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On 9/11, this Air Force pilot faced a suicide mission. Everyone needs a 'courage muscle,' she now tells students

With no missiles on board, Maj. Heather "Lucky" Penney, then just a rookie fighter pilot, was called upon to take down United Flight 93 on 9/11. That would have meant ramming her jet into the plane, essentially a suicide mission, Everyone has the capacity to exercise such courage, she will tell Widener University graduates.

Former U.S. Air Force Maj. Heather Penney stands for a portrait in her office at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, where she is currently a resident fellow, in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Penney was an Air Force lieutenant on September 11, 2001, when she was ordered to fly her F-16 fighter jet into the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 to stop it from reaching Washington, D.C. TIM TAI / Staff Photographer
Former U.S. Air Force Maj. Heather Penney stands for a portrait in her office at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, where she is currently a resident fellow, in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Penney was an Air Force lieutenant on September 11, 2001, when she was ordered to fly her F-16 fighter jet into the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 to stop it from reaching Washington, D.C. TIM TAI / Staff PhotographerRead moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer