At 9:57 am, the passengers and crew began their assault on the cockpit. At least two passengers and one crew member terminated phone calls in order to join the revolt. The plane was passing over Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania at this time, east of Pittsburgh.

The passengers and crew members of United Airlines Flight 93 performed an act of extraordinary heroism on September 11, 2001, by fighting back against the four terrorists who had hijacked their aircraft. After the hijackers took control and redirected the plane toward Washington D.C. (likely targeting the U.S. Capitol or the White House), passengers used airphones and cell phones to contact loved ones and authorities. Through these calls, they learned about the three other planes that had already struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, realizing that their flight was part of a coordinated suicide mission. Led by individuals like Todd Beamer (famous for the phrase "Let’s roll"), Mark Bingham, and Tom Burnett, the group voted to storm the cockpit to retake the plane. Using a food cart as a battering ram and fighting with their bare hands, they struggled with the hijackers for several minutes. Rather than allowing the passengers to regain control, the hijackers decided to crash the plane into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Their selfless actions prevented a catastrophic attack on the nation's capital, saving an untold number of lives at the cost of their own.