She was 26 when she was sent to stop the hijacked plane on 9/11 — now she’s speaking out

A fighter jet pilot has revealed what she and a fellow pilot were willing to do to prevent United Airlines Flight 93 reaching Washington DC, 25 years on from that fateful day.

Today (September 11) marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 – a day that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people in what one of the deadliest terror attacks in history.

Terrorists highjacked four commercial planes in total. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 ended up crashing into both towers of the World Trade Center, while American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon in the US capital.

The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, is also believed to have been headed for Washington DC, but never made it there.

As the harrowing events unfolded, Heather Penney, an F-16 pilot at the Washington DC Air National Guard, was sat waiting for orders.

Heather Penney was a 26-year-old fighter pilot at the time of the 9/11 attacks (PBS News Hour)

'We knew our nation was under attack'

Speaking to PBS News, Penney recalled that day 25 years ago.

"The sky was so blue," she said. "It was crystal blue, and it was a perfect flying day. Tech Sergeant Dave Callahan knocks on the door and he says: 'An aircraft just hit the World Trade Center.'"

Penney continued: "We assumed it had to be a Cessna, like a little airplane, bounced off the building, right? We didn't take it seriously.

"And it wasn't until he came back a second time, he said: 'A second aircraft hit the other World Trade Center, and it was on purpose.' And that's when we knew our nation was under attack."

By this point, both the Twin Towers had fallen and the Pentagon had been hit. There were reports that there was another plane (or more) still airborne, so Penney and her wingman, then-Lieutenant Colonel Marc 'Sass' Sasseville, were ordered to take flight.

But the two pilots didn't have weapons readily available to use to take down the other suspected hijacked flights.

"We had the authorization to use lethal force. The problem was Sass and I didn't have weapons," Penney revealed.

"Missiles had not gotten to the flight line yet. We would have had to ram our jets into what we then knew was the target, an airliner."

Their plan? For Sasseville to ram his jet into the cockpit of Flight 93, while Penney would hit the tail of the plane.

'It would have been a suicide mission'

Explaining the details of their plans, Penney said: "So what Sass would do is, he would ram his jet into the cockpit, take out the terrorists, take out the flight controls, ensure that the engine controls the throttles, that that was absolutely gone.

"And then I would - I would hit the tail. I would aerodynamically destabilize the aircraft and it would go straight into the ground."

She went on to note that this would have been a 'suicide mission' for both her and her wingman. Despite this, Penney said neither of them hesitated.

"Everyone on the base, any individual who had ever raised their right-hand would have wanted to be in that two-ship to protect our nation. It was my job," she said.

But Penney and Sasseville 'weren't launched in time' therefore they didn't get the opportunity to carry out their mission. Instead, passengers and crew members fought back against hijackers on Flight 93 resulting in the aircraft crashing in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Their heroic actions will have saved the lives of hundreds of others since the plane didn't make it to Washington DC as intended.

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email [email protected].