Soon after , the commander of the 101st Fighter Squadron phoned the Northeast Air Defense Sector and asked for permission to launch the fighter jets . The sector in turn responded by ordering the commander of the weapons team which controlled the jets , Major Kevin Naspany , to place the fighters on " battle stations . " This resulted in a warning siren sounding at Otis and the pilots scrambled to their jets . Four to five minutes later , the scramble order was received and the jets took off . Officially , this occurred at 8:46 am , with a six-minute difference between the official and unofficial accounts . Duffy radioed his command post for guidance and was told among other things that American Airlines Flight 11 was a Boeing 737 , when in reality it was a 767 . Once in the air , their radar kicked in , allowing them to effectively intercept the plane
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
102nd Intelligence Wing