Days after the terrorist attack of September 11th, the pilot of UA Flight 564 gave an impassioned, detailed speech to his passengers, instructing them to fling objects and themselves upon any possible hijackers who make themselves known.

Yeah, it's true.

There is good evidence that a pilot on a United Airlines flight gave a short primer on what he thinks good anti-terrorist strategy is to his passengers. Peter Hannaford wrote a commentary piece entitled "Aboard Flight 564" on September 19, 2001, in the Washington Times, where he described the speech. Flynn McRoberts and Rogers Worthington reported the same in the Chicago Tribune, using Hannaford as a source.

There is a very popular version circulating in email, a copy of which can be found here. This version is a somewhat more florid, vastly more melodramatic recounting of essentially the same speech.

You can search for the original Hannaford article here. It is Article ID: U00691730106, but the Washington Times charges $1.95 to view complete articles older than 7 days. You can find the McRoberts & Worthington article here.

It always gives the Zeitgeist a pang to have to affirm that a sappy, badly-written email is based in truth, but there you go. "Mary Lou", the credited author of the commonly-passed email, took what are undoubtedly dramatic liberties in transcribing the speech, while Peter Hannaford's version serves as a more credible retelling of what likely was said. Still, both versions agree that many specific details were addressed in a certain order by the pilot, and both describe it as a flight from Denver to Dulles. While the Zeitgeist maintains that the vast majority of uplifting email homilies are the work of fevered, romantic nincompoops, this one appears to have taken a real incident and done nothing more than douse it in syrup.

Web references:

• Pilots debates tough tactics to foil attacks, Flynn McRoberts & Rogers Worthington, Chicago Tribune, 9/26/2001.

• Washington Times Archives Search Page, search for commentary article "Aboard Flight 564", Peter Hannaford, Washington Times, 9/19/2001, 2nd ed page A19.

• "Mary Lou" email, posted to alt.folklore.urban by perkins1@attglobal.net, 9/26/2001.

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