Context of '8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001: Fighters Are Training over North Carolina; Not Recalled to Washington until Much Later'

At the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16s assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles from Washington, DC, are flying an air-to-ground training mission to drop some bombs and hit a refueling tanker, on a range in North Carolina, 207 miles away from their base. However, it is only when they are halfway back to Andrews that lead pilot Major Billy Hutchison is able to talk to the acting supervisor of flying (SOF) at Andrews, Lt. Col. Phil Thompson, who tells him to return to the base “buster” (as fast as his aircraft will fly). After landing back at Andrews, Hutchison will be told to take off immediately (see (Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 56] F-16s can travel at a maximum speed of 1,500 mph. [Associated Press, 6/16/2000] Traveling even at 1,100 mph (the speed NORAD Major General Larry Arnold says two fighters from Massachusetts travel toward Flight 175), at least one of these F-16s could have returned from North Carolina to Washington within ten minutes and started patrolling the skies well before 9:00 a.m. [MSNBC, 9/23/2001; Slate, 1/16/2002]

Entity Tags: 121st Fighter Squadron, Phil Thompson, Billy Hutchison

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

At Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, many of the pilots with the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DCANG) are in the headquarters of the 121st Fighter Squadron. They had immediately been suspicious after learning of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. One pilot, Heather Penney, later recalls having wondered, “How do you make a mistake like that?” After the second plane hits at 9:03, someone yells, “We’re under a terrorist attack!” A routine meeting of pilots quickly breaks up. According to Lt. Col. Steve Chase, who is at the operations desk: “People just launched into action. There was a buzz in the unit. People got on the radio and telephones to higher headquarters.” [Washington Post, 4/8/2002] Andrews Air Force Base, which is home to the presidential jet Air Force One, is located ten miles southeast of Washington, DC. [GlobalSecurity (.org), 11/15/2001] According to Knight Ridder, “Air defense around Washington, DC, is provided mainly by fighter planes from Andrews.” [Knight Ridder, 9/11/2001] Yet, according to the 9/11 Commission, the first fighters to take off from Andrews are not airborne until 95 minutes later, at 10:38 a.m. (see (Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44] The DC Air National Guard’s 113th Wing includes the 121st Fighter Squadron and the 201st Airlift Squadron. It flies the F16-C and F16-D Fighting Falcon jet fighters. [GlobalSecurity (.org), 10/21/2001; Washington Post, 11/5/2004] Unlike other Guard units, the DCANG reports to the president, instead of a state governor. The 113th Wing works closely with Secret Service agents who are across the runway in the Air Force One hangar. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Vogel, 2007, pp. 445]

Entity Tags: District of Columbia Air National Guard, Steve Chase, 121st Fighter Squadron, Andrews Air Force Base, Heather Penney Garcia

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard, is in the headquarters of the 113th Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, ten miles southeast of Washington, DC. Reportedly, his “first inkling that the attacks would go beyond New York was when one of his officers, whose husband worked at the Pentagon, saw on television that the building had been hit and began shrieking.” After briefly comforting the woman, he dashes from the building and runs several hundred yards across the base to the headquarters of the DC Air National Guard’s 121st Fighter Squadron. Unlike other Guard units, the DC Air National Guard reports to the president, rather than a state governor. Squadron officers, who work closely with Secret Service agents at the Air Force One hangar at Andrews, have already been told by their contacts that the White House wants fighters launched (see (After 9:03 a.m.) September 11, 2001). However, Wherley says he wants more explicit authorization. He tells the officers, “We have to get instructions. We can’t just fly off half-cocked.” The first fighters to take off from Andrews are not launched until 10:38 and 10:42 a.m. (see (Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001 and (10:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Vogel, 2007, pp. 445-446]

Entity Tags: District of Columbia Air National Guard, David Wherley

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

The first fighter jet to launch from Andrews Air Force Base—which is just ten miles southeast of Washington—in response to the attacks, takes off. [GlobalSecurity (.org), 11/15/2001; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004] The F-16 belongs to the 121st Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, and is piloted by Major Billy Hutchison. It is one of three F-16s that was flying on a training mission in North Carolina, over 200 miles from Andrews (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001), and which has finally been recalled to the base. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; American Forces Press Service, 5/12/2005] Hutchison’s is the only one of the three jets with enough fuel remaining to take off again immediately, though he only has 2,800 pounds, which is equivalent to one-eighth of a tank in a car. His jet has no missiles, and only training ammunition.
Pilot Takes Off, Instructed to Protect Washington - Immediately after landing at Andrews, Hutchison takes off again at the instruction of Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the DC Air National Guard. He is instructed “to intercept an aircraft coming toward DC and prevent it from reaching DC,” he will later recall. [Washington Post, 4/8/2002; Filson, 2003, pp. 79-81] According to author Lynn Spencer, Lt. Col. Phil Thompson, the supervisor of flying (SOF) at Andrews, tells Hutchison to “use whatever force is necessary to prevent [the aircraft] from getting to DC.” Thompson adds: “You are weapons-free. Do you understand?” “Weapons-free” means the decision to shoot at a target now rests solely with Hutchison. [Spencer, 2008, pp. 219] However, according to the 9/11 Commission, the “weapons-free” instruction goes out to other pilots that launch from Andrews at 10:42 and after, but apparently not to Hutchison. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44] Thompson will tell Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine simply that he instructs Hutchison “to ‘do exactly what [air traffic control] asks you to do.’ Primarily, he was to go ID [identify] that unknown [aircraft] that everybody was so excited about.” [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] Hutchison takes off “without afterburner to conserve fuel, go across the White House over the Georgetown area and continue northwest up the Potomac,” he will recall. [Filson, 2003, pp. 81]
Conflicting Timelines - The time Hutchison takes off at is unclear. The pilots with the 121st Fighter Squadron will later admit that their own recollection of the morning’s timeline “is fuzzy.” [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] According to 113th Wing operations desk records, Hutchison takes off at 10:33 a.m. [Filson, 2003, pp. 81 and 89] Based on an interview with David Wherley, the 9/11 Commission states he is airborne at 10:38 a.m. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 44 and 465] But in 2008, Lynn Spencer will claim Hutchison takes off significantly earlier, some time after 9:50 but before Flight 93 crashes (which is just after 10:00 a.m.). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 216-220] Two more fighters will take off from Andrews at 10:42 a.m. (see (10:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] The 113th Wing is not part of NORAD’s air sovereignty force and, according to the 1st Air Force’s book about 9/11, does not have an alert mission. [Filson, 2003, pp. 76] According to Phil Thompson, “We’ve never been an air defense unit,” but “We practice scrambles, we know how to do intercepts and other things.” [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002]

