A KC-135 tanker plane from Bangor, Maine, is flying south for a training mission at the time the terrorist attacks begin. The aircraft, which has the call sign “Maine 92,” is one of the eight KC-135s that are attached to the 101st Air Refueling Wing, based at Bangor International Airport. It is “heading south and was off the coast of North Carolina on the morning of 9/11,” the Bangor Daily News will later report. Details of the training mission it is involved with are unknown. The KC-135 will have already turned toward home and be heading north back to Bangor when the FAA “began shutting down all of the country’s airports and ordering planes to land,” according to the Bangor Daily News. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Portland Press Herald, 9/13/2001; Bangor Daily News, 9/9/2011] (This is presumably a reference to the FAA’s 9:45 a.m. order that all airborne aircraft must land at the nearest airport (see (9:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [US Congress. House. Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure, 9/21/2001; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 29] ) The KC-135’s crew members will contact NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) and offer their assistance. The aircraft, which is carrying about 22,000 gallons of fuel, will then be sent to New Jersey to refuel a KC-10 tanker plane that is providing fuel to fighter jets patrolling the Eastern Seaboard. Another of the 101st Air Refueling Wing’s KC-135s, with the call sign “Maine 85,” is also airborne at the time of the terrorist attacks, on its way to a training mission off the coast of Long Island, New York (see 9:04 a.m.-9:06 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Bangor Daily News, 9/9/2011]
9:04 a.m.-9:06 a.m. September 11, 2001: NEADS Talks with Tanker Plane about Refueling Scrambled Fighters
A member of staff at NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) talks with the crew of a tanker plane about providing fuel to the fighter jets launched in response to the hijacked Flight 11, and yet, after the crew agrees to assist the fighters, the tanker is apparently unavailable to do so until at least 30 minutes later. [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 112, 152-153] The tanker plane, which has the call sign “Maine 85,” is one of the eight KC-135s attached to the 101st Air Refueling Wing, based at Bangor International Airport in Maine. Its pilots are Lieutenant Colonel Adam Jenkins and Lieutenant Colonel Andy Marshall. [Portland Press Herald, 9/13/2001; Bangor Daily News, 9/9/2011] It is scheduled to provide fuel to a number of F-15 fighters from Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, that should be flying a training mission this morning in an area of military training airspace over the Atlantic Ocean, south of Long Island, known as “Whiskey 105” (see (9:00 a.m.-9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 153]
NEADS Asks Tanker to Support Scrambled Fighters – A member of staff at NEADS now talks over the radio with a member of Maine 85’s crew (presumably one of the pilots), and asks if the plane could provide fuel to the two F-15s that are kept on “alert” at Otis Air Base and that were scrambled in response to Flight 11 (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] These fighters are currently flying into Whiskey 105 (see 9:01 a.m. September 11, 2001). [Federal Aviation Administration, 9/11/2001; 9/11 Commission, 2004] The person at NEADS says to Maine 85 that he was “wondering if you’d be able to support a couple of F-l5s currently on an active air.” He adds, “I’d like to park you in Whiskey 105 for a while.” Maine 85 replies, “We’re scheduled for Whiskey 105, sir, with some F-15s.” (This is presumably a reference to the F-15s that are due to fly a training mission in the military airspace this morning.) The person at NEADS says that the tanker’s support “would be for a Panta flight currently on an active emergency for us,” referring to the two fighters scrambled in response to Flight 11.
