David Novak

The sound of fighting can be heard from the cockpit of Flight 93 as passengers apparently begin a sustained attempt to retake control of the plane. Passengers on Flight 93 begin their revolt at 9:57 a.m., according to the 9/11 Commission Report (see 9:57 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Observer, 12/2/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 13]
Hijacker Wonders if a Fight Is Taking Place – The cockpit voice recording from the plane will later reveal that hijackers in the cockpit, apparently aware of what is happening, start discussing the noise coming from outside the cockpit door around this time. Speaking in Arabic, one of them asks: “Is there something? A fight?” Another hijacker responds, “Yeah.” The sound of a light knock on the cockpit door is then picked up by the cockpit voice recorder, followed by the sound of the door opening. The sound of a male screaming in the distance is picked up, along with the sound of fighting in the background. One of the hijackers then apparently starts praying, saying: “Allah is greatest. Allah is greatest. Oh guys! Allah is greatest.” He then exclaims: “Oh Allah! Oh Allah! Oh, the most gracious!”
Hijacker Says to Hold the Cockpit Door Closed – As the sound of fighting continues, a person identified in an FBI transcript of the cockpit voice recording as a “native English-speaking male”—presumably one of the passengers—says: “In the cockpit! In the cockpit!” One of the hijackers, still speaking in Arabic, apparently comments on the passengers’ attempt to break into the cockpit. “They want to get in there,” he says. He then issues the instruction: “Hold [the door], hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold.”
Passengers Struggle against the Hijackers – A male passenger then exclaims, “Stop him!” Apparently referring to the passengers, one of the hijackers says: “There are some guys. All those guys.” A male passenger says, “Let’s get them!” With the sound of fighting continuing in the background, one of the hijackers says, “Trust in Allah and in him.” In the space of 15 seconds, the cockpit voice recorder then picks up the sound of “a loud metal-to-metal snap,” the sound of a “loud thump,” a “series of very loud crashes,” and the sound of glasses and plates breaking. A hijacker shouts, “Ah!” and then the crashing sounds end. [Federal Bureau of Investigation, 12/4/2003; McMillan, 2014, pp. 102-103]
Investigators Will Determine that a ‘Great Struggle’ Occurs – The 9/11 Commission will suggest that the sounds picked up by Flight 93’s cockpit voice recorder at this time indicate that “a great struggle began at the back of the airplane and progressed toward the front.” [9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 45] David Novak, the lead prosecutor in the case of al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, will theorize what happened, based on the cockpit voice recording, saying that the passengers have advanced into the cockpit, using a food cart as a shield. Officials will suggest that the crashing sounds that are picked up by the cockpit voice recorder “could have come as passengers hurled plates and glasses, or as the dishes fell from a meal cart when the plane’s wings began rocking,” according to journalist and author Jere Longman. [Longman, 2002, pp. 270-271]