Eyewitness to History: 9/11 Fighter Pilot and Artist Unite to Recreate 'First Pass' Over Washington

Maj. Dean Eckmann is a soft-spoken North"heading 010," and immediately recognized it as
Dakota native whose lifelong love for militaryNew York. In retrospect, although he was
aviation transformed him, in one profoundunaware of it at the time, he says at the
moment on September 11, 2001, into what hemoment he took off from Langley, a second
acknowledges to be "an eyewitness to history, toairliner was plowing into the second tower at the
the day that changed all of America, forever."OnWTC.En route to Manhattan, Eckmann received a
the morning of 9/11, Eckmann, 36, was with hisrevised order and a new heading, which he
Fargo-based 119th Fighter Pilot Wing at Virginia'srecognized as Washington D. C. Still, he was
Langley Air Force Base for a routine week-longrelatively unworried, he says, still being 75 miles
'alert dispatch' to protect seven American sitesaway and with no smoke yet visible on the
tagged, in "post-Cold War and pre-9/11 naivete,"horizon. He associated only the apparent trouble in
he says, as potential targets.At the unmistakableNew York with his new heading and assumed he'd
blare of a Klaxon horn, he abandoned hisbe "flying CAP" -- Combat Air Patrol -- over
scheduled training mission and was ordered to hisWashington as a preventive measure.At 50 to 60
fully armed fighter jet, and became the first pilotmiles out of Washington, Eckmann got his first
scrambled to fly over -- just 700 feet over -- thesight of smoke -- thick black smoke -- pouring
flame-engulfed Pentagon just about four minutesacross the Potomac."The black smoke worried
after terrorists attacked.He and two wingmenme. Usually, you'll see grey smoke or white
spent more than five hours that day, securingsmoke in a typical accident or industrial fire. Black
and protecting miles of Washington D. C. airspace,smoke means very bad things."The Smoke's
the White House, Washington Memorial, JeffersonSource: The PentagonFlying high, still miles out and
Memorial, Capitol Building and other Americanunable to make out buildings or structures, he
landmarks, from the ground up to 30,000 feet insearched his memory, he says, to identify the
the air.His perspective of the horrors of thatsmoke's source. At 35 miles out, as oceans of
tragic day, viewed from the cockpit of his F-16smoke continued to pour from the site, he
fighter, has been captured for future generationsrealized the unknown horror was taking place
and history books in the Air Force-commissionedsomewhere near the Pentagon: "an accident at
painting, "First Pass: Defenders Over Washington"Reagan National Airport, perhaps," he says."At 20
by artist Rick Herter.Herter, 44, has alsomiles out, I knew it was the Pentagon, and I'm
completed for the Air Force a painting entitled,thinking: truck bomb," he said. "That's what we
"Ground Zero, Eagles on Station," a re-creation ofthought most of the day, in the air. I thought,
the scene of the terrorist attacks on New York's'we're at war.' But even flying at just 700 feet, I
World Trade Center Twin Towers.The pilot, thecouldn't -- no one could -- see that an airliner was
artist and prints of the paintings have toured theburning inside the Pentagon. The smoke was too
country to rave reviews, giving Americans athick and, no one could conceive of that."That
bird's-eye view of the magnitude of the tragedyinitial perspective, and his bird's-eye view of the
of that brilliant September morning.The original oilflaming Pentagon, with so many historic American
renderings of both scenes hang in the halls of thesites in the background, is the focus of Herter's
refurbished Pentagon in Washington D.C., alongsidepainting.Two subsequent orders confirmed
many other original art treasures depicting famousEckmann's fears of an attack. The first was to
battles and events in American militaryconfirm the Pentagon was burning. The second
history.The Art of CombatHerter's mother, Diana,was to identify two unknown aircraft in flight
is president of the Dowagiac (Michigan) Art Guildtoward the Pentagon. Those two aircraft turned
who describes her son as "an artist with the soulout to be "good guys," Eckmann says, one a
of a pilot." As a member of the elite Air ForceMedi-Vac helicopter and one a chopper from the
Art Corps, he spent two weeks flying withlocal police, heading in to try to assist Pentagon
combat missions in Iraq as research for paintingsvictims.Eckmann immediately set off to "buzz the
of current military actions.The fighter pilot and theMall," he says, or overfly the Washington
artist are now good friends, but they didn't knowgovernment complex. His eyes scanned the
each other until the Air Force called Herter inground, searching for a yellow truck or anything
November 2001 and inquired about his interest inthat might be another truck bomb heading for
painting the official 9/11 scenes.Although he givesanother landmark.He and his wingmen maintained
all of his Air Force-commissioned paintings to theskywatch over Washington for nearly six hours,
government free of charge, Herter said he neverrefueling twice in-flight, until being returned to
hesitated when asked if he would speak with theLangley for just an hour before heading out
pilots, research the events and commit theagain.A Final ShockAt Langley, he heard the
September 11 attacks to canvas."I jumped at themechanics expressing shock and horror at "what
opportunity. I knew this was history," he said,happened to the World Trade Center towers."I
pointing to the "Defenders Over Washington"still didn't know at that point," he said. "I said,
painting, with its mountainous clouds of black'What towers? What happened?' And they told
smoke billowing upwards from the Pentagon tome the towers had collapsed, that someone had
nearly touch the underbelly of Eckmann'sflown commercial airliners into them. I couldn't
F-16.September 11: A Normal MorningThe morningbelieve it."At home, his wife had spent the frantic
of 9/11 began "so normally," Eckmann says. "Iday fielding more than 50 phone calls from friends
was getting ready for a training mission when theand relatives wondering whether Eckmann was
Klaxon alarm went off and we scrambled to ourflying that day, and if so, in what aircraft and for
'hot' (armed) planes. When you're scrambled, youwhich employer, the U. S. Air National Guard, or
get to your jet and do what you're told."He'dthe commercial airline industry.Both Herter and
heard that a plane had crashed into the WorldEckmann say they're awed by the notion that
Trade Center, but assumed it was "a puddlewhat they've seen and done will inevitably
jumper, a tourist plane, that lost its way and hadbecome as much a part of the American historical
an accident." As a former commercial pilot forfabric as the scene of George Washington
Northwestern Airlines, Eckmann said the idea thatcrossing the Delaware River, or the first film
a fully loaded commercial jet could be plunged intofootage of the attacks on Pearl Harbor."This is
an occupied building was "inconceivable."We all hadwhat no one else saw and could not see," Herter
a false sense of security," he says. "Even on alert,says. "Only a handful of people ever saw the
before 9/11, we were focused on a dangerimmediate aftermath of the Pentagon attack and
coming in to us from outside, not coming thethis is the first sight of it. There are no aerial
inside as it happened that day. To take aphotographs of the Pentagon burning, because
commercial airliner full of people and force it into aDean (Eckmann) and his fighters did their jobs --
building? No one in America could imagine anythingprotected the nation's capital, secured the
so evil."Eckmann says he was originally ordered toairspace. No one else got in, thanks to them.