On September 11 , 2001 , United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked by four members of al-Qaeda as part of the September 11 attacks . The hijackers ' specific target was the United States Capitol . Among the pilots available that day of the 113th Wing of the DC Air National Guard were Lieutenant Colonel Marc H. Sasseville and Lieutenant Heather Penney Garcia . They were given the mission of finding the United Airlines Flight 93 and destroying it however they could . Since the fighter jets were absent of missiles and packed only with dummy ammunition from a recent training mission , there was only one way to do it and that was by ramming the aircraft . The fighter jets passed over the ravaged Pentagon building , however it was not until hours later that they would find out that United 93 had already gone down in a field outside Shanksville , Pennsylvania , killing all 44 people aboard including the 4 hijackers
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
Military history of Puerto Rico