The plan for the unarmed F-16s scrambled to intercept United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, was an extraordinary and desperate measure. Since the jets had no time to be armed with missiles or cannon rounds, the pilots were prepared to use their aircraft as weapons by ramming the hijacked plane. Here's how this would have worked:
The Concept of Ramming
Direct Contact: The F-16 pilots, Lt. Heather Penney and her commanding officer, Col. Marc Sasseville, were prepared to collide their jets with Flight 93 to force it down and prevent it from reaching its intended target, believed to be a high-value location like the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
Self-Sacrifice: This would have been a kamikaze-like action. The pilots understood that they would likely lose their lives in the process. Lt. Penney later stated that she planned to aim for the plane's cockpit while Sasseville intended to strike the tail section to disrupt its aerodynamics.
How It Would Work
Strategic Collision Points:
The F-16s would aim for critical parts of the airliner, such as the cockpit (to disable the hijackers' control) or the tail (to destabilize the aircraft).
A direct hit to the wings, where fuel tanks are located, could also have caused an explosion, though this might not ensure the aircraft's immediate crash.
Approach Speed and Angles:
Both the F-16 and the hijacked airliner would be traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, requiring precise timing and maneuvering.
The pilots would have to approach from a trajectory that maximized the likelihood of taking down the airliner while giving them as much control as possible during the final seconds.
Ejection as a Last Resort:
If possible, the pilots might eject just before impact to save their own lives. However, the chances of surviving an ejection at high speeds and low altitude were slim.
Why It Was Necessary
The speed of the hijackings and the lack of preparation time meant that the available F-16s were not armed. Normally, F-16s would carry air-to-air missiles or a 20mm cannon, but these take time to load and were not ready in this unprecedented emergency.
There was no alternative to prevent the hijacked airliner from reaching its target. Ground-based anti-aircraft defenses were either unavailable or ineffective for such an internal threat.