in accordance with established norad procedures, the f-16s were initially directed to head northeast to avoid some of the most heavily traveled commercial airline routes rather than to fly directly to the washington, dc, area. major dean eckmann and major brad derrig, plus captain craig borgstrom of the 119th fighter wing were directed to fly at maximum subsonic speed, 660 miles per hour. at about 40 miles away, they saw the billowing smoke of american airlines flight 77, which had crashed into the pentagon at 9:43 am. as the north dakota air guardsmen neared washington, dc, major eckmann, the flight lead, set up a patrol over the nation's capital with the help of air traffic controllers at the northeast air defense sector.