I flar out don't believe this story..... On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 12:54 PM, Hot4azintop via PoliticalForum < [email protected]> wrote:
> What an amazing story.....left me with tears in my eyes...... > > In a message dated 9/4/2016 6:15:20 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > > > > > > > > > > > > *Subject:* *Lt. Lucky......... I never knew this.....* > > Pilots often claim that the two worst things that can happen to a pilot > are: > > (1) Walking out to the aircraft knowing this will be your last flight or > > (2) Walking out to the aircraft NOT knowing this will be your last flight. > > This pilot's story adds another possibility.... > > The events of September 11, 2001, put two F-16 pilots into the sky with > orders to bring down United Flight 93. > > Late on that Tuesday morning of September 11th, Lt. Heather "Lucky" Penney > was on a runway at Andrews Air Force Base and ready to fly. She had her > hand on the throttle of an F-16 and she had her orders, "Bring down United > Airlines Flight 93." > > The day's fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward > Washington. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that > morning, was told to stop it. > > "I genuinely believed that was going to be the last time I took off," says > Maj. Heather "Lucky" Penney, remembering the September 11 attacks and the > initial U.S. reaction. > > The one thing she didn't have as she roared into the crystalline sky was > live ammunition…. or missiles…. or anything at all to throw at a hostile > aircraft…. except her own plane. So *that* was the plan. > > Because the surprise attacks were unfolding, in that innocent age, faster > than they could arm war planes, Penney and her commanding officer planned > to fly their jets straight into a Boeing757. > > "We wouldn't be shooting it down. We'd be ramming the aircraft," Penney > recalls of her charge that day. "I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot." > > For years, Penney, one of the first generation of female combat pilots in > the country, gave no interviews about her experiences on September 11 > (which included, eventually, escorting Air Force One back into Washington's > suddenly highly restricted airspace). > > But 14 years later, she is reflecting on one of the lesser-told tales of > that endlessly examined morning: How the first counterpunch the U.S. > Military prepared to throw at the attackers was effectively a suicide > mission. "We had to protect the airspace any way we could," she said last > week in her office at Lockheed Martin, where she is a director in the F-35 > program. > > Penney, now a major but is still a petite blonde with a Colgate grin, is > no longer a combat flier. She flew two tours in Iraq and she serves as a > part-time National Guard pilot, mostly hauling VIPs around in a military > Gulfstream. She takes the stick of her own vintage 1941 Taylor craft > tail-dragger whenever she can. > > But none of her thousands of hours in the air quite compare with the > urgent rush of launching on what was supposed to be a one-way flight to a > midair collision. First of her kind! > > She was a rookie in the autumn of 2001, the first female F-16 pilot they'd > ever had at the 121st Fighter Squadron of the D.C. Air National Guard. She > had grown up smelling jet fuel. Her father flew jets in Vietnam and still > races them. Penney got her pilot's license when she was a literature major > at Purdue. She planned to be a teacher. But during a graduate program in > American studies, Congress opened up combat aviation to women and Penney > was nearly first in line. "I signed up immediately," she says. "I wanted to > be a fighter pilot like my dad." > > On that Tuesday, they had just finished two weeks of air combat training > in Nevada. They were sitting around a briefing table when someone looked in > to say a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. When it happened > once, they assumed it was some yahoo in a Cessna. When it happened again, > they knew it was war. > > But the surprise was complete. In the monumental confusion of those first > hours, it was impossible to get clear orders. Nothing was ready. The jets > were still equipped with dummy bullets from the training mission. 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. > > "Lucky, you're coming with me," barked Col. Marc Sasseville. They were > gearing up in the pre-flight life-support area when Sasseville, struggling > into his flight suit, met her eye. "I'm going to go for the cockpit," > Sasseville said. > > She replied without hesitating, "I'll take the tail." It was a plan ….. > and a pact. 'Let's go!' > > Penney had never scrambled a jet before. Normally the pre-flight is a > half-hour or so of methodical checks. She automatically started going down > the list. "Lucky, what are you doing? Get your butt up there and let's go!" > Sasseville shouted. > > She climbed in, rushed to power up the engine, screamed for her ground > crew to pull the chocks. The crew chief still had his headphones plugged > into the fuselage as she nudged the throttle forward. He ran along pulling > safety pins from the jet as it moved forward. She muttered a fighter > pilot's prayer - "God, don't let me [expletive] up"- and followed > Sasseville into the sky. > > They screamed over the smoldering Pentagon, heading northwest at more than > 400 mph, flying low and scanning the clear horizon. Her commander had time > to think about the best place to hit the enemy. "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." > > Penney worried about missing the target if she tried to bail out. "If you > eject and your jet soars through without impact..." she trails off, the > thought of failing more dreadful than the thought of dying. > > But she didn't have to die. She didn't have to knock down an airliner full > of kids and salesmen and girlfriends. They did that themselves. It would be > hours before Penney and Sasseville learned that United 93 had already gone > down in Pennsylvania, an insurrection by hostages willing to do just what > the two Guard pilots had been willing to do: Anything, and everything. > > "The real heroes are the passengers on Flight 93 who were willing to > sacrifice themselves, "Penney says. "I was just an accidental witness to > history." > > She and Sasseville flew the rest of the day, clearing the airspace, > escorting the president, looking down onto a city that would soon be > sending them to war. > > She's a single mom of two girls now. She still loves to fly. And she still > thinks often of that extraordinary ride down the runway a decade ago. > > "I genuinely believed that was going to be the last time I took off," she > says. > > > > > ------------------------------ > [image: https://www.avast.com/antivirus] <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOGJoODJjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NzI5NjYxNTc-> > > > [image: > https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlOGpzNDJyBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ3Mjk2NjE1Nw--] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlOGpzNDJyBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ3Mjk2NjE1Nw--> > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe > <[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms > of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > <http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. 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