The hijacked plane will be shot down if it is deemed to become a missile heading for strategic targets. The hijacked plane will be escorted by armed fighter aircraft and will be forced to land. A hijacked grounded plane will not be allowed to take off under any circumstance.

An F-16 from cold is required to be able to scramble within 5 minutes if on alert (armed, fueled, and pilot ready), 15 minutes if not.

The term was used during the Battle of Britain, when Royal Air Force pilots and their fighters were readied and available to fly. Once a decision had been made to intercept the enemy formation a telephone call would be made to the chosen fighter squadron’s airfield, and those air crews available would be scrambled.

The NASA/USAF X-15 is the fastest fighter jet ever produced. It reached record top speed of Mach 6.72 or 4,520 mph, which is more than five times the speed of sound.

Of the four aircraft hijacked on September 11 – the others were American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 77 – United Airlines Flight 93 was the only aircraft that did not reach its hijackers’ intended target….United Airlines Flight 93.

If military jets are scrambled to escort a plane in the sky, the jets take up formation ahead of the passenger aircraft.

USAF and RuAF Fleet strength

The Tomcat was retired by U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Several retired F-14s have been put on display across the US. The F-14 remains in service with Iran’s air force, having been exported to Iran under the Pahlavi regime in 1976.

3,951 km/h
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird/Top speed