Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Former President Bush's AF1 pilot recounts day of 911 attacks

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Former President Bush's AF1 pilot recounts day of 911 attacks · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back. 25 years ago today, President George W. Bush
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  Speaker 1: was found. He was in that Florida classroom when he
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  Speaker 1: learned America was under attack. His first instinct was to
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  Speaker 1: get back to Washington, D.C. But with the country under
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  Speaker 1: attack and the threat still unclear, the immediate mission was different.
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  Speaker 1: It's to get the president airborne and keep him safe.
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  Speaker 1: And the man responsible for doing that, Colonel Mark Tillman.
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  Speaker 1: He was George W. Bush's Air Force One pilot on 9-11.
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  Speaker 1: And that morning, he was at the controls as the
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  Speaker 1: president and the country were face the unthinkable. Here's our
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  Speaker 1: conversation with Colonel Mark Tillman. Colonel, it's good to see
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  Speaker 1: you again. Thank you for being here. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: your service.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Let's pick up with Sarasota, Florida, September 11th, 2001. What
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  Speaker 1: was the first communication or messaging you got about how
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  Speaker 1: your day had changed?
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  Speaker 2: You know, the entire trip was based on the education concept,
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  Speaker 2: no child left behind, Jacksonville first and Sarasota. Literally, after
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  Speaker 2: the first plane hit the North Tower is when we
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  Speaker 2: started getting information. The radio operators were watching the Today Show,
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  Speaker 2: which was our standard source of information and news, mainly
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  Speaker 2: because the media could get you better information than our
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  Speaker 2: command and control. And what we heard from our command
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  Speaker 2: and control after that was, This is just an aircraft
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  Speaker 2: accident in New York. So we literally, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: pilots on board, we looked at what the footprint of
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  Speaker 2: the aircraft that crashed in the tower looked like. And
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  Speaker 2: we knew it wasn't a light aircraft. It was a
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  Speaker 2: large aircraft. I told everybody, expect more information. Plus, people
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  Speaker 2: have been killed, obviously. So we're going to be going
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  Speaker 2: to New York. So we started planning a trip to
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  Speaker 2: New York within the next couple of days. And then
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  Speaker 2: just went back to our duties, waiting for the president
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  Speaker 2: to arrive.
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  Speaker 1: And then the information changes and it becomes clear we
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  Speaker 1: are now at war. And your mission that day changes.
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  Speaker 1: It is to get the president airborne. And that was
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  Speaker 1: no small task. There was threats being reported that morning
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  Speaker 1: there in Sarasota.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct. The plan was to get him airborne,
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  Speaker 2: get him to a safe location. Continuity of government was
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  Speaker 2: critical as well. The vice president had been moved. The
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  Speaker 2: secretary of defense, we couldn't get in touch with him,
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  Speaker 2: mainly because— You know, after the Pentagon got hit, he
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  Speaker 2: was outside. So it was tough to get communications. Sec
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  Speaker 2: State coming in from South America wasn't in contact with
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  Speaker 2: us either. So a lot of frustration by President Bush.
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  Speaker 2: So at that point, yes, we had to get airborne
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  Speaker 2: as quick as possible just for safety's sake and get
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  Speaker 2: the president back to Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 1: And talk to me about how the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: day unfolds in terms of, first, instead of going to Washington, D.C.,
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  Speaker 1: there's a decision to go to Barksdale Air Force Base
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  Speaker 1: in Louisiana.
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  Speaker 2: The decision by the president as we're heading into Washington, D.C.,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Dr. Rice as well as the vice president
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  Speaker 2: were asking him to loiter and to stay away from
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  Speaker 2: Washington until they could confirm it was safe for him
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  Speaker 2: to come back.
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  Speaker 1: How did the decision process go to move then from
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  Speaker 1: Barksdale to Offutt from one base to another before ultimately
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day returning to Washington, D.C.? You.
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  Speaker 2: Know, after the president addressed the American public, the plan
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  Speaker 2: was then, OK, let's get him to a location where
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  Speaker 2: he can be safe. deep underground where he can talk
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  Speaker 2: with the national command authority he can you know take
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  Speaker 2: time where he's not worried he's going to be safe
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  Speaker 2: and we thought we'd be there maybe 10 to 12
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  Speaker 2: hours but you know as i joke true texans you
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  Speaker 2: know you got to get back to what you know
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  Speaker 2: got to get into the fight sitting underground isn't what
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  Speaker 2: he wanted to do so he came out of there
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  Speaker 2: within a couple hours that being the president came up
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  Speaker 2: to us in the plane and just literally said hey
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  Speaker 2: It's time to get home. And, you know, that was
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  Speaker 2: that's what we did. Flew him home as fast as
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  Speaker 2: we could. Got to get him to Washington.
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  Speaker 1: Is there one part of this story, September 11, 2001,
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  Speaker 1: that lives in your mind flying Air Force One? Yeah, definitely.
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  Speaker 2: The the threats on September 11th were all countered and
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  Speaker 2: they were countered by first responders, military all over the world.
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  Speaker 2: But in the United States. I mean, the Rudy Giuliani calls,
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  Speaker 2: the firefighter calls, the police calls, all of them taking
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  Speaker 2: care of business. And, you know, a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: died that day. And, you know, so that was the afterthought.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of people died. There wasn't a lot we
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  Speaker 2: could do about it. But everybody in the United States
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  Speaker 2: of America that day and after came together. And we
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  Speaker 2: became America standing strong. And that's the biggest memory I've
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  Speaker 2: got of September 11th. And it's just incredible how President
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  Speaker 2: Bush died. took care of business, and then brought the
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  Speaker 2: country together.
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  Speaker 1: So many decisions made in a confusing and threatening time.
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  Speaker 1: Those decisions being made from the back of an airplane,
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  Speaker 1: Air Force One. But almost every person I've spoken to
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  Speaker 1: that's involved, that was involved in the Bush administration, involved
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  Speaker 1: in what was happening that day, has sung your praises,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Tillman. They have, independent of my meeting you, said
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  Speaker 1: to me the decisions being made at the front of
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  Speaker 1: Air Force One were just as important and incredible as
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  Speaker 1: anything else that day. We appreciate you. Thanks for sharing
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  Speaker 1: your story and for your service.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
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