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COMM ISSION SENSITIVEUNCLASSIFIEDMEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Event: Interview of Major Billy Hutchinson, 113th Fighter W ing Air National Guard,Andrews Air Force BaseType: InterviewDate: February 27,2004 n \Team: 8Special Access Issues: Clearances passed to D&&Location: Andrew s Air Force Base -113th Fighter W ing Air National Guard,Morningside, VAParticipants (non-Commission): Major Billy Hutchinson and Air Force General CounselTony WagnerParticipants (Commission): John Farmer, Da na Hyde, Miles Kara and Lisa SullivanBackground . 'Hutchinson has spent 20 year's in the military./He enlisted^ ite applied for pilot training /get-selected; and-ho wentTO F-16 school. He>came back to the DC area flew with 121stSquadron in 1990. O ver the years, he held different duties - Chief of Intelligence; Chief ofTraining; Chief of Scheduling (these were/other duties he had as fighter pilot). He flewthe F-16 (known as the "viper," or "fighting falcon") leading up to 9-11. Last year,during wa r time, he w as a fighter pilot. ''This year, now with the 201st Squadron, which isa lift-squad moving high ranking congressman and other ranking officials.On 9-11 .

I ^They took off at 8:25 a.m. from Andrews AFB on 9-11. HutchinsonSwas Bully i |; EricHagenson was Bully2(and he cam e off the morning exercise early); and L ou C ampbellwas Bully (3) in the exercise earlier that morning. That morning, he was flying a trainingmission for a surface-attack . It was a very routine mission. He and the pilots of the othertwo planes were stopped at a tanker to get refueled before heading ba ck. J&e-t>f-trreBullys was sent back because he w as so low on gas.The tanker came out of Tennessee. It was late for the rendezvous with the fighters. Bythe time the tanker got to the meeting spot, Hutchinson was low on gas because he waswaiting for him. The tanker pilot contacted him over the intercom. He said that a planeha d struck the Wo rld Trade Center. This was all the information he was given at thistime by the pilot of the tanker. By the time Hutchinson's wingman got gas, a second

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8/14/2019 DH B3 Billy Hutchison Andrews AFB Fdr- 2-27-04 MFR- Billy Hutchison 638

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9/11 Classified InformationCOMMISSION SENSITIVE

UNCLASSIFIEDplane had hit the trade center. The tanker was told that everyone must land. Hutchinsonknew he had to get back to Andrews.When he disconnected from the tanker, he plugged back into the ATC frequency (this isstandard procedure). Hutchinson said that "nothing" was on the ATC frequency.

. Normally, there is constant chatter as controllers work all the air traffic. This was highlyunusual .Though a radio relay with hiswingman, Hutchinson was told by the other fighter pilot hewas with that was a little ahead of him that he was being denied entry to airspace overAndrews AFB. Hutchinson instructed him to go to Pawtucket so he did not run out ofgas (he.was lower on fuel than Hutchinson was). No one was telling him what was goingon (overVthe radio). He did not have an am/fm radio in the cockpit. H e still only knewwhat the tanker pilot had told him at the rendezvous."BUSTER"means to fly as fast as you can fly - above M A C 1.

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COMMISSION SENSITIVEUNCLASSIFIED

Hutchinson commented, "ATC is not a weapons director. They do not know ho w to giveyou an intercept. They are good at keeping you apart," Hutchinson said.H e knew it was a civilian aircraft he was looking for; all the while , he had a knot in histhroat.He kept a CAP over the Pentagon as long as he could. He w as "on vapors" when helanded. A lot of people saw his aircraft over th e Pentagon that day. He was told he gavethem a sense of security when they saw him fly overhead. Heather Penny and ColSasserville took off after he landed. Hu tchins on went back up after he was loaded w ithweapons. He flew a couple of t imes tha t day.He is not aware of the Langley fighters that were scrambled in response that day.Bul ly 2 did n't go back up because he w as a brand n ew pilot . That was his first flightoutside an instruc tional arena. The pilots in his fighter squad had all just returned from"Red Flag" t raining in preparation for deploym ent abroad. Most of them had taken leaveafter that . That was one reason why there w eren't m any pilots available that day;and whyhe was flying wi th tw o young guys that mornin g.None of the aircraf t were "loaded" when they found about the attacks. The three planesassigned to f ly were already ou t there.Technical IssuesOceana and Giant Killer on ly control off-shore. The ranger controls when yo u want torelease ordinance.H is cockpit has a mul t i - func t ional display (MFD) and a heads-up display (HUD).Recordings of the heads-up display are for recreation and voice cues. He has neverlooked at or heard h is recording from 9-11-01. Com mission staff inform ed h im that th eDO D provided us wit h the video and audio of the day. He was also unaware of this.Commission staff said th e audio from th e tape is prett y clear. Comm ission staff askedhi m i f any audio from h is cockpit that day could have been missed by the recorder; orw as there another means of comm unicat ion that might not have been captured?Hutch in son responded, "No, there was a UHF and VHP radio. The MFD should havecaptured the content of orders."

9/11 Personal Privacy

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COMMISSION SENSITIVEUNCLASSIFIEDHutchinson commented, "ATC is not a weapons director. They do not know how to giveyou an intercept. They are good at keeping y ou apart," Hutchinson said.He knew it was a civilian aircraft he was looking for; all the while, he had a knot in histhroat.He kept a CAP over the Pentagon as long as he could. He was "on vapors" when helanded. A lot of people saw his aircraft over the Pentagon that day. He was told he gavethem a sense of security when they saw him fly overhead. Heather Penny and ColSasserville took of f after he landed. Hutchinson went back up after he was loaded withweapons. He flew a couple of times thatday.He is not aware of the Langley fighters that were scrambled in response that day.Bully 2 did n't go back up because he w as a brand new p ilot. That was his first flightoutside an instructional arena. The pilots in his fighter squad had all just returned from"Red Flag" training in preparation for deployment abroad. Most of them had taken leaveafter that. That w as one reason why there weren't m any pilots available that day; and whyhe was flying with two young guys that morning.None of the aircraft were "loaded" when they found about the attacks. The three planesassigned to fly were already ou t there.Technical IssuesOceana and Giant Killer only control off-shore. The ranger controls when yo u want torelease ordinance.His cockpit has a multi-functional display (MFD ) and a heads-up display (HU D).Recordings of the heads-up display are for recreation and voice cues. He has neverlooked at or heard his recording from 9-11-01. Commission staff informed him that theDOD provided us with the video an d audio of the day. He was also unaware of this.Commission staff said the audio from the tape is pretty clear. Commission staff askedhim if any audio from his cockpit that day could have been missed by the recorder; orwas there another means of commu nication that mig ht not have been captured?Hutchinson responded, "No, there was a UHF and VHF radio. The MFD should havecaptured the content of orders."

9/11 Personal Privacy

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