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Interview
 with Maj. Dan Nash, 102
nd
 Fighter Wing,
 Massachusetts
 Air National GuardConducted
 by
 Leslie Filson, Oct.
 2,
 2002
Maj.
 Dan Nash, 102 FW, flying
 F-15s
 since 1996
Q:
 WHAT
 WAS
 SEQUENCE
 OF
 EVENTS
 ON
 SEPT
11 2001?
A: On
 9.11,
 we got a Call at operations; the FAA had called the tower. Lt. Col.
 Duffy
 directed it to
command
 post and the story I heard was that somebody called looking for for NEADS and that there wasa possible hijacking
Got
 dressed
 and
 started going toward
 the
 jets
We
 got the first call about the possible hijacking at 8:37 a.m.Started out to the jets and sometime thereafter, alarm went off for battle stations
As
 soon
 as we got
 strapped
 in got
 scramble light
 -
 (told
 to
 scramble)Took
 off on
 runway
 5 and
 proceeded
 on
 heading
 and
 altitude that command post
 got
 from NEADS
Climbed
 up to
 29 000
 feet toward New YorkProceeded toward NY, we knew we were trying to intercept American
 11
 but hadn't heard anything about
other
 airplanes
We
 got
 airborne
 within
 like
 three
 or
 four minutes
NEADS controller told them on the radio that a
 second
 one had hit but still under impression American
 11
was
 still
 airborne
 (we
 were shocked because
 we
 didn't
 know
 the
 first
 one had
 even hit)
Didn't
 know American
 
had hit the
 building
By
 the
 time
 we
 were 100 miles
 out we
 could
 see the
 smoke
 from the fire
WERE
 YOU FLYING AS FAST AS POSSIBLE TO GET THERE?
Yes,
 but to be
 honest,
 I
 didn't know
 why we
 were going
 fast
 because
 we
 hadn't been
 told
 anything
 critical
was
 going
 on, but we
 went
 as
 fast
 as the
 airplanes could
 go
Day to day
 scrambles
 are
 usually
 a
 false
 alarm
 so
 when
 we
 heard
 it was a
 possible
 hijacking
 we
 knew
 it
was
 more serious
Usually
 get
 scrambled
 on
 fish
 spotters, doctors getting lost
When
 we
 heard
 it was a
 possible
 hijacking,
 Lt.
 Col.
 Duffy
 wanted
 to go
 supersonic; NEADS just gave
 us
altitude
 and
 heading
 to flyWe
 kept
 flying
 toward
 it to see
 what
 was s
 going
 on
They
 gave
 us
 clearance over
 NY
 immediately.
Went
 to
 whiskey
 105
 training space
 - our
 normal training space
Sometime
 after
 that, NORAD took control
 of
 airspace
 and we did one
 circle
 in
 Whiskey
 105
 and
 told
 them
we
 would
 cap
 over Manhattan
And
 from
 there
 we
 spent
 the
 rest
 of the day
 directing
 planes away
 that
 weren't helping
HOW LONG WAS THE MISSION THAT DAY?
Took off before 9 and landed at a quarter
 after
 two at Otis
YOU
 MUST HAVE
 HAD A
 TANKER
 TO
 REFUEL
NCT 8
 
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
 we needed toNormally stay in pairs but we kept one F15 over 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
 trying to
 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 back to Otis, a bunch of
 people
 telling
 us what was going on
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 of security on ramp as airplanes 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
 2
 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
We weren 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
NCT 68 6
 
A
 YEAR HAS PASSED
 
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW
It's
 mostly disbelief, my kids are pretty young, so we didn't really have to
 talk
 about it, but obviously w/thecaps it seems like we were working a lot moreI'm full-time
 at the
 wingStill
 do
 random
 caps
 but
 mostly training getting ready
 for
 whatever
 We did
 everything
 we
 could
 but
 unfortunately
 couldn't
 stop
 anything... even
 if
 we'd been
 scrambled
 15
min.
 earlier
 and
 were
 following
 the
 airplane,
 I'm
 99
 percent sure
 we
 would have watched
 the
 airplanescrash into
 the
 towers.
Because
 we had no
 orders
 to do so,
 this
 was not
 part
 of the
 rules
 at
 that
 point
 in
 timeand we didn't know the planes were hijacked for sure
A
 civilian
 controller told us we could shoot down, (but never got that order from
 HEADS)
We
 scrambled twice on suspected hijackings since then that turned out to be not hijackings
NCT 68 6

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