Why wasn't the plane that flew into the pentagon not shot down?

Question

People say the reason why planes weren't shot down because no one was sure the planes were hijacked and stuff like that.

But the pentagon is a no fly zone....its my understanding that any aircraft the flies in no fly zones and does not leave it is automatically shot down...so what happend on 9/11?

If i'm mistaken please correct me do not insult me

Answer 1

They allowed it to hit the Pentagon because they needed to scare the bejeesus out of people. This gave them the edge to eliminate alot of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

Answer 2

It was flying SO low- most of the DC radars couldn't pick the Jet up- until it HIT the Pentagon... (You could shoot a Guided Missile at tree-top level all over Washington DC or over ANY big City in the Country- and NO-ONE would "see it" -except the Eye-witnesses that just happened to "look up" at THAT moment...). You'd need a TANK to take out something flying THAT low... THAT's Why they PUT Tanks all over DC -after 9/11 !!!  :0

Answer 3

1. Please remember how many commercial planes were in the air at the given moment. We didn't know there was more to the attack than the World Trade Center, although we were in the midst of taking steps.

2. And remember that it doesn't take long to veer off course and into the no-fly zone. Reagan airport is right in the area.

3. And it takes time to get planes in the air. We were ready to shoot down the one that eventually went down in Pennsylvania.

Answer 4

Well, intercepting and shooting down a plane is a lot easier said than done. And at the time the USA didn't even keep any jets in scramble mode in the USA. Basically the military was caught by complete surprise and was unable to react in time.

Look at the case of Mathias Rust, guy flew a small plane to Moscow in 1987, and Soviet Air Defences were unable to track him and shoot him down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rus...