Just before United Flight 93 crashed, some of the passengers may have tried to overpower their hijackers to keep the jetliner from hitting another landmark.
Authorities have not disclosed whether there was a struggle aboard the aircraft and have not said what caused the airliner carrying 45 people to plunge into a Pennsylvania field.
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But some of the victims telephoned relatives from the plane and said that they had resolved to wrest control of the flight from their captors.
Passenger Mr Jeremy Glick (31) telephoned his wife after terrorists took over, Glick's uncle Mr Tom Crowley said. She conferenced the call to an emergency dispatcher, who told Mr Glick about the New York attacks.
"Jeremy and the people around them found out about the flights into the World Trade Center and decided that if their fate was to die, they should fight," Mr Crowley said.
"At some point, Jeremy put the phone down and simply went and did what he could do" with the help of an unspecified number of other passengers, he said.
Among them was Mr Thomas Burnett, a 38-year-old business executive from California. In four mobile phone calls, Mr Burnett had his wife, Deena, conference in the FBI and calmly gathered information about the other hijacked flights.
"He said `I'm on the airplane, the airplane that's been hijacked, and they've already knifed a guy. They're saying they have a bomb. Please call the authorities'," his wife said.
In his last call, Mr Burnett said he and some other passengers had decided to make a move. "I told him to please sit down and not draw attention to himself and he said no. He said no," Mrs Burnett said.
CNNreported obtaining a partial transcript of chatter from the plane recorded by air traffic controllers as the jetliner approached Cleveland. The network said tower workers heard someone in the cockpit shout: "Get out of here," through an open microphone.
A second transmission from the plane is heard amid sounds of scuffling with someone again yelling: "Get out of here".
Next to be heard is a voice saying: "There is a bomb on board. This is the captain speaking. Remain in your seat. There is a bomb on board. Stay quiet. We are meeting with their demands. We are returning to the airport".
CNNsaid an unidentified source who heard the tape claimed that transmission was of a voice speaking in broken English. The microphone then went dead, CNNreported.
United spokeswoman Ms Liz Meagher had no comment on the transcript.
America officials have said the Secret Service feared the target of the United flight was Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland about 85 miles from the crash site.
"It sure wasn't going to go down in rural Pennsylvania. This wasn't the target - the target was Washington DC," said Rep Mr John Murtha. "Somebody made a heroic effort to keep the plane from hitting a populated area".
AP