An F-16 fighter pilot has retired after 40 years in the Air Force because he was prepared to fly a death-defying mission on September 11th 23 years ago, but it was aborted.
On September 11, 2001, after two hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and a third crashed into the Pentagon, Mark Sasseville, now 61, and another pilot, Heather Penney, who was 26 at the time, were ordered to scramble their jets.
They were instructed to pursue United Airlines Flight 93, which had been hijacked by four Al Qaeda terrorists and was on a crash course for Washington, D.C. Both planes had taken off from Andrews Air Force Base without being informed of the mission.
“Seeing the Pentagon burning and smelling the smoke is one of the memories that will stay with me forever,” Sasseville said. He told ABC News.
“Burning concrete, fuel from crashed planes.”
Then Sasseville and Penny received their marching orders: Locate and intercept Flight 93.
Initially, they had no idea how to do this, since the fighter jets did not have missiles on them.
But they decided that if necessary they would attack the hijacked plane with jets, a suicidal move.
“Practice worked,” Sasseville said of his decision. “It felt like I was on autopilot.”
He planned to crash into the front of the jetliner and Penny into the tail.
At the time, Sasseville had a wife and two children, ages 3 and 5.
“It’s a testament to Sasse’s leadership that he did not allow anyone else to lead this mission,” Penney told the network.
“He never asked of others what he was not willing to give.”
Before that tragic sacrifice, Sasseville and Penney learned that the passengers and crew of Flight 93 had regained control of the plane before it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people on board.
“If the heroes on Route 93, and they are the real heroes, hadn’t stepped up and done what needed to be done, it could have been a very different outcome for me and my family,” Sasseville said.
Sasseville and Penney returned to Joint Base Andrews to refuel before escorting Air Force One, carrying then-President George W. Bush, to Washington, DC.
Sasseville eventually became a three-star general in the Air Force and the number two officer in the National Guard.
“It has been a great honor and privilege to serve and a truly unique opportunity to make a difference for me and my family,” he said in his retirement speech.
