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It's really nice to see American Air Supremacy in response to a potential terrorist air threat. Neutralizing the stolen plane with a Sidewinder missile would ha
by beenBoutIT 8y ago
It's really nice to see American Air Supremacy in response to a potential terrorist air threat. Neutralizing the stolen plane with a Sidewinder missile would have provided a slightly better show of force to would-be terrorists, but this was pretty good IMO. Our Air Force is more powerful than it's ever been, while our mental health system was better off back in the 1940s.
- jkaplowitz 8y agoI'm glad they deployed the fighter jets in case they were needed, but I'm equally glad they tried to avoid firing and managed to do so. While I applaud them for handling the possibility of terrorism, I applaud them even more for evaluating the actual situation and reacting proportionately. Tragic incident, but well handled by NORAD.
- h4b4n3r0 8y agoHad the guy been a terrorist, he could have flown that plane into Seattle or into SeatTac airport itself. They wouldn't get here in time because they were flying in from Portland. We all got lucky this time.
- icebraining 8y agoWe got more lucky today - nobody stole any airplanes at all!
- zifnab06 8y agoF-15 max speed is 1646mph (around 0.45 mi/s). From take off in Portland to arriving at SeaTac would be less than 5 minutes at top speed. I assume it takes longer than that to get pilots in planes and takeoff. Seattle also has JBLM (joint base Lewis/McChord, army and air Force), along with Bremerton naval base. I'm guessing they picked pdx because of pilot availability, travel time is near nothing compared to getting a plane in the air at those distances. This could have been much worse. I feel bad for the guy, he needed help, but I'm glad it ended how it did. Crashing into another plane, or anywhere populated, would have been catastrophic.
- h4b4n3r0 8y agoQ400 can do 69 miles in 10 minutes. Distance between SeaTac and Space Needle is 15 miles.