Are they basically just there to shoot down the plane before causes larger casualties by crashing into a heavily populated area? I can’t imagine what else a jet can do to a large commercial aircraft in the air.
Are they basically just there to shoot down the plane before causes larger casualties by crashing into a heavily populated area? I can’t imagine what else a jet can do to a large commercial aircraft in the air.
So on 9/11 the fighters scrambled to intercept United 91 had no weapons installed. There were no orders but one of the two pilots sad the plan was to ram the cockpit bringing down the both their plane and the passenger plane.
I’ll add that very few fighter pilots will ever scramble a plane. There is a large checklist pilots go through before taking off particularly a fighter. When a fighter is scrambled that’s all skipped.
It’s crazy they scrambled with zero offensive capabilities back then. Not even the 20mm cannon was loaded.
They weren’t scrambled if I remember correctly. They were airborne for a training mission and closer than the scrambled jets were. That’s why they had no munitions
Source: Talked to a pilot who’s instructor was one of those pilots
*93