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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 429
will provide the following types of support: intercept, surveillance...
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(Emphasis
added)
Once a hijacked plane or any plane poses a threat to the citizens of the US the situation
changes. At that time the policy of the Air Defense Command and Control Operations (ADCCO)
kicks in. The policy and instructions for the ADCCO are found in Air Force Instruction 13-1AD,
Volume 3, which states:
The mission of the ADS (Air Defense System) is to provide North
American Aerospace Command... with the means to detect, monitor, identify,
intercept, report, and, if necessary, destroy an airborne object that may pose a
threat to North America... in fulfillment of the tactical threat warning/attack
assessment (TW/AA) and collateral missions of NORAD.
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It was clearly evident that these four planes had been hijacked within minutes of the
terrorist takeovers. The planes veered off course, their radios were turned off and their
transponders were disconnected. Once the first plane hit the WTC, it became apparent that these
planes posed a threat and ADCCO policy kicked in. It was the FAA's responsibility to contact
NMCC and NORAD. It was then the DOD's obligation to provide intercepts and if necessary to
destroy the aircraft. This didn't happen. Somewhere in this process, someone ordered a stand
down and this had to come from the Secretary of Defense or higher. I say a stand down based on
the fact that their has been no reprimands of FAA personnel who failed to perform their duties
nor court marshals of military personnel who failed to perform their duty. Therefore, one can
assume they performed according to their orders.
General Ralph E. Eberhart, Commander of NORAD provided some facts about intercepts
before a Congressional Committee. He stated that once the FAA determines that something is
wrong, “it takes about one minute” for it to contact NORAD. After NORAD has been contacted,
it can scramble jet fighters “within a matter of minutes to anywhere in the United States.”
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The typical time span between the FAA's observing that a flight has ceased
communications, its notification to NORAD and NORAD having interceptors airborne is 10-
minutes. This is a fairly routine occurrence. Interceptors were successfully put in the air 129
times in 2000 and 67 times in the first five-months of 2001.
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On the morning of 9/11, as is typical, there were 7 Air National Guard bases each with
two fully armed fighters and pilots on call around the clock for a total of 14 interceptors on alert.
In addition to this there were 28 other air bases within range of the four hijacked planes that
could have responded although there response times would have been longer since they were not
on alert.
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Even more astounding is the fact that two Air Force F-16 jet fighters were practicing
bombing runs over an empty stretch of the Pine Barrens near Atlantic City on the morning of
9/11 at the same time the hijackers were bearing down on New York City. With their top speed
of 1,500 mph, they were only 8-minutes away. They weren't armed to shoot down a plane but
they could have intercepted none the less.
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Lets recap: FAA is required to report all domestic airline emergencies to NMCC and or
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