There are claims that the air force was ordered to stand down after no fighter jets were scrambled to help even though there were 28 Air Force bases within close range of the four hijacked flights. however, this isnt all true as on the day of 9/11 among the 48 neighbouring states there were only 14 fighter jets on alert. As well as this there is an assumption that there is an automatic alert that gets sent to the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) in regard to missing planes but this isnt the case as the civilian Air Traffic Control have to literally pick up the phone and dial them in order for them to be made aware. Boston Center called NORAD's Northeast Air Defence Sector (NEADS) three times: the first call was made at 8:37 am EST to inform NEADS that Flight 11 was hijacked; the next at 9:21 am to notify the agency, incorrectly, that Flight 11 was headed for Washington (by which point the plane had already hit the tower); and again at 9:41 am to (mistakenly) identify Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 from Boston as a possible hijacking. At the same time the plane slammed into the South Tower the New York Air traffic control then also called NEADS at 9:03 am to report that United Flight 175 had been hijacked. Within minutes of that first call from Boston Center, NEADS scrambled 5 aircrafts in total.
Air traffic control had to examine 4500 identical radar blips in order to try and track down the hijacked planes this is due to the hijackers turning off the planes' transponders, which broadcast identifying signals. NORAD's sophisticated radar was also unable to track down the planes. This is due to it looking outward for threats, not inward. 'It was like a doughnut,' Martin says. 'There was no coverage in the middle.' Before 9/11, NORAD wasn't prepared to track flights that flew between States as they were not seen as threats.
'It has been standard operating procedures for decades to immediately intercept off-course planes that do not respond to communications from air traffic controllers,' says the Web site oilempire.us. 'When the Air Force 'scrambles' a fighter plane to intercept, they usually reach the plane in question in minutes.'
In reality, in the decade prior to 9/11, golfer Payne Stewart's Lear jet was the only plane that NORAD had intercepted. Although the plane lost radio contact it remained in transponder contact until it crashed. Nonetheless, it took a fighter aircraft 1 hour and 22 minutes to reach the plane. Guidelines that were in place back then, meant that on 9/11, supersonic flights were prohibited on intercepts.
Due to America being considered one of the most secure country, it was mysterious to the general public how the security systems in place weren’t tight enough to prevent the hijacks from taking place in the first place and on top of that not being able to intercept amateur hijackers. This rings alarm bells in the public’s eye as it makes them question the level of trust and safety that the government claims they have. However it is important to remember that the attacks took place in 2001, so although technology was somewhat advanced, It is nowhere near the levels it has reached now, as well as this attacks weren’t a regular occurrence which means although the system did have loopholes and weaknesses this can’t have been noticed until the 9/11 attacks took place. Improved collaboration between NORAD and the FAA was encouraged after 9/11. NORAD has additionally expanded its fighter coverage and has installed radars in order to monitor airspace over the land. Overall, this theory doesn’t add any value when swaying the general public as to if the attacks on 9/11 ere internal government conspiracies, due to the evidence not being accurate, the claims provided don’t provide valid data meaning they cant be deemed credible, as the general public rely on hard evidence and facts. Which is what is needed when making a claim that involves the government being in control of the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.