Entity Tags: Phil Thompson, 121st Fighter Squadron, Andrews Air Force Base, David Wherley, Billy Hutchison

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Mike Walter. [Source: CNN]According to a number of witnesses on the ground, a US Air Force F-16 flies low over the Pentagon at this time; apparently becoming the first fighter to arrive over the scene of the third attack. [American Forces Press Service, 10/11/2001; Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130-131] Firefighters and other emergency responders at the Pentagon recently evacuated away from the crash site, due to reports of another supposedly hijacked aircraft flying toward Washington (see (10:15 a.m.-10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Department of Health and Human Services, 7/2002, pp. A30]
Steve Carter, the assistant building manager, is in the Pentagon’s center courtyard, expecting this plane to hit the building. He then sees an F-16 zoom “low and fast over the courtyard.” [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130]
On Washington Boulevard, where many fire and rescue personnel relocated during the evacuation, cheers go up when the F-16 flies over. Firefighter Mike Smith shouts out: “Thank God that guy’s there! Where has he been?” [Creed and Newman, 2008, pp. 130-131]
Lieutenant Commander Dale Rielage will recall that an “arriving combat air patrol F-16 thundered overhead” after the alleged second hijacked plane was said to be approaching the Pentagon. [Fire Engineering, 11/1/2002]
John Jester, the chief of the Defense Protective Service, which guards the Pentagon, says that, following the evacuation, “It wasn’t until an F-15 fighter jet crossed in the sky that we realized the danger had passed.” [Murphy, 2002, pp. 246-247]
USA Today reporter Mike Walter, who has been at the Pentagon since the attack there, recalls that, after the evacuation, an “F-16 came screaming by the Pentagon, and people cheered.” [People, 9/24/2001]
Staff Sergeant Edwin Rotger Jr. will also describe seeing fighters arriving over the Pentagon at this time. However, he says there are two of them, not one. [Office of Medical History, 9/2004, pp. 49]
According to the New York Times, “witnesses, including a reporter for the New York Times who was headed toward the building, did not see any [fighter jets over the Pentagon] until closer to 11 [o’clock].” [New York Times, 9/16/2001]
According to some accounts, the fighter that flies over the Pentagon at this time is Major Billy Hutchison’s F-16 from Andrews Air Force Base (see (Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 235] Hutchison will recall, “I circled at a couple of hundred feet at the most just to, one, investigate, and two, give the people on the ground some semblance of security of an American fighter coming by.” [Filson, 2003, pp. 81-82] However, some accounts contradict this. Major Dean Eckmann, from Langley Air Force Base, suggests his F-16 is the first to fly over the Pentagon, and this was at some time shortly after 9:45 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He will say: “I heard stories that people went back in [the Pentagon] after seeing me fly over to help others out.… Now they knew they were safe.” [Filson, 2003, pp. 66] Other accounts similarly suggest that the first fighter jet (or jets) arrived over the Pentagon significantly earlier than is described by the witnesses on the ground, between 9:49 and 10:00 a.m. (see (Between 9:49 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [CNN, 9/17/2001; 9/11 Commission, 8/26/2004, pp. 34 ]

Entity Tags: Dean Eckmann, Billy Hutchison, Edwin Rotger Jr., Dale Rielage, Mike Walter, John Jester, Steve Carter, Mike Smith

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Capt. Heather Penney Garcia. [Source: ABC]Two F-16s take off from Andrews Air Force Base armed with nothing more than “hot” guns and non-explosive training rounds. Lead pilot Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville flies one; the other pilot is Capt. Heather Penney Garcia, also known by the codename Lucky. These fighters had been waiting to be armed with AIM-9 missiles, a process that takes about an hour. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002] Since they take off without the missiles, presumably they could have taken off unarmed much earlier. (The first call for them to scramble came not long after 9:00 a.m.). Two more F-16s, armed with AIM-9 missiles, will take off ten minutes later, at 10:52 a.m. These are piloted by Major Dan Caine and Captain Brandon Rasmussen. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002; 9/11 Commission, 6/17/2004; Vogel, 2007, pp. 446] F-16s from Richmond, Virginia, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, will arrive over Washington a short time later. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 9/9/2002] The Andrews fighters are apparently the only fighters in the US scrambled before 11:00 with official shootdown authorization, but the first Andrews fighters into the air have no missiles. It is unclear if the Andrews fighters relaunching a few minutes earlier had shootdown orders, but they had no weapons either. It appears the Andrews fighters launching at 10:52 a.m. are the first fighters in the US with both shootdown orders and missiles to use.

Entity Tags: Andrews Air Force Base, Brandon Rasmussen, Dan Caine, Marc Sasseville, 121st Fighter Squadron, Heather Penney Garcia

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline