(9:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Pilots at Langley Air Force Base Go to ‘Battle Stations’
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Major Dean Eckmann.Major Dean Eckmann. [Source: US Air Force]The two pilots on alert at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia are put on “battle stations,” and get into their fighter jets, ready to take off if required. [LONGMAN, 2002, PP. 64; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 24] Being at “battle stations” means the pilots are in their planes’ cockpits with the engines turned off, but ready to start them and taxi out should a scramble order follow. [FILSON, 2003, PP. 55; SPENCER, 2008, PP. 27] NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) has ordered this in response to the news of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center and over concerns that the fighters launched from Otis Air National Guard base in response to Flight 11 might run out of fuel (see 9:09 a.m. September 11, 2001 and (9:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 460; 9/11 COMMISSION, 8/26/2004, PP. 88 pdf file] According to journalist and author Jere Longman, the two “alert” pilots at Langley are currently “still in the dark about the gravity of the moment.” [LONGMAN, 2002, PP. 64-65]
Pilot Wonders If Order Connected to Events in New York - Major Dean Eckmann, one of the pilots on alert, will later recall: “The scramble horn goes off and we get the yellow light, which is our battle stations. So at that point I go running out to… my assigned alert airplane, get suited up, and I get into the cockpit ready to start.” [BBC, 9/1/2002] He asks his crew chief, “Do you think this has anything to do with New York?” The chief replies: “I can’t imagine how. The Otis guys could handle that.”
Pilot Told 'This Is Just Precautionary'
- Meanwhile, Captain Craig Borgstrom, the unit’s operations manager, is briefing the other alert pilot, Major Brad Derrig, on what he knows. He tells him: “There’s some wacky stuff happening. Some airplane just hit the World Trade Center. I don’t have any more information, but I’m sure this is just precautionary.” Borgstrom then heads out to give Eckmann the same brief, but has to stop to answer a phone call from NEADS (see (Between 9:10 a.m. and 9:23 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [SPENCER, 2008, PP. 118] Although the 9/11 Commission and other accounts will state that the Langley jets are placed on battle stations at 9:09, a BBC documentary will suggest this happens at 9:21, and Longman will indicate this does not occur until 9:24. [LONGMAN, 2002, PP. 64; AVIATION WEEK AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY, 6/3/2002; BBC, 9/1/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 24] The two alert jets, along with a third jet piloted by Borgstrom, will be ordered to scramble at 9:24 a.m. (see 9:24 a.m. September 11, 2001). [CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, 4/16/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 8/26/2004, PP. 16 pdf file]
Entity Tags: Craig Borgstrom, Langley Air Force Base, Dean Eckmann, Northeast Air Defense Sector, Brad Derrig
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
Profile: David Wherley
David Wherley was a participant or observer in the following events:
(Shortly After 9:39 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Andrews Commander Reacts to News of Pentagon Attack, Yet Doesn’t Want Fighters Launched Without Further Instructions
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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
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(Between 9:55 a.m. and 10:38 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Fighter Recalled from Training in North Carolina Relaunches from Washington, DC
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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
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(Before 10:36 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Andrews Fighters Ordered to Shoot Down Threatening Planes over Washington
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General David Wherley.General David Wherley. [Source: US Air Force]A Secret Service agent again contacts Andrews Air Force Base and commands, “Get in the air now!” It’s not clear if this is treated as an official scramble order, or how quickly fighters respond to it. According to fighter pilot Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville, almost simultaneously, a call from someone else in the White House declares the Washington area “a free-fire zone. That meant we were given authority to use force, if the situation required it, in defense of the nation’s capital, its property, and people.” [AVIATION WEEK AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY, 9/9/2002]
Discussions with Secret Service - Apparently, this second call is made to General David Wherley, flight commander of the Air National Guard at Andrews, who has made several phone calls this morning, seeking airborne authorization for his fighters. Wherley had contacted the Secret Service after hearing reports that it wanted fighters airborne. One Secret Service agent, using two telephones at once, relays instructions to Wherley from another Secret Service agent in the White House who has been given the instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney. [FILSON, 2003, PP. 79; 9/11 COMMISSION, 6/17/2004] The identity of all the secret service agents is not known, but one of them is Becky Ediger. She is apparently told by Cheney to pass along an order from President Bush to shoot down hijacked civilian jets, if that is necessary to keep them from hitting any building near the White House. [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/22/2004 pdf file]
Wherley's Account - Wherley gives lead pilot Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville the authority to decide whether to execute a shootdown. According to a different account, during this call Wherley is speaking with a woman (presumably Ediger) in the Secret Service’s command and control center at the White House. Wherley will recall: “She was standing next to the vice president (Dick Cheney) and she said, ‘They want you to put a CAP up.’ Basically what they told me, and this is another one of those things that’s clear in my mind… ‘We want you to intercept any airplane that attempts to fly closer than 20 miles around any airport around the Washington area.… Attempt to turn them away, do whatever you can to turn them away and if they won’t turn away use whatever force is necessary… to keep them from hitting a building downtown.’”
Denial - President Bush and Vice President Cheney will later claim they were not aware that any fighters had scrambled from Andrews at the request of the Secret Service. [FILSON, 2003, PP. 79; 9/11 COMMISSION, 6/17/2004] The anonymous White House officials will later say that the Secret Service acted on its own initiative in getting the aircraft launched. However, the Secret Service will deny this in a written statement: “The Secret Service is not authorized to, nor did it, direct the activation or launch of Department of Defense aviation assets.” Current senior Secret Service officials will say that the agents’ actions on 9/11 are ordered by Cheney. An official speaking for Cheney will say he does know whether he directed the agents to call the fighter wing and will not be able to find out. [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/22/2004 pdf file] Sasseville and the Capt. Heather Penney Garcia will take off at 10:42 a.m. (see (10:42 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Entity Tags: Secret Service, George W. Bush, David Wherley, Andrews Air Force Base, Marc Sasseville, Becky Ediger, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
