correct me if im wrong but dont they shoot planes down that refuse to stay on there pre designated flight path.kind of conveniant there were no f16s available that day.no i am not a conspirecy theorist but please tell me why they were stood down.
2007-01-09 00:47:05 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
by the way google opperation northwoods first and read.
2007-01-09 00:54:58 · update #1
lol point taken bad typing.9/11
2007-01-09 00:55:34 · update #2
No US air defenses were 'stood down' on 9/11. The US air defenses were at the same level of alert that had been maintained for the previous decade.
The claim that air defenses had been ordered to 'stand down' has been disproved time and time again.
2007-01-09 02:38:11 · answer #1 · answered by MikeGolf 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I strongly suggest you go buy a copy of the 9/11 Commission's Report and read it. The answer lies within, but here's the short version.
The US does not maintain a constant "air cap" of aircraft in flight over the US for protection. They do, however, have aircraft on "alert" status at strategic locations across the nation; these aircraft are fueled, loaded, and ready to go 24/7. Once they get the "scramble" message, they are in the air within 3 minutes.
Two such aircraft - F16s by the way - were on alert status at Langley AFB, Va on September 11, 2001. These aircraft were scrambled by NORAD and were in the air within the required time, but were not given a vector to a target for nearly ten minutes. The aircraft entered a holding pattern out over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, and by the time they were given a target vector the civilian airliners were too close to the WTC for the fighters to have reached them in time. Even if the fighters had gone to full afterburner, it still would have taken them nearly 20 minutes to reach NYC, far too long to have been able to intercept the airliners. Even if they had made it in time, it would have taken an order from the President of the United States to shoot them down; this would have taken more time - time which was not to be had.
The bottom line is that there was nothing that could have been done to stop the attack once the airliners had been hijacked. It is impossible to prepare a contingency plan for every possible scenario; this was a scenario that no one ever thought would have happened, but it did. Now that it's happened there is a reaction plan in place, but unfortunately that won't do the victims much good now. It will, however, prevent it from happening again - which explains, by the way, why it hasn't happened again. (One of the things that the Al Queda members did not think would happen was that the FAA would shut down all air traffic nation-wide. There were at least 6 more attacks planned for the remainder of the day which included attacks on the west coast as well, but these were foiled when all civilian air traffic was shut down.)
2007-01-09 10:12:47 · answer #2 · answered by Team Chief 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think because they were too busy worrying about what month it was and why their computers said 0/11!
LOL
2007-01-09 08:52:55 · answer #3 · answered by Ken O 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
9/11 was an INSIDE JOB!!!
The US gov. could've shot those planes down, but they didn't want to because they were behind it all.
Israel too!!
2007-01-09 09:54:21 · answer #4 · answered by jswnwv 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Two words: inside job
2007-01-09 09:00:56 · answer #5 · answered by b0nk 1 · 0⤊ 4⤋