The first thing I\u00a0do after getting out of bed in the morning is turn\u00a0on the small radio sitting on top of the medicine cabinet\u00a0in the\u00a0bathroom. Donna and I\u00a0like to listen to NPR news\u00a0while we\u00a0get ourselves\u00a0ready for the day.\u00a0Fifteen years ago this morning, we turned the radio on in the middle of a live report from New York City: a small plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers and there was a fire on the upper levels.\u00a0As they described the extent of the damage and the black smoke billowing from the top of the tower, I began to wonder if a small plane could have created such havoc. Taking our toothbrushes with us, we\u00a0moved to the family room to\u00a0see if the TV networks were covering it yet. They were, and three minutes later, right before our eyes, a large airliner\u00a0flew into the second tower.<\/p>\n
Well, yeah … and?\u00a0Who doesn’t remember\u00a0where they\u00a0were and what they\u00a0were doing that morning? I’ll just say this: to this day, every time I reach up to turn on the radio I dread what I may hear.<\/p>\n
Back to The Morning Of: my boss\u00a0called to tell me the base was locked\u00a0down, essential personnel only. He called again 30 minutes later: the company had decided we were essential personnel. When I got there everyone was clustered around a portable TV someone had brought in, and that’s how we spent the rest of the day.<\/p>\n
Later, as we were closing the office, my boss told me in secrecy that the fourth plane, the one that had gone\u00a0down in Pennsylvania, had been shot down by an F-16. We were both former fighter pilots, defense contractors training new A-10 pilots, still plugged into the USAF fighter community rumor mill. We believed the story to be true.<\/p>\n
Of course it turned out to be untrue, based on a rumor started by a refueling truck driver at Andrews AFB who saw a lone F-16 taxiing back in after scrambling that day. There weren’t any\u00a0missiles on the wings, so it must have fired them, right? What he didn’t know was that the jet had taken off unarmed. The pilot had been prepared to ram the hijacked airliner<\/a>, but it was already a smoking hole in the ground by the time she got there.<\/p>\n
![\"011106-F-4308R-005\"](\"https:\/\/c6.staticflickr.com\/9\/8533\/29531749141_5ab5c270cd_z.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n