Errant Flight Prompts Capitol Evacuations

O

Ozzieman

New member
Is every one in Washington DC that much of a coward, I mean come on people were not taking about a 757, were talking about a Cesena 150 for gods sake.
It just proves that all polotitions are weak kneed, cowards with to much power and way to much money.


Errant Flight Prompts Capitol Evacuations
By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago

WASHINGTON - A small plane strayed within three miles of the White House on Wednesday, leading to frantic evacuation of the executive mansion and the Capitol with military jets scrambling to intercept the aircraft and firing flares to steer it away.

A pilot and student pilot, en route from Pennsylvania to an air show in North Carolina, were taken into custody after their flight sparked a frenzy of activity that tested the capital's post-Sept. 11 response system.

Officials had been concerned because the plane appeared to be "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area," said Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer.

The White House raised its threat level to red - the highest - for eight minutes, said spokesman Scott McClellan. Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, overnighting at the White House for a special event, were moved to secure locations.

President Bush, biking with a high school friend at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville, Md., was unaware of the midday, 15-minute scare as it was occurring.

At the Capitol, lawmakers, tourists and reporters raced out of the building, dodging the speeding motorcades of Latin American leaders who had been meeting with members of Congress. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was hustled to a secure location. Police, rushing to get House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi out of the building, lifted her out of her shoes.

At the Supreme Court, guards told some people to leave the building while others were shepherded into the underground parking garage, where Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer were seen chatting. At Treasury, an announcement on the loudspeaker advised employees to move to a shelter.
 
Or it might being publicized as a means of drawing attention away from some of the less than popular initiatives Bush has floated over the recent weeks. Or the recent criticisms on how money has been spent on 9/11 security.
Very likely that these aircraft are warned away more frequently than we are informed...
Appalling conjecture, but it's not like manipulation/misinformation hasn't been a earmark of government of late.
No doubt the student pilot will become very informed about the workings of the courts.
 
The first thing I thought when I heard this story was, "The terrorists have won." :( :barf:

I immediately put the thought out of my head. It isn't true, but I couldn't help but think it.

Many Americans, including most of those in the .gov, have surrendered the way of life they knew and practiced prior to September 11, 2001. They have given in to fear and embraced paranoia as their modus operandi. Concurently with this change, they now worship at the altar of The State. The State will protect and provide. There is no reason to fear, because The State has instituted a no-fly zone around Washington. There is no reason to fear because the Department of Homeland Security say's we're only at 'yellow alert.' There is no reason to fear because everyone screening passengers and baggage at airports gets their paycheck from Uncle Sam now.

Then, when The State says "RUN, RUN, RUN!" they "RUN, RUN, RUN." There is no reason to think for themselves. There is no reason to doubt The State.

The problem is that they've gone to 'orange alert' so many times and evacuated the Capitol and the White House often enough that the entire exercise is becoming meaningless, even for the sheeple in D.C.

Eventually, we'll pay as much attention to these alerts as we do to the "safety demonstrations" that flight attendants perform. Only then will we be back on track to a pre-9/11 mentality.

The State is a bureaucracy, and bureaucracies are inherently inefficient.
The State can't effectively protect everyone all the time.
One must take responsibility for one's own safety.
The sky isn't falling.
Don't bunch up.
Watch six.

Errant Flight Prompts Capitol Evacuations

May 11, 5:49 PM (ET)

By DONNA CASSATA

WASHINGTON (AP) - A small plane strayed within three miles of the White House on Wednesday, leading to frantic evacuation of the executive mansion and the Capitol with military jets scrambling to intercept the aircraft and firing flares to steer it away.

A pilot and student pilot, en route from Pennsylvania to an air show in North Carolina, were taken into custody after their flight sparked a frenzy of activity that tested the capital's post-Sept. 11 response system. The government decided not to press charges.

"The two men in the plane have been interviewed, and it has been determined that the intrusion into restricted airspace appears to have been accidental. And no charges are being sought at this time," said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
Click to expand...
 
I couldn't help but be struck by the irony of a small plane chasing all of these elected officials and bureaucrats out of their offices, down the street and in the open where all it would have taken, God forbid, is one or two prepared and determined terrorists to cull them like domestic cattle. What the hell are folks thinking about?
 
Talk about overreaction.

You can't really blame the politicians though, they were just doing what they were told. (To run like your special interest campaign contributions counted on it.)

I blame ineffective "Home Security." And the crapfest media. How about reporting some actual NEWS for a change. Sheesh. Between DC fire drills and run away brides, I don't know why I even turn my tv on anymore.
 
I think there may be a flight instructor somewhere who is now considering a career change...

In hindsight, of course, all this turns out to be a colossal overreaction to an innocent mistake, but really--what was this guy thinking? If I were flying anywhere *near* DC, I would call the local flight service station literally just before heading out the door to the airplane just to be sure that nothing was going on. I have not seen a sectional chart of the area, but I have to believe that the restricted areas are well-marked.

On the other hand, I say this knowing full well that another instructor/student aircraft got in trouble a while back even though the instructor *did* call just before the flight for the latest notices to airmen. Seems they flew a little too close to the president's ranch while he was there. The notice of a temporary flight restiction literally happened between the time he had phoned and the time they started flying. Go figure.

Tim
 
The pilot was brainless , he ignored the aircraft trying to warn him .The military was brainless in waiting too long to act .The plane was 90 seconds from the White House ,far too close ,they should have shot him down when he ignored them. The politicians were brainless, they ran like frightened sheep !! :(
 
I see more overreaction here than there.

