Thread: Flight 93

Originally Posted by adaher

That doesn't sound right to me. Weren't they nowhere near the plane when it went down?

They were between the plane and DC

Originally Posted by adaher

If the plane has changed direction again and the passengers had radioed that they had control, sounds like plenty of time to call off the fighters.

They were ordered to intercept flight 93.

It crashed 124 miles from DC. Not that far away when you consider that the cruising speed for an F-16 is 577 MPH.

"I saw a very interesting C-SPAN interview with F-16 pilot Maj. Heather Penny who said she was going to ram her unarmed F-16 into the tail and her wingman was going to ram the cockpit."

Originally Posted by hairballxavier

They were between the plane and DC

They were ordered to intercept flight 93.

It crashed 124 miles from DC. Not that far away when you consider that the cruising speed for an F-16 is 577 MPH.

Yeah, less than 15 minutes from DC. And why in the world would an unarmed fighter jet be scrambled to stop this plane?

Originally Posted by mahayana

Yeah, less than 15 minutes from DC. And why in the world would an unarmed fighter jet be scrambled to stop this plane?

Basically because they didn't have time to arm the F-16s.

I highly recommend that those who are interested watch the interview that I linked to. Maj. Penny explains why they had to take off unarmed in detail at around 20 minutes into the video.

Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001 - C-SPAN Video Library

The passengers of flight 93 likely saved the lives of at least one those F-16 pilots. They were sent on a kamikaze mission to intercept flight 93.

Originally Posted by hairballxavier

Basically because they didn't have time to arm the F-16s.

I highly recommend that those who are interested watch the interview that I linked to. Maj. Penny explains why they had to take off unarmed in detail at around 20 minutes into the video.

Major Heather Penney on September 11, 2001 - C-SPAN Video Library

The passengers of flight 93 likely saved the lives of at least one those F-16 pilots. They were sent on a kamikaze mission to intercept flight 93.

I had no idea about any of that.

"So, you were prepared to take your own life, if necessary to bring down that plane..."

"Of course."

The woman has nerves of granite. What a hero.

Great interview. Thanks

I watched on a documentary that, during 9/11, the American military was still on a Cold War footing, despite the fact that the Cold War ended 10 years previously.

The documentary explained that, during the attacks, there were just three fighter planes defending the 123 million people in America's north eastern states and only 14 on alert for the 48 contiguous states.

Actually we were on a post cold war footing. During the cold war we would have had armed fighters in the air or ready to scramble at a moments notice 24/7. After the cold war air defense became lax.

I bet they've always got armed fighters ready to scramble now. I live about 12 miles east of an Air National Guard base and after 9/11 I noticed at least a tenfold increase in the number of fighter jets in the air. Before it was relatively uncommon to see one. Nowadays I see and hear them all the time.