Fighter pilots recall mission to take down Flight 93 on 9/11

After two fighter pilots watched two planes hit the World Trade Center 20 years ago, they scrambled into their F-16s knowing that it might be their last mission.


The Air National Guard pilots, Lieutenant General Marc Sasseville and Heather Penney, had no time to spare. The country was under attack. They knew of at least one plane still in the sky that was flying low. It was United Flight 93.

"We knew immediately, as soon as we saw the images, that we needed to protect and defend," Penney said. "We understood what the threat was. We were looking for a rogue airliner, flying low, that was not communicating with air traffic control."