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Fighter pilot on order to take down Flight 93 on 911 · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: We want to start the hour tonight with someone very special.
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  Speaker 1: That is retired Air Force Major Heather Lucky Penny, who
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  Speaker 1: was a rookie pilot in the D.C. Air National Guard
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  Speaker 1: on 9-11. And as the attacks were unfolding, was given
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  Speaker 1: a mission to intercept Flight 93 before it could reach
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  Speaker 1: the nation's capital, even if doing so meant sacrificing her
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  Speaker 1: own life by ramming the plane itself. And Major Penny,
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  Speaker 1: I'm honored to have you here tonight. So I just
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  Speaker 1: want to say thank you for joining us on this day.
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  Speaker 1: And As you look back 25 years later, what do
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  Speaker 1: you remember about that morning at Andrews Air Force Base?
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  Speaker 2: That morning was totally ordinary and everyday. My fighter squadron,
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  Speaker 2: which was the District of Columbia Air National Guard, was
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  Speaker 2: min-manned because we had just gotten bagged from a major exercise.
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  Speaker 2: So we really didn't have the pilots, the maintainers, the
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  Speaker 2: personnel to launch into the combat operations area. that we
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  Speaker 2: would embark on later that morning. You have to remember,
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  Speaker 2: in this moment, after the fall of the Soviet Union,
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  Speaker 2: the nation had slashed our air force in half. And
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  Speaker 2: while my unit, once upon a time, had sat alert,
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  Speaker 2: we were no longer an alert asset. So we had
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  Speaker 2: no live weapons. We were not plugged into command and control.
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  Speaker 2: We were not part of the NORAD response and responsibility
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  Speaker 2: to control and secure our skies.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think some people might hear what happened with
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  Speaker 1: you and think, was there not a plan to scramble
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  Speaker 1: planes to put them in the sky or have this
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  Speaker 1: in that moment? And it's pretty remarkable that there wasn't.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, so how did you know what to do
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  Speaker 1: in that moment amid such chaos and confusion?
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  Speaker 2: Well, first, there were only five units around the United States,
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  Speaker 2: the contiguous United States. And so there were alert units
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  Speaker 2: in Norfolk and an alert unit up in Massachusetts, but
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  Speaker 2: not one dedicated to D.C. But we knew what needed
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  Speaker 2: to be done because we had seen the images already.
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  Speaker 2: on the television. We had seen the airliners crash into
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  Speaker 2: the towers, aim and crash. And we could see the
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  Speaker 2: smoke coming out of the Pentagon from our flight line.
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  Speaker 2: So we knew our nation was under attack and we
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  Speaker 2: knew that we would need to do whatever it took
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  Speaker 2: to protect and defend.
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  Speaker 1: So you get up in the sky and what was
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  Speaker 1: going through your mind?
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  Speaker 2: It took us too long to get airborne because since
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  Speaker 2: we knew what the target would be, what the threat
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  Speaker 2: would be, an airliner, a hijacked airliner full of innocent Americans,
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  Speaker 2: we had to wait until we had the appropriate authorization
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  Speaker 2: to get airborne. And when we finally did, Mark Sassabill,
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  Speaker 2: who is my flight lead, I was just a young weeman,
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  Speaker 2: Our mission was clear, to protect and defend, and we
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  Speaker 2: would do whatever it would take to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: no more harm came to our countrymen, came to our country.
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  Speaker 2: And because we didn't have any missiles, we knew that
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  Speaker 2: that would be a suicide mission.
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  Speaker 1: What was it like for you, as someone as young
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  Speaker 1: as you were on that day, to be up in
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  Speaker 1: the sky thinking that that could be your last mission?
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  Speaker 2: I was doing my job. I had sworn an oath
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  Speaker 2: to protect and defend. And honestly, if God had put
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  Speaker 2: me in that moment, then that was my purpose. I
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  Speaker 2: was just a small thing compared to what this nation means.
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  Speaker 2: And if you remember the days and the weeks that
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  Speaker 2: followed 9-11, where we came together as a nation and
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  Speaker 2: it didn't, none of the things that are dividing us today,
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  Speaker 2: none of that mattered, but we knew that we were neighbors, right?
