Posted on 09/11/2014 10:43:28 AM PDT by lbryce
One of the first two U.S. combat pilots in the air on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 took off from Andrews Air Force Base in an F-16 with a mission to bring down United Flight 93 and without any missiles or ammunition.
We wouldnt be shooting it down. Wed be ramming the aircraft, Lt. Heather Lucky Penney said describing her orders to The Washington Post. I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot.
The fourth recently identified hijacked plane appeared to be on a heading for Washington, and there was no time to arm the bases fighter aircraft before Penney and her commanding officer took off to intercept the rogue Boeing 757 passenger plane.
We had to protect the airspace any way we could, Penney said.
Penney, the first female F-16 pilot of the D.C. Air National Guards 121st Fighter Squadron, had just completed two weeks of combat training on that historic Tuesday, and the basess fighters were still equipped with dummy ammunition. According to the report, there were no armed aircraft ready for immediate scramble over post-Cold War Washington in the fall of 2001.
The third plane had just struck the Pentagon and the base was at least an hour away from arming combat-ready aircraft, with the fourth already thought to have been identified.
Im going to go for the cockpit, Col. Marc Sasseville told Penney as they donned their flight suits.
Ill take the tail, Penney replied.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
IIRC some of the bases had armed fighters for drug-interdiction flights, but they were usually down South since that’s where the druggies were. Andrews didn’t keep aircraft armed or at that level of alert.
I think this is a cover story...I think they did shoot down fl 93!
I don’t think they shot it down. I think they were going to shoot it down. They just did not get there fast enough.
They would have to weld my ass to the plane.
Because why? Did the Clintons think that all threats went away when Reagan and Bush 41 defeated the Soviet Union?
One of the F15 units to cover the northeast was the one that lost the fighter a couple of weeks ago. They make no secret about their ready status.
“Lucky” Penney, eh? reckon so
It's like not loading your gun hoping that its mere presence will scare someone away.
I'm with all of the posters here - hard to fathom at least two weren't armed and ready at all times. Not just at Andrews, but EVERY damned base.
The 20mm and missiles were probably locked up tight at another base miles away. At that time most of the F16s CONUS did not carry live munitions.
Because its expensive to keep fighters on alert. It takes a lot of pilots and dollars.
“I think this is a cover story...I think they did shoot down fl 93!” I remember telling my brother at the time that it was shot down. Nothing at all to base that statement on, just a feeling.
I agree with you ...I think that is why they made the movie so everybody could feel good about it.
One would think you pull up behind and level, have your speed a bit faster than the airliner and then eject. The plane runs into the back of the plane and would easily do enough damage to down the plane.
On the carrier we always had alert aircraft at different stages (5/15/30 min) depending on where we were in the world and they were always already loaded with at least a minimum defensive load - I can’t imagine why the Air Force wouldn’t have the same especially at Andrews. Were we really that lax?
Unless it was done extremely quickly, the terrorist pilot could evade the jet if it was in front.......
“Because why? Did the Clintons think that all threats went away when Reagan and Bush 41 defeated the Soviet Union?”
Because keeping aircraft on strip alert is expensive. You didn’t think welfare was going to pay for itself, did you?
Our country is so backwards.
Disarmed soldiers on military bases and disarmed interceptors guarding our airspace.
I seriously doubt either would have bailed. However those cowards they were protecting would have found something else to do had the roles been reversed.
I Wonder how the US would look today had the 4th plane accomplished it’s mission.
The Russians taught their pilots how to ram a Nazi aircraft back in WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_ramming
They were using cell phones to call loved ones, and when the word came across to them that two hijacked planes crashed into the WTC it was pretty obvious that the hijackers weren't planning on taking the plane to Cuba and letting them all go.
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