WP: (D.C.) Pilot Was Ill-Prepared, Froze in Flight, FAA Says

[DeepModem Mom]

Pilot Was Ill-Prepared, Froze in Flight, FAA Says
Officials to Revoke Certificate of Flier in Capital Scare, the Toughest Sanction Under New Airspace Rules

By Sara Kehaulani Goo and Sari Horwitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 14, 2005; Page B01


The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to get briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear near his right wing while flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said yesterday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy D. Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, officials said.

The FAA plans to take the most extreme action against a pilot since new airspace rules were put in place in 2003 and will revoke Sheaffer's pilot certificate, according to aviation officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the order had not been finalized. The FAA does not plan to take similar action against Martin, 36, because he is a student pilot and does not have a pilot certificate, sources said.

New details are emerging about what took place in the cockpit of the Cessna 150 during the noontime drama that led to the evacuation of more than 35,000 people from the U.S. Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. A log prepared by federal security officials shows how tensions escalated to the point where a fighter jet was "about to use missiles" to shoot the plane down....

***

The Cessna crossed through three layers of increasingly restricted airspace....The most dangerous breach occurred when Sheaffer crossed into Prohibited Area P-56, no-fly airspace covering the White House and the Naval Observatory. The Cessna passed over that area while being escorted away by the Black Hawk. Compounding the problem, federal authorities had difficulty establishing communication with the Cessna, a security log of the events shows....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301570.html

[Deere_John]

1. This story only makes sense if Sheaffer is (no joke) demented. n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Possible he's getting Alzheimer's, or similar?

Very curious behavior --

[MindPilot]

3. It's making less and less sense

It's sounding like this guy had no business in the cockpit, and a student with 30 hours saved the day.

I don't understand the quote: ""But it would not be surprising if, when it comes time, will have a very thorough check ride" when he completes his pilot training, Dancy said."

Sounds like this guy just took his check ride.

[Bo]

4. Sounds like they paid the 69 year

old to test there defense system and then to retire.

[0007]

5. I'm frozen in complete astonishment over this utter bullshit!

What a fucking whitewash this is, after junior got caught with his pants down.

It just keeps getting better and better, 'eh?

[Mika]

7. Speaking of pants down..

.. just where was Jeff Gannon during this episode? Wonder just what * was really doing while he was in the dark. A ride (on a bike)? Really?

hmmmm.




www.stopbolton.org

[0007]

11. Perhaps he was getting a mustache ride from Bolton? n/t

[Straight Shooter]

6. That must have been bush's long-lost twin up there in the Cessna.

They both have the same reaction to a crisis.

[DemBeans]

8. gee...

So, now they were "about to use missiles", huh?

Let's see - assume that little tiny plane was hit with a missile over a densely populated area, possibly killing civilians from the flaming wreckage. Don't you think the possibility of civilian casualities wouldn't be reason enough to disturb President Chucklehead during his bike jaunt in the forest? Like, wtf???

Commander in Chief, my ass.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Where are these two guys?

Some neighbors said they were mystified about the whereabouts of the two men and their families. At the Sheaffer home in Warwick Township, Pa., no one answered the door or telephone. About 10 miles away, at Martin's residence in Akron, Pa., a note on the door asked reporters to go away. No one answered the door or phone there, either. A next-door neighbor, Cindy Hamill, said of the Martins: "This family's in crisis."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301570.html

Like some DUers have pointed out in this thread, there are a lot of gaps in the story. For my part, I am concerned that the main players in this drama are nowhere to be found by the MSM.

[AzDar]

10. ..."Difficulty establishing communication with the Cessna"..?? The

more they try to explain this, the worse it gets.
The important thing to remember is that we are fighting terrorism abroad to avoid having to fight confused campaign-donors here at home, right? Riiiiight???

[ewagner]

13. UNICOM frequency would have worked fine

they took off from an uncontrolled airport so they were probably tuned to unicom....it doesn't sound right that they couldn't establish communications.....

[leesa]

12. Wonder how much this pilot was paid for his services in creating yet

another distraction from BushCo's crimes?

