9:27 a.m. September 11, 2001: NEADS Tells a Refueling Plane to Stay over the Ocean until Needed

A member of staff at NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) instructs a tanker plane to remain in military training airspace over the Atlantic Ocean, presumably so it will be available to refuel fighter jets if necessary. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] The KC-10 tanker, which has the call sign “Team 21,” took off from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey at dawn. [Kennedy et al., 2012, pp. 42]
Plane Is Told to ‘Orbit’ within the Training Area – The NEADS staffer begins by saying to someone on the plane, “I show you at Angels 23 in 107.” [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] “Angels 23” means the tanker is flying at 23,000 feet. [Scout, 10/12/2016] “107” is “Whiskey 107,” an area over the Atlantic Ocean, about 70 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, that is frequently used for military training. [CNN, 2/7/1997; New York Times, 2/7/1997; Global Security (.org), 5/7/2011] The person on the plane responds, “Team 21.” The NEADS staffer then gives them the instruction, “Your mission is to orbit [in] Whiskey 107.” The person on the plane confirms, “Team 21, copy” and asks, “I guess we’ll hang out here until you tell us otherwise?” The NEADS staffer replies, “That’s affirmative for Team 21.”
Another Tanker Is Heading toward the Training Area – He also mentions that another tanker should be joining Team 21 in Whiskey 107 soon. “We have Team 23, should be entering the airspace in a few more minutes,” he says. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] “Team 23,” another KC-10, took off from McGuire Air Force Base at 9:02 a.m. and was subsequently directed by NEADS to fly to Whiskey 107 (see 9:04 a.m. September 11, 2001 and 9:14 a.m. September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Kennedy et al., 2012, pp. 42, 66]
NEADS Wants to Know How Much Fuel the Tanker Has – The person on the plane then asks, “Is this a fuel emergency?” The NEADS staffer replies, “Negative for now” and says they “just wanna know what your offload is for potential problems.” The person on the plane says, “We can offload 43K,” meaning the plane is carrying 43,000 pounds of fuel. The NEADS staffer thanks him for the information. Whether Team 21 will subsequently refuel any fighters is unclear. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]