News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMine9-11norad-faa-response — Viewing Item


Af pentagon tracked 1999 flight { October 26 1999 }

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.cnn.com/US/9910/26/shootdown/

http://www.cnn.com/US/9910/26/shootdown/

Pentagon never considered downing Stewart's Learjet
President would have to make decision

October 26, 1999
Web posted at: 8:27 p.m. EDT (0027 GMT)

From CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The unusual circumstances surrounding the doomed flight of a private Learjet that crashed and killed professional golfer Payne Stewart and five others has prompted questions about whether the U.S. military is prepared to shoot down a runaway plane if it were headed for a highly-populated area.

That scenario, while possible, it highly unlikely, according to the Pentagon.

For the Air Force to shoot down an unarmed civilian plane, it would require circumstances even more dire, than those surrounding the crash of Stewart's jet.

"We would take almost any reasonable action before reaching a point of having to make a decision about destroying an American plane over American air space," Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said.

Pentagon monitored flight

Several Air Force and Air National Guard fighter jets, plus an AWACS radar control plane, helped the Federal Aviation Administration track the runaway Learjet and estimate when it would run out of fuel.

And officers on the Joint Chiefs were monitoring the Learjet on radar screens inside the Pentagon's National Military Command Center.

Two armed Air Force F-16 air defense fighters were placed on alert at Fargo just moments before the Learjet crashed, but they were never ordered to take off, Bacon said.

"The main issue was figuring out where it was going," Bacon said. Once it was determined that the Learjet was following a consistent path north toward the Dakotas, "We didn't have to deal with other options."

'Really tough decisions'

But even if an unguided plane were on a collision course with the center of a major city, military planes could not take aim and pull the trigger unless they received permission from the White House because only the president has the authority to order a civilian aircraft shot down.

"If the president's advisors had advised him that this airplane was a threat to either the aviation system, our national security, or populations on the ground, they might have been justified to make that kind of a decision," said Susan Coughlin, an aviation analyst for CNN.

The Pentagon insists it never came to that, but a senior advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff did raise the question.

"Admiral Fry, or someone working with him, said, 'You know, if this thing suddenly veers off course and heads to Chicago, we'll have some really tough decisions to make,'" Bacon recounted.

Part of that tough decision would be to give the order knowing that there could be casualties on the ground from falling debris.


Pentagon rules on ' Derelict Airborne Objects'

Expert say there is no good way to divert a pilot-less plane.

In theory, a chase plane might attempt a risky maneuver by moving under the wayward plane and using air pressure to nudge its wing and alter its course.

But if the auto-pilot remained engaged, the plane might simply resume its previous flight path.

An air-to-air rescue -- while a staple of Hollywood thrillers such as the movie "Executive Decision" -- is implausible in real life.

"What they are seeing in Hollywood movies is lot of very sophisticated animation," said Coughlin.

The U.S. military has never shot down a civilian plane to prevent it from crashing in a populated area, and Pentagon officials believe there is only the remotest chance they will have to give that order in the future.

Bacon noted Tuesday that during the drama Monday, Navy Vice Adm. Herb Browne, the deputy commander in chief of the U.S. Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, consulted the Pentagon's written "Instructions For Destruction of Derelict Airborne Objects."

The instructions, dated July 31, 1997, make no explicit reference to shooting down manned aircraft but say that destroying other airborne objects such as unmanned balloons or "unmanned non-nuclear rockets or missiles" would require prior approval from the secretary of defense.

Bacon said the Pentagon has no written instructions for shooting down manned civilian planes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



67 af scrambles year before 911
67 fighter chase suspicious aircraft year before 911
911 coup operated by cheney
911 panel set to detail flaws in air defenses { April 25 2004 }
Af guilty 911 { November 14 2001 }
Af pentagon tracked 1999 flight { October 26 1999 }
Af scrambled from andrews airforce base
Af standdown
Af there 5 minutes
Air security seriously flawed commission says { July 23 2004 }
Airforce chasing phantoms { June 18 2004 }
Airforce tries to explain mystery plane on 911 { September 12 2007 }
Andrews air force intercepts stray plane 2003
Andrews fighters intercept in 2005 threat { June 29 2005 }
Cheney erroneously scrambled langley jets { June 18 2004 }
Cheney stand down order { May 23 2003 }
Cheney told bush air force one is in danger
Colonel marr refused aircraft on 911
Commision probe failures of air defenses { June 1 2004 }
Complain airline emergency procedures 911 lawsuit { March 31 2003 }
Delay notifying law enforcement to be investigated { September 14 2001 }
Faa considered possible hijacking
Faa regulation loss radar
Fighters 8 minutes away
Flight 11 controllers tale { September 13 2001 }
Flight 11 loses contact 814 am { October 17 2001 }
Insiders misdirect military { May 27 2002 }
Jeb bush plane intercepted
Jesse ventura wonders about air force response { July 1 2005 }
Jets from langley sent towards atlantic ocean
Jets kept armed and fueled by NORAD { June 15 2004 }
Jets took to skies { August 29 2002 }
No planes ready 911 { August 29 2002 }
Norad informed 840 am
Norad not instantly notified
Norad not notified { August 12 2002 }
Norad ready { September 19 2001 }
Norad response google cache [htm]
Norad response times [jpg]
Norad thought hijacking excercise
Otis base 153 miles away { August 30 2002 }
Panel hears ciritic delays in air defenses on 911 { June 1 2004 }
Panelsubpoenas norad airforce response
Payne stewart jets scrambled { October 26 1999 }
Pentagon deceives commission on 911 response { August 2 2006 }
Planes not scrambled { September 11 2001 }
Planes take off from andrews { May 24 2003 }
Post 911 practice downing hijacked jets { October 3 2003 }
Prepared to order aircraft shoot down
Private plane in 1999 gets jet fighter escort { October 26 1999 }
Probe reconstructs horror
Radar lost pentagon flight 77
Response to attacks { June 3 2002 }
Scambled messages no fighters
Scrambled jets on 911 { September 15 2001 }
Scrambled messages
Shoot down order issued
Shootdown order given
Shootdown order never given to pilots { June 18 2004 }
Sonic boom scrambled jets { January 25 2003 }
Transcript flight 11 { October 16 2001 }
Two faa executives lied to 911 commission { September 2 2006 }
Two jets from andrews { February 6 2003 }
Two jets from andrews { July 26 2002 }
Where was the air force { September 11 2001 }
White house orders all military machines down

Files Listed: 66



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple