The Q33 NY Wingdings Hoax, Debunked
After 11 September 2001, a chain email claimed Q33 NY in Wingdings was a prophecy. It was false, and here is exactly why.
After the attacks of 11 September 2001, a chain email spread around the world with a strange claim. It said that “Q33 NY” was the flight number of one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center, and that typing it in Wingdings revealed a hidden prophecy: a plane, two tall documents, a skull and a Star of David.
The claim was false. This article explains what the email said, why it is wrong, and why hoaxes like it spread so easily.
What the email claimed
The message told readers to open a word processor, type “Q33 NY” and change the font to Wingdings. The result looks like this: ✈︎🗏︎🗏︎ 🕱︎✡︎. The symbols are an airplane, two page icons that some readers took to be the twin towers, a skull and crossbones, and a Star of David.
| Key | Symbol | Unicode name |
|---|---|---|
| Q | ✈︎ | Airplane |
| 3 | 🗏︎ | Page |
| 3 | 🗏︎ | Page |
| N | 🕱︎ | Black Skull and Crossbones |
| Y | ✡︎ | Star of David |
Why the claim is false
The whole story rests on the idea that Q33NY was a real flight number. It was not. The two aircraft that struck the World Trade Center were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. No flight called Q33NY was involved, so the “prediction” was built on an invented premise.
The symbols also have a simple explanation. Wingdings was created in 1990, eleven years before the attacks. Its capital Q is an airplane because the font includes travel and transport pictures, the digits are office icons like folders and pages, and N and Y had already been part of the well known NYC controversy of 1992. Anyone looking for a dark message could combine these pieces, and that is exactly what the hoax did.
How the hoax was put together
The trick works by starting from the answer and working backwards. Someone who already knew the NYC pictures only had to find a letter that gives a plane (Q) and a character that looks like a tall building (3, which gives a page icon). Framing that string as a “flight number” made it sound official. The final touch was telling readers to try it themselves, so the result felt like personal proof.
You can check every symbol in the Wingdings chart, or type the string into the Wingdings translator and switch between fonts to see how arbitrary the pictures are.
Why hoaxes like this spread
- They are easy to verify, but only halfway. Anyone can see the symbols, which feels like proof. Few people check whether the flight number was real.
- They offer a hidden pattern after a shocking event. People look for meaning after tragedies, and a secret code is a powerful story.
- They travel as chain messages. In 2001 the rumour moved by email; today the same format spreads on social media and messaging apps.
A note on sensitivity
The September 11 attacks killed nearly three thousand people. Discussing this hoax is useful because it shows how misinformation works, but the symbols themselves mean nothing. Wingdings is a set of pictures placed on keys long before 2001, not a code that can predict events.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Was Q33NY a real flight number?
No. The aircraft that struck the World Trade Center were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175.
What does Q33 NY show in Wingdings?
An airplane, two page icons, a skull and crossbones and a Star of David. The symbols were in the font since 1990, long before 2001.
Why did the hoax spread?
Anyone could type it and see the symbols, which felt like proof, while few people checked whether the flight number was real.