Nearly 22 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a usually invisible but always vigilant network protects the homeland from potential enemies. That system appears to have worked on Sunday afternoon as six F-16 jets scrambled from three locations, including Joint Base Andrews, where President Biden was golfing with his brother, to check on an unresponsive private plane. Two fighter jets intercepted the Cessna and saw its pilot slumped over before it crashed in a remote Virginia forest.
The fighter pilots received unusual permission to break the sound barrier in the race to catch the aircraft. That led to a sonic boom that startled and confused Washington-area residents around 3:10 p.m. This was a rare boom that counted as good news — evidence of the military’s 24/7 readiness to defend against the kind of attack from the sky that hit the Pentagon and World Trade Center two decades ago. This is especially welcome after the Chinese spy balloon debacle earlier this year highlighted vulnerabilities and gaps in the air defense system with regard to high-altitude surveillance.
White House spokesman John Kirby called it a textbook response for dealing with an unresponsive pilot. The plane was flying at 34,000 feet when it reached the Washington area and crossed into D.C.’s flight-restricted zone, created after Sept. 11. It crossed near prohibited airspace that includes the White House, National Mall and the vice president’s residence, where planes are forbidden from flying under 18,000 feet.
While it’s a tragedy the plane crashed, killing all four aboard, it’s good news the F-16s did not need to shoot down the aircraft. These pilots were not trigger-happy. They were trained, following carefully crafted rules of engagement.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators, at the crash site Monday, expect to release a preliminary report in about three weeks. Early indicators are that the pilot fell unconscious shortly after taking off in Tennessee, likely because of a loss of cabin pressurization, and the plane ran on autopilot until running out of fuel. Regardless of what the NTSB finds, the military can always learn from episodes such as this one to identify gaps — should the plane have been allowed to stray as close to Washington as it did? — and to make sure they’re ready for a time when a pilot might actually be targeting the nation’s seat of government.
