Does anyone else feel like this is some sort of publicity stunt? It really annoys me when stuff like this happens and the media jumps all over it. It is ridiculous! The video of people in the streets running for their lives in total chaos is nauseating, all from the threat of a wayward Cessna 150.

Ok granted, people in DC are all shellshocked anyway and half expect something bad to happen, and in this case I don't think they knew what the nature of the alarm really was.

Pilots in DC really are encumbered with an extra burden of such a hot ADIZ, but with modern moving map GPS, there really is no excuse to bust the world's most famous flight restriction. In this case, it was a student pilot, and from the CNN article, his instructor was on board.

Poor Phil Boyer is going to working overtime on this one.

-Zane

I don't think this was anything more than a couple of bucketheads making some incredibly stupid decisions.

Idiots like this are putting something we cherish in jeopardy...that pisses me off.

Security people running through the capital building shouting hysterically "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" is really amazing though. Have we become a nation of sniveling wimps?

Strata - where'd you get that bumper sticker?

I've got to send it to some friends of mine who ran from the buildings in DC.

Brad

Brad,

Go here for the sticker Cafe Press

From what I'm hearin' this instructor might have had a melt down when he realized they were lost, and that he completely froze when he realized they had military 'companionship' and what deep doo doo they were in. The student had to take over and land the plane.

The statement from the AOPA is that the PIC wasn't actually an instructor, just a Private pilot along for a ride with a student friend. Still, it is such bad PR for GA, and stuff like this really sticks in the minds of the public. A stupid C150 weighs what, 1600 or so at max gross? WHy don't people run for their lives when a wayward Dodge Neon comes driving at them? Ignorance.

Z

Let's be fair-minded & look at the other side of the coin.....
1) all big brother can see on the radar scope is a return (don't know if it was a militairy "skin paint" radar or civil/ATC transponder-return-only
radar)
2) Like Zane said, they're busting the most well-known restricted area in the country, if I was on the scope I'd have to figure they were doing it on purpose. Let's see, moving along at about a hundred knots it could be something like a DC3 chock-full of C4 (or whatever).
3) If the secret service (or whoever) was gung-ho & really doing their job, instead of yelling "run for your lives" they woulda just smoked that 150 with a shoulder-fired surface to air missile. What would we be saying now if that had been the case?
Let's keep the blame where it belongs, the nitwits who busted the airspace. If they'd had their eyes on their chart & their heads outside the airplane (instead of up their ass), they wouldn't have caused all that uproar. I'd guess that those guys'll be looking at some certificate action, & rightfully so.
I know a lot of people in the Puget Sound area were all worked up about our 4 TFR's which we were stuck with for 2 or 3 years after 9/11. well, I figured that 4 relatively small restricted airspaces was a small price to pay to be able to fly everywhere else. To tell ya the truth, I'm surprised that there aren't /weren't more TFR's, and that the TFR's we had were downsized & downgraded as much as they were.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Eric

Eric,

I agree. The pilots were at fault, but having been a student pilot not that long ago, I can remember times when I wasn't 100% sure where I was. The unfortunate reality though is that it just takes a few incidents like this to jeopardize the flying freedom of the other 600,000 of us. Think about how the uninformed public's perception of GA has changed just with this relatively benign incident. Their fears are swelling, to be mildy dramatic.

I also agree that an increase in flight restriction size over that area is a small price to pay for no other operational restrictions in the rest of the country.

My buddy read this post and told me I am a premature 30-year-old opinionated geezer.

Like I told Zane in an earlier e-mail, if I was in any building along the Capitol Mall in DC and they announced an evacuation I would run for my life, not ask questions of the guards in regard to the aircraft type and gross weight, especially when a 747 or some other aircraft could have knocked out that last 3 miles of separation in less than a minute.

Hindsight is 20/20 and ultimately they (big brother) did exactly what they should have - they did not shoot down the plane beacuse it did not appear to be an intentional threat and they ended the building evacuation about 10 minutes later. It looks like they did their job. The pilots however...

Maybe I am just a wimp, but I would also run for my life from an errant Dodge Neon.

BTW - nice site Zane! When do the t-shirts come out?

I do think that the public's concerns in regard to the GA threat are completely legitimate. A lot of questionable types can gain access to an otherwise secure airport via the GA facilities. A lot of FBO's, schools, aircraft owners and A&P's at big airports have very relaxed security compared to the commercial side, yet they access the same areas (Zane, I know you can attest to this lax attitude at RNO).

I don't think a 152 is likely to be used by terrorists for anything significant, but I do believe a well placed large bizjet (G7?) could do a lot of damage. If I were to take this task on this would be the route I would use. The scary part is that the terrorists that are training to be suicide pilots are also getting trained in the use of these undersecured GA facilities at larger airports.

Alright Zane, are you happy? You drug me into the fray.

Don't make me make an example out of you Royce. Anyone else who disagrees with me or makes me look stupid will get kicked off this site, or if you order a shirt I'll make sure it's two sizes too small.



I guess the fear has to do with the public's perception of the intentions of airplanes. No one fears a Dodge Neon driving by as they walk the sidewalk, because it's a familiar thing. One siteseeing flight in the ADIZ in a C-152, and people think you are going to kamikaze them, the fear makes people do weird stuff. Royce has good points regarding the destructive potential of small aircraft, so I guess it's just our increasing responsibility to give GA a good spin, instead of scaring the bejesus out of country housewives who just watched on Oprah how little planes can crash into your white house. "Good lord, Winston, get the senator on the phone,we've got to do something about the killer planes!"

Unfortunately, even a Cessna 150 can carry a suitcase nuke...and there are supposed to be a bunch of Soviet ones missing......

Suitcase nuke is a serious misnomer. The nukes the Soviets supposedly lost (back in the late 80's) are a multi-component rig that when assembled weighs almost three hundred pounds. They require maintenance every few months just to stay functional. The tritium neutron generator has to be replaced a couple of times a year or the weapon can't sustain a reaction fast enough to keep it from fizzling.

The point is, if Al-qaeda had one of these weapons they would have had to use it a long time ago, and there are much more effective ways of delivering it to a metropolitan target than a light aircraft. I won't get into the specifics here as I don't want to give an Islamofacist any ideas since so few of them are capable of an original idea anyway. If Al-qaeda had a 'suitcase' nuke they would have used it long ago. The real danger lies with Kim Il-Jong and the maniacs in power in Iran.

I am sick and damn tired of hearing all these half-baked scenarios about how dooms day is going to be delivered by a Cessna. They aren't even a viable method for the delivery of a chemical or bio weapon.

Yeah, Doug!

You're right. This isn't the proper forum.

fobjob,

Hope you didn't think I was busting your chops. I read about how a light plane is goin' to deliver a weapon of mass destruction on forums all over the net and it's just a little tiresome. I'm sure that non pilots visit this forum on occasion, and the last thing I want them to think is that a bunch of us aviators think that this is any kind of real possibilty.

I'll leave the wild eyed stretches in logic for idiots like Richard Daly to make.


Mayor Daly at his latest press conference.

Zane,

You may have to add a rant and rave section if I keep this up.

Strata Rocketeer wrote:..............................................
I am sick and damn tired of hearing all these half-baked scenarios about how dooms day is going to be delivered by a Cessna. They aren't even a viable method for the delivery of a chemical or bio weapon.

You wouldn't say that if you'd been aboard my airplane last weekend,when I went out flying after consuming the "rootin' tootin' chili" special at the local diner!

Eric

The pilots issued a statment regarding their ADIZ incursion : AvWeb News Wire

Sounds like one of the Blackhawk helicopters may have had a radio problem if this statement is believable.