Posted on 09/10/2016 7:44:20 PM PDT by Leaning Right
When Heather Penney entered the cockpit of her F-16 fighter jet on Sept. 11, 2001, she knew it was unlikely she would ever survive. Her task? Take down the United Airlines Flight 93 that was unaccounted for after two planes struck the Twin Towers.
She would have to do so in an unarmed fighter jet because equipping the plane with missiles would require too much time. Her plane would be the weapon; it was essentially a suicide mission. Penney never completed the job, though, because Flight 93 crashed as brave passengers wrestled control from the hijackers while it flew over Pennsylvania.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsugar.com ...
And to make sure that the story is true, I did I little checking first. CSPAN did an interview with the pilot. She talks about her experiences on 9/11. Yep, her mission was a kamikaze one
https://www.c-span.org/video/?300959-1/major-heather-penney-september-11-2001
Would the title have read “Male Fighter Pilot...’?
Awesome bump.
If the U.S. military couldn't scramble an armed fighter jet from Andrews Air Force Base to deal with a threat to the nation's capitol, then everyone in the Pentagon should have been lined up and executed the next day.
I’ve seen it ages ago on one of the many, many 9/11 documentary shows I record and watch religiously every year.
She was actually 1 of 2 from Andrews.
It’s another compelling story.
Courage in the air was strong that day.
Funny, she wasn’t mentioned in “Clear the Skies,” a great documentary about the pilots and FAA that day. Doesn’t mean she isn’t the real deal, I just wondered why they missed her?
Have you ever watched the myriad 9/11 shows?
I have seen every single one, and know this story from long ago. It is part of one of those documentaries. She and her partner were interviewed in it. Years ago.
And you apparently don’t know just how few planes there were to take care of anything on this whole East Coast. Armed or not. Counting them, about 6 total. There was no time to arm their planes; something just had to be put up as a presence and recognizance, at least.
Well, I guess it's possible that Major Penney was lying during that CSPAN interview. But I think it's more likely that the 9/11 attacks caught the government completely unprepared.
She and her partner were indeed featured years ago on one of the many 9/11 shows. It is one of many shown every year.
who cares?
This always puzzled me. What is the the point of having fighter jets that cannot fight?
Huh?
People think it’s nothing but PC BS. That’s who cares.
And so do I. Their doubt is provably wrong.
This is strange.
There was not one fighter pilot with ammunition available on 9/11???
That doesn’t sound right. If so - we need a new military command.
My thoughts also. Our ready air defense fighters were not ready?
It’s called: recognizance, “presence” (psychological warfare) and last-ditch kamikaze.
There were few fighters available, period. Few.
Never mind ready with crew AND ammo.
From your Wikipedia link (thanks), compare her philosophy with that of certain NFL players I don’t care to mention:
When asked why she was ready to fly a kamikaze mission, “Why? Because there are things in this world that are more important than ourselves. Freedom. The Constitution of the United States. Our way of life. Mom, baseball, apple pie; these things and so many more that make us uniquely American. We belong to something greater than ourselves. As complex and diverse and discordant as it is, this thing, this idea called America, binds us together in citizenship and community and brotherhood.”
Like the guys on the USS Cole—guns with no bullets in them.
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