Where were the fighters? by Matt Giwer, © 2002 [June]
One of the many odd things about 9/11, no one reported the fighter escorts for the hijacked airliners. When the WTC towers were burning there were many cameras on them. Not one fighter was seen by any of them. Yet we have been told many times that fighters were scrambled but unfortunately too late to do anything. If they were scrambled, why did no one see them? Why are they on no photos or news footage? It is standard operating procedure when a plane is hijacked or suspected of being hijacked the Air Force is notified. The Air Force then scrambles a fighter to escort it. Among the reasons to suspect a hijacking is the transponder being turned off and the pilot cannot or does not explain it over the radio. These two things happened on all four planes. THEREFORE, the government knew it was a terrorist attack the instant the first hijacked plane hit the WTC. The government did not have to wait for the second plane to hit. YET we are still told the government did not know it was an attack until the second plane hit. WHY? Procedure required four escort fighters in the sky. That means two after the planes headed for New York City, one for each of the two airliners headed for the World Trade Center. There are amateur estimates indicating the fighters could not have reached the airliners in time to shoot them down. But all estimates show they were only minutes too late. If we take as a given the planes could not arrive in time to shoot them down we are left with the important question, why were they not seen? It is not credible to suggest the fighters were ordered to return to base as soon as the airliners hit. Any reasonable order would have the fighters continue on to the WTC to provide the first description of the impacts from the air. But it gets worse. When the first tower was hit there would have been two fighters in the air. There is a very obvious order. When the first airliner hit the intent of the second was obvious and the fighter chasing the first would have been ordered to intercept the second airliner. Now matter how the time estimates for intercept are constructed, the first fighter could have reached the second airliner in time. As authorization for a shootdown has to come from the Secretary of Defense or higher it is possible the authorization did not come in time. It is also possible policy is not to shoot down over heavily populated areas like the New York City. But then there would have been a fighter over the WTC seconds after the second airliner hit. And the second fighter should have shown up in a few minutes. And both should have circled the area providing what information they could. No fighters were reported seen or caught on film. Almost immediately after the first WTC hit, TV and still cameras were trained on the buildings. Pointing upwards they caught wide sections of the sky. They were pointed upward from different directions almost from the first hit until both had collapsed. Not one fighter was seen. These considerations apply to the other two airliners except there is no reason to expect catching the planes on film. We would expect to have people reporting seeing them, particularly at the Pentagon where the people evacuating the building have extensive military knowledge and experience. Hundreds if not thousands of people would have been checking the sky looking for the fighter and more airliners. Reports at the time told of a fourth plane still in the air and they would have known it. In the Pentagon and the WTC attacks there would have been two things everyone would have been doing, looking at the impact and watching the sky for more airliners. Many people at the Pentagon would also have been looking for the fighter. The absence of reports or film of the fighters leads us to only one conclusion, the standard procedure in hijackings was not followed. There were no chase planes. We are left with the question of why procedure was not followed.
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