The printed version I read said the real problem was that the pilot would NOT respond to repeated requests to identify. I guess he was too busy sightseeing to turn on the old radio.

"Lookee there, is that the Washington Monument? Where are we? Let's fly closer for a better look."

What were they smoking? That part of D.C. has been off limits to planes for generations.

John
 
Yeah, I can understand someone busting a presidential TFR as they can pop up with little or no notice, but the White House and much of the DC area has been off limits for a while now. And yes, restricted areas are very well marked on sectionals. Regaurdless of how I feel about the restricted areas, the pilot should have known better. That said, grow some balls Washington, the restricted airspace has gone too far.
 
It just proves that all polotitions are weak kneed, cowards with to much power and way to much money.
Click to expand...
Met a couple of Capitol (not capital) policemen and they pointed out that the dome of the Capitol building was so precariously made and not properly reinforced when they redid it in the 50's (I think it was the 50's), that even a small bomb exploded on the street would bring it down. The plane could have done it serious damage. Also, if the plane had been loaded with anthrax, then the people caught inside the buiding struck would have been more likely to have been exposed (or that is the fear IMO).
 
The pilot was brainless , he ignored the aircraft trying to warn him .The military was brainless in waiting too long to act .The plane was 90 seconds from the White House ,far too close ,they should have shot him down when he ignored them. The politicians were brainless, they ran like frightened sheep
Click to expand...
And where would the burning debris land? Would it be more safe to wait and see if they are just a couple of idiots than to risk an airburst and subsequent cloud of anthrax spread over the city or the surrounding suburbs or to have the burning wreck land on an elementary school full of children?
 
"Is every one in Washington DC that much of a coward, I mean come on people were not taking about a 757, were talking about a Cesena 150 for gods sake.
It just proves that all polotitions are weak kneed, cowards with to much power and way to much money."

Ok, I'm not going to dispute your coment about politicians because I agree :D but what if that tiny little Cesena 150 was loaded with a few hundred pounds of high explosive or something even worse? Can't say that I wouldn't have been running out of there also. :eek:
 
I just glanced at the Washington Post while I ate lunch.

When they finally raised the plane on the radio the pilot said he wasn't doing anything wrong and was going to continue on his way (from PA to NC IIRC.)
Then they put the flares out in front of him and got his attention. The plane was within 1 minute of the Capitol and within a few seconds of being shot down.

John
 
"When they finally raised the plane on the radio the pilot said he wasn't doing anything wrong and was going to continue on his way (from PA to NC IIRC.)"

There is no way in particular to know what frequency the pilot may be tuned to. The exception to this is that pilots are advised to monitor 121.5 (distress frequency) "if able" because interceptors will try to contact them on that frequency. (And also because they should be listening for folks in trouble, of course.)

Do any local pilots know if the offending pilot was violating any airspace other than the restricted area? Seems like if he was in class B or C (and was talking to somebody, as he should be) someone would have told him to get out of there.

Tim
 
So it's just a small plane, right? Only capable of carrying a couple of passengers, or their weight in explosives, right?

A passenger plane is a ready made delivery system for ordnance. Couple that with a pilot who specifically refuses contact and to obey instructions, after entering a long-term prohibited zone, and you get a legitimate concern.

As stated above, there's more overreaction on the board than in the capital. The responses are the same as saying "why are you worried? The guy staring at you only has a little knife!"
 
Errant flight

Look, not everybody is a pilot, lets clean off the chaff and get down to the meat of the flight. Some of the general aviation planes like that Cessna 150 might still have an older Comm radio without the 360 or 720 extra channels the military has and may or may not use. They possibly were flying VFR (visible flight rules) and not using a Nav Radio. When one is flying "I follow roads" it is easy to get confused and off course. If a pilot doesn't know exactly where he is located, he is lost, period.

A little Garmin two or three hundred buck GPS (Global Positioning System) you can hold in your have will tell you withing 3 meters or about 9 feet of your exact position.
Obviously they didn't have or didn't use and Navigational aids.

I once was in an old Steerman Biplane flying by sight and magnetic compass and looked down and discovered that there were bomb craters and tank trails below.....Like Fort Hood, TX artillery range. Being Sunday there was no iron coming through the sky nor jets to force us down. We got the hell out of there to McGregor and were real careful to never get near Ft Hood again. We had NO radio, No Nav Radio, and it was long before GPS.

The President lives fairly nearby, when he is at his ranch there is a huge no fly zone, trouble is some folks don't get the word. The USAF is not in the habit of murdering errant pilots so far.
 
I dare say that if Achmed and Abdul were the pilot/student pilot, they would have been shot down. The anthrax would be negated by the first missile fired. No threat. If the Cessna had been packed with explosives, it would have been a free fireworks display for DC residents. I do feel that the NG pilots should have fired on the aircraft with ordnance, not flares. The FAA should pull the licensed pilot instructors ticket and not issue a license to the student pilot.
 
If guns wern't illegal in DC we could just make it legal to shoot at any aircraft that are inside the no fly zone. Have an aircraft hunting lisense.

More realisticly. Have a few pieces of artillery spaced out. When an aircraft enters the airspace and doesn't respond, fire a starshell in front of them. Just like the old warships firing across the bow of a ship. I don't know about you, but a hunk of burning phosphorus streaking past 1/4 in front of me WILL get my attention. :eek:
 
A cessna 150 with two people is quite simply not going to get off the ground if it is loaded with anything extra at all. I was going to take my dad flying but had to go with substantially less fuel because the plane will simply not carry more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top