09/10/2026
5 years ago I was asked to photograph Heather Penney, one of the two F-16 pilots tasked with bringing down the final plane (carrying american citizens as well as the terrorist pilots) believed to be headed on a su***de run to DC, she and her flight leader, Lt Col Sasseville, were ordered to bring down the plane, which because their flight was unarmed, meant they would have to ram the plane with their own planes to attempt that feat-yet the hostages on board rebelled against their attackers and brought the plane down themselves in a field outside of johnstown Pa. Quoted in the washington post she said- “there are things in this world that are more important than ourselves. […] We belong to something greater than ourselves. As complex and diverse and discordant as it is, this thing, this idea called America, binds us together in citizenship and community and brotherhood”.
