A Mission No Pilot Should Have To Face
Former Air Force Lieutenant Heather “Lucky” Penney has described the terrible orders she was prepared to carry out on September 11, 2001. Penney was 26 years old at the time, and she said military leaders believed United Airlines Flight 93 could be heading toward Washington, D.C. The aircraft was the fourth plane hijacked that day, after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. According to Penney, the pilots did not have live missiles or real weapons on board, which meant stopping the airliner would require ramming it with their jets. She said they knew the target would be “an airliner full of innocent Americans,” and that the mission would be a suicide mission.
Flight 93’s Passengers Learned The Truth
Flight 93 had been delayed and was still on the ground when the other hijacked planes were already in the air. After takeoff, it flew west for about 46 minutes before hijackers stormed the cockpit. Controllers heard a “Mayday” and “Get out of here!” before one hijacker took control and turned the plane toward Washington, D.C. Passengers and crew used airphones and cell phones and learned what had already happened in New York and at the Pentagon. They voted to try to retake the aircraft. Todd Beamer’s final recorded words, remembered across the country for more than two decades, were, “Are you ready? Okay.” Then came, “Let’s roll.”
Penney Says She And Another Pilot Had A Plan
Penney said that as she was zipping up her G-suit, another pilot, identified as Sass, told her, “I’ll take the cockpit.” His plan, she said, was to fly his jet into the cockpit to take out the terrorists and flight controls, while she would ram her jet into the tail of the aircraft. Penney said they had to assume the White House, Congress, and other major national institutions could be the next target. At the time, she said, they did not know Flight 93 had already crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the passengers and crew fought the hijackers. “We did not know that the passengers had already done the job,” she said.
She Credits The Passengers For Saving Washington
Penney said she still views the episode with pain because the nation was not ready in the way it needed to be. She said they were not sitting alert, they did not have live weapons, and they were too late. In her words, “Thank God for the passengers,” because she believes Flight 93 would have made it if those aboard had not acted. She said the passengers were forced into a choice they never should have faced, but she expressed gratitude that they made it. Their action prevented the plane from reaching its intended target, and the aircraft crashed in a field near Shanksville after the struggle in the cockpit.
The Memorial Honors The Passengers And Crew
The bravery of Todd Beamer and the other passengers and crew has been honored at the Flight 93 National Memorial, which is run by the National Park Service. The memorial includes the Wall of Names for the passengers and crew, the Tower of Voices, a visitor center, and the crash site itself. The crash site is treated as a burial ground and is not walked on by the public. The story remains one of courage under unimaginable pressure, and Penney’s account adds another layer to what was at stake that morning.
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