Reply #3: Yet Only 20 Min to Respond to Payne Stewart's Learjet?! [View All]

[CompassionateLiberal]

A Case for Comparison

An example of how the air defense network normally responds to domestic emergencies is illustrated by the well-reported 1999 case of Payne Stewart's Lear jet. When the golfer's jet failed to respond to air traffic controller communications, F-16 interceptors were quickly dispatched. According to an Air Force timeline, a series of military planes provided an emergency escort to Payne's stricken Learjet starting about 20 minutes after contact with his plane was lost. 2

This contrasts with the long periods of time apparently hijacked planes roamed the skies of the Northeast on September 11th without any interceptions. 83 minutes elapsed between the time that Flight 11 veered off course and the Pentagon was hit, and 112 minutes elapsed between the time that contact was lost with Flight 11 and Flight 93 crashed. According to the official story, not a single fighter was scrambled in time to intercept any of the four jetliners. At least 28 air stations were easily within distance to protect New York City and Washington DC. 3 None of them did. Note that, if anything, intercept times for the four jetliners should have been far shorter than for Payne Stewart's jet:

Stewart's jet merely failed to respond to communications. Each of the four jetliners, in addition to going silent, veered dramatically off course and switched off their transponders.
Stewart's jet went off course in the South, which has fewer air defense stations than the NorthEast corridor.
Air traffic controllers more carefully monitor large passenger aircraft in crowded air corridors than small private aircraft.
Stewart's jet went off-course at 45,000 feet, 10,000 feet higher than jetliners fly.
After the first hijacking, the air traffic controllers, the FAA, and NORAD should have been prepared to respond immediately to subsequent off-course aircraft.

http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/analysis/norad/