photo #8888668

On the morning of September 11, 2001, First Lieutenant Heather “Lucky” Penney was sitting in a briefing room at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, planning routine training operations. She had no idea that within an hour, she would be called to risk her life in a way few could imagine. Tuesday morning began like any other. Then someone entered the briefing room and said the words that changed everything: “Somebody just flew into the World Trade Center.” Within minutes, confusion gave way to horror. A second plane hit, then a third struck the Pentagon, just fifteen miles away. Smoke rose on the horizon, visible from the base. America was under attack. Reports streamed in of a fourth hijacked plane—United Airlines Flight 93—headed for Washington, D.C., likely the White House or the Capitol. Heather and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville, were among the closest fighters ready to intercept. There was one problem: their F-16s carried no missiles. No live ammunition. The jets had just returned from training in Nevada, loaded only with practice rounds. Sasseville looked at Heather and said, “Lucky, you’re coming with me.” They sprinted to their jets. Preflight procedures normally took thirty minutes—they had none. Ground crews hurried to remove safety pins as pilots climbed into their cockpits. The mission was clear: find Flight 93. Stop it from reaching Washington. By any means necessary. Heather knew exactly what that meant. Without weapons capable of downing a 757, the only option was to fly her F-16 directly into the hijacked airliner. A one-way mission. As she strapped in, Sasseville’s voice cut through her headset: “I’ll take the cockpit. You take the tail.” Heather responded, “Roger that.” No fear—only focus. Protecting her country mattered more than anything. As they lifted off, screaming over the burning Pentagon, Heather felt the odd calm of training instincts taking over. Her father had taught her precision, focus, purpose. Now she would use every lesson to crash into a plane full of civilians. For a brief moment, she imagined her father might be at the controls of Flight 93. It wouldn’t have changed anything. The mission came first. Heather and Sasseville never intercepted Flight 93. Because 200 miles away, ordinary Americans on that flight had already made the choice she was willing to make. Through phone calls, they learned of the attacks, knew the plane had been turned into a weapon, and decided to fight back. Todd Beamer rallied fellow passengers: “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.” They stormed the cockpit, and at 10:03 AM, Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field. Forty-four people died—but the plane never reached Washington. When Heather finally landed later that afternoon, her crew chief was waiting, tears in his eyes. “I didn’t think I’d see you again, ma’am,” he said. “Neither did I,” she replied. For ten years, Heather rarely spoke of the day. When she did, she deflected praise to the passengers of Flight 93. “They were ordinary Americans living ordinary lives, forced to make an impossible choice,” she said. “Sasseville and I were ready to give our lives too. Anyone would have. The passengers on Flight 93 did it first.” Heather later served two combat tours in Iraq, and flying night missions as a SCUD hunter. Today, she advocates for service members as a defense policy expert. She remembers September 11 every day—not with trauma, but with hope. She witnessed ordinary people becoming heroes, strangers risking everything for others, a nation remembering some things are worth more than ourselves. 23 years have passed. The world has changed. But the lesson remains: courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s strapping in anyway. Duty isn’t about destruction—it’s about protection. Sometimes being “Lucky” means being ready to give everything for something bigger than yourself. In honor of First Lieutenant Heather “Lucky” Penney—and the forty heroes of Flight 93 who acted first.