Chippy, the "8-mile debris field" thing is a myth. The only debris found far from the crash site was very lightweight paper and bits of fabric. The FDR indicates that the plane's systems were operating normally when it hit the ground at 580 mph (as fast as a bullet from a .45 handgun). The FBI tested the wreckage for explosives residue and found none.
These links may be helpful. I compiled them a while ago, so some may be broken, but most should work.
At Shanksville, which was by far the smallest of the three crash scenes, over 1,100 people from 74 agencies and organizations were on the scene.
On 9/11 alone, these included:
• 8 Police Departments
• 7 EMS Services
• 8 Fire Departments
• 10 Emergency Management Agencies
• NTSB
• ATF
• FBI
• CISM
• Red Cross
• United Airlines
Some information from, and about, agencies that were on the scene.
http://tinyurl.com/kuv73
http://tinyurl.com/efj56
http://tinyurl.com/f83mb
http://tinyurl.com/k3jhx
http://tinyurl.com/jx3u7
ETA: I notice that NONE of the above 5 links are working. The internet is great, but sometimes it's a pain in the tuchas. These all worked two months ago. I reference the first link several times here. It's supposed to be to an EPA pdf report with lots of photos that most people haven't seen. I'll be glad to email it to you if you wish. I had sent our good friend Killtown that link and he's got several of the photos (and many others of the flight 93 scene) here: http://killtown.911review.org/flight93/gallery.html
Then there's the fact that most of the plane was recovered, examined for signs of explosives by the FBI, and turned over to United Airlines (except for the black boxes, which went to the NTSB).
http://tinyurl.com/hmbjm
http://tinyurl.com/z7ume
Remains from every victim were recovered and positively identified.
http://tinyurl.com/4hpaq
Have further questions about victim ID? Why not ask Paul Sledzik, who led the Flight 93 Disaster Mortuary Team, or Dr. Dennis C. Dirkmaat, who was Miller's chief scientific advisor?
http://tinyurl.com/mzkp6
The personal effects of most victims were recovered and returned to the families.
http://tinyurl.com/erazm
The phone calls made from the plane:
http://tinyurl.com/j4zjv
http://tinyurl.com/h4u44
Photo of Airfone from flight 93 crash scene
http://tinyurl.com/qnd8l
The Air Traffic Control recordings and accounts.
http://tinyurl.com/ncwf9
http://tinyurl.com/qg3ht
The Cockpit Voice Recorder recording transcript:
http://tinyurl.com/rxe8a
Photo of CVR:
http://tinyurl.com/lulmt
The Flight Data Recorder recording.
http://tinyurl.com/myayp
Photo of FDR:
http://tinyurl.com/osa7m
The NORAD recordings.
http://tinyurl.com/rc2dn
The numerous witnesses on the ground (these are just a few accounts.)
"There was a great explosion and you could see the flames. It was a massive, massive explosion. Flames and then smoke and then a massive, massive mushroom cloud."
http://tinyurl.com/m347n
Then Peterson said he saw a fireball, heard an explosion and saw a mushroom cloud of smoke rise into the sky.
Peterson rushed to the scene on an all-terrain vehicle and when he arrived he saw bits and pieces of an airliner spread over a large area of an abandoned strip-mine in Stonycreek Township.
"There was a crater in the ground that was really burning," Peterson said. Strewn about were pieces of clothing hanging from trees and parts of the Boeing 757, but nothing bigger than a couple of feet long, he said. Many of the items were burning.
http://tinyurl.com/fa75e
"I just watched with my mouth open as this yellow mushroom cloud rose up just like an atomic bomb over the hill where I like to go hunting," said 72- year-old John Walsh. [Say, maybe it was an A-Bomb!]
Barefoot and in his bathrobe, he drove up the dirt road to rescue anyone he could find. There would be nothing he could do.
Debris, including photographs and other papers that survived the fireball, was strewn over a wide area. Residents have spent days collecting it.
http://tinyurl.com/oapxx
"When the plane hit, it sounded like something just fell on the roof. Everybody sort of panicked," she said. "I went to the window and saw all this smoke coming up and I just pointed and screamed."
http://tinyurl.com/rl5qc
Charles Sturtz, 53, who lives just over the hillside from the crash site, said a fireball 200 feet high shot up over the hill. He got to the crash scene even before the firefighters.
http://tinyurl.com/rl5qc
Bob Blair was completing a routine drive to Shade Creek just after 10 a.m. Tuesday, when he saw a huge silver plane fly past him just above the treetops and crash into the woods along Lambertsville Road.
Blair, of Stoystown, a driver with Jim Barron Trucking of Somerset, was traveling in a coal truck along with Doug Miller of Somerset, when they saw the plane spiraling to the ground and then explode on the outskirts of Lambertsville.
“I saw the plane flying upside down overhead and crash into the nearby trees. My buddy, Doug, and I grabbed our fire extinguishers and ran to the scene,” said Blair.
http://tinyurl.com/guct4
The 300 volunteers who collected debris and remains in the final sweep three weeks after the crash.
http://tinyurl.com/kuv73
Photos of the crash scene, debris, and personal effects.
http://tinyurl.com/kuv73
http://tinyurl.com/p7zzn
http://tinyurl.com/h7ghq
http://911myths.com/html/flight_93_photos.html
http://tinyurl.com/qd4oo
http://tinyurl.com/r5m8t
http://tinyurl.com/m2tnf
http://tinyurl.com/nfy5f
Slideshow of site and debris:
http://tinyurl.com/hfqan
Hijacker identification from the crash scene:
http://tinyurl.com/ppknu
http://tinyurl.com/qt3an
http://tinyurl.com/om544
http://tinyurl.com/logjb
http://tinyurl.com/n9zkl
http://tinyurl.com/mrw64
Val McClatchey's photo (certified as authentic by the FBI's examination of her camera's memory card.)
http://tinyurl.com/r577d
The Falcon 20 crew's report.
http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20010916otherjetnat5p5.asp
The C-130 crew's report
http://tinyurl.com/mg4xh
40 Lives, One Destiny.
http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93mainstoryp7.asp
*****
Some contact information for flight 93 crash scene responders.
Shanksville Volunteer Fire Co
Shanksville, PA 15560
(814) 267-4737
Terry Schaffer, Fire Chief
Rick King, Assistant Chief
Somerset County Coroner's Office
555 Tayman Avenue, Somerset, PA 15501
(814) 445-6900
Wallace Miller, Coroner
Somerset County Emergency Services
100 East Union Street, Somerset, PA 15501
(814) 445-1515
WESTMORELAND COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
12 Court House Square
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-600-7300
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 651-2001
Paul Sledzik, Curator Disaster Mortuary Team Main
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology National Museum of Health and Medicine
(He led flight 93 DMORT investigation)
202-782-2204
sledzik@email.afip.osd.mil
Disaster Mortuary Team Main office: 1-800-USA-NDMS, ext. 205
DMORT Region 3 office (includes Pennsylvania) 410-676-4600
Dr. Dennis C. Dirkmaat
Director, Applied Forensic Sciences Department
Mercyhurst College
501 E. 38th St.
Erie, PA 16546
dirkmaat@mercyhurst.edu
(814) 824-2105
(except for the non-working link comment).