Most widely recognized for her service on September 11, Heather \u201cLucky\u201d Penney was part of the first wave of women who to fly Air Force fighter jets. As the first female fighter pilot in her unit, she scrambled on 9\/11 against Flight 93. Unarmed, had she and her flight lead been successful, they would have had to sacrifice their lives by ramming the airliner. Penney is combat-tested fighter pilot, flying on the opening night of Operation Iraqi Freedom and serving two combat tours. Today, she is a senior resident fellow for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, where she conducts extensive research on cutting edge defense policy and technologies with a focus on the leveraging the critical advantage that only aerospace power affords.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"