The Heroic Story of a 9/11 Female Fighter Pilot That You've Probably Never Heard Before

popsugar.com ^ | September 9, 2016 | ELEANOR SHEEHAN

[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.

[Leaning Right]

DR: accepting and going on a ramming mission is heroic. Getting called back wasn’t her choice

tr: Since the general meme puts a male in one's mind when "fighter pilot" is mentioned, I'll forgive it (the title)

Thanks to you two for posting some common sense here. Major Penney's 9/11 story is a not-insignificant part of what happened that day. She certainly wasn't the greatest hero of 9/11, but she was a hero. I find it a bit sad that a few folks on this thread instead decided to focus on the wording of the article's title.

[Alberta's Child]

If the U.S. government has no interest in protecting its own borders, it makes sense that its president and other leaders wouldn't be protected, either.

The Fall of the Roman Empire immediately comes to mind here.

[ExNewsExSpook]

I was not referring to the terrorists, but rather, the response of the FAA, the Air Force and other organizations responsible for the air defense of the U.S. We were quite aware of Al Qaeda’s plans to hijack multiple jets over the Pacific, but that did not translate into tighter passenger screening, more air marshals on jets, or greater resources for the CONUS air defense mission.

Ground security on 9-11 was a joke; there were only a handful of air marshals on airliners on any given day, and the Air Force kept roughly a dozen fighters on air defense alert, and most of them were unarmed. That was the reality on 9-11, despite our knowledge of Al Qaeda’s obsessive interest in aviation-based attacks.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I have, as a former engineer in flight test, thought about what a test pilot might have done if informed of the situation when the second plane was ten minutes out of NY.

IMHO if that situation had arisen, a test pilot would have tried to divert the plane but, failing that, he would have flown in just in front of the airliner and dumped fuel. Pretty certainly that would cause an engine flameout. Repeat on the other side, and the plane is a glider. Repeat in the middle, and the windshield becomes opaque. I seriously doubt the airliner reaches and finds its target.

. . . and then maybe shut up about it, to avoid liability.

[Iscool]

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.

A number of years back I was at an air show in western Michigan...One event was a fly-by by the Michigan Air National Guard...

We were warned of their approach at 10 miles out...They came in with their landing lights on so we could see them coming...

Two camouflaged F15s, I believe, flew across the field in front of the spectators, ARMED TO THE HILT...Once they passed the crowd, they hit the afterburners and headed up through the clouds, back to work...

Gave me massive chills (and probably everyone else) actually seeing these warriors and knowing they are patrolling our skys 24/7, fully armed, ready to take out any threat as we go about our daily lives oblivious to these guys and girls up there watching over us...

The point is, there are and were numerous Air National Guard Squadrons on the east coast from Maine to Florida loaded with fully armed F15s and F16s, many of which are in the air at all times...

Said that to say this:

And then there are many of us who remember Dick Cheney on the tube when asked about flight 93, he stated, 'we shot it down'...

Just sayin'..........

[Vinnie]

They scrambled jets from Andrews and directed them EAST, over the ocean.
Finally got ok to turn them. They were too late to affect any solution.

Saw the interview w/ pilot Penny.
She said the rockets on the planes were unarmed, they would have had to be charged w/ propellant, fused, etc. a 2 hour operation.
She took off w/ the understanding (no direct order)that she would ram the airliner if she found it.
Flight 93 had already crashed.

Watched the movie Flight 93 last night. Intense.

[the OlLine Rebel]

In the heat of the moment, he probably assumed that. He had given the order that commercial jets COULD be shot down. That does not mean it happened, anymore than SOME early witnesses who declared “it just exploded” were correct in their assessment of what happened to the first tower. Provably airplane just by the media man filming fire dept activity that morning.

I seriously doubt NG are constantly patrolling with arms all over the country, although I do not know their normal protocols.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Thank you for pointing that out. I post time and again that with all the docs on 9/11 up until today, This is the gist of it. Very few fighters.

I also question those who seem to think armed fighters are constantly on patrol from NGs and so on. I seriously doubt such money would be spent, never mind the risk should something be mishandled. I have never thought I was seeing fighters flying over until that day, and I live 30 min from DC.

Coming home that day, I saw numerous formatted contrails, headed south to DC. Never seen such a thing. And not since, either.