Flight 93 National Memorial - Final general management plan/environmental impact statement

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, the United States came under attack when four commercial airliners departing from airports on the East Coast were hijacked and used to strike targets on the ground. At 8:42 a.m., after a delayed departure, a fourth airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 carrying 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers departed Newark International Airport in New Jersey en route to San Francisco, California. Approximately 45 minutes into the flight, the plane changed course near Cleveland, Ohio, and was redirected southeast toward Washington, D.C. After action was taken by the passengers and crew members to overtake the hijackers, Flight 93 crashed a few minutes after 10:00 a.m. into a reclaimed coal strip mine near the town of Shanksville in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. All persons on board were killed and an attack on the nation’s capital was thwarted. County and regional leaders, members of the local community, the families of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, and representatives from the National Park Service began to realize the importance of the crash site as a place of honor and of the need to preserve and protect it. Within six months of the tragic event, federal legislation was introduced to create a national memorial. Congress acted quickly to approve legislation creating the Flight 93 National Memorial. This plan is an outgrowth of that legislation and its completion is an important step in making the memorial a reality. It proposes a designed memorial landscape that is quiet in reverence, yet powerful in form. It serves as a guide for development and future management of the memorial and a tool for understanding that effects of implementing the design. The plan is the culmination of numerous studies, the collaborative efforts of countless people, and an extensive public process to explore ideas for a fitting memorial tribute. The Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement reflects the collaborative efforts of the “Partners”- the National Park Service, the Flight 93 Advisory Commission, the Families of Flight 93 and the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force. It was developed with the input and assistance of the public and many local, State, and Federal agencies. The plan explores two options to meet the vision embodied in the Flight 93 National Memorial Mission Statement, the mandates of the Flight 93 National Memorial Act, and the administrative policies and guidance of the National Park Service. This plan will not only guide development of a new national memorial to honor the passengers and crew members of Flight 93, but it will also prescribe the future management decisions for the memorial during the next 15-20 years.

Flight 93 National Memorial - Final general management plan/environmental impact statement

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