MMeM, Vol.11 Issue 35 – Heroes

Just when I think I’ve heard all of the stories and tales of heroes from the darkest of days, I got gobsmacked. Yes, I’m referring to today’s 14 year anniversary of 9/11. To be clear, I am of the mindset that we should never forget and yearly remembrance is absolutely needed and warranted.

All that being said, today I stumbled onto a story on MSN.com about the first female F-16 fighter pilot for the 121st Fighter Squadron of the D.C. Air National Guard.

See, as the events of that Tuesday morning were unfolding and both of the WTC towers had been hit as well as the Pentagon, there was the 4th plane, United Airlines Flight 93. We all know the story of this plane and how passengers banded together and stormed the hijacked cockpit. Ultimately, the plane crashed near Skanksville, PA saving the lives of untold numbers of innocent lives had it reached the hijackers’ presumed destination of either the White House or the U.S. Capital building.

Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney and Col. Marc Sasseville each took off in F-16s to intercept flight United 93. The part I had never known was that back in 2001, fighter jets in the U.S. were not “hot-cocked” or loaded with weapons always at the ready. Today, that’s different due to lessons learned from this day as now “planes are ready at all times, their pilots never more than yards from the cockpit.”

So, that means that Lt. Penney and Col. Sasseville were ordered to bring down Flight 93 with planes that had NO weapons. When orders came for the fighters to scramble in order to stop United 93, there wasn’t enough time to have the planes loaded with bombs and guns with real ammunition. In short, they were to ram the airliner. Lt. Penney said she’d aim for the tail and Col. Sasseville would head for the cockpit area of the plane.

Looking back on the dire situation, both pilots now talk about having the had thoughts of possibly trying to eject moments before they’d hit United 93. Both felt that success would have been highly unlikely. They were both resolved to the fact that it was essentially a mission with no return. In the end, the passengers helped to bring down United 93 and saved lives. Subsequently, Lt. Penney and Col. Sasseville learned of the fate of United 93 while en route to do something our pilots are never asked to do.

I don’t know, maybe everyone else knows about this part of the story of United 93. I’m glad that I now do. I thought I was going to read an inspiring story about a female fighter pilot. Thank you Heather, Marc, and the crew and passengers of United 93 for being true heroes.