Mulan,
For instance, on September 11, I heard ONCE, on TV, that the plane over Pennsylvania was accompanied by Air Force jets, then exploded, in the air and crashed. The implication was there that it was shot down. Now there are all kinds of heroes being touted. Who knows what really happened? We never will know.
I noticed that too, and I consider it a real possibility that the plane was shot down and is now being covered up to spare the feelings of the family members, and also to avoid a PR nightmare. Consider the events:
By the time this plane was hijacked, the other hijackings were known and the WTC had been hit. So the authorities had sent military aircraft to each of the planes. Authorities admitted later that there were aircraft flying with the PA airline and prepared to shoot it down should it be necessary. So it really made no difference what the people on board did, that plane would never have made it to the White House. Remember, they admit this much.
Several cell phone conversations were going on during this time, and shortly after one fellow phoned that they were going to rush the hijackers, the person on the other end of the line heard an explosion. Before the plane crashed.
Witnesses heard an explosion before the crash. Part of the plane crashed to the ground miles before the place itself crashed. That would only happen with a previous explosion.
With those facts that were all reported that day and heard by me directly, I think it's possible, if not probable, that the plane was shot down. Why lie about it? Because the "hero" story sounded better, and what's the difference? Either way the plane is down, and this way you can't criticize the government.
It wouldn't be the first time the news gets it completely wrong. Remember after the Columbine shooting how we heard endlessly about the girl who admitted her faith in God and then got shot? Never happened. It was another person who said that, and the person who got shot didn't. But the confusion of the moment got the story mangled, and by the time the media finally untangled it and cleared it up (in a small follow-up story), the "hero" story was too good to give up, and people probably to this day believe it, even though it never happened.
Now, the people on this plane were, indeed, heroic for making the attempt. But I think the reason the plane crashed was because it was shot down by the military. Someday we'll see a tiny follow-up story to explain the things that have been ignored up till now.
An important lesson to us all during this time: in the "fog of war", so to speak, a lot of rumors make it onto the news. Not all of it turns out to be relevant. We're going to hear lots of "terrorists just did it again!" type stories in the weeks and months to come. Some will turn out to have some truth to them, as Moe's story that she relayed did, and some will turn out to be totally unconnected, such as that Milan plane crash today. Wait for confirmation, don't jump to conclusions.