Tanker Plane Agrees to Assist Fighters – Maine 85 says it will do as requested, replying: “That’s no problem for us. We’re gonna be descending shortly to flight level 240 [i.e. 24,000 feet] and heading south to the western portion of Whiskey 105 for our standard refueling. We’ll be right in there.” NEADS thanks Maine 85 and then informs it: “We have Panta 45 [i.e. the scrambled fighters] currently in the western part of Whiskey 105. We’re working a possible hijack and aircraft emergency in downtown New York.” Maine 85 responds, “Yes sir, anything we can do to help.” [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] Subsequently, at around 9:14 a.m., Major Kevin Nasypany, the NEADS mission crew commander, will tell a colleague: “We’ve got Maine 85 going to Whiskey 105 right now.… He’s going into Whiskey 105, so that’s, that’s no problem. He’s got lots of fuel.” [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001]
Tanker Apparently Unavailable for 30 Minutes – However, despite communicating with Maine 85 at around 9:05 a.m., according to the account of author Lynn Spencer, NEADS is apparently unable to locate a tanker plane that could refuel the fighters scrambled from Otis Air Base during the next 30 minutes. After one of the pilots of these fighters informs NEADS that the two aircraft are running low on fuel, NEADS personnel are instructed to locate a suitable tanker (see (9:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001). But by around 9:35 a.m., according to Spencer, the fighters will not have heard back from NEADS. Maine 85 will only be contacted and directed toward the two fighters after one of the Otis pilots then remembers that the KC-135 should be available and in his area, and the other Otis pilot therefore calls NEADS about this (see (Shortly After 9:35 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 112, 152-153]
Shortly After 9:35 a.m. September 11, 2001: Otis Fighters Refueled by Tanker out for Training Mission
The two F-15 fighter jets launched from Otis Air National Guard Base in response to Flight 11 (see 8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001) are finally able to refuel, after they request to rendezvous with a tanker plane that was scheduled to refuel Otis fighters out on training missions this morning. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 153]
Fighters Low on Fuel – By around 9:35 a.m., according to author Lynn Spencer, the two Otis fighters are running increasingly low on fuel and need to find a fuel tanker right away. For about the last 25 minutes, technicians at NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) have been searching for a tanker (see (9:09 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Spencer, 2008, pp. 112 and 152-153] A member of staff at NEADS in fact talked over the radio with a KC-135 tanker from Bangor, Maine, at around 9:05 a.m., and the plane’s crew agreed to provide support to the Otis fighters launched in response to Flight 11 (see 9:04 a.m.-9:06 a.m. September 11, 2001). [North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001; North American Aerospace Defense Command, 9/11/2001] However, the pilots of these fighters have apparently not heard back from NEADS about whether it has been able to find a tanker for them. Now one of the pilots, Major Daniel Nash, has come up with a solution. Prior to being put on alert duty, he had been acting as the scheduling officer at Otis Air Base, and he therefore knows that a training mission a number of Otis fighters were scheduled to fly today called for refueling (see (9:00 a.m.-9:24 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Consequently he knows about the KC-135 tanker plane from Bangor that NEADS communicated with earlier on, which had been scheduled to support those fighters during their training. [102nd Fighter Wing, 2001; Spencer, 2008, pp. 152-153]
Tanker Heading toward Training Airspace – The tanker plane, which has the call sign “Maine 85,” is one of the eight KC-135s that are attached to the 101st Air Refueling Wing, based at Bangor International Airport. Its pilots are Lieutenant Colonel Adam Jenkins and Lieutenant Colonel Andy Marshall. [Portland Press Herald, 9/13/2001; Bangor Daily News, 9/9/2011] It had been scheduled to rendezvous with the Otis fighters on their training mission about 20 minutes from now in “Whiskey 105,” the military training airspace just south of Long Island, where Nash and his fellow Otis pilot Timothy Duffy had earlier been flying in a “holding pattern” (see 9:09 a.m.-9:13 a.m. September 11, 2001). The KC-135 should be on its way there now. Nash calls Duffy and tells him, “[W]e have a tanker scheduled for the training missions this morning off the coast in 105.” Duffy calls NEADS and requests that the KC-135 orbit at 20,000 feet above New York’s JFK International Airport. NEADS then coordinates with the 101st Air Refueling Wing to borrow the tanker. [Aviation Week and Space Technology, 6/3/2002; Spencer, 2008, pp. 153]
Tanker Directed toward New York – The KC-135 is instructed to fly toward Manhattan. Jenkins will later recall, “We were told to start heading west to the city.” The voice over his radio tells him, “We’ll give you details along the way.” [Bangor Daily News, 9/9/2011] Soon, the KC-135 is flying an orbit over JFK Airport and the two Otis fighters then take turns refueling. [Grant, 2004, pp. 21; Grant and Thompson, 10/6/2006, pp. 4 
; Spencer, 2008, pp. 153] According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the two Otis fighters arrived over Manhattan at 9:25 a.m. (see 9:25 a.m. September 11, 2001), but accounts of most witnesses on the ground indicate they do not arrive there until after 10:00 a.m. (see (9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 24]
