[PFKEY]

I agree with you about it being totally reasonable to get a nearby civilian plane to confirm. I also agree that there would be no point in doing so if an F-16 had just done a shoot-down. A simple loop by the F-16 to eyeball the wreckage would have done the job.

Am I missing something here?

I don't see civil aviation authorities asking "F-15 pilot that just shot down that commercial airliner, please confinm kill. We have lost FLT93 on radar."

[Sal]

I don't see civil aviation authorities asking "F-15 pilot that just shot down that commercial airliner, please confinm kill. We have lost FLT93 on radar."

Good point. I was thinking of it in terms of all involved being on the same side--stopping the terrorists--which all no doubt were. But the AF wouldn't necessarily have alerted the civil aviation authorities that they were about to shoot down the airliner, or that they just had. OTOH they wouldn't have needed to alert the civil aviation authorities of their presence on the scene as the cva would have seen F-16 on radar if there was an F-16. I guess they'd be inclined to look for confirmation in either case. There are still NO villains here, only tragic heroes.