Air Force Pilot Who Had Been Ordered to Prevent 9/11 Hijacked Plane from Reaching Washington, D.C., Retires

A military pilot who was ordered to prevent one of the planes that had been hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, from hitting its targets has retired.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Sasseville told ABC News that one of his most notable missions happened during the terrorist attacks over two decades ago.

He had been an F-16 fighter pilot and was ordered at the time, alongside fellow F-16 pilot Heather Penney, to locate and prevent United Airlines Flight 93 from hitting its target in Washington, D.C. 

“My challenge was, how do we take down this very unique threat, a civilian airliner … full of people, full of civilian people?” Sasseville recalled to the outlet.

Explaining that his and Penney’s jets had not been equipped with missiles when they took off from  Joint Base Andrews near Washington D.C., it prompted them to form a plan of possibly ramming the hijacked plane with their own planes in order to redirect it, which would have been a suicide mission, Sasseville explained to ABC News.

“The training kicked in,” he added. “I felt like I was on autopilot.”

Despite having a wife and two young children, then aged five and three, at home, Penney said that Sasseville “didn’t ask anyone else to lead that mission,” adding, “He wouldn’t ask anyone else to give what he was unwilling to give.”

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The pair ultimately did not have to run the maneuver, as the passengers on Flight 93 fought to regain control of the flight from hijackers. The plane eventually crashed in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone onboard. 

“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 News.

Sasseville further detailed that when he and Penney returned to the base, they were given another mission — escorting Air Force One with then-President George W. Bush on board, as he returned to Washington, D.C. to deal with the aftermath of the attacks. 

Sasseville stated that the “event and everything that’s happened since” had been “a motivating imperative” that prompted him to “look forward and be prepared for future challenges.”

He eventually became a three-star general and the number-two officer in the National Guard, per ABC News.

After 40 years of military service, Sasseville took his final flight on an F-16 on May 15 out of Joint Base Andrews.

On May 29, he celebrated the honor with his wife and their three children. “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,” Sasseville said during his speech, per ABC News. “Now, you have the watch. Thank you all.”