Yesterday I caught part of a radio interview of Karl Rove, describing the President’s circuitous route back to DC after the initial 9/11 attacks, when no one really knew what was going on, and security demanded that they remain unpredictable.
As they finally approached the White House, an F-16 escort arrived just off their wingtips. They briefly enjoyed a boyish “Aw, cool!” reaction before realizing that those pilots had been assigned the task of intercepting any incoming missiles — the hard way. It didn’t come to that.
Similarly, other F-16 pilots were tasked with bringing down United Airlines Flight 93 — the hard way:
As remarkable as it seems now, there were no armed aircraft standing by and no system in place to scramble them over Washington. Before that morning, all eyes were looking outward, still scanning the old Cold War threat paths for planes and missiles coming over the polar ice cap.
“There was no perceived threat at the time, especially one coming from the homeland like that,” says Col. George Degnon, vice commander of the 113th Wing at Andrews. “It was a little bit of a helpless feeling, but we did everything humanly possible to get the aircraft armed and in the air. It was amazing to see people react.”
Things are different today, Degnon says. At least two “hot-cocked” planes are ready at all times, their pilots never more than yards from the cockpit.
A third plane hit the Pentagon, and almost at once came word that a fourth plane could be on the way, maybe more. The jets would be armed within an hour, but somebody had to fly now, weapons or no weapons.
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“We don’t train to bring down airliners,” said Sasseville, now stationed at the Pentagon. “If you just hit the engine, it could still glide and you could guide it to a target. My thought was the cockpit or the wing.”He also thought about his ejection seat. Would there be an instant just before impact?
“I was hoping to do both at the same time,” he says. “It probably wasn’t going to work, but that’s what I was hoping.”
It didn’t come to that.
I would think the airliner’s tail would be the best target — easiest to hit and effective.
And they were going to do it, too. How can we ever repay the debt we owe to these men and countless others who have been willing to sacrifice their lives for us all and many times have had to do just that?
I can only imagine the thoughts going through that F-16 pilot’s mind as he was flying to intercept. Especially if he were a religious man — what damage would be done to the standing of his immortal soul if his dying act was to kill 200 innocent people on purpose, in the hopes of saving ten times that? I cannot say what I’d do in such a situation. These pilots know< ?em> what they’d do, because they were preparing to do it. Thank God they didn’t have to.