The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
On the morning of September 11, 2001, there were no armed aircraft standing by to guard the homeland, and no plan in place to scramble them over D.C. in an emergency.
So when the Air Force learned that AA flight 11 and UA flight 175 had hit the Twin Towers, that AA flight 77 had hit the Pentagon, and that a fourth hijacked plane --UA flight 93-- was en route to another target in the nation's capital, it sent two F-16s on a mission to bring down the airliner. The pilots tasked with stopping UA 93 were armed with nothing but their own aircraft.
The Washington Post tells the story of one of these pilots, Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney, who readily accepted a mission that she knew would cost her dearly.
Because the surprise attacks were unfolding, in that innocent age, faster than they could arm war planes, Penney and her commanding officer went up to fly their jets straight into a Boeing 757.
“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.”
[...]
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.”
Ten years later, and I'm still reduced to tears each and every time I read a story like this one about our nation's great heroes, who offered up their very lives to combat evil.
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Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Diane,
I don't think it's right to call this a suicide mission. Her mission was to take down a plane. She specifically said that if it involved ramming a plane, she'd aim to survive (eject button, etc.).
This is different than a suicide mission where the suicide is a design feature of the plot. There is an important moral distinction there. I think this is a case of double effect.
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: Diane,
I don't think it's right to call this a suicide mission. Her mission was to take down a plane. She specifically said that if it involved ramming a plane, she'd aim to survive (eject button, etc.).
This is different than a suicide mission where the suicide is a design feature of the plot. There is an important moral distinction there. I think this is a case of double effect. · Sep 9 at 11:23am
I believe you're correct with the moral distinction you make. I've changed the title of the piece accordingly.
May '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: Diane,
I don't think it's right to call this a suicide mission. Her mission was to take down a plane. She specifically said that if it involved ramming a plane, she'd aim to survive (eject button, etc.).
This is different than a suicide mission where the suicide is a design feature of the plot. There is an important moral distinction there. I think this is a case of double effect.
But Mollie, it wasn't Penney who said she'd try to eject. "Penney worried about missing the target if she tried to bail out."
" 'I genuinely believed that was going to be the last time I took off,' she says. 'If we did it right, this would be it.' "
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Mark Wilson
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.:
I don't think it's right to call this a suicide mission. Her mission was to take down a plane. She specifically said that if it involved ramming a plane, she'd aim to survive (eject button, etc.).
This is different than a suicide mission where the suicide is a design feature of the plot. There is an important moral distinction there...
But Mollie, it wasn't Penney who said she'd try to eject. "Penney worried about missing the target if she tried to bail out."
" 'I genuinely believed that was going to be the last time I took off,' she says. 'If we did it right, this would be it.' "
If I understand Mollie correctly, the life of the service woman in this situation should still be seen as collateral damage because the death is not intended even though it is necessary. Contrast this with a jihadist suicide mission, in which the death of the jihadist is clearly intended.
Subtle, but I see that there's still a moral distinction if not a practical one.
May '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Anyway, regardless of our terminology, the real story is the amazing courage of these pilots, defending our country first with only second consideration for their own fates. Diane, tears welled up in my eyes as I read it too.
Jun '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
I did not know this, Dianne. We could be crying on each others shoulders right now. Thanks for posting this.
Sep '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
We forget many of the ways we ask the members of millitary to sacrifice. The stress of that is beyond my comprehension. The distinction between suicide and sacrifice is extremely important in my view. The so called comedian Bill Maher does not understand this and made some controvertial statement in '01 about the "courage" of the suicide bombers. No doubt this was a cheap stunt for PR that worked but someone who dies in the line of duty is the exact opposite of some one who comits murder even if he only murders himself.
Dec '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
From my recollection of WWII movies, "suicide missions" didn't just apply to kamikaze and jihadists. Special forces came about from the need for daring but necessary missions with long odds. That didn't mean that the GI's were intended to off themselves, it just meant that they volunteered for a mission where they had a slim chance of returning.
Mar '11
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
It's hard to believe that Mr Maher and this courageous pilot (who would have surely died had the equally brave citizens in flight 93 not saved her) belong to the same country or culture - perhaps they don't.
As don't Gen McChrystal and Mr Obama.
Edited on Sep 9, 2011 at 2:27pmMay '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
There are still giants among us in these days. Godspeed, Lt. Penney.
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Great story! Thank you Diane!!
Dec '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
This is a great story, but for me it meshed with a different lesson.
People are sometimes faced with horrible choices, make the self-sacrificing one, and come out alive. The fear of near certain demise can lock you up, into inaction. It is useful to have stories such as this, stored away somewhere deep, to oil your joints.
Things are almost never as they appear and action is usually good, in the stitch in time saves nine fashion. People survive terribly bleak situations, sometimes.
I have done horribly risky things in the past, never for fun, but gotten away with it to bother you here. I firmly believe that God smiles on that path, even as he may sometimes take you off the board.
When I think I am a tough guy, I recall the images I saw of the Pushcart Pioneers, usually lone women, when I once meandered across the high plains desert in Wyoming. We have been so watered down by TV and movies that we don't even know about lthe women pushing wheelbarrows over the Continental Divide, or establishing South Pass City, where women could vote.
We need to remember to act.
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
CJRun: This is a great story, but for me it meshed with a different lesson.
People are sometimes faced with horrible choices, make the self-sacrificing one, and come out alive. The fear of near certain demise can lock you up, into inaction. It is useful to have stories such as this, stored away somewhere deep, to oil your joints.
Yes, you're absolutely right. We always hear about how we go into either fight or flight mode when faced with a threatening circumstance. But there's a third mode that you've identified here, and that's inaction. Deer in the headlights mode. I worry that's the response I'd adopt if faced in a similar circumstance as Lt. Penney. I think that's why her story inspires me and moves my soul all the more.
May '11
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
Since we're discussing terminology, I want to object to the phrase "sacrificing themselves." Those passengers didn't sacrifice themselves. They were murdered. They heroically tried to take over the plane and the murderers succeeded in crashing the plane and murdering them instead.
Those people weren't trying to die. They were trying to live. They didn't give their lives, they were trying to take the lives of the would be murderers, and that is a much more honorable thing to do.
May '11
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
This reminds me of a talk I had with my Dad right after I left boot camp. Dad had served in the Navy and really couldn't put his head around anyone joining the Marines. He thought Marines were suicide troops that simply ran ashore to get shot up. The fact that his only son had joined this service probably influenced this opinion. I told him of our training and how prepared we were, but to no avail. This disagreement went on for several years. The night before I left for Iraq my Dad asked me if I wanted to go since I might no come back. I laughed and told him of course I wanted to go. If need be my country was worth my life. In no way am I dismissing the courage of Heather, she is a hero. What I am trying to convey is that she didn't have a choice. Once you raise your right hand, and swear an oath, your path is set. Heather is courageous and heroic, this is the minimum requirement to be an officer. I thank God we still produce people like Heather.
Oct '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
The blackest day in the history of Islam...
Oct '10
Re: The Pilot Tasked with the Mission of Bringing Down UA Flight 93
I'm no fan of Maher, but his mistake was saying one had courage (al Qaeda terrorists) and the other (US forces) did not, allegedly because the latter use precision guided munitions that kill from afar. I understand the instinct to discredit an enemy's moral worth, but ultimately we harm only ourselves if we can't see our opponent clearly, through dispassionate eyes. Suicide bombers have personal courage: detonating high explosives that are strapped to your body isn't for the faint of heart, nor is flying a plane into a building. We don’t need to pretend jihadists are not personally courageous. Their moral failing revolves around the purpose for which they use their courage.