During the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, it is widely believed that flight attendant Deborah (Debbie) Welsh and passenger Mark Rothenberg were the individuals stabbed by the terrorists. Reports from passenger phone calls made during the struggle indicated that a flight attendant had been attacked and that a passenger in first class (identified as Rothenberg) was "slashed" or "killed" early in the takeover. Welsh was a veteran lead flight attendant who was likely one of the first to confront the hijackers when they breached the cockpit. These initial acts of violence were part of the terrorists' strategy to seize control and intimidate the remaining passengers. However, this brutality ultimately backfired, as the passengers and crew, led by Todd Beamer and Mark Bingham, realized the plane was being used as a weapon and chose to fight back, leading to the plane crashing in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
On United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, there were no reports or evidence of anyone being stabbed during the hijacking.
The available evidence, primarily from phone calls made by passengers and crew to loved ones on the ground, indicates that the hijackers used knives and box cutters to take control of the plane and likely killed the pilots. However, the specific details of the initial violence were not fully described in the calls.
The heroic actions of the passengers and crew, who learned of the other attacks via phone calls, were focused on storming the cockpit to overpower the hijackers and prevent the plane from being used as a weapon against another target. The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that the hijackers crashed the plane as the assault was underway.
While edged weapons were certainly present and used by the hijackers, the term “stabbed” is not specifically associated with any known victim in the public record of Flight 93. The violence was part of the hijacking’s initial takeover.