If you believe our military was so incompetent as to be unable to intercept a single one of those airliners with all the time they had, then you've obviously never served
It is not a matter of incompetance. It is a matter of unpreparedness. We did not train for, nor did we ever prepare for intercepting hostile aircraft within our own airspace. And when our fighters did launch, they followed SOP to the letter, they proceeded to their ADIZ intercept points which were located offshore. Everyone likes to mention Payne Stewart like there is some sort of comparision to be made, when there really isnt. The four airliners on 9/11 turned off their transponders, which made them just one more blip on a screen filled with them, in addition, they left their respective altitudes to make detection that much harder. Payne's IFF remained on, his aircraft at altitude and it STILL took an hour to get F-16s into a position to intercept. I am still not sure where you get this idea that there was this large amount of time available to intercept these planes.
Then the cute part...its "obvious" I have never served and you ask for my credentials.
I currently have 21 years in as a member of the United States military, split between the Navy and the Air Force. I spent the majority of the 90s watching the politicians we elect, gut our defenses and apply ridiculous rules that further hamstrung us. That cost us dearly that day. Since 9/11, I have spent a few years away from home for various deployments. The unit I am assigned to now, was scrambled on 9/11/01, they put F-16s into the air to fly CAP over the Midwest that day, and we have performed air defense duties several times since then. And before you ask, 2A372...if you truly were a crew chief...that should not be too hard for you to figure out.



