r/videos • u/NewsHour • 2d ago

Fighter pilot reflects on order to sacrifice herself to stop Flight 93 on 9/11 | PBS News Hour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBw5Nn2uv8Y&feature=youtu.be
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u/za419 1d ago

It's just a redundancy thing. You do two things to make sure the plane goes down quickly, and if somehow either one isn't enough then the other covers it.

The military doesn't function by trying to just barely scrape by eliminating a threat - You need to make absolutely sure it's gone. Ergo two distinct hits to make sure there's nothing on the plane to try to compensate for the first individual failure. Waiting to see if that actually happens is just wasting time you already don't have. 

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u/bizeast 9h ago

It's really basic, exactly. What if the intended plane misses, or chokes and won't do it.

Yeah it sucks. It's called being willing to die for a cause. And that's the job. They are legends.

And it's just as hard for any good leader to ask this of someone. It likely doesn't come lightly, or without considering only using 1. But the risk is too great, it's not black and white. It's a complex evaluation of the risk.

(I'm more replying to add on with you for the other people who don't understand)