- It happens all the time. When a small private plane recently
entered the 23-mile restricted ring around the U.S. Capitol, two F-16 interceptors
were immediately launched from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away.
In a similar episode, a pair of F-16 "Fighting Falcons" on 15-minute
strip alert was airborne from Andrews just 11 minutes after being notified
by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) of a Cessna straying
towards the White House. [AP Nov11/03; CNN June20/02]
-
- These were well-practiced routines. With more than 4,500
aircraft continuously sharing U.S. airspace, between September 2000 and
June 2001 the Pentagon launched fighters on 67 occasions to escort wayward
aircraft. [FAA news release Aug/9/02; AP Aug13/02]
-
- But on Sept 11, 2001, NORAD and the FAA ignored routine
procedures and strict regulations. In response to a national emergency
involving hijacked airliners as dangerous as cruise missiles, interceptors
launched late from distant bases flew to defend their nation at a fraction
of their top speeds. [NORAD news release Sept. 18/01]
-
-
- WHAT NORAD KNEW A recently resurfaced NORAD news bulletin
released seven days after Sept. 11 explains that America's aerial defenders
were slow to counter rapidly developing air attacks because they didn't
hear from the FAA that American Airlines Flight 11 had been hijacked until
8:40 that fateful morning. [NORAD news release Sept. 18/01]
-
- But at the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in
the basement of the Pentagon, Air Force staff officers monitoring every
inch of airspace over the northeastern seaboard would have caught that
first hijacking when Flight 11's identification transponder stopped transmitting
at 8:20 - automatically triggering a radar alarm.
-
- With their capability to monitor developing "situations"
by tapping into military and civilian radars, U.S. military commanders
would have also seen Flight 175 turn abruptly south 25 minutes later ö
just as they had watched on radar in October 1999 when pro golfer Payne
Stewart's Learjet abruptly departed its flight path while enroute o Dallas.
[CNN Oct26/1999]
-
- In that legendary intercept, a fighter jet out of Tyndall,
Florida was diverted from a training flight to escort the Lear, whose pilot
had become incapacitated, trapping Stewart in the stratosphere. An F-16
was reportedly sitting off the left wingtip of Payne's pilotless business
jet within 19 minutes of the FAA alert. [ABC News Oct25/99]
-
- If NORAD had been as quick to scramble or divert airborne
fighters on Sept. 11, two "anti-terrorist" F-15's on armed alert
could have been sent south from Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod. Flying
at full afterburners without edging over the Atlantic to disperse their
sonic footprint, two of the fastest fighters on the planet would have broken
a few windows. But all the glass in the Twin Towers might have stayed intact
had the "fast-movers" intercepted Flight 11 over the Hudson Rive
at least six minutes from Manhattan.
-
-
- NO HURRY SAYS NORAD Instead, in a stunning admission
that received little press scrutiny at the time, NORAD noted that for all
interceptions flown against the hijackers on Sept. 11, "Flight times
are calculated at 9 miles per minute or .9 Mach." In other words,
every interception flown by the world's hottest air-combat aircraft was
flown at less than a third of the planes' top speed.
-
- A Defense Department manual insists, "In the event
of a hijacking, the NMCC will be notified by the most expeditious means
by the FAA." To make this happen, the Federal Aviation Administration
permanently posts a liaison officer in the Pentagon air defense room. [CJCSI
3610.01A, June1/01]
-
- Yet, according to NORAD, after air traffic controllers
realized that Flight 11 had been hijacked, 38 vital minutes passed before
a pair of F-15's was scrambled from Otis. As they lifted off, American
Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, 153
air miles away as a Falcon flies. [NORAD Sept. 18/01]
-
- United Airlines Flight 175 was still 20 minutes out.
-
- "The F-15 pilots flew ''like a scalded ape, topping
500 mph but were unable to catch up to the airliner," Maj. Gen. Paul
Weaver later told reporters. [St. Augustine Times Sept16/01]
-
- Scalded apes? Airliners fly at 500 mph. An F-15 can fly
almost four-times faster.
-
-
- STEP ON IT One of the Otis intercept pilots dubbed "Duff",
later lamented: "We've been over the flight a thousand times in our
minds and I don't know what we could have done to get there any quicker."