[Javaman]

14. Wayward pilot was ill-prepared, FAA says

Officials reportedly to revoke flier’s certificate after D.C. incident

By Sara Kehaulani Goo and Sari Horwitz

Updated: 1:16 a.m. ET May 14, 2005
The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to get briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear near his right wing while flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said yesterday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy D. Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, officials said.

The FAA plans to take the most extreme action against a pilot since new airspace rules were put in place in 2003 and will revoke Sheaffer's pilot certificate, according to aviation officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the order had not been finalized. The FAA does not plan to take similar action against Martin, 36, because he is a student pilot and does not have a pilot certificate, sources said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7847287/

but, but, but....scott, lying ass, mcclellen stated that this was a security test!!

[Laughing Mirror]

15. McClellan said that?

He's probably telling the truth. The conspirators who pulled off this astonishing feat need to get their stories straight.

[KittyWampus]

17. No Scottie Didn't Say That. A DU'er Started That Rumor/Nonsense

[Laughing Mirror]

23. He said all the "protocols" were followed, and he said it

and he said it, and he said it again and again and again.

The White House transcript of the parrot yapping:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050512-2.html

[liveoaktx]

16. President was Ill-Prepared-Froze in Mid-Pump on Bicycle

He failed to get briefings about what to do in case he should be called upon to actually act like a president.The US Govt does not plan to take action against Bush, because Republicans have the majority in the House.

[DS1]

18. The Blackhawk escorted the plane over the White House area?

That's smart. Shouldn't that pilot's wings get clipped too, since it's setting an even worse example to the student pilot? :eyes:

[high density]

19. "About to use missles" against a Cessna 150?

Lame. We have a major problem here if two idiots in a Cessna 150 can bring this government briefly to its knees.

[napi21]

20. Well, I'm not a pilot, but I've known a few people who have gotten their

;icense to fly. None of them were what I would call mental giants! We can all accept that there are some very stupid drivers on our roads. Why can't we accept that there are some very stupid pilots of private planes?

"Pilot froze at the controls when he saw the Blackhawk" is sure understandable to me! It's like suddenly being surrounded by a bunch of police cars while your driving. Freaks you out!

I have no idea what the answer to this is, but I think everyone is being too harsh on the pilots? of this Cessna. If you look at a map, you'll see that if you draw a straight line from their origin to their final destination was a straight line over the DC area. I call them stupid, because even I know there is restricted airspace over the White House, but is every student pilot taught howw to spot restricteed airspace? Does any pilot on DU know exactly where the restricted airspace is in Texas?

As I understand it, there are hundreds of breaches of RAS in DC, and they happen all the time. The FAA did say yesterday that they are launching a laser ID system with flashing red & green laser lights that will be visable to all pilots except in extremely poor visability situations. That's a good thing. Kind of like traffic lights on the highways.

I just find it hard to be so rough on those Cessna pilots because they simply didn't recognize there was a problem.

[JohnyCanuck]

22. The older guy was supposed to be a flight instructor

I got my private pilot's license in the US many moons ago and haven't flown as pilot in command for about 20 years now, but if I was planning a flight tomorrow which I knew would take me anywear near Washington DC (or for that matter any major metropolitan area with large civlian and military airports or sensitive government facilities) I would know enough to make damn sure I examined my sectional chart pretty darn closely to figure out what exactly was restricted airspace and what wasn't. In fact for any cross country flight at all out of the local training area one of the items that my own flight instructor drilled into my head was to always during the preflight planning check the charts and the FAA NOTAMs (notices to airmen) for any restricted airspace in the vicinity of my planned route.

It's bad enough for a student pilot or even a private pilot to make a mistake like that, but for a flight instructor it's pretty inexcusable IMHO. But then again, maybe that's why they're sometimes called fright instructors instead of flight instructors.

[bluedog]

21. remember the guy with the suitcases?

he was just waiting.didn't understand English...got dragged around and deported....these pilots got???.....................ZILTCH!!..tell me again this wasn't a rove stunt.