How An American F-16 Pilot Was Given A Kamikaze Mission On Sept. 11

We were changed forever on that day back in 2001. RIP to those who lost their lives, and my sympathies and understanding for all those whose path forward would somehow never quite be the same. We lost our collective innocence on that day.

I was therefore stunned to come across this story for a couple of reasons, the first being that everything about 9/11 has up until now been so hushed and documents redacted so as to be unrecognizable. The second is that no one has spilled the beans without suffering a sudden demise or been discredited and ridiculed, imho anyway.

But now we have the story of a pilot who essentially admits to being ordered on a kamikaze mission on 9/11.

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 wouldn’t be shooting it down. We’d 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 base’s 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 Guard’s 121st Fighter Squadron, had just completed two weeks of combat training on that historic Tuesday, and the bases’s 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.

It is an exciting read and one I won't spoil for you. Please click on the first link Yahoo story here
and the second link Washington Post story here

a reply to: aboutface

talk about getting the crap end of a stick for those pilots...how embarrassing in a world full of technology and a country so advanced as the United States that we would have to resort to a kamikaze mission...that's the real story...

Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

I would have been furious if it was my son or daughter that got killed because they didn't have any combat ready planes...what a joke



What does this say about our readiness as a country...

a reply to: aboutface

Could he have ejected once he was close enough to hit the plane?

originally posted by: chrismarco
Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

Terrorist attempted to ram the intercepting fighters who had orders not to shoot it down, but to try to force them to land. Or some such.

originally posted by: _Del_

originally posted by: chrismarco
Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

Terrorist attempted to ram the intercepting fighters who had orders not to shoot it down, but to try to force them to land. Or some such.

Brilliant response....

"I was ordered to kill myself so I said *%$*%*@ YOU!....YOU DO IT!"

Yup, that would play out well in court. Who would convict?

Peace

Very interesting story, in terms of who ordered the suicide mission. Was this one of the decisions Dick Cheney made in his bunker? There was a lot of talk that he did order that United 93 be downed, and this may confirm that (the orders to do this, to take down a passenger plane, had to come from high up on the political-food chain).

originally posted by: OptimusCrime
a reply to: aboutface

Could he have ejected once he was close enough to hit the plane?

Why not...I know I would!

a reply to: OptimusCrime

The pilot reporting "squats to pee".... Makes perfect sense, then "they" could pin it on Her...

Segue: I just saw the documentary about TWA: Flight 800

originally posted by: chrismarco


Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

FLT 93 was brought down by the passengers storming the cockpit and taking control of the aircraft..... crashing it into the ground in western PA

that aircraft was shot down. say what they want. the reports of the day were far different than the 'historical record'.

we physically watched Cheney being taken/escorted to 'an undisclosed location' on MH-1 /MH-2 [to Camp David] with both a jet fighter clearing/intercept and apache/cobra escorting choppers .... as they passed over the parking lot of the Thurmont/Catoctin middle school that day.

originally posted by: chrismarco

originally posted by: _Del_

originally posted by: chrismarco
Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

Terrorist attempted to ram the intercepting fighters who had orders not to shoot it down, but to try to force them to land. Or some such.

Brilliant response....

Just a guess.

And this story is just coming out now , 13 years later?


Sounds like someone has seen the movie Air Force One too many times!

I heard the plan was established in the air prior to intercept between two F-16Cs and the plan was to eject right before one hit the cockpit and the other the tail. No doubt they would have gone through with the plan if they had too.

Now at certain bases a pair of aircraft usually are on stand-by with armament close by. With events in the world you can bet its at just about every AN, USN/USMC, and AFB with tactical fighters.

I was both surprised and disappointed to see how the military functioned that day after years of cold war and trillions of dollars to build a defense for the US. I suspect it isn't much better today.

originally posted by: _Del_

originally posted by: chrismarco
Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

Terrorist attempted to ram the intercepting fighters who had orders not to shoot it down, but to try to force them to land. Or some such.

Right Terrorists whom couldn't even fly well.

a reply to: aboutface


This isn't the first time this has been posted here at ATS.


It was posted a few years back but it didn't fit into someones paradigm at the time and ridiculed.

It was largely ignored for various reasons.

originally posted by: Agent_USA_Supporter

originally posted by: _Del_

originally posted by: chrismarco
Wonder how we would have spun it if they actually went through with it?

Terrorist attempted to ram the intercepting fighters who had orders not to shoot it down, but to try to force them to land. Or some such.

Right Terrorists whom couldn't even fly well.

They asked what the official line would have been had this actually occurred. I'm guessing that's the answer.

Since my answer is not the fictional scenario, you can see that I do not think that the official line would have been the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Nor would I have found that answer particularly personally compelling.

Arguing about the merits of what I think the official response would have been for an event that didn't happen seems specious, and I don't have that kind of time. Feel free to contribute your own answer that poster's question of "how we would have spun it had this occurred". Or not.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Thanks for the link. Much appreciated, Slayer.

a reply to: StratosFear

Now it's a lot more common. On that day it was seven bases, of which three were in the southeast watching for drug smugglers.

a reply to: freedom12

And this story is just coming out now , 13 years later?

No it's just a rehash because of the aniversary.