Reply #28: maybe we're both wrong

[ant]

the controllers did what they were trained to do. However for some unknown damn reason we couldn't find a fighter plane within 50 miles of NYC who could respond. This is not the role of the FAA but of NORAD to ensure security of the airspace.

From the Wash Post:
The military was not notified about United Airlines Flight 93 until after it crashed and did not learn about United Flight 175 until the minute it hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. And for 36 minutes, the FAA lost track altogether of American Airlines Flight 77, which was able to turn around and fly east toward the Pentagon, undetected by radar.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50791-2004Jun17.html

I will completely fault the FAA for not reporting the hijacked planes as soon as they knew they were hijacked. On that point, assuming they knew about the planes earlier, there is no excuse. If SOP is that you notify ASAP about a hijacking, then that's what they should've done.

They didn't lose the planes either. Of course they sure as hell wants us to believe that.

According to the commission they did, in fact, lose track of one of the planes. I see no reason to think the FAA would cry incompetence in order to protect NORAD. I'd think they would quite happily pass the blame on this one.

What's more, they were also chasing a bunch of hijacked planes that didn't actually exist. Again, even when scrambled, no one knew where they were scrambling to.

Things sure as hell fell apart that day but we still aren't getting the full story. Maybe we never will.

Another consequence of chaos.