I didn't want to piss in anyone's cheerios but since Keith has no such qualms I have to say this is the sappiest pack of lies I have ever read.
On Sep 4, 2016 6:39 PM, "Keith In Tampa" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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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