone, it starts to become
obvious that you are “approaching” a place of extreme importance and significance. Just as Greg
Dickinson eludes to in, Suburban Dreams: Imagining and Building the Good Life, the naming of
particular areas, in this case the road, can have extremely powerful effects. In this instance, the
name “Approach Road” is suggesting to those who came across is that they are aren’t just driving
on any old road, but rather they are approaching a place of significance (Dickinson, 79). While at
first it may just seem like any other road in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, the ascent towards the
memorial site begins to take the form of a national landmark. In addition, along Approach Road
there are several informational signs that give insight about the important place that you are about
to enter. One of them reads, “The distant Laurel Mountains are outlined against a cloudless sky,
blue sky..… Shortly after 10:00 a.m. a large aircraft just clears the mountain ridge before you,
traveling far too low. its engine roars as it passes over the cluster of homes in Lambertsville in
front of you, wings rocking from side to side. It flies nearly overheard and disappears over the rise
behind you.” From that sign alone, you know that you are shifting from just space, into a place of
significance.
As you pull up to the actual grounds of the Flight 93 Memorial, you are greeted by a sign
that lets you know that you are at the Memorial Plaza, complete with a map of the different
sections of the property. Due to the presence of this area being mapped out, it is another signal that
this is a place, as it is worth being mapped for those who visit it, not just any space that would not
warrant a map of the grounds. In addition, the sign tells you that this is Memorial is a United
States National Park. Within the country, there are only 58 National Parks, so the mere fact that the
Flight 93 Memorial was chosen to be a National Park is another one of the many indicators that
this is more than just a space on a field in rural Pennsylvania that used to serve as a surface mine, it
is a place full of meaning. Around the property are fourth groves of maple and oak trees that are
