The article is riddled with quotes from the pilot.
The “dubious” line is contained in one of those quotes:
“I didn’t know the capabilities of the terrorists, so just err to the worst case,” Tillman says. “It wouldn’t be bad to have fighter support in the event that airliners were tracking us. Maybe that airliner was coming to crash into us over Sarasota, saw us take off and was coming after us. In reality, it was just like many of the threats that day. It was not an actual threat. It was an airliner whose transponder had failed.”
Ever hear of literary license, or ineptitude?
See my post at #22 above for more info.
ML/NJ