It's been exactly 20 years since 9/11, but for the families of the victims, the trauma caused by the incident can never be healed, and their biggest question is, why didn't the so-powerful U.S. Air Force shoot down the hijacked plane at the first time and allow this tragedy to happen?
After being hit by a passenger plane, the World Trade Center
On September 11, 2001, the first 4 US domestic flights were hijacked, deviated from the original route, and targeted the Landmark Building in New York, the 415-meter-high World Trade Center and the Pentagon, where the US Department of Defense is located, but the US official reaction was completely unknown in advance, and afterwards it was first slow to react and then panicked, and at the critical moment it was indecisive, so that the terrorist attack that killed 2996 people finally occurred.
A three-dimensional view of a hijacked airliner crashing into the World Trade Center
The reasons for this seemingly abnormal phenomenon are mainly as follows:
First, the U.S. mainland is basically empty. The two oceans that isolated the North American continent in the east and west became a natural barrier for the United States, and the U.S. navy and air force were too powerful, and no country could compete with it at that time, let alone invade, only the United States invaded other countries, except for aliens, who could invade the United States mainland. Therefore, before the 9/11 incident, the National Guard responsible for home air defense was trained at a low intensity, daily alert was extremely lax, and for a long time after the warning was issued on the day of the attack, the National Guard's F16 fighters were missing.
U.S. Civilian Guard F16 fighter
Second, the SKY in the United States is filled with a large number of civilian aircraft, and it is common to deviate from the course, so it is difficult to think of hijacking. The sky of the United States is open and free, and there is almost no restriction on lift-off, so its domestic private air transport is very developed, and various types of small civil aircraft have become widely used medium- and short-distance means of transportation. In 2017, the United States has a total of 208910 private aircraft, this number is the absolute world's first, it can be said that the small aircraft in the United States is like the heavy trucks on China's roads, everywhere, residents in the residential back to lay private runways is not uncommon. This has formed a huge group of civil aircraft pilots, and in 2017, the United States has 609306 civil aviation pilot licenses, and they are all the reserve force of military aircraft pilots, which is an incomparable advantage in China.
Private jets in the United States
Therefore, the skies of the United States are filled with a large number of civilian aircraft, and it is common for them to deviate from the course for various reasons. In this context, who would have thought that a hijacked plane would suddenly appear among them!
Third, the United States lacks a strong response to the crisis. After the authorities finally learned that the airliner had been hijacked, they misled the terrorists' intentions, believing that they were just ordinary criminals and preparing to negotiate with them to release the hostages. In this incident, the official first believed that the civil aviation aircraft had just deviated from the course, and then misjudged that it was an ordinary hijacking case, and finally it was determined to be a terrorist attack against a landmark building in the United States, and as the nature of the incident escalated step by step, the departments with handling authority were also upgraded from civil aviation, police, and military to the president's office, which had a problem of escalation and escalation, which also involved communication and coordination between these departments, but the United States did not have an emergency mechanism for the special affairs office. So it wasn't until 9:05 a.m., after the second plane hit the World Trade Center, that U.S. President George W. Bush, who was reading children's books at a Florida elementary school, learned of the terrorist attack on American soil.
President George W. Bush learned of the terrorist attack
And there is no experience in dealing with similar incidents, let alone the response plan, who would have foreseen the hijacking of four airliners in the same airspace almost at the same time, who would have expected that this group of outlaws would drive the hijacked planes to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon! This is unprecedented in the history of world aviation.
Bush Jr., who is in contact with the Department of Defense
Fourth, US President George W. Bush's interception order has not been issued for a long time, and the final order is also lacking in operability. At 8:46 on the same day, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower, and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 9:03, at which point all the causes of the accident could be ruled out, and the terrorists' intentions were already very clear. But coordination between the Pentagon, NORAD and the National Guard remains difficult and operationally inefficient. It wasn't until 10:39 a.m. after the third terrorist impact that U.S. President George W. Bush issued an order that, in an emergency, Air Force fighter jets could shoot down any aircraft that "had the potential" to carry out an attack. But it was too late, and the fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after a fierce battle between passengers and hijackers. But such a big thing, as the president of the United States, George W. Bush must take a stand, but this order has no operability, how can the pilot determine which plane is "likely" to launch a terrorist attack! In fact, as early as 8:46 a.m., two U.S. Air Force F-15 Hawk fighter jets had taken off from an Air Force base in Massachusetts to intercept 11 American Airlines flights, but eventually gave up because the pilots did not know the exact location of the flight.
A hijacked airliner crashing into the World Trade Center
Even knowing that the airliner was hijacked by terrorists, knowing that they were going to crash into the World Trade Center, and even knowing what happened afterwards, it was difficult to issue a clear down authorization order. Shooting down a civil airliner in bustling and densely populated New York is a big deal, not to mention that everyone on the plane will not survive, and the crashed airliner will also cause huge casualties and property damage on the ground. Anthony Barnes, then commander of the U.S. Air Defense Force, said afterwards: "Any aircraft confirmed to have been hijacked could be shot down, but we need the president's authorization and no one can shoulder that responsibility." ”
Downtown New York
Not shooting down a hijacked airliner can also put all the blame on the terrorists, who is responsible for shooting down, and who can afford such a responsibility. It can be said that if there is another 9/11 incident in the United States, the same tragedy will repeat itself.