Fighter pilot scrambled on 9/11 was ordered to ram United 93; thought dad was possibly aboard on Astini News
Live Airshow TV/YouTube
Heather Penney, right, and her father, John. Penney flew a fighter jet on 9/11 intended to intercept United Flight 93, which eventually crashed in Shanksville, Pa.A fighter pilot rushed into the skies on 9-11 was prepared to make a kamikaze run at one of the hijacked planes - even though there was a chance her father had been its pilot before terrorists seized command.
Lt. Heather (Lucky) Penney was ordered to bring down United Airlines Flight 93, which security officials feared was hurtling straight toward Washington D.C., The Washington Post reported.
But in the panic that followed the strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, crews at Andrews Air Force Base didn't have enough time to equip her F-16 with missiles.
"We wouldn't be shooting it down," Penney told The Post. "We'd be ramming the aircraft."
"I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot," she added, reflecting back on what would have been a suicide mission.
But in a shocking twist that revealed her steely resolve, The Post reported Wednesday that Penney took the assignment even though she knew her father - a pilot for United - could have been the hijacked jet's original pilot.
The rookie fighter pilot knew only that her dad, John, a Vietnam veteran, was flying out of the East Coast at the time, her family told The Post.
"She knew I was flying that kind of rotation," John Penney added.
"Heather would not have known for sure that her dad wasn't the captain on United 93," her mother, Stephanie said.
In the end, however, Penney and her commanding officer, Col. Marc Sasseville, didn't have to carry out the kamikaze mission.
By the time they zoomed over the smoldering Pentagon, Flight 93 had already crashed in Shanksville, Pa. - the work of a band of passengers who stormed the terrorists in the cockpit.
Penney may have been lucky, but she said she was prepared to give her life for her country - even if that meant rolling that dice that her father would be joining her in death.
"This sounds cold-hearted, I mean that was my daddy - but, frankly, there was no way for me to know, and it would not have changed what I needed to do at all," Penney told the paper.
Instead of performing the death mission, the two pilots spent the rest of 9-11 patrolling Washington's airspace and helping to escort Air Force One back into the area.
Following 9/11, Penney served two tours of duty in Iraq, earning a promotion to major.
She is now a part-time National Guard pilot, ferries VIPs around the country, and still flies recreationally.
She and her family waited ten years to tell the story of her extraordinary mission, The Post reported.
Stephanie Penney called her daughter's attitude a testament to her dedication to her country.
"I did say to Heather: 'We're really glad that wasn't your dad and that you didn't have to think about that,'" she said.
"She just said: 'Mom, I couldn't think about it. I had a job to do.' That's what we're most proud of Heather for - that she was doing her job."
