Reply #115: curious indeed! it has been stated that when a planes transponder has

[meppie-meppie not]

been turned off and if radio communication cannot be established that fighter jets are scrambled IMMEDIATELY to make a visual inspection and try and communicate with the non-responding plane by rocking from side to side and then making a slow progressive left turn to which the non-responding plane is to follow (if visual communication has been established). For either situation (no radio contact or the transponder turned off) planes are scrambled and for BOTH situations to arise it's an automatic given! To scramble planes does not require a presidential directive (as Cheney has mislead people to believe)as a matter of fact it's standard operating procedure (SOP). So the antimissile batteries guarding the Pentagon and WH are not the first lines of defense. However, on 9/11 it appears that SOP's was not in play because if it had been fighter jets would have been flying around the towers in NY before they had been hit and around the WH and Pentagon. But, just like the F 16's were in a stand down position until after the crashes it's a reasonable assumption that the batteries were also in a stand down posture.