The right stuff

Heather "Lucky" Penney now commands the D.C. Air National Guard. Ten years ago, as a newly minted F-16 pilot, she flew a number of sorties on 911; first to intercept Flight 93 and then to clear the skies of planes that might be part of the 911 terrorist attack.

In an interview with Steven Scully on C-SPAN, Penney, who 10 years ago had just completed her basic training on F-16s, talked quietly about the way her day unfolded. This was about as compelling an interview as I've seen in years.

Her sober delivery was laced with disarming levity: "We are very deliberate about who has the authority to authorize whether or not we hit the pickle button and the missile comes off the plane." and "We all kind of laughed, like 'what kind of bozo porked his instrument approach going into New York'?". The language clearly signaled membership of the small elite group of fighter pilots, yet it didn't come across as affected, no did her humor indicate a lack of appreciation for the seriousness of her job.

Her account of the day was both straightforward and fascinating.

Scully: "How did you prepare for something like this? How did you personally prepare prior to 911?

Penney: "Er, yeah, I didn't. [laughs] Because that was not one of our doctrinal taskings, there was no alert training for me as a wing-man. My job was to learn how to go to war, My job wasn't learn how to sit alert, and there were no rules of engagement. We hadn't even thought about what that kind of mission might be like on American soil".

But it was her description of how she planned to bring down a hijacked plane without any weapons on her F-16 that was (forgive the hyperbole) so completely mind-blowing.

In the short time it took for her to gather her flight gear, she had thought through some different scenarios and their implications for collateral damage and concluded that to minimize the debris field meant breaking off the plane's tail section. Without any hint of bravado, she calmly explained that taking off the tail meant ramming her plane into the airliner.

Scully: "Potentially you have to bring down a plane. In the light of everything that was happening, did you give any thought as to how you would have done that - if it was over the city?"

Penney: "For the lager aircraft, it would simply be taking off the tail which would be... I would essentially be a Kamikaze and ram my aircraft in to the tail of the aircraft. I gave some thought to: would I have time to eject? but I would need to ensure... [laughs] ...I mean, you only get one chance. You don't want to eject and then have missed, right? You've got to be able to stick with it the whole way".

Scully: "So you were prepared to take your own life, if necessary, to bring down that plane."

Penney: "Of course".

This last line was delivered quietly, almost dispassionately, yet it was clear that it wasn't because of a lack of emotion. Nor was it empty rhetoric, but came, I think, from deep sense of duty, combined with iron self-discipline and self-control. Penney is exactly the kind of person I'd want defending this country. Intelligent and thoughtful (not to mention articulate), she is indeed "the right stuff".

Watch the video. Believe, me, it will be an hour well spent.