At 9:09 am the pilots of the North Dakota Air National Guards F-16s of the 119th Fighter Wing were standing by , ready to launch , at their forward alert operating location at Langley AFB , Virginia , located about 130 miles southeast of Washington , DC . They were at their battle stations because of a growing general concern about the situation that morning . Seven minutes later , the FAA reported that United Airlines Flight 93 , outbound from Newark , New Jersey , to San Francisco , California , might also have been hijacked . The FAA notified the Northeast Air Defense Sector eight minutes later that American Flight 77 , a flight from Dulles International Airport , Virginia , near Washington , DC , to Los Angeles , California , also appeared to be the victim of hijackers . At 9:24 am Colonel Marr ordered three F-16s ( two alert aircraft and a spare ) scrambled from Langley AFB to check out an unidentified intermittent aircraft track heading toward Washington DC . In six minutes , the Langley F-16s were airborne
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
Air National Guard