-
- For starters, he and his wingman could have tried pushing
their twin throttles fully forward. Instead of flying two-and-a-half times
faster than a bullet, "Nasty" and "Duff" drove their
expensive air superiority fighters at a leisurely 447-mph ö supposedly
to intercept a Boeing 767 flying 43 mph faster! Utilizing only 27% power,
the F-15's were "eight minutes/71 miles" away, according to NORAD,
when Flight 175 struck the South Tower with 56 souls and more than ten
tons of fuel onboard. [Christian Science Monitor Mar8/02]
-
-
- HONOR THE THREAT With both Trade Towers burning, and
hijacked United Flight 93 shadowed by a circling F-16 over Pennsylvania,
American Airlines Flight 77 was the only threat left in the sky. When that
Boeing 757 silenced its transponder signal, made a U-turn over Kentucky
and headed directly for the White House and the Pentagon, one billion viewers
riveted to the big networks knew this was a kamikaze run. [Telegraph Sept13/01]
-
- With no other bogeys on eastern seaboard scopes, air
combat doctrine dictates that the two unemployed Otis F-15s already in
the area be redirected to "honor the threat" of an incoming flying
bomb, 330 miles out. Even loafing along, the fighters would have more than
20 minutes to confront Flight 77 before it neared the Pentagon.
-
- Instead, Pentagon professionals defending their country's
nerve centers waited more than an hour after watching Flight 11 go rogue
- including 30 critical minutes after Flight 77 turned abruptly toward
them and the nearby White House - before scrambling two F-16's out of Langley
Air Force Base to protect the capitol.
-
- Nearly half-an-hour after receiving the belated order
to scramble, two Falcons coasted in over the burning Pentagon. Slowed down
to just 410 mph, it had taken the 1,500 mph-capable fighters 19 minutes
to cover the 130 miles from Virginia. It should have taken just over seven
minutes to reach the Pentagon ö at about the time Flight 77 was making
a predatory circle overhead. [NORAD Sept18/01; USAF]
-
-
- GROUNDED The supersonic jets were flown no faster than
WWII prop-driven fighters. But it hardly mattered. Sitting on the Andrews
ramp just 10 miles away, were two fully armed and fueled supersonic interceptors
tasked with protecting the capitol from airborne terrorist threats on 15
minutes' notice!
-
- Isn't it about time someone asked why those routinely
launched Andrews interceptors were "stood down" as Flight 77
bored in toward the headquarters they were supposed to protect? [San Diego
Union-Tribune Sept12/01
-
- In the most heavily armed nation on Earth, at least two-dozen
air force installations were within fast flying time of the World Trade
Center and Pentagon. Does anyone else wonder why none of those aircraft
were ordered launched - or why none of the armed fighters on training flights
or patrolling Air Defense Intercept Zones just off the Atlantic Coast were
diverted to intercept four commandeered airliners until after the Pentagon
was struck ö one-hour and 18 minutes after Flight 11 was hijacked?
[www.af.mil/sites/alphabetical.shtml#a]
-
- According to NORAD, the F-16s from Langley were still
"12 minutes/105 miles" away when the big Boeing they were "chasing"
soared past the White House and the Andrews runways. Allegedly flown by
an incompetent Egyptian flight student who couldn't solo a Cessna, the
757 peeled off and piled into the Pentagon after an abrupt dive and pull-up
that left veteran pilots agape. [San Diego Union-Tribune Sept12/01; NBC
Nightly News Sept11/01; All Fall Down]
-
- Immediately after the Pentagon was hit, the Andrews alert
jets were launched to guard empty skies. [Mirror Nov13/03]
-
-
- ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH Responding to questions from a Senate
confirmation committee two days after this suspicious fiasco, the Joint
Chief's acting air defense chief on Sept. 11 said he was in a meeting while
all hell was breaking loose in his sector.
-
- Air Force Gen. Richard Myers had not let a TV report
about a small plane hitting the World Trade Center interrupt his routine.
As jumbo jetliners kept diving into buildings, apparently no one thought
to inform the acting commander of U.S. air defenses that his country was
under attack. Myers said he came out of his meeting just as the Pentagon
was hit.
-
- Asked repeatedly when the brass were first informed of
the emergency, and when interceptors were scrambled, Myers repeated a muddled
mantra six times, saying ""I'll have to get back to you on that."
[www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2001/n10232001_200110236.html]
-
- Instead of being court-martialed like the luckless commanders
defending Pearl Harbor, or even reprimanded, General Myers was awarded
command of the entire U.S. military as new chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Bush publicly commended the air force general for his "calm
manner, sound judgment, and his clear strategic thinking." [White
House press release Oct15/01]
-
- As this bizarre and possibly treasonous story goes to
press, the FAA has refused to disclose documents relating to when that
agency notified U.S. air defenses about the four hijacked airliners. A
second subpoena served on the Pentagon by the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States has been similarly unsuccessful in attaining
records concerning whether NORAD responded quickly enough in dispatching
interceptors on Sept. 11. [Washington Post Nov8/03]
-
- Instead of fingering air traffic controllers for not
following procedures, these documents could show that the FAA did follow
its own Standard Intercept Procedures and notify NORAD within a few minutes
of each hijacking ö which would leave the Air Force with even more
explaining to do. [AP Oct18/03]
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