Air Force pilot reveals how he was set to ram his fighter jet into 9/11 hijacked plane on heroic suicide mission – as he retires after 40 years of service

A retired air force pilot has described the chilling day he was sent on a heroic suicide mission to kill a 9/11 hijacked plane to prevent it from hitting its target.

On September 11, 2001, Marc Sasseville received orders to fly his fighter jet and intercept the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it reached Washington.

The F-16 fighter pilot had no missiles on board his jet, so he took off knowing that he would probably have to ram the plane and that it was most likely a suicide mission.

He told ABC13: ‘One of the memories that will stay with me forever is seeing the Pentagon was on fire and could smell the fumes coming from it.’

But before Sasseville had to intervene, the flight’s passengers and crew stormed the cabin and regained control of the hijackers, causing the plane to crash in Shanksville. Pennsylvaniakilling everyone on board.

On September 11, 2001, Marc Sasseville received orders to fly his fighter jet and intercept the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it reached Washington.

Sasseville, who is now retiring after 40 years of service, recounted the terrifying day in an interview with ABC13.

After two planes hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and a third struck the Pentagon, Sasseville had to prevent a fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, en route to Washington, from reaching its target.

Together with fellow F-16 pilot Heather Penney, who was only 26 at the time, Sasseville jumped into his jet and took off from Joint Base Andrews near DC.

The couple did not yet know their mission.

As they flew over the Pentagon, Sasseville recalled the smell of “the burning concrete, the fuel from the plane that hit it.”

At that moment, he said he realized that “we have just been attacked again and we are really challenged to respond.”

The pair were then tasked with finding and stopping Flight 93, but due to the speed at which they had been moving, their jets were not equipped with missiles.

Sasseville told ABC: “My challenge was, how do we take down this very unique threat, a civilian aircraft… full of people, full of civilians?”

After speaking with Penney, the pair decided that, if necessary, they would ram the hijacked plane with their jets, in what would almost certainly be a suicide mission.

Sasseville, who had two young children and a wife at home at the time, said: “The training started. It felt like I was on autopilot.”

They decided that Sasseville would target the front of the jet and Penney the tail.

But before it was time to intervene, the passengers and crew on board the flight managed to storm the cockpit and regain control of the plane.

The plane crashed in an empty field in Shanksville, killing everyone on board.

Sasseville said, “If those heroes at 93 – and they are the real heroes, by the way – had not taken action and done what needed to be done, it would have been a very different outcome for me and my family.”

Sasseville told ABC: “My challenge was: how do we take down this very unique threat, a civilian aircraft… full of people, full of civilians?”

As they flew over the Pentagon, Sasseville recalled the smell of the “burning concrete, the fuel from the plane that hit it.”

After the plane crashed, Sasseville and Penney were sent to escort Air Force One as President George W. Bush returned to Washington.

When he returned home, Sasseville did not share the extent of his duties with his family, only telling them that he would be “working away for a long time because something very bad had happened to America.”

After September 11, he remained in the Air Force for another twenty years, working his way through the ranks to become a three-star general.

At his farewell ceremony, he said, “It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve, and a truly rare opportunity for me and my family to make a difference.”

‘Now you have the watch. Thanks everyone.’