Had
a
tanker
from
Maine that
was'scheduled to
refuel
the
training
mission
and he
pretty much
stayed over
the water and over KennedyKept
one
F15
over Manhattan
-
other
one
would
go
intercept small airplanes
and
helicopters
or go get gas
when
weneededtoNormallystay in pairs but we kept oneF15over Manhattan the whole time just in caseWhen
the first
tower collapsed
we
were headed
away
from
Manhattan
over Kennedy
and
when
we
turnedaround there
was a
bunch
of
dust
and
debris
With
the second one, we were over New York at 10,000 feet
HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SAW THE TOWERS COLLAPSE?
It
was
disbelief. Shock.
Civilian
controller
told
us of
similar problems down
in
Washington
We
were pretty busy doing what we were doing, it wasn't like we had a lot of time to ponder what else wasgoing
on, we
were
just
tryingto
make
sure it
didn't happen anymore that
day over New
York
After
a couple hours, two more F15s from Otis came and
joined
us; we capped around
10,000
feet and theystayed higher, around
18,000
feet
10,000
feet
was
dictated
- we
were
flying
as low as we
needed
to
as for other planes out there
...
some people were curious and wanted to take a look for themselves, news
helicopters,
etc.we would direct them away
if
they looked
to not be a
rescue
helicopter
we
had to make sure they were friendly
wanted
to keep everything away and mostly make sure everybody who was
flying
around there hadbusiness doing
it - it
would
become
congested
and we got closer to helicopters
than
we
normally would
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN
YOU GOT
BACK
TO
BASE?
Got backtoOtis,abunchof
people
telling
uswhatwasgoingon
A
crew
chief told
me
F
16s had
shot down
airliners
over
Pennsylvania.,
obviously that wasn't true,
so
there
were
lots
of
rumors
floating
around.
Had
to go to
intelligence shop
and
tell
them what we'd done, lots
of
rumors about
other
hijacked airplanes
A
lot ofsecurityonrampasairplanes being loaded
w/live
weapons
We
usually
keep
3 or 4 on
alert totally armed,
but had to arm
other
airplanes
AND WHEN YOU GOT HOME?
Like
everybody,
I
watched
the
news
until
I had to go to bed and get up and fly the
next
day and the
next
day I
capped over
Boston
Never thought I'd do CAPS over my own
countryWe
were doing CAPS 24/7
split
w/Syracuse.
we did
12
and
they
did 12 and
split
them up
every
4 hoursHad
to generate so many
jets
to do that, that's why we shared duty w/Syracuse
HOW DID IT AFFECT TRAINING?
Weweren't
as
sharp
as
we'd
normally
be -
flying
caps
is
mind-numbing,
obviously
I'm
glad nothing elsehappened,
but
flying
CAPS
is
mostly
boredom
NCT0068061
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