September 11, 2001, was one of most significant traumatic events America has ever faced. With 3,000 deaths, innumerable injuries, and billions of dollars worth in damages, 9/11 is a date history will never forget. Of all the countless thousands of personal stories that could be told of that day, perhaps the most harrowing, and blatantly heroic, is that of Flight 93. The official story goes as follows: four hijackers overthrew the San Francisco-bound United Airlines flight and were attempting to fly the plane into either the White House or the Capital Building when the brave passengers decided to team up and fight back. .
Unfortunately, their coup went awry, the plane spun out of control, and they crashed into a deserted coal mine near Shanksville, PA, killing everyone on board and leaving no more than a giant crater in its wake. Although this is an inspiring and heroic story, almost all of the attention given to Flight 93 has been focused on the bravery of the passengers, rather than uncovering the complete accuracy of the story. No one is sure what the intended target of the hijacked plane was or the reason the plane crashed. Most of the official story is complete speculation even though it is passed off as fact. .
Although the official story told by the 9/11 Commission is generally regarded as the truth, there is a lot of information proving otherwise. The greatest point of contention is the crashing of the plane. While the 9/11 Commission and the film United 93 speculate that the plane crashed due to a scramble between the passengers and the hijackers, which led to a loss of control of the plane, there is a lot of evidence pointing towards a US military shoot down. Although at first it seems absurd that the government would order to shoot down a civilian aircraft, after thorough research and analysis, it actually seems far more plausible than not. The main pieces of evidence pointing towards a shoot down are as follows: presidential permission given to "protect the White House at all costs," the location of three F-16 fighter jets, eyewitness testimonies of a mysterious unmarked jet, the debris field, and the final 9-1-1 call made from Flight 93.
