Charity: Widow Of Pilot Of United Flight 93 Dies

The wife of the pilot of the United Airlines flight that crashed into a Pennsylvania field after being taken
over by terrorists on 9/11 has died of what her charity said was natural causes.

Family friend David Dosch told the Denver Post that 52-year-old Sandy Dahl passed away in her sleep. The Captain Jason M. Dahl Scholarship Fund said on its website that she died near Denver. Her body was found Friday. Dahl's husband was the captain of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.

The flight was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked. The four terrorists likely wanted to crash the Boeing 757-222 into the White House or Capitol building but the jet went down in Pennsylvania as passengers fought back, just 20 minutes away from Washington, the 9/11 Commission found.

Sandy Dahl founded a scholarship fund in her husband's honor to provide funding for young pilots to receive their education. She also spoke publicly to ensure that the heroism of those aboard Flight 93 wasn't forgotten.

"Sandy's courage picked up where her husband's left off," Patrick White, president of The Families of Flight 93, said in a statement. "Her dedication to completing the Flight 93 National Memorial as a way to honor her husband's heroic actions on 9/11, and those of his fellow crew members and passengers, is a significant part of her legacy."

Jefferson County coroner's officials have confirmed her death, but the exact cause hasn't been released.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)