J.D. Vance's Campaign Jet Inadvertently Buzzed The Washington Monument

[InstantGratification]

24. I believe it is extremely unlikely that this was intentional

That 737 was "owned and operated by Eastern Air Express". That was not Trump or Vance's people flying the plane, it was Eastern Air Express aircrew.

This makes it clear the pilots did violate heavily restricted airspace:

“Eastern Express 917, I have a phone number I need you to take down… I need you to call when you get down on the ground in reference to a possible pilot deviation,” the air traffic controller can be heard telling the crew of Vance’s jet in the audio clip @thenewarea51 posted. Additional air traffic control audio subsequently surfaced where the instruction “make a left” can also be heard...

He IS going to face enforcement action from the FAA. The pilot in command would know that he is risking his career to pull a stunt like this intentionally. An Airline Transport Pilot license (ATP) requires a minimum of 2500 flight hours and is a mandatory requirement for this category of aircraft. He could lose everything over this, his ATP, possibly his pension, fines, temporarily or permanently grounded from flying of any type, including small general aviation aircraft. He would have to be incredibly stupid to pull a stunt like this just because there was a senator in back telling him it's ok.

To be clear, I totally believe that Trump/Vance's people are arrogant enough to ask the pilots to do this. They would do this thinking they have the juice to get away with it, but knowing that if they don't, it's the aircrew that takes the fall not them.

Having come close to earning my private pilots license my junior year of high school before I ran out of money, I have a tough time believing any professional pilots would pull this stunt. To emphasize this: they were professional ATPs before this flight, during this flight and would expect to continue this career path after this flight. They were Eastern Air Express employees, not campaign employees, so this gig would be temporary. Whatever level of enforcement the FAA chooses will be on the aircrews record forever.

I guess we will know for sure if the campaign puts out flyby video....