A retiring Air Force pilot has described the chilling day he was sent on a heroic suicide mission to ram a 9/11 hijacked plane to stop it hitting its target.
On September 11 2001, Marc Sasseville received orders to fly his fighter jet and intercept hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it reached Washington.
The F-16 fighter pilot did not have missiles on his jet, so he set flight knowing he would likely have to ram the plane and it was very likely a suicide mission.
He told ABC13: ‘One of the memories that will stay with me forever is seeing the Pentagon on fire and being able to smell the fumes that were coming off of that.’
But before Sasseville had to intervene, passengers and crew on the flight stormed the cabin and regained control from the hijackers, causing the plane to crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone onboard.
On September 11 2001, Marc Sasseville received orders to fly his fighter jet and intercept hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it reached Washington
Sasseville, who is now set to retire after forty years of service, recounted the terrifying day in an interview with ABC13.
After two planes hit the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York and a third hit the Pentagon, Sasseville was scrambled to prevent a fourth plane – United Airlines Flight 93 – headed to Washington from reaching its target.
Along with fellow F-16 pilot Heather Penney, who was just 26 at the time, Sasseville jumped into his jet and took off from the Joint Base Andrews near DC.
The pair did not yet know their mission.
As they flew over the Pentagon, Sasseville remembered the smell of the ‘burning concrete, the fuel from the airplane that it hit.’
At that point he said he realized ‘we just got attacked again and we are really challenged to respond.’
Then the pair received their orders to find and stop Flight 93 – but because of how quickly they had scrambled, their jets were not equipped with missiles.
Sasseville told ABC: ‘My challenge was, how do we take down this very unique threat, a civilian airliner … full of people, full of civilian people?’
After talking to Penney, the pair decided that if needed they would ram the hijacked plane with their jets, in what would almost definitely be a suicide mission.
Sasseville, who had two young children and a wife at home at the time, said: ‘The training kicked in. I felt like I was on autopilot.’
They decided that Sasseville would target the front of the jetliner and Penney would target the tail.
But before the time came for them to intervene, the passengers and crew onboard the flight managed to storm the cockpit, regaining control of the aircraft.
The plane crashed into an empty field in Shanksville, killing everyone onboard.
Sasseville said: ‘If those heroes on 93 – and by the way, those are the real heroes – if they hadn’t taken action and they hadn’t done what needed to be done, it would have been a very different outcome for me and my family.’
Sasseville told ABC: ‘My challenge was, how do we take down this very unique threat, a civilian airliner … full of people, full of civilian people?’
As they flew over the Pentagon, Sasseville remembered the smell of the ‘burning concrete, the fuel from the airplane that it hit’
After the plane crashed, Sasseville and Penney were sent to escort Air Force One as President George W. Bush returned to Washington.
When he returned home, Sasseville didn’t share the extent of his duties with his family, only telling them that he would be away working ‘for a long time because something very bad had happened to America.’
He stayed in the Air Force for another 20 years after 9/11, working his way through the ranks to become a three star general.
At his retirement ceremony he said: ‘It has been a tremendous honor and a privilege to serve, and a truly rare opportunity for me and my family to make a difference.
‘Now, you have the watch. Thank you all.’
