Lisa D. Jefferson

Lisa D. Jefferson (born 1958) was the GTE Airfone customer-service supervisor who communicated with United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer on September 11, 2001. She has written a book (co-authored by Felicia Middlebrooks) about the experience. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Beamer had tried to place a credit-card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat but was routed to a customer-service representative instead, who passed him on to Jefferson. Beamer reported that one passenger was killed and, later, that a flight attendant had told him the pilot and co-pilot had been forced from the cockpit and may have been wounded. He was also on the phone when the plane made its turn in a south-easterly direction, a move that had him briefly panicking. Later, he told the operator that some of the plane's passengers were planning to "jump on" the hijackers. According to Jefferson, Beamer's last audible words were "Are you guys ready? Let's roll." [cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010916phonecallnat3p3.asp |title=The phone line from Flight 93 was still open when a GTE operator heard Todd Beamer say: 'Are you guys ready? Let's roll' |publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 16, 2001] This term would later become the war cry for those fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. [cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A56110-2002May8&notFound=true |title=Hallowed Ground |publisher=Washington Post |date=May 12, 2002]

References

*Jefferson, Lisa D. "Called : "Hello, my name is Mrs. Jefferson, I understand your plane is being hijacked ..." : 9:45AM, Flight 93, September 11, 2001" / by Lisa D. Jefferson and Felicia Middlebrooks. Chicago : Northfield Pub., 2006. ISBN 1-881273-75-X