Willravel

According to all public records, the fighters did not reach the planes by a long shot, so your question really isn't relevant.

Let's look at the time line:
- Between 8:14 and 8:20 AM, EST, American Airlines Flight 11 goes off course, something that is carefully monitored and is reported.
- 8:20 AM EST, American Airlines Flight 11 transponder signal stops.

At this point, as a part of normal response, fighters should have been sent. I'm sure we're all aware that Otis Air Force Base is less than 7 minutes from Manhattan by an F-15, so it would not have been difficult. I'm sure we're all aware that there is an Air Defense Zone just off shore of the entire Atlantic Coast. This zone is under constant patrol.

- 8:24:38 AM EST, John Ohonowski, the head pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, activated his talk button and Boston Air Traffic Controllers could clearly hear a hijacker say, "We have some planes. Just be quiet and you will be okay. We are returning to the airport. Nobody move."

- 8:25 AM EST, Boston Air Traffic Control contacted at least two other air traffic control centers that a hijack was in progress with American Airlines Flight 11, and, supposedly, they notified NORAD (as is procedure in this case).

Now normally, in a hijacking situation, would have called upon the 102nd Fighter Wing at Otis and two planes would have been in the air no later than 8:32 AM EST. The planes would have had at least 14 minutes to reach the WTC before Flight 11, which is twice the time they need. Of course we know there was no interception at all.

- 8:39 AM EST, Flight 11 flies over Indian Point Nuclear Power Stations. In case you were wondering, this would be the most logical place for a terrorist attack in the whole of the US, even more important than the White House and the Pentagon because of the potential death toll.

- 8:40 AM EST, The FAA notifies NORAD of American Airlines Flight 11's hijacking. This has been confirmed by NORAD and is included in the 9/11 Commission.

- 8:43 AM EST, The FAA notifies NORAD that United Airlines Flight 175 has been hijacked. Again, this is confirmed by NORAD.

- 8:36 AM EST, NORAD orders the 102nd Fighter Wing to scramble two F-15s. NORAD, by their own account, paused for 6 minutes before notifying Otis.

- 8:46:26 AM EST, American Airlines Flight 11 impacts the North corner of the North Tower (WTC 1) between the 94th and 98th floors flying at an approximate speed of 480-490 mph.

- 8:46 AM EST, United Airlines Flight 175 transponder shuts off.

- 8:47 AM EST, NORAD is informed of the first attack.

- 8:50 AM EST, 5:50 AM PST, Rich Miles, a manager of United Airlines Chicago system operations center, receives a call from a mechanic at an airline maintenance center in San Francisco that takes in-flight calls from flight attendants about minutia. The mechanic says that a female flight attendant from United Airlines Flight 175 just called and said, "Oh my god, the crew has been killed; a flight attendant has been stabbed. We've been hijacked."

- 8:52 AM EST, According to sources, the F-15s have left by this point. This is the last known information on the scrambled fighters. We don't know where they went (not NYC or DC, obviously).

- 8:55 AM EST, fake call by Barbara Olson.

- 8:56 AM EST, American Airlines Flight 77 transponder switches off, and it goes off course.

- 8:57 AM EST, The FAA formally notified the military about the final resting place of American Airlines Flight 11. Apparently, they didn't know before this point.

- 9:02 AM EST, United Airlines Flight 175 impacts the South side of the South Tower (WTC 2) between the 78th and 84th floors at a little over 500 mph. Most of the plane, including both engines and large sections of the fuselage and wings eject from the North side of the building and are found as much as six blocks away.

To clarify, the F-15s, with a top speed of a top speed of 1875+ mph, a mere 7 minutes from Manhattan, had left about 26 minutes before this impact and still had not arrived. This suggests that they were only going at maybe 20% their maximum speed. I guess there wasn't a hurry.

- 9:30 AM EST Two or three F-16s take off from Langley Air Force Base and head towards NYC. Moments after takeoff, the Secret Service contacted the planes and had them redirect to Washington D.C. for the past 31 minutes, American Airlines Flight 77 had been headed towards Washington D.C.

- 9:37 AM EST, 40 minutes after losing contact, American Airlines Flight 77 impacts the side of the Pentagon where there are renovations going on and is unoccupied, poking a very small hole and leaving behind no evidence of wings or a tail.

According to NORAD, at the moment of impact at the Pentagon, the F-16s were still 105 miles (12 minutes) away. An F-16 can travel at over 1500 mph. This means that the F-16s had to have been traveling at 14.3% their top speed to reach the nation's capitol.


I hope this helps.