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  Speaker 2: that we were human, that we all had families and
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  Speaker 2: loved ones and dreams and we all cherished our freedoms
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  Speaker 2: and what this nation has allowed us to be able
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  Speaker 2: to do, that we all came together, that's so much
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  Speaker 2: bigger than what I was. And to me, that was
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  Speaker 2: worth and still is worth giving my life for to protect.
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  Speaker 1: It just is a remarkable story. I mean, there are
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  Speaker 1: so many different stories from that day of bravery and
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  Speaker 1: heroics and And, you know, I wonder what went through
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  Speaker 1: your mind when you realized what had happened on Flight 93,
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  Speaker 1: that you were prepared to sacrifice your life to take
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  Speaker 1: that plane down, thinking it was hijacked and was going
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  Speaker 1: for a major target. When you found out that it
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  Speaker 1: was the citizens on board, the moms, the dads, the salesmen,
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  Speaker 1: the kids on that plane that decided to to sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: their own lives to protect other people once they realized
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  Speaker 1: what was going on. What was it like for you
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  Speaker 1: to hear that?
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  Speaker 2: Those passengers, the decisions that they made, their heroic actions
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  Speaker 2: gives me hope. It gave me hope back then and
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  Speaker 2: it gives me hope today because none of them were veterans,
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  Speaker 2: service members, first responders, volunteer firefighters. They were just ordinary Americans,
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  Speaker 2: and yet they chose to make that ultimate sacrifice. And
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  Speaker 2: that that kind of heroism is in ordinary Americans, that
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  Speaker 2: they realize that there are things in this world that
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  Speaker 2: are more important than ourselves, and that this thing called
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  Speaker 2: America is something worth it. That gives me hope. That
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  Speaker 2: gives me hope for our nation that even today, as
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  Speaker 2: divided as we are, that we can come together and
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  Speaker 2: really be e pluribus unum.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just the let's roll story. I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: think every year is something that makes everyone emotional.
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  Speaker 2: Todd Beamer. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: As Todd Beamer had made that call and they charged
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  Speaker 1: the cockpit and took that plane down. Major Penny, Heather,
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  Speaker 1: Lucky Penny, it is an honor to speak with you tonight.
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  Speaker 1: And I just want to say thank you for joining
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  Speaker 1: us on this year, this anniversary. And thank you for
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  Speaker 1: your service as well to this country and for what
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  Speaker 1: you did on that day and what you were prepared
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  Speaker 1: to do.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. Serving has been my privilege.
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  Speaker 1: It's a joy to hear from you tonight. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: And I should note that on that moment 25 years ago,
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  Speaker 1: Major Penny went up in the sky that day preparing
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  Speaker 1: to sacrifice her own life to take down that flight,
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  Speaker 1: ended up escorting Air Force One in the sky that day, which,
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  Speaker 1: of course, is where President Bush was flying later after
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  Speaker 1: he had been told while he was in Florida that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the nation was under attack as he was sitting in
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  Speaker 1: that Florida classroom. It was one of the most unforgettable
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  Speaker 1: scenes from that day. My next source tonight was actually
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  Speaker 1: one of the few people who experienced it firsthand, how
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  Speaker 1: it played out from the president's perspective.
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  Speaker 3: ABC's Ann Compton. is with the president at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: and we have her on the telephone.
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  Speaker 4: Annie.
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  Speaker 5: Peter, it has been a frightening couple of hours for
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  Speaker 5: President Bush. We don't know much about what's gone on
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  Speaker 5: in the ground, but he has been able to see
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  Speaker 5: some of it on a very fuzzy television picture. President
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  Speaker 5: Bush is.
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  Speaker 4: Here at the home of the Strategic Command. This is
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  Speaker 4: the area, this is the base where those big doomsday
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  Speaker 4: aircraft are kept.
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  Speaker 3: Ann Compton, who's been with the president all day, in
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  Speaker 3: a very tight group of people with the president, is
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  Speaker 3: on Air Force One and can talk to us at
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  Speaker 3: the moment. Annie, can you hear me?
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  Speaker 4: Yes, Peter, I can. We're just getting off of Air
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  Speaker 4: Force One. He has arrived back in Washington with a
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  Speaker 4: dramatic flight with F-16s and F-15s on either wing as
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  Speaker 4: he came into Andrews Air Force Base.