In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 25 years ago, day by day. Yesterday: "Smile in the face of doom, young man," Mohammed Atta instructed the other 9/11 hijackers, "for you are passing to the gardens of eternity." September 3, 2001: Marwan Al-Shehhi went to Walmart on Copans Road in Pompano Beach, Florida, on September 3 and purchased the following items: a toggle switch, gel mate, auto tape, and a 9-volt battery. The items appear to have been used to construct a device resembling a bomb to use onboard his flight—United Airlines Flight 175—to scare and subdue the passengers.
At 9:00 a.m. on 9/11, a passenger onboard al-Shehhi's plane named Peter Hanson called his father and reported: "It's getting bad, Dad ... A stewardess was stabbed ... They seem to have knives and Mace ...
They said they have a bomb ... It's getting very bad on the plane ... Passengers are throwing up and getting sick ...
The plane is making jerky movements ... I don't think the pilot is flying the plane ... I think we are going down ...
I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building ... If it happens, it'll be very fast ... My God, my God." On American Airlines Flight 11, piloted by Mohammed Atta, the hijackers sprayed Mace, pepper spray, or some other irritant in the first-class cabin to force passengers and flight attendants to the rear of the plane.
They also claimed to have a bomb, but there is no evidence that they had even the fake components that al-Shehhi compiled. On American Airlines flight 77, intended for the Pentagon, none of the flight attendants or passengers who called out mentioned any stabbing or the use of Mace, nor mentioned any threat of a bomb. On United Flight 93 piloted by Ziad Jarrah, he made an announcement at 9:32 a.m.: "Ladies and Gentlemen.
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