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.