Oh yeah and I am not sure exactly how the order was given that day but I am guessing it came from pretty high up considering the magnitude. Now there is a random patrol over certain cities (DC and New York and a few other metro areas) where fighters fly in a grid pattern over the cities. It’s based on the perceived threat and FPCON.
don’t faa can call air force for help?
for some reason, i thought they always had this type of procedures. the fbi also have procedures to call in military help.
i am sure the escalations are done faster now after 911 but even before, they should already have it.
i am not sure about local or state authorities.
IIRC, the plane was shadowed for a short time by a Coast Guard helicoptor before it hit the building.
As for 9/11, one of the things that Cheney said in an interview given a few weeks after the events of that day was that the order had gone out to shoot down airliners that were deemed a threat. By that time, however, three of the planes had crashed into targets and the last was about to crash (with interceptiors en route)
Of course, in the confusion of the first few hours of that morning, I recall reports flying around that as many as 6 additional airliners were unaccounted for, and even that a USAir jet was spotted coming up the Potomac. All of that, of course, turned out to be false.
Based on reactions Sept 11, 2001, from here
There was snipping in that quote. It is a fairly conspiracy-oriented site.
The BBC says
Which explains why fighters at nearer bases were not scrambled, maybe.
So, call NORAD with the right words, and things COULD happen pretty darned fast, with the few alert planes available.